ALL THINGS ZOMBIE

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

2 minutes ago, PII said:

If a guy in Haiti creates a zombie today in the same way they have always been produced in his culture would it not be a zombie just because a lot of people think of a zombie as a flesh-eating re-animated corpse?

Your analogy is specious.

If an Englishman goes fishing and an Asian man goes fishing but calls the activity by a different word they are still partaking in the same activity.

Likewise just because the activity and behaviors exhibited in Caligeri take place outside of the context of Haitian Voodoo that does not change that the essence of what's occurring being the same.

We may, as you say, however; agree to disagree if you like.

Ha, that made me laugh... no, your analogies are specious!!!

I was going to write up a big retort here, but this is going to get circular and neither one of us is going to change our minds, so we'll just leave it at that...  

[PII | 1,886]

3 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Ha, that made me laugh... no, your analogies are specious!!!

I was going to write up a big retort here, but this is going to get circular and neither one of us is going to change our minds, so we'll just leave it at that...  

Fine by me.

and you misspelled "you're."  

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

2 minutes ago, PII said:

and you misspelled "you're."  

Where?  Unless this is a dig, I'm not seeing it...

[PII | 1,886]

4 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Where?  Unless this is a dig, I'm not seeing it...

Oh, yeah; guess I've been lookin at blips on the screen too long.  Why's it underlined?  That's what spell check does when it thinks something is wrong...

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

2 minutes ago, PII said:

Oh, yeah; guess I've been lookin at blips on the screen too long.  Why's it underlined?  That's what spell check does when it thinks something is wrong...

I guess I should've italicized it instead, but it was underlined for emphasis.  A five year old says, "you're stupid."  The other five year old says, "no, you're stupid!" with heavy emphasis on the "you're."

Edited October 14, 2022 by Dr. Morbis

[PII | 1,886]

3 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

I guess I should've italicized it instead, but it was underlined for emphasis.  A five year old says, "you're stupid."  The other five year old says, "no, you're stupid!" with heavy emphasis on the "youl're."

Ah, well; at any rate you inspired me to do something I enjoy.  Thanks for that.  Maybe someone besides the two of us will actually read that monster post...

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

Just now, PII said:

Ah, well; at any rate you inspired me to do something I enjoy.  Thanks for that.  Maybe someone besides the two of us will actually read that monster post...

Yeah, the weird part is that it's the sequel to a really good zombie movie.  But they fucked it up so bad that it just might be the worst sequel of all time (sorry Exorcist II)...

[PII | 1,886]

6 hours ago, Tabonga said:

I am pretty sure I have all of the domestically released zombie movies on laserdisc

That could make for an awesome pic at some future point.

I'll never forget the first time I found a box of 2nd hand laserdiscs.  I thought they were vinyl records at first.  Then I picked one up.  It was like a slab of stone tile.

[Tabonga | 2,324]

This is a somewhat intense but very intriguing movie:

 

[PII | 1,886]

6 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Yeah, the weird part is that it's the sequel to a really good zombie movie.  But they fucked it up so bad that it just might be the worst sequel of all time (sorry Exorcist II)...

Maybe its what happens when the original is seen as too successful to not make a sequel so it just has to be forced even though there's a crap script to go on.  I'm hard pressed to think of a worse ZM sequel off the top of my head.

[PII | 1,886]

6 minutes ago, Tabonga said:

This is a somewhat intense but very intriguing movie:

 

The book that this was loosely based on is a really fascinating read.

[DoctorEncore | 3,691]

On 10/12/2022 at 8:40 PM, Dr. Morbis said:

Amazing collection, but two things:

1 - 28 Days Later is great, but 28 Weeks Later is probably the worst "we're trying our hardest to make a good movie" movie I've ever seen in my entire life.

And 2 - how is Plan 9 a zombie movie?  Granted I haven't seen it in like 25 years, but I don't remember any zombies...

I saw 28 Days Later in the theater and it is probably my all-time favorite zombie movie. The "original" ending is super bleak and great, although I don't mind the optimistic theatrical ending. There is also a batshit crazy alternate second half that you can check out in the special features on the DVD/Blu-Ray.

