Found this over at Starship Modeler's Movies forum: http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE5882VM20090909 (http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE5882VM20090909)

It's entitled Survival of the Dead (2009) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1134854/) and apparently has already premiered at the Venice Film Festival and not gotten terribly good reviews. But, I recall his previous movies not getting good public reviews, so will ignore that 'til I hear more on the movie.

One interesting thing about the IMDb entry is that it has Alan Van Sprang, who's been in two previous Romero Dead movies. His first foray was in to the more commercial Land of the Dead (2005) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418819/) as Brubaker. Then he played an Army (or possibly Army Guard) Colonel in Diary of the Dead (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0848557/). Both of those roles have him in BDU's (Battle Dress Uniform - formerly the US Military standard for all four branches of the Armed Forces), as does this movie.

My initial reaction is that this is awesome news! I can't wait to see this, as it reads like it's the movie I've been waiting for from Romero. I just hope he doesn't get a bit too over-the-top w/the military where stereotypes are concerned. I also hope he does the uniforms and presentation of the personnel right - that's one of the things I really dislike about "Day of the Dead".

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Thanks for the head's up. You're right, plenty of people hammered the last entry, Diary of the Dead, but I liked it quite a lot. There's a trailer and a sneak peek video on YouTube. Looks kind of like Romero's done sort of a zombie western, although it reportedly takes place on an island.

The closest I've come to disliking a Dead movie from Romero is Land, and I still liked it, so I look forward to this one.

Kewel! Thanks for posting those. Makes me want to see the movie even more now.

And yeah, I can't really find much wrong w/Land of the Dead, either. While I have no doubt it could have been better, it was still very nicely done. I mean, what do folks expect - Apocalypse Now...? :D

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Land of the Dead - almost as trite as ROTLD 4

Thinking and feeling zombies? I guess I'm a purist. I like my zombies mindless. I mean, come on, a guy who happens to be a vegetarian doesn't want to eat human flesh as a zombie? And is the indoctrination in the army so complete that, as a zombie, the person would still follow orders? If that was true, a zombie kid would still listen to his or her parents. "No, you don't eat people's brains! Now go clean your room!"

No thinking, feeling, problem solving undead. "Dawn" was the best, IMO.

Land of the Dead - almost as trite as ROTLD 4

Thinking and feeling zombies?
It's hinted at in other Romero movies, such as the BEST, REAL Dawn of the Dead (1978) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077402/) and Day of the Dead (12985) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088993/) w/Bub seeming to remember parts of his life. All of his movies have shown Zombies that try seem to remember minor bits of their lives, such as the Zombies trying to use simple tools. They also fear fire.

I guess I'm a purist. I like my zombies mindless.
If you were a purist, you'd not have had a single problem w/Land of the Dead. Romero made the genre what it is today, after all - and Land was his movie. It's also telling that you don't show them proper respect by giving them the capital Z that they deserve. ;)
I mean, come on, a guy who happens to be a vegetarian doesn't want to eat human flesh as a zombie? And is the indoctrination in the army so complete that, as a zombie, the person would still follow orders? If that was true, a zombie kid would still listen to his or her parents. "No, you don't eat people's brains! Now go clean your room!"
I have no clue what you're on about here. There were no "Vegetarian" Zombies in Land. No Zombies following human orders. Land of the Dead takes place on a penninsuala in Pittsburgh (tho it's never implicitly stated) and deals w/a clash between the Have's and Have Not's - and has one of the kewelest looking pieces of made-up hardware since Damnation Alley's (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075909/) Landmaster.

Are you thinking of that horrible Day of the Dead (2008) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489018/) w/Ving Rhames as Capt. Rhodes? And Mena Suvari as "Cpl Sarah"? That's the only thing I can think of you being on about. That was one horrible movie - and didn't even remotely resemble anything Romero-esque except that a bite from a "zombie" would turn you in to one of them. Meh....
No thinking, feeling, problem solving undead. "Dawn" was the best, IMO.
Unless you're talking about the 1978 Dawn, then you're definitely not a Zombie Purist. ;)

I enjoyed Zack Snyder's 2004 Dawn (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363547/), but the Zombies in that film run, can pull themselves along overhead water lines (what the frak?!?) and can run. Zombies don't run, they shamble. Zombies don't jump up and down, they try to reach up w/their atrophied, rigermortis limited muscles.

