Episode 135 - Romero's Dead (part 2)

[kingstownted]

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More of the Master. The second trio of zombie films from Romero are discussed this week and as could be expected opinions are divided. After a 20 year (!) hiatus from the genre, Romero returned to the living dead in 2005 with Land of the Dead. Those who grew up with a love of the classic films were beside themselves in anticipation and the result was something that allows for great discussion. Since then we have been given two more instalments with Diary of the Dead (2007) and now Survival of the Dead (2009) which have earned for perhaps the first time outright criticism from even the most devout fans.

We offer up our take on these films and consider what the future may hold for George and again we prepared mini-commentaries in 16x speed. It should not be understated that regardless of personal opinion of what the films have offered, having three zombie movies from Romero in the span of four years is pretty remarkable for those of us who lived through that two decade drought.

This week's Italian Horror instalment is 1981's The House By The Cemetary from Lucio Fulci. The third chapter of Fulci's death trilogy is an eye opener for Ted and we begin to draw the delineations between the varied film styles of the directors examined.

Some Romero remakes and voicemails round out the show.

We always welcome your comments: [e-mail]
Voicemail Line [phone]

[smurfwreck]

I think the reason that Land of the dead only made 20 odd million domestically in the US has to do with two things.

One, the flick was released in the middle of the summer blockbuster season in 2005. Going up against flicks like Revenge of the Sith, Batman Begins, Cinderella Man, Madagascar, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and War of the Worlds, and that's just naming the flicks released in the month before and of Land of the Dead. People were also pumped for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Wedding Crashers and Fantastic Four coming in the following month. I mean there was no way Land of the Dead was going to draw money away from Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Tim Burton, George Lucas, Star Wars, Ron Howard, Batman, and Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie at the height of the Bradjolina craziness, etc. etc.

Two, the flick was released in the middle of summer. Seriously, who thought it would be a good idea to keep horror movies out of October and the Fall? Not only is it dead theatrically, but people are craving that kind of entertainment around Halloween.

Add to this the fact that it was rated R during a season rife with teenagers hitting the cinemas and you have a recipe for disaster.

The same thing happened to Drag Me to Hell, which granted did better, but no where near what it could have done if it were released away from the summer (especially considering Sam Raimi was freaking SAM RAIMI director of billion dollar movies at that point.)

[smurfwreck]

Oh and sorry, I'm responding while I'm listening...

The Dawn of the Dead remake came out in March, the calm before the summer storm and it took advantage of that financially.

I think in the case of 28 Days Later, it got lucky that word of mouth was so bad on the Ang Lee Hulk movie and Mostow's Terminator 3, that it didn't have much competition in June and the beginning of July of '03. Sure the 2nd Matrix flick was pulling in the dough, but it had been in theaters almost six or seven weeks before 28 Days Later hit, and the next big money grabber was Pirates of the Caribbean a month after 28DL. It got some cushioning that let it breathe.

[808synikal]

loved land of the dead. refuse to watch the other two. will taint what i have now

[Tom]

Another great episode.

I think I'm totally in agreement with Ted on both Survival and Diary - just two terrible films, Survival especially. Again, like Ted I did find at least a couple of things to like in Diary, but I don't think I had anything positive to say about Survival.

I have had the comment made to me "you're expecting too much because it's a Romero film", but to be honest, I don't buy it - especially after disliking Diary so much, I went into Survival with nothing but low expectations. I do still have a lot of affection for Romero, so was rooting for him to at least make an entertaining film in its own right; it wouldn't have to change my world, just hold together and be an entertaining zombie film; it couldn't even reach that level.