I also saw 28 Weeks Later in the theaters and I thought it was quite good, although I couldn't tell you a thing about it. I'll have to give it a rewatch some time and see if I still like it.

All I know is that I'd gladly watch a 28 Months Later if they got Boyle and Garland back.

Edited October 14, 2022 by DoctorEncore

[guitarzombie | 924]

On 10/13/2022 at 4:57 PM, PII said:

Yeah, that's odd, but weirdly appropriate somehow.  The interior shots of the house seem pretty twisty-turny overall, even a bit labyrinthine which would be a real accomplishment shooting in a small farmhouse.  That's how it is in my memory anyway.

Great Story!  As far as I'm concerned you've officially written yourself into Living Dead History!

Have a great weekend!

Thanks!  I relayed the story to Russ Streiner yesterday because I wanted to tell him afterwards, I found that picture that proved it.  He not only remembered but asked me to send him the picture (which I'm gonna do soon).  He theorized that the only reason it makes some sense is so you can reach the bathroom on the 2nd floor from either part of the house, instead of walking around to the same side.  I said that makes the most sense to me.  Can't think of any other better reason haha.

[guitarzombie | 924]

*Deleted duplicate post*

Edited October 16, 2022 by guitarzombie

[PII | 1,886]

Caught "Night Of The Comet" on Comet earlier this evening.  Def. one to watch with pizza, beer and friends aka the peanut gallery in full effect!

Also, here is a list of Zmovies contained on the compilation disks in the first post:

Teenage Zombies

King of Zombies

Last Of The Living

Grave Mistake

I Am Omega

Awaken The Dead

Zombie Dearest

Hide & Creep

Carnival Of Souls*

Dead Men Walk

Horror Of The Zombies   aka   The Ghost Galleon   aka   Blind Dead 3

House Of The Living Dead

Mutant

The Snake People

Dead And Gone*

Boy Eats Girl

Return Of The Living Dead 3

Return Of The Living Dead Necropolis

Destined To Be Ingested

Revolt Of The Zombies

Die-Ner

Ashes

Autumn

I Eat Your Skin

Mortuary

River Of Darkness

Shaolin VS Evil Dead

Shaolin VS Evil Dead 2

Kung Fu Zombie

We're Going To Eat You

Spirited Killer 2

Spirited Killer 3

Kung Fu From Beyond The Grave

*Originally I wasn't going to count "Carnival Of Souls" or "Dead And Gone" because in both cases the zombie-like characters are figments of imagination, but having thought it over again that may have been too picky.  Anyway, it's debatable...

 

[guitarzombie | 924]

Got back from Evans City last night.  Way too many cool things.  Befriending Chris Stavrakis over library music, talking about personal growth with Gary Streiner, helping Ella Mae Smith and Paula Richards, talking Beatles and jazz with Howard Sherman and Mike Gornick, and Russ Streiner informing me that I told him something he has never heard in 50 years and is the geekiest bit of trivia he heard.  Great times.  Was too busy helping to really take a lot of pictures but I did get on the farmhouse grounds and FINALLY visited the Monroeville Airport.

If you dont know those names, I'm asking for your zombie geek cred.

[Tabonga | 2,324]

Here is a clip from a somewhat obscure flic called Zombies on Broadway.  A not very good horror comedy with ersatz Abbot and Costello leads -  it did have Bela Lugosi in it but he was far from his career peak by 1945.  It does have a fair amount of camp appeal.

This is a far superior horror comedy from that period:

This is probably the best horror comedy of the period:

 

Edited October 17, 2022 by Tabonga

[PII | 1,886]

I wasn't  planning on making a post every time I see that a zombie movie is on the tube, but I just noticed that of all things "MESSIAH OF EVIL" is on right now, this vary minute on:

MOVIES!

Kind of surprising, as I've never seen it on regular tv and just wouldn't really expect to see it there either, but since it is one of my all time favorites I'm mentioning it.

[nesmaster14 | 436]

^ Nice, the intro/music from that movie always stood out to me.  I probably already missed that part though, darn haha.