All said tongue-in-cheek, Michael. :)

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Thank you for the heads up . I will definately see this when it comes out ... I am also with the mindset that the original Dawn '78 is the greatest Zombie film of all time. I liked Night, Day, Land and Diary as well but Dawn still creeps me out to this day . Fast moving undead ? Naah - keep 'em slow and creepier ... Long live George Romero !
p.s. - There is another Z movie coming out called Zombietown - might be good even though not done by Romero - guess we will see ..

That would be Zombieland, which I mentioned in this thread (http://www.hobbytalk.com/bbs1/showthread.php?t=262913). Yes, definitely looks good, but the Zombies appear to run. Still, like with the 2004 Dawn, I can still look at it w/o having a jaundiced eye 'cause it looks like any disappointment over fast-movers will be replaced by some good, dark humor. :twisted:

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It's hinted at in other Romero movies, such as the BEST, REAL Dawn of the Dead (1978) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077402/) and Day of the Dead (12985) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088993/) w/Bub seeming to remember parts of his life. All of his movies have shown Zombies that try seem to remember minor bits of their lives, such as the Zombies trying to use simple tools. They also fear fire.


If you were a purist, you'd not have had a single problem w/Land of the Dead. Romero made the genre what it is today, after all - and Land was his movie. It's also telling that you don't show them proper respect by giving them the capital Z that they deserve. ;)

I have no clue what you're on about here. There were no "Vegetarian" Zombies in Land. No Zombies following human orders. Land of the Dead takes place on a penninsuala in Pittsburgh (tho it's never implicitly stated) and deals w/a clash between the Have's and Have Not's - and has one of the kewelest looking pieces of made-up hardware since Damnation Alley's (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075909/) Landmaster.

Are you thinking of that horrible Day of the Dead (2008) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489018/) w/Ving Rhames as Capt. Rhodes? And Mena Suvari as "Cpl Sarah"? That's the only thing I can think of you being on about. That was one horrible movie - and didn't even remotely resemble anything Romero-esque except that a bite from a "zombie" would turn you in to one of them. Meh....

Unless you're talking about the 1978 Dawn, then you're definitely not a Zombie Purist. ;)

I enjoyed Zack Snyder's 2004 Dawn (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0363547/), but the Zombies in that film run, can pull themselves along overhead water lines (what the frak?!?) and can run. Zombies don't run, they shamble. Zombies don't jump up and down, they try to reach up w/their atrophied, rigermortis limited muscles.

All said tongue-in-cheek, Michael. :)

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Hey man, I'm picking up what you're laying down. I did mean "Day".

I guess I don't like it when they change "Z"ombies too much. In one movie, they're really wicked fast and mindless but in the very next movie, they seemed to have evolved and so on down the line until a vegetarian patsy. What's next, a Zombie who's a Zombie rights activist?

Guess my undead lore knowledge pails in comparison to yours. I bow to you.

Here's another thing: How come they don't eat each other or themselves? Captain Rhodes did eat his own dangling eyeball in "Day". And how come they don't finish all the meat on the bone, y'know? Think they're trying to increase their numbers by leaving a little left?

Also, how do they differentiate between the [un]dead and the living? If you were to don some make-up and walk amongst them, would they know you're not one of them? Would be interesting to see than in a movie. Or even have the undead ignore someone with a physical deformity or an amputation and use that person as the go-to guy or gopher.

Well, for starters, you've got realize that there are Romero Zombies, then there are all the other zombie-like undead. The 2008 Day you're speaking of isn't a Romero movie, they just took some very basic elements from his 1982 movie and incorporated them in to this new, horrible movie. Most fans of Zombie movies I know of ignore that movie.

"Purist" Zombie fans tend to pretty much only include those Romero movies and/or those which follow his Zombie Rules. I guess I'm a bit of a purist, tho also enjoy a lot of other movies of the genre, as well. Shaun of the Dead is one which follows the Romero Rules for Zombies - very smart and funny movie, that. The 2004 retelling of Dawn of the Dead doesn't completely follow them. In fact, LOTS of Zombie-esque movies don't follow the Romero Rules for Zombies.

