For those of you who **have seen** Survival of the Dead - - - opinion poll!

[Trin]

Overall I've decided I am "Disappointed" with Survival. Pros - Decent characters, interesting initial plot conflict, nice setting Cons - Message overrode plot (again), zombie "gag" kills, uninteresting plot, ridiculous/implausible ending Here's more detail w/spoilers:   Characters - Liked... Sarge - Liked, borderline Meh... a good, fun character, but he kept flopping between do-gooder and psycho mercenary O'Flynn - Loved... he doesn't try to explain himself... he doesn't try to hide that he's conflicted... the message is well portrayed in his character O'Flynn's daughter - Liked Muldoon - Disappointed... started okay but got too mired in his kooky message-driven position CGI - Meh... I don't mind bad looking effects if they build the storyline Gag Kills - Hated... No more, please. They are a movie-killer. Setting - Liked it... it was a good job of showing how an isolated community could handle zombies Plot - Disappointed... I LOVED the setup (kill em vs. keep em) ... it drug in the middle... the message-centric ending killed it. Western Theme - Meh... Docks scene - Hated it... Every aspect of it was stupid. Message - Hated it... The message itself was okay but the plot bent too much to accomodate it. Especially the ending. Zombies - Disappointed... the zombies were not Romero zombies. Their behavior was random and often nonsensical. Shootout Scene - Hated it... here I was happy cause everyone was a decent shot, then they cannot hit each other for 5 minutes. Horse-riding - Meh... I know people tend to hate it, but I don't. It's no more implausible than Big Daddy's intellect. Horse-eating... Hated it... Why? Just why? Ultimately, Survival strikes me as another Romero zombie parable. He needs to focus on storytelling and character building. Find a story worth telling and tell it well. Create characters that stay true to their motivations. Lose the message, or find better ways of integrating it.

[ChokeOnEm]

Maybe the same thing that happend with John Carpenter not being allowed to score Land Of The Dead (would have been amazing). http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jj...orge-a-romero/ How they let GAR make a movie and then not let him score it the way he wants to is Sadly makes you wonder how much control he has over the edit/etc.. It was either this interview or another one, where Romero said he did not have final cut approval over Land. Given that the project languished without funding for years, I guess it's not all that surprising. Still, you would think a filmmaker of his stature would have that.

[darth los]

It was either this interview or another one, where Romero said he did not have final cut approval over Land. Given that the project languished without funding for years, I guess it's not all that surprising. Still, you would think a filmmaker of his stature would have that. Granted. So waht's his excuse for diary and survival? The man's work is declining and there's no getting around that. Each successive film is worse than the last.

[ChokeOnEm]

Granted. So waht's his excuse for diary and survival? The man's work is declining and there's no getting around that. Each successive film is worse than the last. Even *with* final cut, I think Land would be the same. I didn't mean to imply that its failings were the result of studio interference. Flaws like bad dialogue and a laughably campy performance by Big Daddy fall on George’s shoulders and his alone. Sorry if it seemed like I was making excuses. At this point George should either get a co-writer or retire. Grunwald is also clearly not serving him well, and just milking the fanbase with substandard product.

[darth los]

Even *with* final cut, I think Land would be the same. I didn't mean to imply that its failings were the result of studio interference. Flaws like bad dialogue and a laughably campy performance by Big Daddy fall on George’s shoulders and his alone. Sorry if it seemed like I was making excuses. At this point George should either get a co-writer or retire. Grunwald is also clearly not serving him well, and just milking the fanbase with substandard product. Or at the very least have someone remind him what made the original trilogy classics. Because whatever it was he's not doing it anymore. How hard is it to follow a formula that he himself invented. Or maybe it's this. We know he's a laid back "flower child", so perhaps when there's pressure on him to produce he churns out crap like this. However, when he come out of no where with something the final product is usually pretty good. Something has to explain why the Godfather of the genre has, I'm sorry to say but after 3 consecutive films it has to be said, lost the ability or desire to make a good film.

