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Thread: Romero not impressed with modern horror films

  1. #1
    Webmaster Neil's Avatar
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    Romero not impressed with modern horror films

    http://www.montrealgazette.com/enter...021/story.html

    There are "very few horror films that I think are worth their salt," says Romero, who has directed several other "Dead" movies as well as "Creepshow" and the Stephen King-inspired "Monkey Shines," among others.

    "Oddly, I'm not a big horror fan," he says. His favourite movie is, in fact, 1951's fantasy opera "The Tales of Hoffmann."

    "I like the oldies," Romero says. "I find that the craftsmanship ... the amount of time that they had to shoot them, it just makes me drool."

    Romero points out he's never done a horror movie just for the sake of being horrifying.

    "The horror films that I've made have been satirical in one way or another or political and I really think that's the purpose of horror. I don't see that happening very often."
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
    -Carl Sagan

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    Team Rick MinionZombie's Avatar
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    Hmmm ... I think it is fair to say that a lot of modern horror isn't necessarily about anything other than the horror being portrayed. In other words, it's not like flicks like "Shivers" where it was a horror movie that was also about what was going on in Canadian society at the time as well as sexual liberation, or "Day of the Dead" where it's also about everyone just giving up or only being content to do nothing but fight with themselves despite a common enemy, or whatever else.

    There have been many excellent horror films in the last 10-or-so years, but it is fair to say that not enough of them have ulterior motives or their eyes elsewhere. Perhaps that's partly down to all the remakes which only see as far as the original movie and how they can cash-in for a new audience, and if there was something deeper going on in the original, it's likely that element has been torn out of it and forgotten about (e.g. Dawn 78 versus Dawn 04).

    This all said, not every horror movie needs to be about some social issue, or as some extension of something else going on in the world or people's collective psyches ... but it's much less common now than it used to be in the 70s and 80s.

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    Being Attacked RichW's Avatar
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    Well, while I tend to agree with George, that the level of Horror films being produced is a bit lacking.
    I also include the productions accountable to his stable in that!!!

    Everything that started off with "OK" from Land to the farcical diatribe that was Survival, what a disappointment
    that was!

    As my dear old nan would have said - Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

    Rich
    Last edited by RichW; 12-Sep-2014 at 02:36 PM. Reason: Typo

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    Webmaster Neil's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RichW View Post
    Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.
    I concur!
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
    -Carl Sagan

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    Dead wayzim's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    I concur!
    Yep, I agree with you guys, since as much as I hate to admit it, I haven't even watched Survival yet. I enjoyed Land mostly on principle, because the whole have vs have-nots didn't quite seem to work for me. Diary had one punchline which rocked, but otherwise it felt like Romero was riding a trend rather than reinventing it. Still, Land and Diary entertained more than most other splatter/horror films I've seen lately, so he's got game in that respect.

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    Just Married AcesandEights's Avatar
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    Already read about it in my copy of the HPotD Bugle.


    "Men choose as their prophets those who tell them that their hopes are true." --Lord Dunsany

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    Webmaster Neil's Avatar
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    ^^ LOL! WTF is that!
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
    -Carl Sagan

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    Just Married AcesandEights's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Neil View Post
    ^^ LOL! WTF is that!
    The headline reads Angry Old Man: "Was Better In My Day!", but I folded it over for ease of reading on the john.

    "Men choose as their prophets those who tell them that their hopes are true." --Lord Dunsany

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    Team Rick MinionZombie's Avatar
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    Regarding GAR's recent output, the other week I re-watched Land ... I've seen it several times now and while I initally "loved" it, I mellowed to "liking it" a while back.

    I think time will help bed Land down into the original three films better. There's quite a difference between it and the previous movies, but there's huge differences between Night/Dawn/Day as they are already - that's always been the case ... and, indeed, Land is part of the wider conversation that is spread out across the other movies and even takes some themes from the original Day script, right?

    Big Daddy is over-the-top. The howls are just too much ... they sound too human, as if he's comprehending the situation more than a smart zombie really should be able to. There's a few lines of dialogue here and there, and a couple of small things littered about that could have been improved with just a little tweak, but overall the film is a solid entry in GAR's zed flicks. The vibe of it definitely feels more 'movie like' than Night/Dawn/Day, which kind of had their own pace about them ... almost like it was GAR's own personal three act structure ... whereas Land feels far more movie-like structurally than any of his previous movies. Perhaps that's a subtle background thing that sets it apart a little bit and caused problems for some folks?

    I'm a defender of Land. There's a lot of good stuff in that movie and I've always been a fan of it, albeit going from an initial lover to a considered liker, but I'm happy with the movie all-said-and-done.

    Now ... Diary ... honestly, I have big problems with that film, and it's a shame. I was very excited for it, and initially dug it, but the more I watch that movie the more I see things I dislike. The tone is all over the place, and while GAR has many salient points to make, they're made in a very blunt manner, and in a way that kind of shows up that - as a filmmaker with his heart in the 1960s - is on the outside of the post-2000 social media movement. I have big problems with lots of "found footage" movies in general, so some of my gripes aren't Diary-specific in that regard. There are bits that I enjoy, certainly, but it's the GAR zed flick I've enjoyed the least. I don't hate it, but I have a lot of issues with it unfortunately.

