Movie: Diary of The Dead (2007)

Diary of The Dead (2007)
Horror, Sci-Fi

This isn't mentioned on Simon Pegg's blogpost about zombies but I think it's one of the best zombie movies to come out recently, as far as your typical zombies go... But it was written and directed by George A. Romero so I thought it would be interesting to see his progression from the last film released in 1968 until this one forty years later.

These are the slow moving but quickly accumulating undead. It's filmed ala Blair Witch with a bit of a documentary feel which means it can get a bit chatty at times. It's raw but some of those shots are brilliant. There are also some of the best deaths I've seen. The Amish guy with the scythe? Jar of acid over the head? Electric paddles to the head...almost.

I liked the online presence. If there really was a zombie apocalypse then we would hear about it first via Twitter. #ZombieApocalypse  As soon as I started to wonder how they still had wifi and internet connections, it dropped out...

Even though the only person I recognized was Joe Dinicol (LA Complex) and it ended fairly suddenly and inconclusively, I liked this one a lot.

4 out of 5 Pegg plugs...

Movie: Night of The Living Dead (1968)

Night of The Living Dead (1968)
Classic, Horror, Sci-Fi

I don't often watch older films but I have seen this one before, I mean who hasn't? It's a classic horror and one of the very first zombie movies ever. The black and white is not a problem for me and the fuzzy picture just adds to the effect. It's the soundtrack that does my head in. Some sounds like the crickets outside at night and the music playing from the jewelry box were overpowering and harsh to the ears but I'm going to put this down the age of the film.

The zombies are your typical shuffling undead but with looks more like the original Frankenstein than a modern day zombie. What I found a bit strange in this film was that they we able to use tools such as a brick or a crowbar to - if slowly and awkwardly - break into houses through doors and windows. You don't see that in any other zombie film that I can think of...

 The characters are pretty typical for the age, the woman is in screaming hysterics for most of the time and the man in the hero saving her as the zombies shuffle up to her unbeknownst. The typical group formations and fractions happen, as in any other zombie movie and we lose some people of course but it doesn't have the same scariness to it as the recent films.

If you know anything about the horror genre then you know who George A. Romero is and that this is just one of many of his classic horror films. He is the on screen pioneer of the monsters we still see today and your not a film buff without having seen at least a few of his movies.

Still not something I would watch more than once in a blue moon.

2 out of 5 Pegg Plugs...

Sorry Simon!

Movie: 28 Days Later (2002)

28 Days Later (2002)
Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

This is going to be a series of as short as I can make them reviews on zombie films, largely inspired but this old blog post of Simon Pegg's (Sean Of The Dead, Paul) discussing the different styles of zombies. Simon is a fan of traditional zombies, you know, shuffling mindless brain eating zombies and thinks the running style of zombies is even more unrealistic. I have to disagree, if running zombies are done right they are more than feasible. Especially the virus infected kind. If they have two working legs I cant see why they wouldn't run...

The zombies in this film are runners and have been infected by a virus called Rage. What I like about this one is that it only takes about ten seconds before they are taken over by the virus; that is pretty darn quick. It starts off by a group of animal activists breaking into a primate testing facility and breaking out the Rage infected chimps....retards.

I recognized the main character - Cillian Murphy (The Dark Knight, Inception) - right away, I've seen him in a few things recently. I had no idea that he was in this though... Also spotted was Irish actor Brendan Gleeson who is just amazing in a number of films such as Harry Potter and Troy. Co-starring is Naomie Harris who I didn't recognize until I looked her up, she's been a bond girl most recent 007 flick; Skyfall.

I always judge a zombie flick by the amount of actual zombies... this one seemed a bit too quiet to be a world overrun by the dead.... it makes me even jumpier. But it is interesting to see that in most zombie films it ends up being the humans left who are the ones you have to worry about, not the undead wanting to eat you... How far do you think people will really go to survive?

3 out of 5 Pegg plugs...