[bassman]

How hard is it to follow a formula that he himself invented. VERY. Romero is one of a select few cases of lightning hitting the same spot twice...err...three times. Even then, Day wasn't accepted until years later. Either it was exteme luck, or he just smoked himself silly during his 20 year break...

[Trin]

Or maybe it's this. We know he's a laid back "flower child", so perhaps when there's pressure on him to produce he churns out crap like this. However, when he come out of no where with something the final product is usually pretty good. Keep in mind that Day was a "pressure on him" production. And what we got was roughly 1 billion times better than the script would've been given better time and money. To bassman's point, Day seems like extreme luck to me. How do you explain the man writing up a movie with cowboy quick draw zombies and a walking nitro bomb - then rewriting/directing to become the gem of a movie we got when the budget got slashed last minute? The formula is exactly the problem and the solution. The problem because Romero refuses to follow the formula he created. A world in chaos. A few survivors. A barricaded, claustrophobic place. Survival against the zombies. The solution because he has it right there in front of him. Follow the damn formula! What would be an interesting group of people in an interesting place? What is unique about their struggle to survive? What kinds of conflicts would they face? Then.... and only then... what message can we draw from that?

[darth los]

The formula is exactly the problem and the solution. The problem because Romero refuses to follow the formula he created. A world in chaos. A few survivors. A barricaded, claustrophobic place. Survival against the zombies. The solution because he has it right there in front of him. Follow the damn formula! What would be an interesting group of people in an interesting place? What is unique about their struggle to survive? What kinds of conflicts would they face? Then.... and only then... what message can we draw from that? And it's so simple. Just put the requisite people in a setting and it will nescesarily reflect the times it was made in, or atleast people will percieve it that way. Example: You put a white and a black guy in a farmhouse, both alpha males and both under stress to survive. You instantly have a perception of racial animosity even though it's not overtly shown in the film. There was no bigger issue of the day, besides perhaps Vietnam, other than race relations. In the decade of decadence, you just put 4 survivors in a mall and after a while they will see that even with all the material things they could want at their fingertips they were still not happy because that's not really what's important in life. in the 80's put the survivors in a military setting with the world all but gone and basically watch cabin fever set in. See? No need to beat people over the head with a message every ten minutes ! ( If it didn't happen on Camera it's like it didn't happen right?) God i still can't get that fucking line out of my head.

[BillyRay]

Waitaminnit... Romero's got a new movie out?? Can't be. Otherwise it'd be playing in theatres somewhere.

[Trin]

Waitaminnit... Romero's got a new movie out?? Can't be. Otherwise it'd be playing in theatres somewhere. It's playing in home theaters across the country. Downloaded via Nintendo's.

[BillyRay]

What is this "download" you speak of? Is it a new sort of movie theatre? Because if it doesn't get shown in a movie theatre, it might as well be mansquito... I'm just tired of waiting.

[bassman]

What is this "download" you speak of? You don't even need to go that far, man. One word. Google.

[BillyRay]

I'm not gonna download it. I just wanna watch the new movie in a theater, like it should be watched. Ham-handed social messages, horse-riding zeds and all. I just want a chance to enjoy this movie how a movie should be enjoyed before I jump on the "Uncle George has lost it" wagon. I'm more annoyed by the half-assed distribution of Survival than any problems I may find with story structure, acting, etc. But, it's not like I have any fucking choice, right?

[Mr.G]

Granted. So waht's his excuse for diary and survival? The man's work is declining and there's no getting around that. Each successive film is worse than the last. Holy f*cking shit...that notion is depressing as hell. And probably because it's true. (Anyone else feel guilty thinking these thoughts? It's like cheating on a spouse!)

[Trin]

Well, I also just want to see this movie the way it was meant to be seen. On the Sci-fi channel. Military chick + jillinoff = Sci-fi channel. You all know its true.