Land Of The Dead

[grandpa_chum]

just to comment on the movie, it's the one i look most forward to probably since I started actually going out to the movies 3 or 4 years ago... At first with the short 'rock and roll' trailers with growling and shit I was a bit skeptical, but from more extensive looks at the film it seems to have the 3 things I love most about Romero's films, the eerily empty streets, the out of nowhere jump out of your seat jolts(being the master he seems to be the only one who can really pull them off without looking stupid, and i only hope the trailers haven't given away all of them already), and of course the zombie philosophy, with night it was confinement vs. versatility, dawn was short term safety vs long term risk, day it was progress vs. safety, I just can't wait, this really is like the movie event of the century for me... the only equivelent I can think of is if Leone came back from the dead to make a spaghetti western, I mean it's the master and creator of a long-ago great genre, to whom no one else could even come close to comparing to, back to show the kiddies how great these films can be... Romero really is to zombie movies what leone was to spaghetti westerns, and 20 years later he finally gets some financial backing, it's fantastically exciting!

I also find it funny, and i believe i remember romero commenting on this, that he is only being given the money to make a zombie movie because a de-romero-ized remake of one of his zombie masterpieces made a shit load of money... aah, the wonderful ridiculousness of hollywood.

[Christopher]

Land of the Dead is the movie I'm most anticipating this year, too. I was actually excited when I found out he was going to finally be able to make it, and then when I found out the release date was being moved from October to June, well, I was excited again.

[The Smoker]

The remakers of 'Dawn of the Dead' are planning a 'Day' might be Universal not sure...  now this could be a messy situation of stepping on toes.
Romero has left alot of the more grande script ideas over for his 'Land' movie which he didn't have time and more importantly money back in his 1985 'Day of the Dead'.
I bet the remake will try and full this dream of a larger above ground military coral campsite and more importantly a human domestized zombie fighting army fighting its own kind.

My opinion still stands. Instead of flash in the pan sloppy remakes of old horror movies. Give the money to Romero, Carpenter or Hooper to finish there own projects.

[Christopher]

My opinion still stands. Instead of flash in the pan sloppy remakes of old horror movies. Give the money to Romero, Carpenter or Hooper to finish there own projects.

Not a bad idea.

But are they planning a Day of the Dead remake? I had heard they wanted to do a sequel to the Dawn of the Dead remake, but what I read didn't make it sound like it would be a remake of Day. It wouldn't surprise me if they did, since that would make all three of the originals remade (I've never quite understood why Romero wrote the Night remake and Savini directed. I guess those would be the guys you'd want doing it, but there didn't seem to be much reason for it). Makes me wonder how long will it take for them to remake Land of the Dead.

[jerkface]

I'm glad somebody posted on this, I was thinking about it myself.

Land Of The Dead is by far the most anticipated movie of the year for me. I agree with Gramps, the first preview with that "nu-metal" crap had me a little worried. I've since learned that the score was done by the people who did "Run Lola Run." I don't think there will be any shitty commercial music. Phew! The last thing I want is a new Romero film that panders to the same conventions as current horror films. The word is that it's straight-up, old-school Romero. Apparently the budget really shows too. Plus he's got KNB (Greg Nicotero & Co.) handling the effects. It sounds VERY promising. But I don't want to get too excited. If it's as good as Day Of The Dead, I'll be satisfied.

On the subject of old horror masters like Romero: I'm sad to say that I think Carpenter has fallen off big time, and hasn't really done anything interesting since They Live (1987). It hurts me to say it, but it's true. He was one of my favorites. Hooper always seemed like a one hit wonder to me. Wes Craven has always been hit or miss, and appears to have been missing for awhile. Romero has been the least prolific, but has always been pretty solid. His last film (Bruiser) wasn't great, but I haven't counted him out. Like Gramps said, he is the king of the zombie genre. Apparently he's left LOTD with an ending that could be continued. So if it does well, we could be getting some more zombie action from the master. You all better be there opening day!

PS:

Day Of The Dead remake? Ugh.... Why why why? Anyway, if they did remake it, I'm sure they wouldn't use George's old script. Why would they want to make something interesting?