That reminds me when I saw House (1977, Japan) on TV a few years ago.  It was almost surreal seeing it broadcast on TV, especially in the USA.  I think it was on TCM and they even had an intro where they talked briefly about the film.   It's definitely a cool experience catching a somewhat obscure film broadcast on regular TV.   I don't even watch TV, but around halloween I do like to go down and see what films they're showing, it's like an event.

[PII | 1,886]

1 hour ago, nesmaster14 said:

^ Nice, the intro/music from that movie always stood out to me.  I probably already missed that part though, darn haha.

That reminds me when I saw House (1977, Japan) on TV a few years ago.  It was almost surreal seeing it broadcast on TV, especially in the USA.  I think it was on TCM and they even had an intro where they talked briefly about the film.   It's definitely a cool experience catching a somewhat obscure film broadcast on regular TV.   I don't even watch TV, but around halloween I do like to go down and see what films they're showing, it's like an event.

Wow, pretty much exact same for me; generally don't watch television at all with very little exception.  Except this time of year I feel like checking in particular for obscure films, typically in the horror/sci-fi vein.

I have def. heard of "House" and that it is something special but not seen it yet.  After reading up on it again briefly, it sounds like something I'd appreciate.

It is really kind of amazing to me that something as accomplished as "Messiah Of Evil" can fly under the radar for decades.  It is a rare sort of film that makes me feel like I am not so much watching a "movie" per say, but rather a painting on celluloid that happens to move...  Another factor in this film (regardless of whether we're talking fiction or stone cold reality) is how it possesses many different shades of what we might call "the zombie phenomenon".... There is a lot of subtlety (much more than I will get into at this point) and I always catch new things every time I watch it.

Spoiler

The Zombies, in this case are: Intelligent, but dispatch-able in the usual manor, by headshot or otherwise total destruction of the physical body.  Also, the phenomenon seems to be limited to a set geographical region as evidenced by the fact that Arletty did not succumb once she got out of point Dune even though she had been showing multiple symptoms prior.  Additionally, not everyone seems to be susceptible to whatever causes the change.  Neither was there any evidence of bites causing the change but rather some more subtle shift in the mind eg. the two cops who show up.

 

[Tabonga | 2,324]

This is really pretty good and a bit different take on thingsL

 

[Mega Tank | 967]

On 10/13/2022 at 10:16 PM, PII said:

@Dr. Morbis Challenge accepted.

Here is a brief documentation of just some of the things I noticed to be flawed, wrong, ridiculous etc. with 28 weeks later.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

                                     28 WEEKS LATER

Opening scene: Don and his wife Alice are in a boarded up cottage.  Don expresses gratitude that they decided to pay so that their 2 children could go on a school trip and that is how they know the kids are safe right now.  It's 7 months after the initial cataclysm and they haven't seen their kids.  How in the heck do they know that they're safe?  Did someone call them on the horn as the world was crumbling to say: "Don't worry, everyone on the field trip is going to a really great refugee camp, catch ya later!"  Even so, one would think the parents would be fraught with worry over whether or not the kids are ok, if they'll ever see them again, how they'll find them etc.

Next we get a shot of guy on a couch reading of all things, a newspaper.  It's 7 months after the end of the world and this genius is reading the most useless obsolete literature imaginable.  Brilliant.

Next everyone holed up together sit down to eat a nice meal complete with wine and chocolate only to be disturbed by pounding at the front door accompanied by the sound of a child yelling for help.  Some debate over whether or not to open the door ensues.  Don goes to the door and pops it wide open without first looking through a peephole or crack in the wood or otherwise checking to see who or what is out there.

So the kid comes in and in spite of the nicely set table proceeds to eat a bowl of pasta with his extremely dirty hands.  Does using your hands make it easier to eat pasta?  For the record it was penne and I’d personally use a spoon over my dirty hands as I hear that penecillin can be tough to come by after an apocalypse.  A pile of adults watch this happen.  I’m just sorry I didn’t get to see the kid tackle some baked beans.

