Diary of the Dead

[MrColossal]

The closest to real that this scenario could ever become would be like 28 Days Later. A virus that infects our minds and makes us go crazy. You never die and come back to life, you just start eating people.

This, in decades time, could be quite possible. However, someone designing a virus with those distinct effects and having it released into the wild is a highly improbable... But I believe it could be possible at some point in time.

The interesting thing is that imagine that scenario for a story, a group of mad scientists create this virus. If we have the ability to do that we have the ability to create another virus or antidote to the virus. So it would infect a bunch of people and a new antidote would be released and everyone would be fine. Then the crazy scientists would be back to the drawing board.

It could be like a constant one-upping of crazy deadly super science.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I don't mind different takes on zombies from different directors at all.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed 28 Days Later's departure from the 'standard' by using an infection that just makes people wildly furious.  Romero, however, has long established his zombies as behaving a certain way, so in 'the Romero universe', zombies rot, zombies move slow both due to injuries sustained before/after death and due to the decaying process of death.  Zombies also (up until Day) showed only the merest intelligence (unless you count Johnny's bizarre ability to just show up and get Barbara at the end as an intelligent action and not coincidence) and the most popular theory (aside from hell being overcrowded) was a passing meteor. 

On an aside, a funny euro zombie film I watched not to long ago called Night of the Living Dorks might get some laughs from fans of Evil Dead/Fido/Shaun of the Dead.  Quite a bit of slapstick humor in it.

Avoid Flight of the Living Dead, however.  Or see it at your peril.

[LGM]

You should ask Stupot what he thinks. Perhaps they're already doing this. They create super-AIDS, find a cure, sell antidotes, then super-duper AIDS, then super-duper cure, and the cycle goes on!!!

I mean, just think about it!

Edit: Yes, ProgZ... Flight of the Dead was just awful. I was decieved. It's not even entertainingly-bad. It's just bad.

[Sneaker]

I haven't seen Flight of the Dead yet, it is going to be released somewhere in February in Holland. BTW, I really recommend Undead. I really enjoyed that movie, funny with great zombies. 

[Stupot]

You should ask Stupot what he thinks. Perhaps they're already doing this. They create super-AIDS, find a cure, sell antidotes, then super-duper AIDS, then super-duper cure, and the cycle goes on!!!

I mean, just think about it!

Edit: Yes, ProgZ... Flight of the Dead was just awful. I was decieved. It's not even entertainingly-bad. It's just bad.

The common cold was created in a laboratory by representatives of Lemsip, Vicks and Olbas.
It's obvious.

[LimpingFish]

Some zombie flicks from recent memory:

The Zombie Dead (Italy, 1981): Weird incest sub-plot aside (including a scene which brings a whole new meaning to the term "breast-feeding"!), this is a fairly decent zombiethon. A number of scenes remind me of Resident Evil 4, as "zombies", armed with farming implements, storm a country house. The zombie make-up is fairly down-market, unfortunately. Scores points for sheer weirdness, though.

Zombi Holocaust (Italy, 1982): Belongs more to the Cannibal movie cycle of the same period. The zombies are lame, and bring nothing to the "plot". Overall, a fairly lousy film.

Zombie Flesh Eaters (Italy, 1979): Responsible for kick-starting the post-Dawn Italian zombie cycle (and marketed in Europe as a "direct" sequel), this is probably my favourite from the period. It's shot well, has good zombies, and features the best Zombie vs Shark fight scene in the history of cinema!

Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 (Italy, 1988): Mostly awful retread of it's predecessor, but a couple of interesting scenes make it (barely) worth watching

Zombie Flesh Eaters 3 (Italy, 1988): Shockingly awful shite, with gay pornstar Jeff Stryker as the lead. Words cannot describe how hilarliously atrocious this movie is. Inept in every department, this epic shuffles from awful scene to awful scene much like the titular antagonists, whose makeup jobs resemble wet newspaper. If anybody recommends you watch this movie, kick them in the balls and run.

Zombie Creeping Flesh (Italy, 1982): Despite a very poor first half, featuring the least likely SWAT team in movie history storming a terrorist-held embassy, a few scenes of zombie carnage in the latter half elevate this above the norm. Still a fairly bad movie, though.

The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue (Italy, 1974): Probably the best pre-Dawn Euro-zombie movie, this British-set story is well made, with convincing zombies. Definitely recommended.

Dellamorte Dellamore (Italy, 1994): A truly excellent film, that demands repeated viewings. Find it, watch it!

The following aren't technically pure zombie movies, though they extensively feature zombies:

The City of the Living Dead, The Beyond, and The House by the Cemetery are a trilogy of movies from Italian director Lucio Fulci. Although owing as much to Lovecraft as to Romero, all feature zombies and scenes of zombie attack. All three are definitely worth watching.

