American zombie films seem to have de-evolved

[EvilNed]

Ok, I know I was always a bit defensive on Day of the Deads part. I reasoned that any zombiefilm is something to at least look forward too, and to await judgement until I saw it.

Well, I saw it.

And it sucks.

Beware, there might be spoilers ahead. But believe me, this is not a film you'd want to see anyway.

The film is so bad on so many levels. Everything. The dialoge, the zombies, the plot, the acting, the characters, the action etc. etc.

The dialouge is so horrid. In one scene, Mena Suvari declares that she does not like loaded guns. The guy she is riding the humvee with answers with "I am a vegetarian, by the way". End of scene. What the ****? First off, the vegetarian part is a hugely ineffective planting of what is to come. You all know what I speak. The second part is, Mena Suvaris answer to why she doesn't like loaded guns is "It's complicated." Aha, I think. This will surely be explained later.

Nope. The subject is dropped there. She never explains it further. Why the **** even keep it in the movie?

Ving Rhames dialouge seems to be written for Ving Rhames by a lousy scriptwriter. And it shows. He's tough, Ving Rhames-style, 100% of the time, instead of acting like the officer he portrays.

The character "Salazar" is a private in the army, though he acts more like an immature gangster-wannabe. He's a 1-dimensional "token black guy", with lines such as "Hell yeah, that's what I'm talking about!" and other things we've seen in thousands of films before. Hugely annoying. His constant chatter about black people vs. white people just makes me want to slam my head in the wall.

Then Steve from Dawn makes a comeback. You know that insanely poorly written character whose only purpose was to sit in the background in scenes and deliver lines that would prove to the audience that this guy is a 100% egomaniac. This time, it's "Dr. Logan". He never lifts a finger to do anything good, instead he berates the main characters for their mistakes, faults and weaknesses rather than doing anything himself. Why, god, why? Another completly 1-d character who's just annyoing and detracts from the film! Give it a rest! These characters are just as stereotypical as the token black guys.

Oh and Bud. Vegetarian zombie. Whatever.

The zombies. By now you've all heard the tales. The zombies run, leap, climb on ceilings, in airducts, blow upp when set on fire and are hugely effective at tearing people to pieces, unless it happens to be the main characters. It also takes about 1 second for a person to go from still breathing into a zombie who has most of his skin burned/rotted off and with the capabilities way beyond that of the average human being. Good thing that every main character in this film is a top-ace gunslinger. Nobody ever misses a shot to the brain.

The plot keeps moving all the time. But it's never interesting. Most of the time the characters move between places, stay there for five minutes until it gets overrun by zombies, have a long copy-paste shootout and then flee to the next place. Boring. Snore.

Basicly, this film is all the things that George A. Romero never wanted with his own films. Remember Night 90, and how Tom Savini says on the documentary that he wanted his zombies to be more like real people? Recently deceased. Your neighbour walking in through the door, a bit pale? Well. This film is the exact opposite of how it would have been had Romero or Savini directed it. It's no more a zombie-horror film than Blade is a vampire-horror film. Both films are actionfilms. In Blade, it works. In Day of the Dead, you can only stand so much repetetive zombiegutting.

Add to that, it's inefficently paced and cut. There's a scene towards the end where a character suggests a plan to kill all the zombies in the bunker. A second later, the plan is rigged and ready. The zombies come running down the corridor and the good guys kill them all.

Other ludicrous plot elements include meeting a superzombie near the end, who is much faster and smarter than the rest. Having Bud sacrifice himself to save the humans. Making Bud a vegetarian, actually, is just stupid. Everything with this film sucks, as a matter of fact. There's no redeeming factor. At best it's just boring.

[Mike70]

yes ned it is a total and complete turdfest for sure. one wonders why even stick the name day of the dead onto it? it is a case of name-rape. simple as that.

crappy dialogue. horrid casting. cliche ridden. half the cast looks embarrassed and the other half just looks stoked to have a job no matter how ****ty the final product is.

i have been as hard on steve miner as anyone but the plain fact is - the man should've known better and should've been able to deliever a better movie, especially with $18 million to work with. i know it isn't much by mega-hollywood standards but is still plenty of cash to work with.

[MinionZombie]

18 fricken million?!

That's how much Ghey08 cost?! :stunned:

Damn...

[Mike70]

18 fricken million?!

That's how much Ghey08 cost?! :stunned:

Damn...

yes supposedly. sorry i didn't post the source for this info. not only have a few folks around here (like DJ among others) mentioned this factoid but the info on imdb backs it up.

crazy isn't it? if i hadn't know this i would've guessed that ghey 08 was in the $5-8 million range (maybe less).

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489018/business

[blind2d]

it just makes me so sad...

[MinionZombie]

Land of the Dead is a proper film and it cost less than Ghey08.

If they really spent 18 million on that crap fest, you seriously don't see it on screen whatsoever. I'm absolutely flabbergasted by that, honestly.

How can that amount of sh*t cost 18 million dollery-doo's?!

[bd2999]

What can I add to this? I pretty much agree with all of it.

