Day Of The Dead

I might have to give this a 9/10.

I liked it better than Dawn Of The Dead which I consider a damn good movie. I honestly cannot believe how good it was. Which is funny because from all accounts I've heard, this movie didn't do super well when it was released in 1985 critically, but many people nowadays consider it to be the best. I have to very much agree with them! Once again I personally believe this to be a sequel to Dawn, the humans are now vastly outnumbered by the zombies and a small group have taken shelter in a mining facility, as the scientific and military personnel clash heavily making the human conflict in Night look like a minor squabble. The tension is here and bigger than before as each party has it's own plan of what to do with the situation at hand. So the story is outstanding and the cast is what really pushes it above and beyond. Lori Cardille is an awesome lead and a true sign of a stronger female character throughout the course of the series, she just ain't here to take anyone's shit and is the voice of reason. On the opposite side we have Joe Pilato as Captain Rhodes, probably one of the most berating asshole characters in cinematic history, he's so jerkish you can't help but love to hate him. My favorite character is the mad scientist Logan played by Richard Liberty who everyone calls Frankenstein, I buy every word he's saying and he has such a high level of energy and curiosity as he conducts numerous experiments to better understand the zombies and try to tame them. And I'll be damned if I don't say Howard Sherman is the best actor I've ever seen, if that ain't cinematic excellence then nothing is. With so much makeup and uttering one bit of dialogue I'll go out on a limb here and say he's the best zombie actor ever. Speaking of which the effects are absurdly amazing in this picture, ingenious in practicality and gory to the max and yes I would say it is award deserving. The location is instantly memorable, shot in a real life mine which I believe you can visit to this day making a very dark, dingy, and claustrophobic environment which fits perfectly with the tone. The soundtrack is simply the best, and I had a lot of love for Dawn's soundtrack but this is a whole other level. It's the only zombie movie I've seen that touches on the psychological effects in such a situation, normally it's a commentary on society or government but here it shows what a hopeless situation it is and how much it adversely effects our characters. It's nothing short of classic, and a truly improved film since Dawn Of The Dead. If I could give it 5 stars I would, and a full 9/10 from me! I knew one day I had to watch these movies and it was well worth the time, with full recommendations to all of them. If you're like me and don't have a lot of love for zombies unlike so many others, check these out, you'll appreciate it a bit. Only one week left, what to do now when we're so close to the end once more? Well if there is one thing I've learned, anything can happen on Halloween so the sky is the limit.

Dawn Of The Dead

I find it pretty surprising this movie came out a full decade after Night Of The Living Dead.

That movie probably was the most succesful independent picture ever at that moment in time, but George really got screwed over with his profits from the movie so maybe he took the time to better his knowledge of the film industry and better himself as a director before returning to make a sequel. I think that's the biggest question of all these Dead movies, is each subsequent movie following the events of the last or is it just a standalone film? And to me personally, I think this is a follow up to Night with the zombie epidemic spreading, nobody knows what in the hell is going on, groups of hunters and soldiers are patrolling the woods, I totally can see this as a continuation. We meet up with some new characters, a TV newsperson, a helicopter pilot, and two SWAT officers who meet up and decide the best place to hide out is a shopping mall. I find it incredibly interesting how much malls have changed in the ensuing 40 odd years, it really was the place to get everything and not just clothes, entertainment, and beauty products. They had food shops, hardware stores, arcades, banks, it truly was the one stop place if you had the scratch, so it's rather an ingenious place to hole up. The pacing of the film I feel was perfect, I'm not sure which cut of the movie I got, it clocked in past 2 hours and had a lot of the soundtrack by Goblin which is a great soundtrack by the way, so was it the theatrical cut or like a director's cut? Well I looked into it. The history of this movie is completely f***ed, there's so many different versions since it premeired depending on where you lived due to censorship, but yes the version I watched was the theatrical cut which apparently Romero preferred the most so I'm happy about that. But anyway, the film takes it's time showing these people survive in the mall, it takes about half an hour for them to get there which helps set up how the public is dealing with the situation and the pandemonium experienced by news crews, and when there's less than 30 minutes before the end is where the climax starts. It's pretty great, with a motorcycle army led by Tom Savini crashing their sanctuary and going wild, there's so much that happens it's difficult to recount everything that occured but instantly memorable at the same time. Good ol' Ken Foree is back and center stage and I flat out stated early in the movie, if he lives I'm gonna love it, and this film got me jumpy to see if he made it. In fact I really liked all our main characters, each having good personality and inner workings with the other characters that made them really click. Christ, they never even argue and start going at each other's throats, isn't that nice? Cooperation, it's grrrreat! I heard Tom Savini wasn't very pleased with how the zombies looked cause they had a slight blue tint to their skin tone, but honestly I never had a problem with it because the blood spurts and gore was divinely disgusting with once again the intestines being the real gross out moment for me, I mean I kinda felt queasy watching that, but I like the way they look once again being very minimal and I find the blue tint logical, if you lose oxygen you start turning blue so it makes sense why they look sort of ashy grey mixed with a smidge of pthalo blue. But before I start telling you what we wash our brushes with, let's continue. I really really liked it, maybe even more than the first. I still loved the cinematography, I really loved the soundtrack, acting was great, effects were great, the story was interesting and had it's suspenseful moments, I can't wait to see Day Of The Day which many now consider to be the best of them all so sign me up. 4 stars, 8.5/10! Hell you think this is how store employees feel on black friday? I'd take a machete to their brains too guys...

