Dreary.
If anything can be said to be somewhat redeeming about it, it’s that Romero still wants to infuse his zombie movies with some sort of social commentary.
But here, we have three groups; the haves (represented by Dennis Hopper and his black valet who was almost as sterotypically offensive as Bob Hope’s black valet in The Ghostbreakers (now there’s a movie.), the have-nots, represented by Asia Argento, the whore with the heart-of-gold, some shmuck who was supposed to be the star, and John Leguizamo, whose character was charmingly named “Cholo.” (Why not Spic? Or Beaner?)
Then the REALLY have nots, who are the zombies; the leader of whom is black, and used to be a gas station attendant.
The film takes place after the zombies have been around a few years, as opposed to most Z. films where everyone has to learn the same lessons everyone always learns in zombie films: Are they really dead? Shoot them in the head. What if I get bit? and so on…
But all that really means is that no one is really scared of the zombies any more. They’re just a potentially dangerous nuisance to the living; like the homeless. A nuisance that is dealt with just fine until the lead zombie begins to “think” and teach the other zombies how to work together, to bring down the power structure.
It’s as simplistic and silly as I make it out to be, and fails as a scary movie, scary zombie movie, social satire, and anything else you can think of.
Just so you’re not leaving entirely soured on zombie films, I’d suggest renting Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 (1979)
… aka Island of the Flesh-Eaters
… aka Island of the Living Dead
… aka Ultimi zombi, Gli
… aka Zombie (USA)
… aka Zombie 2: The Dead Are Among Us
… aka Zombie Flesh-Eaters (UK)
Many of the stale cliches of horror and zombie-dom were not stale when this film came out, and it still has some rather good stuff in it.
Or if you’re all, “I’ve SEEN Zombi. Gimme something else.”
ok – try this one: Tombs of the Blind Dead – 1971
aka:
Noche del terror ciego, La
A Noite do Terror Cego (Portugal)
Crypt of the Blind Dead
Mark of the Devil, Part 4: Tombs of the Blind Dead (USA)
Night of the Blind Dead
Noche de la muerta ciega, La
by Amando de Ossorio. It’s Zombie-esque with ghost/vampire/mummy overtones.
I’ve thought of it recently b/c it seems to have been re-released in a coffin-shaped box set with several other films – sequels supposedly, none of which I’ve seen – by the same director. It has a lot more nudity in it than any Romero film, and just satisfies in a way that euro-exploitation can that current high-gloss US horror cannot.
Zeh, feh! When I was a pooch I used to zombie this and zombie that! You kids don’t funny me, with all your talk about going what did you say the fish was called? Why this and that with kids today, who knew they’d do their wind wagon riding all around the neighborhood at all hours. Blskalfhs…
you said it, brother!
I liked Land, but I didn’t like it enough to argue with you.
But speaking of zombies, how’s this:
Joe Dante has a new zombie flick I wish I could see. Almost–almost–makes me think Showtime is worth a gander.
Those Showtime horror flix – an hour each – are geting mixed reviews. I’m sure they’ll be on DVD soon enough, and one can pick and choose through them. Robert Abele at the Weekly also dug Dante’s flick: http://www.laweekly.com/ink/06/02/tv-abele.php
Also, of course, Tobe Hooper’s maybe-in-production feature, Zombies, which at least had that great poster that was linked to a long time ago here…
There’s also an online game that takes up only about 4 minutes a day to play. very low-tech, but with about 100,000 or so players. Zombie-based: http://www.urbandead.com It can be kind of fun.
Finally saw the Dante flick, called “Homecoming” — as noted, a one-hour episode on Showtime’s “Masters of Horror” series.
The plot: a DavidFrum-like character on a pundit show notes, in response to a grieving mother’s challenge about the Iraq war (Why’d my son die?), wishes that her son and all the soldiers could come back and say why the war was worth it. So they do.
The show’s fun–some of the trademark Dante looniness creeps in, in particular with the KarlRove character and some stray lines. Its message is heavy-handed, but… Dante seems to know it. There’s a moment where a couple invite a zombie soldier into their cafe, and they tell him about their own son overseas, and there’s maudlin music and eyes tearing up, and then a dog barks–and the father tearfully says “that’s my boy’s dog”… and you realize that for all the sincerity of the political outrage the folks behind the camera are also having some fun and taking the piss.
Worth a gander — not really a horror movie, but well-done and fun.
(I saw two other of the Showtime flicks. One, “Incident On and Off a Mountain Road,” directed by Don Coscarelli, was pretty well-done crazyhomicidalruralfreak horror, with a nice twist or two. The other was yet another Stuart Gordon Lovecraft adaptation, “Dreaming in the Witch House,” which had some decent atmosphere and gore. But frankly none of these were great; if, like me, you like horror–why not check ’em out? The pickings are slim for horror generally. If you don’t like horror, I don’t see why you’d bother.)