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Comments

  • edited April 2006
    Through the whole movie I kept expecting that the crazy girl would get zombiefied and that no one would notice at first. Kinda disappointed that that didn't happen.

    Kinda odd how they got all those zombies there, though. How were there that many people within shambling distance of the farmhouse who just so happened to be recently dead at that point?
  • edited April 2006
    Well, they were near a cemetery if nothing else.
  • edited April 2006
    Well, the farmhouse was in walking distance to a graveyard, and they sort-of established in the opening that there really wasn't much else there (with that ridiculously long drive as the opening credits rolled). I guess the zombies didn't have anywhere else to go, and hey! a burning sofa! party time!

    Another point I found interesting was that this movie explained the zombies away by citing some sort of weird radiation. I don't think I've ever heard radiation used as a possible creation mechanism for the undead. I'll be interested to see if they stick to that zombie creation theory throughout the other movies.

    I don't know too much about zombie movie history here, but was this the first zombie movie since White Zombie (from the 30's, with Bela Lugosi)? I'm not totally sure that I even heard the word "zombie" used in the movie.
  • edited April 2006
    Nope, they never actually said zombies.

    This is still at the stage where nobody know what's really going on. It's kind of mirrored in Shaun of the Dead with the newscasts declaring strange, widespread attacks for no apparent reason.

    The creation is fairly unique, although films have used toxic waste to explain zombification (Return of the Living Dead comes to mind first), which is kinda radiation-ey.
  • edited April 2006
    Stef wrote:
    Well, the farmhouse was in walking distance to a graveyard, and they sort-of established in the opening that there really wasn't much else there (with that ridiculously long drive as the opening credits rolled). I guess the zombies didn't have anywhere else to go, and hey! a burning sofa! party time!
    But one of the newscasts said that it was just the "recently dead" that were rising, not ones that were dead and buried for years, as most of the corpses in the cemetary would've been, so they couldn't all have come from there.

    I also noticed that they never mentioned the "z-word" in the movie. I wonder if that was a conscious choice by the writers or if people didn't start associating hoardes of shambling undead flesh-eaters with zombies until after this movie came out.
  • edited April 2006
    Ok, this week it's the next film on the list: Dawn of the Dead.

    If this is too short notice for anyone, we can bump the deadline for next week.

    We're going for the original here, but if you can pick up the remake as well that'd be great. They're substantially different (the remake zombies can even run).
  • edited April 2006
    This one isn't public domain, so we of course can't (openly) endorse downloading copies off the Internet. I look forward to seeing this one, assuming it's the second in the series. Onward to my local video rental facility!
  • edited April 2006
    Maybe I'll watch this one before it's already discussed!
  • edited April 2006
    Dagnabbit! Stef and I went to our local video rental facility, only to discover that Dawn of the Dead had been stolen! By youths, no doubt. They had the new version, but I'd rather find the original before delving into remake territory (though it did receive high praise upon its release). I'll try to find it at Fry's or something, they have a substantial DVD section and reasonable prices for older movies.
  • edited April 2006
    They're both excellent movies.

    But the original has better (worse) special effects and an army of bikers, so I prefer that one.

    The remake does feature chainsaw mishaps though, so it's a close run thing between the two.
  • edited April 2006
    I hereby request that we make new threads for each movie! That way, discussion can continue even after the next movie has been assigned, and it'll be easier to find whichever discussion we're looking for. Maybe this sticky thread could just be for announcing the next assignment.
  • edited April 2006
    Works for me.

    Because, as much fun as a giant bloated thread can be, it's just not the right thing to do every time.

    Y'know, just in case it breaks containment and goes on a rampage through downtown Tokyo.
  • edited April 2006
    We are watching Dawn of the Dead in a few minutes.

    We got a Netflix advertisement in the mail today, and realized that it would be cheaper and more convenient to netflix the movies in queue than attempt to rent them every week. Shall we figure out a schedule of movies for every month (or longer) so that we and others can use Netflix?
  • edited April 2006
    Well the next two would be Day of the Living Dead and Land of the Dead.

    After that I was thinking of having the original Blob (which is way better than the remake) and then possibly moving into some more contemporary stuff.
  • edited April 2006
    I'm thinking a movie schedule would be a good use of the for-science.net front page. Maybe we could even put weekly movies on the forum calendar!
  • edited April 2006
    Ok, sounds like a good idea but we'll have to get together on AIM to hash out the specifics of it at some point.

    Personally I'm liking the netflix plan, I'm looking at the Australian equivalent and if I can get one of my room-mates to chip in then it looks like I'll be signing up for that.

    Bearing that in mind, I will try and keep it to the mainstream for as long as possible so that those of us without netflix will still be able to participate.

    And you guys really need to see: http://www.netflix.com/MovieDisplay?movieid=70033379&trkid=189530&strkid=327357315_0_0.

    As we will be making some sort of advanced schedule, whatever happens, feel free to make suggestions in this thread.
  • edited April 2006
    I think we should hold off on the zombie movies for a while after we finish the Romero series.
  • edited April 2006
    I was in fact thinking the same.

    Although the genre is somewhat dominated by them.
  • edited April 2006
    What about the original Japanese Godzilla movies? Or Planet of the Apes?
  • edited April 2006
    I was thinking Godzilla, although I have to wonder at the availability of the many, many spinoffs.

    Planet of the Apes is definitely a classic worthy of inclusion.
  • edited April 2006
    Yes, we'll have to pare down the Godzilla movies a bit, since there were so damn many of them. Not sure which ones would be best for inclusion here.
  • edited April 2006
    After we're done with Romero, we should probably mix things up a little bit. I wouldn't mind seeing multiple Godzilla movies, but they should be broken up by more standalone titles. I hereby request that we watch The Core at some point.
  • edited April 2006
    You are a terrible human being if you actually suggest that people watch that.
  • edited April 2006
    ...But what if we did watch it?
  • edited April 2006
    Reality would implode.


    Well, at least that's my thesis.
  • edited April 2006
    Sorry, I was paraphrasing the movie.
  • edited April 2006
    Amoeba Boy wrote:
    You are a terrible human being if you actually suggest that people watch that.

    Yeah, seriously. That was like the worst apacalyptic scenario based movie ever.
  • edited April 2006
    The movie is practically SCIENCE! incarnate! We can't not see it!
  • edited April 2006
    By that logic we should be watching Armageddon as well! But not Deep Impact. That was about love, not SCIENCE!
  • edited April 2006
    You heard the man! Add Armageddon to the request list! STAT!