Alright, I'll give you something to read..
So.. I was browsing around bored when I decided to make a visit to HPOTD just to see if there'd been any more f'ing remakes  put out recently that I could exclaim explatives about to myself and my friends. One more heartless, spineless, thoughtless piece of s*** that completely misses the point of what makes a good zombie movie. Low and behold, here YOU are. Immediately I started rolling my eyes.
So here's the part where I slowly make that transition to telling you I was actually pretty impressed. I hate being so predictable but yes, I'm impressed. I've gone through my seeking every zombie film imaginable period. I've seen Redneck Zombies and countless others. I've seen BAD zombie movies. This is not bad in my opinion. It may be flawed from a budget and time standpoint. There are things I would have done differently. And hey if my own ideas were implemented, who knows, the movie could have been a giant s***load worse than it was. It's YOUR vision, and because of specific key elements, I respect the hell out of this movie.
I feel that dogging the obvious flaws is just pointless here because no doubt, it's your work, you want to defend it obviously but you also are going to be far more critical of yourself than anyone else could ever be. Almost every artist I like can't even stand their own work. I'm the same way. Not saying that you don't like how this turned out, but you're certainly AWARE of the problems. Let's just get past all that bull****.
If you're going to do a revisioned remake, I believe, this is how it should be done. I was only speaking a week ago to a friend of mine regarding the first three Romero zombie movies. We were talking about how the time period it was released in itself IS a character in Night, Dawn, & Day. That's the way it is with any classic movie. Everything comes together almost by some cosmic force. Anything that will last, regardless of the art form, anything that will one day be referred to as a classic will be a product of it's time and the sum of it's parts almost on a subconscious level. The problem with remakes, sequels, a TV show going past 4 seasons (yes, there are exceptions), etc is that you're there trying to get back the magic from something that already happened. It's wrong, it's gone, stop it.
This idea carries over to a ****load of things..music too..it's why we have has-beens. It's why the 60/70-year old members of the Rolling Stones still touring make you want to vomit. If they had any luck at all they would have been killed in their prime like Hendrix, Morrison, Joplin, etc. I could be shredded for this, who gives a ****, but it's why I think Land Of The Dead should never have been made. I thought that movie was **** because it seemed to try to reach too hard for something that every fan was already fully aware of BECAUSE IT ALREADY HAPPENED. There was so much time, so many years for us to analyze the reason these zombie movies worked, that doing it again now, it could never be as good because of the simple fact that we are affected. So is Romero. Any of us making zombie movies now are affected by the specific things we thought really MADE those classic movies, including Romero. More importantly, LotD couldn't work because the majority of the reason it was made was based on fans requesting it. Romero needs to stop, and we all need to appreciate what we have and let it be. This new whatever the **** part 5 sequel garbage he's working on now may have some moments that will make us smile, but it's simply a caricature reaching for something it can see but can't touch. That's my opinion.
If ever any new art is created with the intentions of pleasing fans of a former work, moreso than the artist making an uncompromised vision, it is inherently flawed. When you create for yourself, you make much better work because most fans don't even understand that leaving that world behind gives you the ability to use your imagination. You can wonder what happened to those characters. THAT IS A GOOD THING. What happened to Peter and Fran after they flew off the mall roof in a helicopter with low fuel? Did they crash? Were they eaten? Did Fran have the baby? Did they survive and deal with Flyboy's effeminate demon spawn? Who ****ing knows man, make it up in your head, look at our fiction section, it's awesome!! That being said, again, if you feel you have to retread, then Reese has the right idea.
Getting back to the subject I was initially getting to wayyyyyy up there... I don't care how critical you want to be of this movie, you cannot disregard it HAS significant moments that work. This movie has impact regardless of it's limitations. To write it off as amateur, unwatchable, a complete waste of time? My personal opinion is if you're tearing it down to that extent, then you're up your own ass with the "I don't sugarcoat" vibe. That's fine, that's YOUR personal issue. I KNOW we have rented movies from Blockbuster (wherever you rent from) with far less to appreciate than this movie. Movies with a lot more budget, a lot more time to get things right and a hell of a lot less ****ing heart.