The Blind Dead: The Blind Dead quadrilogy is a mostly excellent series of Spanish horror films, made between 1971 and 1975. Though not "true" zombies, The Blind Dead are a band of undead templar knights who ride out of the surf on their undead horses to terrorize and kill various people throughout the series. The first film, Tombs of the Blind Dead, and the final film, Night of the Seagulls, are the best.

For those interested on the history of the zombie movie, I've found the following two books to be indispensable:

Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema

Eaten Alive!: Italian Cannibal and Zombie Movies

(The other books featured on Amazon along with those two are also great, particularly Shock! Horror! Astounding Artwork from the Video Nasty Era.)

[LGM]

I second Dellamorte Dellamore, or Cemetary Man for some areas. It is quite lovely.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie is the title I saw The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue under (for a half-second I was wondering if I somehow missed a zombie film!).  It was okay, a bit drawn out in spots and the cop was impossibly stupid, but overall it was interesting.  Didn't like Cemetery Man at all, sorry.  Felt like they were trying too hard to get an art grant or something, especially the ending. 

[LimpingFish]

Yeah. 'Manchester Morgue has sixteen (!) different titles, according to IMDB, so it can be easily mistaken for a different movie. I agree, ProgZ, about the cop being especially stupid; the fact that he seems to be some sort of fanatical hippy-hater first, and a detective second, is pretty absurd. Overall, though, the film has a genuinely creepy sense of doom about it, and the "lead" zombie (complete with post-autopsy stitches) is a great visual character.

Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man) seems to divide viewers; some people love it, some absolutely despise it. I think, regardless of the genre it belongs to, it's a genuine attempt at a story that, while adhering more or less to the established template of the Zombie (slow and lumbering, shot to the head to kill, etc), tries to build something new around it.

[Huw Dawson]

Zombie Awesomeness = Planet Terror. Other than the first 10 mins of the film, its zombie goodness all the way through. Apart from the Tarantino cameo. Blobzilla?? 

- Huw

EDIT: Oooh. Green Goodness...

[Evil]

I loved Tarantino's cameo. It gave you a good sense of what the virus did to people. Willis's part was too over the top. At least the blob was better than the hulk that Willis turned into. Looked like a fleshy Hitler Mecha from Wolfenstein. Besides, Planet Terror didn't even have that many Zombie scenes in it!

Funny bit of info, Tarantino plays one of the zombies that kills Fergie. On the DVD special features she talks about how he kept biting her on the neck and leaving hickies and marks.

[Chrille]

Did any of you see the Grapes of Death? It's a french zombie-flick from 1978 about the owner of a vineyard spraying the fields with some pretty bad stuff and the local population turns into zombies. It might sound really (and is, fairly) silly. But it's rather well done and very entertaining too. If you can find it, go for it.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

I've seen movies with a similar plot to Grapes of Death but I will watch it nonetheless.  Thanks!

[Sneaker]

First Clip from Romero's Diary of the Dead
Source: The Weinstein Company
February 1, 2008

This is the beginning of the end. Courtesy of The Weinstein Company, we now have the first clip from George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead (opening February 15th). The footage, taken from the outset of the film, features exactly what you want...zombies, zombies, zombies! More "Diary" coverage on the way.

clip: http://www.shocktillyoudrop.com/news/topnews.php?id=4456

[LGM]

Awesome, that's a neat way to introduce it this time round. The line delivery is stupid, though, but I guess acting was never a focal point for Romero.

[Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens]

That looked really, really cruddy, like one of the many z-grade zombie films I've seen.

[Gravity]

One of my most beloved topics to talk about. Zombies. Well for movies anyway. Out of all the zombie movies none are better than the ones George A. Romero has made. Land of The Dead was not exactly the way I would have liked it to be but still watchable. Night/Dawn/Day of The Dead are by far the best ones ever to grace movies. I am stoked that a new one is being made by him and no matter how it actually turns out I will watch and buy it just to add to the Romero Zombie Collection. Strange that I would use this topic to post on after I have been away for three years and some months. Such is the power of zombieness. I'm back, by the way, for the few who still remember me.

[deadsuperhero]

Well, it can't possibly be as bad as the last zombie film I watched, "Undead".
The cover looked so awesome, but it ended up looking like a horror movie made by the folks who made "Flyin' Ryan" (a film so bad that it was kind of good)

[Stupot]

If anyone hasn't seen Bad Taste you should put it on your to-do list.
OK the monsters in that film are technically aliens, not zombies, but the effect is exactly the same.

[radiowaves]

Ahahah, Bad Taste is just pure classic XD The effects, the plot, sounds, everything is just pure awesomness!