Let's talk about ZOMBIES.

[Nixon]

Recently, I have been drawing lots of un-dead for a future project.

I want to get pumped by watching what you guys consider to be the best zombie movies. They can be old or new, but I would prefer stuff that has a tiny bit of humor (sick humor is OK!) and films that are inventive with their use of the un-dead.

I haven't seen anything except bits and pieces of some of the more well known flicks (like Dawn of the Dead) and I've seen the second and third Evil Dead movies. I'm not up on the entire horror genre.

So, if you know of some killer zombie movies, please list your three favorites.

If you list "house of the dead," you will be slapped.

[MasterSlowPoke]

How about you play house of the dead?

[Nixon]

I should. But I don't know where I put the dreamcast gun dealy.

[Dreamknight]

28 days later.

[jspaceman]

YAM!!!!

my sweet, if its ZOMBIE movies you want, then here
you go!!!!

you are obviously aware of george romero's work.
the classic night of the living dead, dawn of the dead, and
day of the dead. i personally think dawn is the best vision.

not sure if you are interested in those really crappy american
hack zombie films, but if you are, you can look into the
return of the living dead series. zombies dont talk damnit!
pure trash

but if you wanna go someplace special then travel abroad
to italy to find the best zombie films EVER!

the legend, lucio fulci for starters.
Zombie
The Gates of Hell
The Beyond
all play with the genre in different ways. zombie being more
gore oriented, gates of hell a combination of gore and the
supernatural...be ready for the intestine barfing scene...it will
****ing make you gag...and the beyond which is like if the
surrealists were to make a zombie film. very strange and haunting.

you can also check out dario argento's film, DEMONS! its
really cool and twisted. a must have.

then there's Bruno Mattei...he has had a very odd career but
his best contribution to the zombie genre is without a doubt:
Hell of the Living Dead/Night of the Zombies (same movie different titles)
pure gore, nuff said. its hard to track his films though because
he almost always uses an alias.

but whatever you do...stay away from Umberto Lenzi!!! his
films have a strange way of sticking to your psyche in a bad way.
i am always uneasy when i see a film of his avaliable on dvd.
not that they are any good...they just have this way of abstracting
into your mind...remember, they are the most horrible films i have
ever come across. they are completely vacant. the only thing
they do is get bloodier and bloodier. but sometimes, there are
images in my mind that i wish i did not have. does that make
sense? just leave them alone.

if you are curious...here is a short list.
cannibal ferox
nightmare city / city of the walking dead (same movie different titles)

that should keep you busy...

jspaceman

[Nixon]

Thanks for the thoughtful reply! I'll see if any of the video stores around me have copies of those. I am not too into the endless blood and gore, but sometimes it can be fun.

And DK- my friend has a copy of that and keeps telling me to watch it. I guess I'll finally check it out.

[Big Rick Cook]

You will love 'The Dead Hate the Living.' I promise you. It's got a very B-horror movie feel, but it pulls itself off so well that it stands as my favorite zombie movie. It's also got some pretty good humor.

[The Toecutter]

I am so joyed to have found this topic.

The Reanimator is classic, although probably not what you're looking for since it isn't a pure zombie movie(But it has a guy walking around carrying his own head!). The old version of Dawn of the Dead is my favorite. The new DoD is also great as well, but I prefer good old shambling over running any day. The first Night of the Living Dead is hilarious.

If you want all out comedy mixed with zombies on a completely B-movie scale and with lots of sick humor, Redneck zombies. For special effects, they even used corn flakes! But it is an awesome movie.

[altoecko]

Shaun Of The Dead!!!! I love Shaun of the dead, it's funny, AND satisfies the Zombie void.

[The Toecutter]

Day of the Dead was awful. Training a zombie to be a friend? TRAINING A ZOMBIE TO BE A FRIEND!? What the hell was the director smoking...

[gray]

day of the dead wasn't the best of the three but it had enjoyable moments. night and dawn are both awesome. i saw the remake. it was okay. had some decent parts.

[jspaceman]

yo arson,

the original script for day of the dead was nothing what
the movie turned out to be. in fact, the original was a lot
more disturbing and violent in terms of american culture.
sadly, hollywood sucks and told romero to change the entire
script. so he did in order to finance his film. with the
increasing popularity of zombie films now, and the release
of the remake of dawn of the dead, romero got the funding
for his next zombie film of the series. it is tentatively called,
dead reckoning...and the script is brilliant. hopefully romero
can see his vision of america today in this film and make it
the way HE wants. romero is by far the best horror director
this country has ever known. check out his older films if
you can because they are genius.

and i cant believe you have seen redneck zombies!!!!! hilarious!

jspaceman
here to make the world a better place to live

[Funk]

I'm not really much of a movie monster person, so zombies, vampires, lycanthropes, etc. just don't do it for me.

Shaun of the Dead was pretty funny, though.

[Kefka Jr.]

The Resident Evil movies are vastly more entertaining than I ever expected them to be.

We're watching The Evil Dead (the first one) in Film class now. I've seen Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, and now that I've watched this much of The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 doesn't make that much sense to me plot-wise. I mean... do they just keep going back to the cabin, or what?

[John Mora]

That's what Raimi says.

[pinkymadigan]

28 days later indeed. 100% behind that movie. Shaun of the dead for a good laugh though.

[The Toecutter]

I never knew Jspace wss so into zombie fliks! You're ****ing awesome, J! I love watching zombies shamble around, and occassionally rip people to shreds.

[Big Rick Cook]

Evil Dead 2 is basically a remake of Evil Dead 1. They streamline the people who go to the cabin initially, and add more along the way. Evil Dead 1 has a spookier atmosphere, what with the chick in the basement, and the girl in the bedroom who sits on the floor and just creeps you the hell out before laughing maniacally until they kill her. Evil Dead 2 is more entertaining in that it has intended humor, and an actual plotline with a twist ending.

Army of Darkness is slightly different since it's not technically the same movie series, and that's why it doesn't match up 100% with the way Evil Dead 2 happens.

The games are a different story altogether. The first one is impossibly hard and the second one is insanely easy, but they at least follow the storyline set by Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness, more or less.

[Kefka Jr.]

Oh, yeah - I guess you could call Versus a zombie movie.

:shot

[The Toecutter]

Dead Alive is also a favorite of mine. That punk urinating on that guy's mother's grave is awesome, especially when she pulls his member and drags him in. Then there's that drunken bum shouting "YEARRRRGH!" cheering the lead character on as he's slamming the zombie baby against a pole.

Good times.

[SirTMagus]

But the RE movies are entertaining. And Romero's and Raimi's stuff and Shaun of the Dead rock. I haven't seen much else besides that.

This may sound like an odd recommendation at first but I consider Eugene Ionesco's existential play Rhinoceros to be perhaps (one of) the first modern zombie story(ies) despite there are rhinos in it, no zombies. It's about a guy who chooses to remain human while everyone else in the world transforms into a rhino. It's got some differences from the zombie genre (the characters seem to choose to transform) but it's got many of the same themes. The absurdity/insanity of humanity, isolation/alienation of the individual, desperation/rage of the few surviving, sins of society, etc.

I dunno, when I read it I couldn't stop thinking "Dude, replace the rhinos with zombies and you got a zombie movie!!" My professor agreed so, neh-eh. :|