A minute later a zombie shows up outside the house and a woman goes to look through a large crack in the boarding.  Too bad they didn’t think to have something like that by the front door.  More zombies show up and tear into the boarded up cottage as if it were made out of paper mâché.

Next Don is faced with an ambiguous challenge: close a door and hope his wife across the hall can do the same or directly attack a crazed fast zombie that stands between them.  He closes the door and goes out the window.  Maybe he waited there.  Maybe he thought about going over to the next window, hard to say as its deliberately ambiguous.  Anyway, he ends up making his way to the ground and running for his life instead as a horde of crazed zombies pursues him to a boat where he escapes and the other guy, Jacob, who readied the boat for him was unable to step off the pier and into the boat properly.

It can’t possibly get any worse, right?

Following the opening scene and lead-up to the first exciting event we are treated to some written narration in which we are informed that 5 weeks after the start, the infected died from starvation.  Didn’t we just watch a horde of zombies chase Don?  Well maybe they just mean the city zombies.  After all, Don and company were looking a little more on the rural side a minute ago.  I suppose them country zombies could stay alive on muskrats or some other small creatures, so which is it?  Did the infected die off or not?  They must not have or we wouldn’t have much plot motivation to go on would we?  So why’d they just tell us they did?  In a short while they’re also going to tell us that the city areas outside of the now populated district 1 in London are dangerous and filled with rats and feral dogs.  So couldn’t the city zombies eat any of those?  The plot’s just off the ground here and already this movie is an illogical mess.

But it can’t possibly get any worse, right?

Next we’re taken to district one in London and introduced to Major Doctor Scarlett who is watching a plane land and unload survivors from a refugee camp while talking on a walkie.  When she sees 2 children exit she says into the walkie: “No one told me that we’re now admitting children.”  You’re admitting adult survivors, why in the heck would you deny child survivors?!

Next we get to watch the new arrivals get a little tour of District One on a mono-rail or something.  The driver tells her passengers that District One is now home to over 15,000 people.  She also tells them: We have a medical center, a super market; and… we even have… a pub.  A pub, wow; that’ll work wonders for 15,000 souls.  Imagine trying to get a drink on a Friday night.

Fast forward slightly and it’s nighttime.  We’re introduced to sergeant Doyle who sneaks up on his helicopter pilot buddy and scares him by pretending to be a zombie.  Some military-male-bonding shit-chat ensues and we cut to Doyle leaving, walking away at a distance of about 30 feet only to immediately cut back to helicopter buddy where Doyle has instantaneously materialized to frighten his pal again in the exact same manor.  Truth be told Sergeant Doyle really should have informed his superiors of his teleportation ability.  It’d come in handy a little later when it comes time for him to get some innocent souls out of dodge before it’s too late.  Imagine it: everyone join hands and hummm.

But it can’t get any more ridiculous can it?

Well, after being reunited with Don (long enough for Don to tell them their mother is dead when he’s not really sure), who is a caretaker in District One, his kids Tamm and Andy decide to sneak out and visit their old home.  It’s a moped ride away and they find a moped parked outside a pizzeria pretty quick, but no helmet.  While Tam goes inside to look, Andy snoops around the outer perimeter.  Remember those disease bearing rats and feral dogs we heard about earlier?  Well, we don’t get to see any.  But Andy does open a pizza box on the ground and briefly slide an admittedly ugly pizza part way out of it.  So there’s rats and dogs out here, but not a one of them decided to scarf that pizza that’s been up for grabs.  Maybe it’s a cultural thing and I just don’t understand British dogs and rats.  Maybe they don’t like street pizza the way North American Dogs and rats do.  I guess that makes sense, they’ve just got a higher class of beasts over there is all.  Meanwhile Tamm finds a helmet inside the Pizzeria where we are treated to a shot of a human corpse that has literally been picked clean.  So no street pizza but a human corpse is just too delectable to pass on.  Actually the pizza should not be there for another reason.  Uneaten, it should have rotted away after 7 months.  It must have been made out of big macs or something.