I'm wary of pimping my own product on another podcasts forum (although the link is in my sig, it's there to take or leave), but seeing as this has been a Romero-esque couple of episodes, I do think people may find it interesting. I spoke to Joe Pilato aka Captain Rhodes back in February and he spoke about a lot fo things, like his feelings towards the remakes and the new version of Night of the Living Dead, that he too is in. He's playing Harry Cooper, which I think is actually a good piece of casting. Anyway, if you'll forgive me here's the link:

www.geekplanetonline.com/gen_horror/?p=episode&name=2010-02-26_joe_pilato_special.mp3

House By The Cemetary - the third part of the unnofficial 7 gates of hell trilogy, and probably my least favourite (the first two being 'City of the Living Dead' and 'The Beyond'). I agree that it's painfully slow up to a point, with a good payoff. City too can be pretty slowly paced at times. The Beyond though is my favourite as I don't think it suffers with the pacing issue.

[hammermancunian]

Great episode.
Regarding SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD if someone told me in 1985 as i came out of the cinema after watching DAY OF THE DEAD that not only would i not be excited about a Romero zombie movie but i wouldnt be that mithered about actually seeing it id have laughed in their face.
Ive still not watched it,maybe its time.
As for LAND OF THE DEAD i heard a few tales of people falling asleep in the cinema.I enjoyed it although id have liked to have seen the return of Fran and Peter in there somewhere just to know everything turned out right for them in the end and they didnt end up out of fuel and ripped to bloody bits.

House By The Cemetary.
Long time no see but i do remember the little kid had a really strange dubbing job.At one point he says "hello" to the little red head girl in a manner similar to that of the Cadburys Parrot.
Apologies to those not familiar with the Cadburys Parrot.

Little Bob says HELLO at 04.27
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h-9YEy2JVs

Cadburys Parrot says HELLO at 0.17
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm8kCF_9Uns

Maybe its just me.

[voodoo79]

I love land of the dead it is Romero's big return to the zombie's he created with all the the rules we all know and has been reused in most of today's modern zombie films
and the dawn remake was a huge let down those where not zombies at all they looked like rejects from 28 days later
Ill be honest
diary and survival of the dead go off in a new direction a more modern day retelling but are very lack luster on social commentary
unlike land day dawn and night while the 4 previous films reflected the era that they are made in the new films do not why don't you guys talk about other Romero films like knight riders martin so on and so forth ?

[mathias]

I really think Doug hit the nail on the head when he talks about Land of the dead suffering from political fatigue. I know that the heavy handed message really kills it for me. Ted mentions about Survival that Romero at this point lacks the ability to deliver a subtle message. I think that applies equally to Land as well.

For the record, I'm a horror fan, not "mainstream" audience, and a romero fan. So yes, the whole political message does affect that segment as well.

[doug]

Figured people may be interested in this. It's an interview that Ryan Rotten did with Romero. A lot of it is standard, but they do talk about working with CGI in order to stay on budget, and the equilibrium that must be established between getting the effects you want, and maintaining control over the picture.

www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/interviewsnews.php?id=15173

[Stuart]

Romero may have re-invented the living dead/zombie subgenre with NOTLD but I think he struck out on the wrong track with his post-apocalyptic universe and sentient zombies. The fright factor of people rising from the dead and hunting the living seems to have been lost somewhere along the way. I suppose that can only work so many times but, in evolving the idea, Romero has replaced that simple core concept with an elaborate vision of society in meltdown in order to deliver a social/political commentary. Enjoyable as most of his films are, he could have done that job without the use of zombies. Personally, I think zombies could use a reboot at the hands of someone who has the courage and the imagination to present, or re-present, zombies in an original and genuinely frightening way.

[dogme]

I watched land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead one right after the other recently and really enjoyed them both. This was despite the constant slagging off of both films, especially the second one. Haven't watched Survival, but I'll get around to it. If George wants to keep making a zombie movie every two years without the help of major film studios, then I'm all for it

[misterd]

May 11, 2010 11:30:18 GMT -5 mathias said:

I really think Doug hit the nail on the head when he talks about Land of the dead suffering from political fatigue. I know that the heavy handed message really kills it for me.

I think that may explain why the film might leave a bad aftertaste, but 90% of the viewing audience won't care about that BEFORE they walk in. I don't think I've ever seen anyone walking into a zombie flick because they want to hear the filmmakers message.