Specifically, I want to emphasize the point where the zombies are smacking the sliding glass door behind the shades and the sister is standing there hearing that. It really isn't very often I get to putting myself back into the shoes of a side character in a horror film because we assume they're going to be dead, we're just waiting to see how. Maybe I can credit the low budget aspects with this feat, but nevertheless it worked. It just worked. The sound of the banging, not seeing behind the blinds, and knowing that glass can only take so much abuse? That's a haunting moment. It made me think as soon as I heard the sound and saw the house setup, "Oh, man that's a ****ty situation.." Not to mention man, these characters are written in a pre-affected zombie fashion. At that point she could think anything was behind that sliding glass door. She was operating under the assumption these could be murdering psychotics. Come to think of it, her TV wasn't working and John wasn't giving her much information so it really could have been anyone or anything beyond. Once again, a key element was not seeing it. Maybe that was a budget limitation, maybe it was cheaper for her not to peek out and get the generic "How well did Reese dress up his zombies, let's check it out" scare. Less was more, and it worked. WE all knew what the hell was behind the shades. We were given the time to be there with her and wonder what we would do in her shoes. Same kind of principle in M. Night Shamalan movies, Signs in particular. Say what you want about him or that movie. Less was more. People complained about the lack of us seeing the alien making it cheap. Does seeing the alien reeeeally make it scary? Does seeing the zombie reeeeally make it scary? Hell no. We know what an alien looks like, we know what a f'ing zombie looks like, that's all a part of the special effects element. If people concentrated on the more important things first, like a STORY and the DYNAMIC of the situation they're faced with, the special effects would carry a lot more weight. Otherwise we're seeing what we expect, and that would bore the **** out of us.
Take 28 Days Later for instance. I don't wanna hear your **** about "not a zombie movie" blah blah blah, whatever kind of reserved hatred you have about that movie or it's sequel, the point is this. For the first time in a LONG time, I was able to stop and think to myself about the situation. You're there with your girlfriend/wife/father/mother/best friend talking about anything. Someone you've known for years, someone whom, before this crisis started, you probably had decided or at least fooled yourself into believing you would die for, should those circumstances present themselves. A decision you may have even considered only because you figured that circumstance never WOULD present itself. This person is suddenly infected by one drop of blood or saliva to their eyes or mouth, and think about how easy that is... and you now have less than 20 seconds to decide to kill them or they are going to rip you to f'ing shreds. You have to realize they are gone, say your goodbyes, and go immediately into survival mode, only hoping you're capable of overpowering them to begin with...all in 20 seconds. THAT is F'ED UP!!
That brings me to my unshaken belief of what makes a good zombie movie. More than any other movie monster, a good zombie movie is about the remaining LIVING PEOPLE. In actuality, we're the monsters. We're the ones who get selfish and careless and stupid, put ourselves in jeopardy and get eaten. We're the ones who talk a great game and then go cowardly and F over everyone else. We're the ones who let the world crumble to s*** because we can't work together positively. Zombie movies done right are introspective engagements at their core. If they're done RIGHT.
So whether or not this movie has it's limitations, and it's retardedly redundant to even point them out given the circumstances, it should be credited with what it got right. There were plenty of other things besides Barb's moment with the shades, but I've written way too much. Even THAT I appreciate because it only shows the movie got me talking. So thank you Reese. Your movie is now a part of my zombie consciousness on a positive level. I assure you that's a feat.
By the way, if you get enough recognition and praise resulting in finance to go back and make tinkering edits on your movie? Sure, mess around a little here and there with the news footage but don't go all George Lucas on it. Some of the charm can be lost. You have a lot to be proud of.
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Originally Posted by DVW5150
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