Night Of The Living Dead

Wow. I forgot how good it was!

I have only seen this movie twice now, once a long time ago in my early teens long before I settled on my dream job. And looking at it again really made my day! Should I recount the plot when it's one of the most famous horror movies ever? Yeah sure, why not. There's no real reason as to why the dead are walking the earth as we meet up with several people trying to find shelter and survive, as tensions rise and personalities clash. And I must say for an independent, very low budget movie, with a minimal crew this looks goooood! Oh my God it looks so good, the lighting, camera placement, editing, I've heard a lot of people talk about this movie but they never dug into how it actually looks so I had to profess my love for it. The cast is very good too, it's no real surprise Duane Jones is the shining star of the lot, I just point to about a 3 minute monologue of how he got to where he is at the house and damn I believe every word of it. He deserved that leading man role and nailed it! I have zero issue with Judith O'Dea as Barbara, honestly her acting as a very shellshocked person holds up well but lord help me, this character got grating. Either stonewalling or hysterical, and hardly ever useful. Say what you will about Mr. Cooper but he at least did stuff, despite being a raging jackass but I attest that to good acting from Karl Hardman. The zombies look good to, and since it's black and white the makeup is minimal and works great. It's such a humble genesis to a friggin' juggernaut of a monster nowadays, really comed up with on the spot that the dead don't stay dead and they love eating people. But there's obviously more than actors wandering a field and eating ham glazed with chocolate sauce, there is that human analysis element of why they act this way, what would I do, it's a microcosm of humanity now, thesis thesis thesis, it's good fun to talk about. Smart almost introspective writing in a horror film, that's pretty great. Also pretty sure this was the final push to get a film rating system out, so teen and pre-teen audiences don't have to see intestines ripped apart, so it left a mark just as much then as it does now. And yeah, about that ending....I was livid at the end my first time seeing it, I swear to God I couldn't believe it! It's bold yes and firmly set Romero's undeniable stamp that this is his own body of work, but shiet I was floored. 4 stars, 8/10, and this wasn't the end for dear George and his creations so check in next time for Dawn Of The Dead.

Nightmares In Red White And Blue

What a day. What a lovely day!

YES!!! It's here, the most wonderful time of year! And what better occasion to actually talk about one of my favorite documentaries of all time, no joke I really do sit down and watch this at least once every single year. And I've seen really good documentaries on Friday The 13th, Nightmare On Elm Street, and I can't truly put my finger on why this one is such a instant classic for me. It follows the basic history of the horror genre from 1910 to 2009, seeing how the genre shaped and formed throughout each decade. I think the biggest reason I always come back to this is because of the guests, they really pulled all the stops cause you get John Carpenter, Joe Dante, friggin' Lance Henriksen narrates, Roger Corman the king himself, and good ol' Mr. Romero all are there among other dignified and quite intelligent guests. It's just so interesting to hear their stances on specific films and what horror meant to them as time went on. And in true horror style they don't shy away from anything, oh sure you see the blood and the nipples and the hoopblah, but it brings up real world shit and they show real world shit whereas other documentaries might not even bring it up. The collection of clips did elicit reactions from me whether from film or life, and it's a practical feast to the eyes seeing so many advertisments for horror movies and clips galore. But the film is not terribly in-depth and the production values while still good are on the lower end of the spectrum, and that honestly doesn't hurt it for me personally, credits and all it's about an hour and forty minutes so you certainly get ample time. To be honest the thought never once occured to me until I watched this for the first time, is the fact that horror movies are the most reflective and product of their times pieces of media ever. You get a real strong grasp on that time and place in the world and more importantly what scared it by watching a certain horror movie, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers sums up the 1950s, The Exorcist sums up the 70s, and so on. I was just watching a scary movie before but if you stop and think about it, pieces of the jigsaw start popping into place. It's just a wonderful documentary and you can watch it on Amazon Prime right now, it gets nothing but recommendations from me and I hope you have a real good time with it as well. 4 stars, 8/10! And I might just say screw it and give you a fun and family friendly movie to check out this Saturday, I mean this year is off enough as is so if you can't beat it join it.