I am not sure if american zombie films have devolved as much as its easier for nearly anyone to make a movie. As such you get alot of small indie film folks getting in on it, because its fairly cheap to make zombie movies, aside from gore, and usually they just get some half rate actors to deliver corny lines.

There are some good indie zombie movies, but there are alot of worse ones but I think thats just because many of the movies being made are not really being made by people who like the genre as much as people trying to use it as a stepping stone, trying to make it to artsy or whatever. You get alot more hacks the more chances you give someone.


Land of the Dead is a proper film and it cost less than Ghey08.

If they really spent 18 million on that crap fest, you seriously don't see it on screen whatsoever. I'm absolutely flabbergasted by that, honestly.

How can that amount of sh*t cost 18 million dollery-doo's

Yup, you wonder how movies like this get funding and guys like Romero, or other guys with sort of the big ideas struggle to get small amounts of money. I mean land was what, like 8 million or so? I just don't see why, if it was the actors, they are overpaid. Someone got screwed over hard during this and I would say it was us overall, but seeing as how many of us did not pay to see the disaster maybe its good that we let it fail and die on its own.

[Mike70]

I mean land was what, like 8 million or so?

nah man the budget for land was $15 million.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418819/business

[MinionZombie]

nah man the budget for land was $15 million.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418819/business
But still less than the apparent budget of Ghey08, which is just incredible.

18 million did not end up on screen, and if it did, they were wasting cash left, right & centre.

You can buy a hunk of sh*t for 18 million dollars, but it's still a hunk of sh*t.

[Mutineer]

Then Steve from Dawn makes a comeback. You know that insanely poorly written character whose only purpose was to sit in the background in scenes and deliver lines that would prove to the audience that this guy is a 100% egomaniac.


Steve was one of the best characters in D08. Don't moan just to moan. :annoyed: :rolleyes:

[EvilNed]

Steve was one of the best characters in D08. Don't moan just to moan. :annoyed: :rolleyes:

:lol: I love the sarcasm.

[Doc]

The zombies run, leap, climb on ceilings, in airducts, blow upp when set on fire and are hugely effective at tearing people to pieces, unless it happens to be the main characters. It also takes about 1 second for a person to go from still breathing into a zombie who has most of his skin burned/rotted off and with the capabilities way beyond that of the average human being. Good thing that every main character in this film is a top-ace gunslinger. Nobody ever misses a shot to the brain.

WTF! :eek::barf::annoyed:

[bd2999]

nah man the budget for land was $15 million.

My mistake. Still, Land was epic compared to the new Day. I liked Land by the way.

[Mike70]

My mistake. Still, Land was epic compared to the new Day. I liked Land by the way.

yep indeed it was. the $15 million dropped on land was all on the screen despite what folks might feel about it. it was, to quote MZ, "a proper movie."

ghey 08 looked like about $5 to $8 million dollars worth of trash.

maybe the rest of the budget got spent on strippers/beer/heroin, etc. - name your vice.

[Griff]

Don't forget that DAY08 was shot in Bulgaria so they got alot more value for their money. LAND, however, only gained an extra million for shooting in Toronto, because the Canadian dollar swiftly rose just prior to production.

De-evolved is certainly right. When they took DAWN, a clever reworking on its predecessor, and remade it following NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD's structure, they were definitely taking a few steps back.

This whole horror-action thing has gotten out of control. I just want the horror.

[MinionZombie]

I return to my frequent sentiment that only if someone can add something new and interesting to an old film, should it even be considered for remake - but more central than that, I think sh*t movies should be remade - like Drive-In Massacre, which is f*cking awful, but you could easily make a decent film out of it. Hell, if someone stumped up the cash I'd gladly give it a bash.

Yawn04 didn't stand out whatsoever. I was thinking about this whilst gritting my teeth through the Rubinstein commentary when he was on about the remake...Dawn - the original & best - knocked people's socks off when it came out. People hadn't seen anything like it, it stood out big style.

Yawn04 - doesn't stand out at all. It's just another MTV saturated action-gore flick.

At least Ghey08 stands out ... but for all the wrong reasons. :lol:

Ghey08...my GAR it's bad. :p

[Mutineer]

I've said a hundred time on this site; in a land of really bad zombie films, it is refreshing to get a good zombie film when DAY, RotLD and Savini's Night were the last good ones (That I can think of); Dawn04, Shaun, 28 Days/Weeks. These are about the only ones worth mentioning these days.

Bland, Ghey08, the Resident Evil franchise, the Return sequels; sucktitude.

Dawn04 may have been an actionfest, but can't it be appreciated for that ?

It did nothing new to the genre (so what), but it did give us something that no other Zombie film had done to date and that is bring it into the streets. Instead of lumbering shots of the undead in a field we got mass chaos on the street. Finally !

My only complaint is wanting to see more in the street stuff.

It was superbly directed with a competent cast. Action, w/ comedy relief. I could have done without the Zombie Baby plot, but so what.

Bland, in contrast did nothing but practically kill the genre with asinine ideas, piss poor directing, lame ass characters, a budget sucking Dead Reckoning vehicle (lame) and attrocious acting.

