| Author | Message | ||
     Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.163.176.9 |
This is out months before the US cinema release - anyone seen it, any thoughts? I'll be seeing it soon. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.163.176.9 |
Er, this; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Survival-Dead-DVD-Devon-Bostick/dp/B002VD5S6K/ref=sr_1_1 ?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1268570350&sr=8-1 | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
I receieved the DVD yesterday, Tony. Will watch it this evening and let you know my thoughts...gotta say, though, I'm realy looking forward to it. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.96.240.106 |
Watched this last night. Good but not great. But merely good Romero is usually better than a lot of other genre director's work. Lacking the usual social commentary, there's still enough substance behind the gore to make this a worthy entry into the rebooted Dead series. There's also Romero's mordant wit and as usual some great ideas. Don't go in expecting a classic and you'll get something out of this. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.163.176.9 |
Someone said the use of landscape was quite beautiful. It sounds mellow, reflective, the sort of grounded work you should be able to go back to and see more in. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I'd probably agree with all that, Tony. I'm actually looking forward to watching it again. The final shot is awseome, too, and says so much in such a small way. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.163.176.9 |
It sounds like it was told with a calm we're not used to anymore. Maybe that's why you were a bit underwhelmed. My copy was on my way to me last week - where it go?! | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
Oh, I wasn't underwhelmed. It was exactly the kind of film I expected. I just expect other people to be underwhelmed by it. me, I liked it a lot. When I watch a horror film I'm not looking for horror; I want all that other wonderful stuff the genre is capable of creating. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
This review pretty much nails my own feelings about the film: http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content/id/72298/survival-of-the-dead.html | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.163.176.9 |
The repetitive criticism in all the reviews I've read is that of barely sketched characters. That would hinder it for me. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
It needed a longer running time, IMHO - 85 mins isn't enough for Romero to work all of his magic. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.96.11 |
Stil waiting for my copy to shamble through the post to me. DIARY was only 95 minutes long and I loved that. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.163.176.9 |
You're right. It was all shorthand, wasn't it? The bare bones, no flab whatsoever. Diary felt quite layered to me, focussed. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
I loved DIARY, too. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.22.224 |
DIARY feels like such a Hallowe'eny film to me. And not just because it's set around then. I think it works because while some of the characters are thin, a few are deftly sketched - people you'd like to see more of. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.155.203.110 |
Sigh. Not as good as Diary. The biggest flaw; is anyone in zombie movies even scared of zombies any more?  Some good images, though, though some were spoiled by being clearly cgi. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 81.155.203.110 |
My horrible fear is that the next movie will be entitled 'Bored of the Dead'. | ||
| Zed (Gary_mc) Username: Gary_mc Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 213.219.8.243 |
The biggest flaw; is anyone in zombie movies even scared of zombies any more? I don't see that as a flaw, you know; more of a strength. Part of the reason I enjoy Romero's zombie films is that hey aren't horror. They're something else entirely. Social dramas? | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.163.176.41 |
Maybe that's why I'm never fully struck by them - why I perhaps enjoyed Fulci sequel a bit more. I'm a bit right brain, I think it is, while Romero's more left. I think it's that way round. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.241.147 |
Yes, in those old Fulci/Italian zombie flicks, the people are literally frozen with fright - they stand there docilely while zombies rip their limbs off, or tear into their bodies... screaming all the while... and all not ironically!... ZOMBIELAND proved to me that the zombies have completely lost their bite, unless someone can come along and truly revive it. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 147.252.230.148 |
Tony, you went ahead and watched it before me! The pact! You broke the pact! Oh well. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 147.252.230.148 |
It doesn't look great. The lighting seems perfunctory (and poorly-motivated) which always makes things feel like TV movies. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.148.31.179 |
Damn, Proto - I'd emailed you explaining what happened. You mustn't have got it. The pressures of relatives, not wanting to seem weird in my pact-making with net friends... As is, I'd rather of watched it with you. With zombies, I want their nightmarishness restored. That or something else, but not this sense of threatlessness. I'll talk more when you've seen it P. It's not terrible at all, has many good qualities. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.148.31.179 |
Sigh - the email had been put in my drafts file. Sorry, P. | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.148.31.179 |
Craig - did you ever see that Living Dead Girl? My favourite ever person-being-eaten scene is in that. So moving. | ||
| Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey) Username: Ramsey Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 195.93.21.74 |
I second you on that, Tony. As melancholic as any Cronenberg. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 89.19.90.133 |
Tony, not to worry! We'll get the next one. Probably 2011 given that Romero seems so creatively spry lately. | ||
| Craig (Craig) Username: Craig Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 75.4.248.50 |
I'll Netflix it, Tony.... | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.148.31.179 |
Thanks Ramsey! The whole of that film has become a favourite; it's lingered wel in my mind. It's imperfect, but has so much beauty and atmosphere, and as you said, melancholy. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 109.79.94.12 |
Romero doesn't think Dawn of the Dead is "good": "Basically what I want to say is forgive me. I guess the basic thing that bugs me, the biggest thing that bugs me is that fans want me to do either the last movie I did or do another Dawn or do another this or do another that - and that pisses me off! That's not what I'm about! I'm gonna make a movie, look at it, if you don't like it that's fine. If you like it, then I love it. In other words don't punish me because this was not as good as Dawn. This is what I'm thinking right now, I'm making this movie right now, this is what I'm thinking, give it a break! Look at it, maybe it will take you two or three times to look at it, but look at it. All I can say is that I'm trying my best and don't punish me because it's not as "good" as Dawn, because Dawn was not even "good", it was fun, but it wasn't "good". I think this new movie, Blank of the dead, is much better in a cinematic sense than Dawn, but I worry that a lot of people might think it's not." (Full interview here: http://www.homepageofthedead.com/baps/) | ||
| Tony (Tony) Username: Tony Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 86.148.31.179 |
I agree with him. Poor guy. | ||
| Protodroid (Protodroid) Username: Protodroid Registered: 03-2008 Posted From: 92.251.246.222 |
I think Dawn is accidentally "good", much like Donnie Darko (as proven by the director's cut). |