    Finally - Survival - like with Diary it's not part of the Night-Land cycle, so it's not fair to hold it too strictly to account by comparison (i.e. because it's not part of the same series, or even the same 'socio-political conversation' that took place across Night-Land). I really enjoyed Survival, but again there's issues - troublesome tonal moments ... the humorous aspects sometimes work, but sometimes they're jarring. The opening scene is supposed to be bleak and desperate, but then you have that ropey CGI gag with the middle of a zombie's head getting blown away and the scalp plopping down like a cartoon. Fair enough if that's the tone of the movie, like if it was Zombieland or something, but the tone of Survival is generally darker and almost has a Day of the Dead vibe to it (two warring factions with totally opposed viewpoints battling each other in spite of their common enemy, the political brick wall sensibility). I loved that it was contained on this little island, a sort of microcosm for modern North American (even global?) politics and that even in death they'll be shooting empty guns at each other for eternity. It's a beautiful-looking film as well, but it does have jarring moments as I've said (another example would be the fire extinguisher kill - iffy CGI, not bad per se, but tonally mis-matched with the rest of the flick). I dug the 'western' vibe of it too, and that the social commentary was more considered and subtle - particularly when compared to Diary which got very blunt at several points throughout. In spite of some issues, I dug - and continue to dig - Survival of the Dead.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by MinionZombie View Post

    Finally - Survival - like with Diary it's not part of the Night-Land cycle, so it's not fair to hold it too strictly to account by comparison (i.e. because it's not part of the same series, or even the same 'socio-political conversation' that took place across Night-Land). I really enjoyed Survival, but again there's issues - troublesome tonal moments ... the humorous aspects sometimes work, but sometimes they're jarring. The opening scene is supposed to be bleak and desperate, but then you have that ropey CGI gag with the middle of a zombie's head getting blown away and the scalp plopping down like a cartoon. Fair enough if that's the tone of the movie, like if it was Zombieland or something, but the tone of Survival is generally darker and almost has a Day of the Dead vibe to it (two warring factions with totally opposed viewpoints battling each other in spite of their common enemy, the political brick wall sensibility). I loved that it was contained on this little island, a sort of microcosm for modern North American (even global?) politics and that even in death they'll be shooting empty guns at each other for eternity. It's a beautiful-looking film as well, but it does have jarring moments as I've said (another example would be the fire extinguisher kill - iffy CGI, not bad per se, but tonally mis-matched with the rest of the flick). I dug the 'western' vibe of it too, and that the social commentary was more considered and subtle - particularly when compared to Diary which got very blunt at several points throughout. In spite of some issues, I dug - and continue to dig - Survival of the Dead.
    Every time I watch this movie I feel like I am being short changed. I had come to expect the carnage scenes featuring inventive deaths of the human folks from Romero, but every set up in Survival is a major let down. Scenes ending with people strung up with a horde of flesh eaters approaching and while I as the viewer expected a typical Romero slaughter... the scene cut away. Its almost as if he was deliberately trying to just let the viewer use their imagination to save a few bucks.
    Cut out the goofy CGI zombie kills, the horse riding zombie twin and follow through with the set-ups during the big fight scene and we would have had a more fitting continuation to the franchise than Land.

    I hate the lead girl's acting in Diary. Awful. Everyone else was fine, but she awful. I like the story though. My problems with Land are BD'd roar and Hopper's garbage death. Dennis deserved an epic death like Rhodes'.

  11. #11
    Webmaster Neil's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by AcesandEights View Post
    The headline reads Angry Old Man: "Was Better In My Day!", but I folded it over for ease of reading on the john.
    But "HPotD Bugle"? Huh!?
    Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there--on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam. [click for more]
    -Carl Sagan

  12. #12
    through another dimension bassman's Avatar
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    I feel the same way about this as I did his "soap opera" comments about The Walking Dead. He has a point and I can actually agree with it, but at the same time he's also a tad jealous of the success others have had with the genre he created and lost his touch.

  13. #13
    Chasing Prey MoonSylver's Avatar
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    It's easy to label ol' George with the "Bitter Old Man" tag, but it's not an entirely unfair sentiment he's expressing. I'm not really impressed with (most) modern horror films. There's some wheat out there, but it feels like more chaff than anything.

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    Dying rightwing401's Avatar
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    While Romero's last two films were horrible, I do have to agree with the claim of most horror movies being kind of crappy these days. They seem to either be going for off screen wierd noise and shaky camera scares, or just tons of blood and guts. I can't honestly remember the last horror film that I went and saw in the theatre, or bothered to rent. They just don't do it for me anymore.

    Case in point when I was watching the trailer for 'Occulous' the only thing I could think the whole time was , "just break the damn mirror, problem solved."

  15. #15
    Being Attacked
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    Was land of the dead one of his movies?
    That was a terrible movie. But anyway Most zombie movies are horrible, low production, filled with cliches, and horrible storries, which is why i dont watch zombie movies anymore.

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