[Christopher]

Not to get off the subject too much, but Carpenter has been able to do a lot of work outside of the horror genre, whereas most of these other guys have done most of their work within the horror genre. I like Carpenter's Halloween and The Thing out of his horror films. I love Wes Craven. He's my favorite horror filmmaker. He's raw and gritty. Most of the movies I've seen from him I've liked. Tobe Hooper is another favorite. But he doesn't get the material he should. Maybe he should write another film. I enjoyed his Toolbox Murders remake. He's shown he still has it.

Out of all the Romero films I've seen so far, Bruiser has been the only one I haven't really cared for. So I have a lot of hope for Land of the Dead.

[Leone Admirer]

Not a bad idea.

But are they planning a Day of the Dead remake? I had heard they wanted to do a sequel to the Dawn of the Dead remake, D

Yes they are planning a remake of Day. I broke the news on the DVD Forums when I recieved the info through my Daily Variety newsletters.

Back to Land... well I for one am looking forward to it. Been keeping up with it ever since the Breaking News E-mail from Variety. Some reviews are coming back, Some very positive, some not so positive. The only thing that worries me is that in the preview screenings, the run time is only 90 mins! George has said many times that he likes his films long and this worries me. The Dead films are the only 'Zombie' films I like in an other wise unappealing (for me) sub genre. By the way, the Val Lewton classic I walked with a Zombie is being released seperatly, or available as part of the Warners Val Lewton Horror Collection DVD Boxset in October (More info here http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=57451 Looks great!

[grandpa_chum]

Saw it... once again the studios do a **** job on the marketing and trailers, it was like watching a whole different movie than what was advertised, no matter how skeptical you are, if you like romero movies, SEE THIS, it was fantastic, yet to see dawn of the dead it is my favorite of the 3 romero zombie movies i've seen.

Everything that looked stupid in the trailers was dealt with amazing clarity and cleverness in the actual film, even the "they are communicating" thing, which was overdone in the trailers, and once again(unlike portrayed in the trailers) the zombies are really just a backdrop or setting for the wonderful romero story that is the bread and butter of the films, and the gore wasn't all cgi'd, still had a lot of the old school cringe gore, including one of the most "cringeful(?)" i've seen... surprisingly it also had one of the funniest moments I've ever seen in a movie, and it had nothing to do with a zombie.

[Christopher]

Good to hear it, grandpa. I'll probably see it sometime this week.

[Christopher]

I saw it today. I really liked it a lot. A blast of a movie. Very funny too.

grandpa_chum, I was looking back at your post. You haven't seen Dawn of the Dead yet?

Night of the Living Dead will probably always be my favorite out of these movies, but second would go to either Dawn or Land, I'm not sure yet.

[grandpa_chum]

no I haven't seen dawn, I ordered the dvd like a week ago but didn't have the dough to get anything but standard shipping so it's taking a while, should be here any day... I have a feeling it will make it straight to the top 3 or 4 of my all time favorite movies list, it just seems like THE ONE!

as for what I've seen so far I would rank them like so...
Land
Day
Night

I do love night, It's just that(unlike most) I REALLY REALLY REALLY love Day of the Dead, I think it's grossly underrated because of the acting and the characters, but I think they are all perfect and quite funny, then again someone who loves spaghettis so much can really appreciate the artistry of badly acted eccentric characters who have little to no developement... If used by a great director I think they are fantastic, but it turns alot of people away from giving the fantastic story Day tells.

[Christopher]

I really like Day of the Dead too. Unfortunately, it is sometimes treated like the ugly step-sibling to the other films. But I have heard Romero say that Day is his favorite of his Dead films. And it does have some of the most realistically gory special effects I've seen. I knew Land of the Dead would be a little toned down because of the R rating, but Romero did get some cringe-worthy moments in the movie.

[grandpa_chum]

THE HAND!!!!... one of the best 'cringe-worthy' shots I've ever seen.

[Christopher]

Oh, yes. On my drive home I was thinking about that.

[grandpa_chum]

Saw dawn, and as much as I love it I may have to order them in chronoligical order, it seems like as time goes on they keep getting better and better, land being the best and night being the least best... it really amazes me, now that I've seen both, that a lot of people HATE day but LOVE dawn, it's astonishing.