Oh, and you mentioned "Land", which I assume meant "Land of the Dead", but are definitely getting it confused w/that lame 2008 Day of the Dead. They are two completely and totally different movies. I've got just about every Zombie flick out there on DVD and have watched them all multiple times, tho admit I don't have a few of the fan-produced movies, as well as Zombie Strippers and a few others. However, I've got over 20 Zombie Genre movies in my collection and have seen just about every movie related to the subject, so have a pretty good idea of which I speak.

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Yeah, "Land" was with Hopper and Leguizamo. I get that confused with "Day" for some reason. Be assured, when I'm referring to the crappy one, I mean "Day".

so where do you stand on the Living Dead remake movies? Do they keep with zombie lore and canon or is it just brainless entertainment?

Get it? Brainless?

"Send more paramedics!"

I like the first two Living Dead flicks just fine. Those afterward, not at all. In fact, the first one is full of all kinds of laughs, as is the second. Just that the second isn't quite as funny as the first, a lot of gags seeming to have been repeated.

For me, the hierachy of Zombies is:

1) The Romero Zombie Movies - Night of the Living Dead (both the 1968 and 1990 versions), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Diary of the Dead and now Survival of the Dead.
a) Shaun of the Dead, the Argento Zombi 2, The Zombie Diaries and the Resident Evil flicks because they both follows the Romero Rules For Zombies.

2) Dawn of the Dead (2004).

3) Fan-type movies that have Zombies and mostly follow the Romero Rules for Zombies - Zombi 3, Zombi 4, Zombi 5, Severed, The Quick and the Dead, The Dead Next Door and The Undead.

4) Movies that are very similar, tho w/minor differences, such as 28 Days Later, 28 Weeks Later and Quarantine. Also, White Zombie (1932) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023694/), pretty much the one that started it all.

5) All other Zombie-esque films.

I still usually enjoy any Zombie movies, but there are still a few that are stinker enough to make me cringe.


BTW, Frank Darabont (The Mist, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, etc...) has a deal w/AMC to produce a regular series of "The Walking Dead", a comic book series published by Image Comics which deals w/how a group of people centered around a former small county deputy deal w/how things go to rot during the Zombie Apocalypse. It's a live-action version of the comic book, tho they'll have to tone down a lot of details. The Zombies in this comic series follow The Romero Rules for Zombies.

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:thumbsup:

Jeffrey: You've nailed it in your analysis/review of the zombie movies! I agree completely (except for fan-type movies I haven't seen that you mentioned--don't know about those).

I can't wait to see this latest one! Looks like a fun "Zombie Safari!"


Let's go shootin' now
Everybody's smellin' sour
Come on a zombie safari with me
(Come on a zombie safari with...)

Early in the evenin' we'll be startin' out
To the cemetery on Franklin Road
Some zombies will be comin' along
We're boardin' up the house
with Barbara inside
and shooting 'til their heads are gone

Come on (Barb'ra) they're comin' to getcha (Zombie safari)
Yes I'm gonna (Barb'ra) take you shootin' (Zombie safari) with me
Come on (Barb'ra) they're comin' to getcha (Zombie safari)
Yes I'm gonna (Barb'ra) take you shootin' (Zombie safari) with me

Let's go shootin' now
Everybody's smellin' sour
Come on a zombie safari with me
(Come on a zombie safari with...)

At Evans City on Ash Stop Road
They're not shooting deer
At Pittsburgh they're nailing the nose
We're going on safari shooting zombies this year
So if you're loaded get ready to go

Come on (Barb'ra) they're comin' to getcha (Zombie safari)
Yes I'm gonna (Barb'ra) take you shootin' (Zombie safari) with me
Come on (Barb'ra) they're comin' to getcha (Zombie safari)
Yes I'm gonna (Barb'ra) take you shootin' (Zombie safari) with me

Let's go shootin' now
Everybody's smellin' sour
Come on a zombie safari with me
(Come on a zombie safari with...)

Their flesh is fallin' off on Fort Pitt Boulevard
Karen Cooper's got a trowel too
I tell you zombies're mighty wild
She'll murder her mother today
And gnaw her bones from her head to her toes

Come on (Barb'ra) they're comin' to getcha (Zombie safari)
Yes I'm gonna (Barb'ra) take you shootin' (Zombie safari) with me
Come on (Barb'ra) they're comin' to getcha (Zombie safari)
Yes I'm gonna (Barb'ra) take you shootin' (Zombie safari) with me

Let's go shootin' now
Everybody's smellin' sour
Come on a zombie safari with me
(Come on a zombie safari with...)