So the kids ride the moped to their old home where they find their mom, Alice, who survived the onslaught at the cottage and made her way here.  For whatever reason though she did not decide to go to district 1 to see if her kids might be there in spite of the fact that planes and helicopters are coming and going which would be visible even from a distance.  I know what you’re thinking.  Hold that thought for just a moment.

The military bring the kids and Alice back.  The kids hate Don for lying about mom.  Friendly reminder, you’re not supposed to like Don.  Major Doc. Scarlett is treating Alice when she says: “The last survivors we found came over 2 months ago.” (no previous indication of more than 1 day having passed.  Movies do this all the time, it’s just really sloppy here.)  So no, Alice more than likely did not just get to the old house, especially since we know That Don had been at District 1 for a while when the kids arrived as he is a caretaker with a degree of security clearances which is not the sort of thing generally granted over night, so Alice had plenty of time to come looking and a similar distance of ground to cover as Don to get to London in the first place.

Alice refuses to talk to Scarlett except to say: I want to see my kids.  Scarlett figures out that Alice is bitten and immune to the zombification effect of the virus but still a carrier and thus capable of infecting others.  So they stick Alice in a room without any kind of a guard outside the door and guess what?  That’s right.  Don waltzes right on in.  Alice won’t speak to him at first, but then Don proceeds to get himself infected by kissing Alice after she very coldly tells him “I love you.”  Alice then watches like an ice queen while Don turns into a zombie and then eats her alive.  I guess she hates him for not directly fighting that one zombie in the beginning.  Didn’t she just say “I want to see my kids?”  Who would do that?  Oh well, I guess I forgot we’re really not supposed to like Don.

Meanwhile Scarlett is talking about how she wants to keep Alice alive for obvious reasons and her cold male superior wants her to work on a corpse instead.  Might’ve been a good idea to have a 2nd medical center offsite for this, right?

Following the emergence of 1 zombie the military suddenly has everyone in district 1 on the move being herded this way and that.  There is a ton of pushing, shoving, squashing, everyone is hollering; just total instant disarray.  Then the military decides it’s a good idea to turn off all the lights which just makes things even crazier.  They go to emergency lighting in short order which makes all the lighting much dimmer and harder for everyone to see.

But things couldn’t possibly get any sillier, right?

Well it turns out a bunch of people got herded right up to a door where zombie-Don is waiting to break out and make lots more zombies.  It takes about 15 seconds of snipers shooting zombies only before the military gives them the order to just shoot everyone zombie and human alike, which they all do without question.  Just doin’ my job bra!  All except for Sergeant Doyle who just can’t bring himself to blow little Andy’s head off.

The military could have just made an announcement for everyone to stay put and close all the doors and windows while they take care of one zombie, but that would be too easy.  Never do anything in a simple and straightforward manor when you can do it in an overly complicated ass-backward way that will result in thousands of casualties.

Next, something amazing happens.  A scene that makes a modicum of reasonable sense.

Doyle has teamed up with Scarlett who is trying to get Tamm and Andy out of district one alive along with a few other nobodies who will serve as cannon fodder.  There are snipers shooting at them and they must get across a street.  Also, helicopter buddy called to let Doyle know that the military is about to flood the streets with napalm and they have 4 minutes to live if they don’t get out quick.  What to do?  Doyle holds a small mirror out around a corner and the sniper shoots it, but it take him more than one shot so Doyle knows that he is a poor marksman.  He tells one of the cannon fodder guys to run out there in a zig zag pattern, the sniper will miss, expose his position and he, Doyle will not miss shooting the sniper.  Cannon fodder guy does not want to be bait so Andy does it and it works like clockwork.  I genuinely enjoyed this scene.  Unlikely perhaps but at least half-way rational and exciting.

Next, believe it or not there are a couple more scenes that don’t have obvious problems unless I missed them for some reason.  Doyle dies the worst death ever saving Scarlett and the kids and helicopter buddy takes out a swath of zombies using the chopper’s main rotor.  Brutal!

