March 24, 2004

• i love this movie...! it scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid and i find it still rather unsettling nowadays. the ending always gets me. i bought the special millenium edition dvd but they did a horrible thing by rescoring and reediting. you want to see the original, in all it's grainy black and white gory, erm, i mean glory.
• Hell yeah. Who's seen the remake of Dawn?
• I saw the Remake of Dawn of the Dead. It was suprisingly cool. It was a great movie, really high action. It would be much better if you've never seen the orginal though. I still don't understand fast running killer zombies, but it sure makes the movie much more crazy scary action based. I really miss the cheesy special effects - but otherwise it was damn good. I've never seen the Night of the Living Dead...I'm downloading it now. I can't wait.
• Public domain? Sweet! But why didn't the Sonny fuckin Bono CTEA kick in here? Did Romero explicitly yield copyright?
• * raises arms at shoulder level * We're coming to get you... bah-bara.
• isn't this movie supposed to be some allegory for the communist threat during the cold war? (yes, really)
• isn't this movie supposed to be some allegory for the communist threat during the cold war? What I do know is that the film does deal with racism. The ending was shocking and felt very real.
• oh yes that's it, racism. hmm.
• Hm. According to Romero and the rest of the (surviving) cast, Duane Jones was cast as Ben only because he was the best actor who auditioned for the part. The part was originally intended for a white friend of the filmmakers.
• I saw the new Dawn over the weekend. It is truly kick-ass. I like the original, and was pleased to find that the new one doesn't really try to replace or compete with the original. just a similar story that stands alone. very scary, very gory, great performances and fun zombies. i was nervous about the fast zombies (couldn't stand 28 days later) but was pleased to find the zombies here representing all the different levels of human mobility.
• (Which is not to deny the impact of the film's ending. Intent is one thing, effect another.)
• The archive site is excellent. i never kne wit existed. Thanks, Sullivan.
• Good fact-checking, goetter. Duane Jones did give the best performance in the movie. Looks like casting him a stroke of luck or genius on Romero's part.
• I though the allegory was that they (the zombies) are us and we are them. The people inside the house with Ben freaked me out more than the zombies outside, especially Barbara, or maybe it was the bad acting.
• Gratuitous plug here for my review of the remake. I liked it a lot, though I was pretty much on the edge of my seat the entire time - not from suspense or terror, but from having my bladder press up against my spine for an hour and forty minutes. It was painful. Great acting, actually, for what is normally not an actor's paradise. I thought Jake Weber did a particularly good job, though his romantic interludes with Sarah Polley were forced and unrealistic...
• Look, guys, it's all very well you discussing this issue as entertainment - but there are some people out there who are actually living it, okay? So have a little respect...
• The public domain status of Night of the Living Dead is fairly interesting. Basically, when it was first released they were going to call it "Night of the Flesh Eaters" but they discovered that name was taken. Therefore they changed the name, and when they changed the name, they forgot to put a copyright notice. Therefore from the start people copied it and distributed it without giving Romero and the other investors a dime. This is why if you do a search for Night of the Living Dead on Amazon you will find over a dozen different versions on DVD. So it is not "now" in public domain, but has been, or at least has assumed to have been, from the start.
• What are the public domain laws for film?
• I think this might be what you want, jb. I thought jccalhoun was full of shit for a second there, but the Night of the Living Dead is old enough that the absence of the copyright notice was significant. Not so for stuff from 1989 on (including web works) so you can feel free to relax/watch out! as appropriate.
• Look out for Shaun Of The Dead coming to British Cinemas next month. It's from the makers of Spaced which is the funniest Brit-Com of recent years (yes even better than The Office). They are massive Romero fans so it should be a proper treat.
• Dawn of the Dead is one of my favourite flicks ever and while the remake is not something I disagree with and it is a flick that I will watch this weekend I can't say I am pleased to read that the remake is another vote for zombies that run. The first time I saw zombies running was in the Italian film named (among other titles) City of the Walking Dead. Running zombies suck. So while I am anticipating being disappointed by running zombies in DotD mkII I am holding out hope the Shaun of the Dead will be stocked with more traditional zombies. Their Romero fandom should be a good sign. Romero's zombies weren't fast.
• gspm : I thought "Italian zombie film" was code for "softcore pornography"?
• No no, it's code for splinter in the eye. Italian zombie films skip the story and go for gory. Zombie vs shark was one of the best moments in movie history.
• I'm sorry, I was thinking "Italian Cannibal Movies". Mea Culpa.
• Here's that zombie vs. shark scene. (.ram file)
• Why are the modern zombies moving faster?
• I love the "trapped by zombies" blog and the zombie/ shark battle. great stuff guys.
• My last link was a double. Sorry, gspm. Waaaah!
• no worries. saw the DOTD remake last night. bleh. they didn't ruin it but they didn't improve on the idea. running adrenalin thrill zombies are just not as scary as the lumbering hordes that fool you into thinking that you have a chance because you can outrun them. FCT - the movie that contains the shark/zombie battle (Fulci's Zombie) has a great ending. lumbering hordes, lots of ammo. that's what I wanna see.