With me
(Zombie safari)
Yeah me
(Zombie safari)
With me
(Zombie safari)
Yeah me
(Zombie safari)
With me

Also, how do they differentiate between the [un]dead and the living? If you were to don some make-up and walk amongst them, would they know you're not one of them? Would be interesting to see than in a movie.
I take it you haven't seen Shaun of the Dead.

must've been a bathroom break.

BEBruns is talking about the scene where Liz's friend Dianne, the actress chick who was with David (the guy in glasses who was in Love w/Liz but couldn't admit it to even himself) teaches everyone method acting - so they all pretend to be Zombies. They do alright for a bit, shambling and limping along, moaning, not making direct eye contact up to the front of The Winchester pub. In fact, they have a problem only once Ed's phone rings and he picks it up, speaking to one of his Bud Mates.

Zombies aren't terribly intelligent things is what I think they're trying to say. :D

However, I don't know how Romero would address the issue in one of his movies. I've read a number of Zombie novels and short story collections and there are prolly half a dozen stories that actually deal w/this issue, as does the novel World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, by Max Brooks (excellent book that you should read if you haven't - and soon to be a major motion picture). Most of the stories allow for people to succeed only by becoming mentally unbalanced and adopting a mindset similar to a Zombie, tho most of them don't have the humans who've Zeed out actually becoming cannibals, just mostly acting like Zee's.

Yes, I'm perhaps a bit obsessed w/the subject of Zombies. Some people are hooked on Vampires, some on Werewolves - or sports, motorcycle riding, decking out their cars, etc... For me, it's Zombies.

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the Zombies can smell yer brainzzz . ;)
hb

So... No other hard-core Zombie fans like me around here. Y'know how I know? 'Cause ain't nobody been trackin' the movie! :roll:

:p


SOME SPOILERS! NOTHING MAJOR, THO!


Discovered last night that this movie is available on Video On Demand on at least AT&T U-Verse - and it's likely available on others, as well.

Initial thoughts: good movie! Prolly Romero's best when you take the whole movie in to consideration. I know a lot of folks didn't like "Diary" and if you hatee it, you might not like this one. But it's got a LOT more action, less exposition, more plot and - believe it or not - more gore.

IMNSHO, the characters are just as believable as in "Diary" and seem fairly well thought-out, which is something I personally liked about "Diary". He's got the usual commentary on modern-day society, as well - the world is falling apart around them and some characters are stuck on greed of money, as well as wanting to settle ages-old debts of revenge.

One of the main character in this movie was seen in "Diary" - the two military jeeps that pull over the Winnebago w/the characters in "Diary". You remember them - the bandits who took all of the food and drinks from the main characters, but were at least good enough to leave them their weapons. Alan Van Sprang, who was the leader of that group, is the same character and is the leader of this group, as well. He was also Brubaker in "Land of the Dead" and plays the character Sarge in "Survival".

This movie has a much better overall portrayal of the military, IMNSHO, than we've seen in previous Romero Dead movies. Sarge and his crew are fairly realistic in how they're portrayed once the chain of command crumbles to nothing. They go rogue, but not so mercenary or heartless that they kill indiscrimently. At least, not that we see nor are we lead to believe that they're cruel and so selfish that they'd leave a baby by the side of the road to be eaten.

And that's all the details I'm going to give on this movie. I honestly did enjoy it, tho was disappointed in some things that I felt could have been done a bit differently. The SFX are pretty good, tho some aspects of them aren't terribly realistic. But again, this is escapist fantasy and isn't meant to be picked apart with a magnifying glass - just like most other movies these days.

It cost me $7 to "rent" it for two days. I'll definitely be adding this to my Zombie Apocylpse Collection once it's released to DVD.

That's all I've got. Love to hear comments from any others who've seen it.

Edit


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I saw this movie on HD Movie Net for free a couple of weeks ago. It was pretty good. It had all of the Romero zombie kills in it and some new ones.

Loved this movie. It was a lot spookier to me than Diary and seemed more serious. The zombie sister was really creepy.

I saw this film on video the other day. My son rented it. It's pretty good. It's not my favorite Romero Zombie flick, but, as usual, it takes a different view of the whole Zombie thing.