They had made it out into a rural looking setting at one point but for some reason end up in a dark subway.  (sigh.)  Tamm and Andy fall down an escalator in the dark after Scarlett fails to guide them using the night vision on her rifle’s scope so she follows after them yelling her head off.  While she’s looking through the scope and yelling a tall lanky figure walks past.  A minute later a zombie shows up and its Don.  Wouldn’t it have made a beeline when it heard all that yelling instead of casually walking past?  Zombie Don kills Scarlett and then goes after Andy biting him.  Andy is infected but does not turn having inherited whatever from his mother Alice.  Tamm shows up with Scarletts assault rifle, knows exactly what to do with it and blows her father’s head off.  But you probably saw that coming.

Tamm and Andy make it to a stadium, hook up with helicopter buddy and fly to Paris for some reason where there are lots of zombies running around.

fin

 

 

Sometimes you just have to turn your brain off while watching a movie amd just enjoy. I read your laundry list of issues and quite honestly you can do the same for any movie.

 

We were really big into The Walking Dead and from season 1 the survivors used zombie blood on raincoats to travel through zombies and it worked. They never again revisted this strategy until Season 9(?)... so am I to believe as a viewer these survivors are absolutely stupid and criticize them every episode for not using it? I haven't seen 28 Weeks later in quite some time, but I don't think it's that terrible. The opening scene is probably one of my favorites in zombie movies being so chaotic and it had good music. The start of 28 Days later wasn't any better lol.

[PII | 1,886]

7 hours ago, Mega Tank said:

7 hours ago, Mega Tank said:

Sometimes you just have to turn your brain off while watching a movie amd just enjoy. I read your laundry list of issues and quite honestly you can do the same for any movie.

I agree very much with your 2nd statement here.  One of the things about motion picture is the substantial degree to which it is capable of inducing a passive state of mind and then molding perception into acceptance around this info or that, regardless of whether said info makes any sense or not...

...Which is precisely why I place a value on watching it in an active/conscious manor as much as I can.  I like being able to tell if things make good sense, or not.  And sometimes it is just fun to be the peanut gallery and make fun of it, especially with beer, pizza and friends.  

I've enjoyed watching Walking Dead as well.  So much, in fact, it's the only TV Program that I've watched regularly in the last 12 years or so (Well, that and Twin Peaks Season 3.)  IIRC, the tactic you mention with the Walker Blood on Raincoats from season one was shown to work, right up until it didn't work, when a cloudburst hit, washing the blood off = the Walkers could smell them again, and Rick & Glenn then had to run for their lives.  Then, (I believe it was season 6) Rick, Carl and some very inexperienced survivors were trapped in a house surrounded by Walkers and they went this route again.  Once again it works until it doesn't.  Sam, in his fear starts whining, the Walkers hear him and Sam becomes an hors d'oeuvre.  So, the tactic is consistent and seems to work very well when one is in a serious pinch with no other alternative, but also is not something to be over relied upon.  In season one, Rick also tells everyone not to get any on their face or in their eyes when they are slathering it on.  Since it was early they did not know if the infection was transmissible only by saliva or if blood contact would also result in infection.  It's around season 3 that Rick & co start getting heaps of zombie blood dumped on them regularly so by season six they don't have to worry about that so much, but still, the tactic proves flukey just the same = not to be relied upon.  So the whole thing hangs together on a line pretty well.

Anyway, we of course, are all entitled to our own opinion and free to watch or not however we choose. 

7 hours ago, Mega Tank said:

The opening scene is probably one of my favorites in zombie movies being so chaotic and it had good music.

The music when Don is running away is awesome, I agree; and ended up in Walking dead along with a lot of other stuff, like the military dropping napalm in the streets and so on.

I'm what you might call a Zombie movie connoisseur.  Generally I prefer to see this type of film for what it is rather than what it isn't.  It's just that I also happen to like observing and analyzing as well.  

Peace.

Edited October 25, 2022 by PII

[Tabonga | 2,324]

58 minutes ago, PII said:

Sam, in his fear starts whining, the Walkers hear him and Sam becomes an hors d'oeuvre.  

No doubt they later collected the leftovers and put them in a samovar........

[guitarzombie | 924]

Ill be assisting again at Chiller Con this Fri-Sun.  Im driving a couple of the guests in, which is just surreal.