The only reason the orginal Dawn knocked peoples socks off was the gore level; a level that hadn't been seen in film before. A great classic, but hardly epic sans for the gore level. Watching that film today is akin to watching a B movie. I still love it, but the filmmaking prose GAR had then isn't anything to write home about.

Dawn04 has 45,000 IMDB ratings of 7.4

Bland has 26,000 at 6.5

I know that isn't the gospel, but it does say something.

Dawn04

Domestic: $59,020,957 57.7%+ Foreign: $43,335,424 42.3%= Worldwide: $102,356,381


Bland

Domestic: $20,700,082 44.3%+ Foreign: $26,070,520 55.7%= Worldwide: $46,770,602

=========

In a world where White Chicks can gross $100,000,000, it's hard to put much faith in box office, but when a remake (even if for namesake) can out do a marquee film headlined by GEORGE A ROMERO, it comes down to a reality check.

Bland sucked. Dawn04 did not.

Take off the GAR goggles. :confused::rolleyes::annoyed:

[bd2999]

Bland sucked. Dawn04 did not.

Possible, but as you even notes box office means next to nothing and you have to consider that it is more of a video game movie than anything else and that sort of conforms to what we have recently been getting.

Lots of terrible movies do well and good movies do badly, and every other possibility. Not to mention that you have people who think the statement you made is reversed. Land was not the greatest zombie film ever but at the same time I don't think any movie Romero has made has been an overwhelming cash cow.

[Doc]

Bland sucked. Dawn04 did not.

Nah Bland didn't suck, but it wasn't that good either, Yawn '04 wasn't that great. Zombie baby? Wtf?
I mean what was the whole point of that?

But I want to know why do people hate runners? People can run.....so why not the undead?

[MinionZombie]

I don't think any movie Romero has made has been an overwhelming cash cow.

Most at least, and not straight off the bat anyway.

Creepshow was his biggest success though, that did rather well.

As for action, I've seen way better action. I wasn't excited by Yawn's action at all.

Now Rambo - that's a f*cking action movie (yeah, it's not a horror hybrid, but it was a damn sight more horrifying than Yawn04).

If you're gonna do horror - do it properly. If you're gonna do action - do it properly.

Yawn04 - in my opinion at the very least - tried to mash both together and didn't do either properly. It was so numbingly average, like I said - didn't stick out from the pack at all. Any thunder it might have had, in my opinion, was snatched beforehand by 28 Days Later - and that's not even a zombie movie, it's a plague film.

[Mutineer]

I'll be the first to admit Dawn04 was an actionfest / popcorn experience. I can accept that. :cool:

[MinionZombie]

People can run.....so why not the undead?

A zombie is basically a drunk toddler. Zombies can't speak, they can't read, they can barely comprehend or understand the basic shreds of our society.

Meanwhile, running is a complex and co-ordinated movement. Staggering around, shambling, is not. That's just moving your legs just in time before you fall over forwards. That's do-able.

Just think about when you're completely sh*tfaced on booze, your co-ordination is shot. Now take a virus that's capable of resurrecting a - dead body - and then make it run like a track star while it screams like a velociraptor? pfft...

Interestingly, I'm helping a friend do an acting course practical where he has to show off his presenting skills, and he's devised a little 'show' set during the start of an apocalypse, and myself and his brother play scientist/beaurocrat/politician type people squabbling about whether they really are zombies or not because the infected individuals in this outbreak can run - so it should be interesting, and I'm already putting my little arguments together - such as that. :p

Should be doing that thing on Tuesday, hopefully he'll get a copy of it so I can make a copy, but we'll see.

[Mutineer]

My zombies (if I can ever make my epic) will have the fresh factor; the fresher the undead, the faster, the older, the slower.

[Doc]

My zombies (if I can ever make my epic) will have the fresh factor; the fresher the undead, the faster, the older, the slower.

That would certainly please fans of both zombies.

Man Mr. MinionZombie you really don't like runners do you?:p

[bassman]

My zombies (if I can ever make my epic) will have the fresh factor; the fresher the undead, the faster, the older, the slower.

I believe DjfunkmasterG's "Deadlands" used that same logic.

[Trin]

I wonder what the discussions would be like if the evolvling zombies in Land had "learned" to run. Whereas the typical shambler in Night/Dawn/Day were mentally constrained, as MZ points out, it seems to me to be within the mental grasp of Land zombies given the other skills they relearned. I little trial and error picking up their feet and they'd be jogging. It also seems to me that it is within their physical grasp as well. The butcher zombie was moving his arm pretty fast chopping at the plywood. That was a complex set of motions involving strength, speed, and balance.

[Griff]

I always perceived that the act of dying would be like having a stroke or something. When you regain consciousness, the desire might be there but your brain has forgotten some of the basics and you have to learn the simple things again. Its not all about rigor mortis, rotting and what not. Turning into a zombie must be a very traumatic thing for the brain and body to deal with and no doubt re-animation would have the nervous system misfiring and sh*t.

Zombies should move slowly. That's a very natural assumption, something you don't even have to think about or rationalize to the person next to you. And its probably the reason why they didn't run until 2004*.

*They were some kinda infected in NIGHTMARE CITY and RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD was a comedy that deliberately tried to do the opposite of Romero.