I often hail George A. Romero as my favorite film director of all time based on a few obvious factors. I don’t need to go into them but for my money, his zombie films, the first three at least are some of the finest horror movies ever made. I consider Night of the Living Dead to be the perfect horror movie. But I really didn’t much care for Land of the Dead and I didn’t hold back at all in my review of Diary of the Dead, Romero’s attempt to reboot his own mythology. I feel like his best days are behind him and his once fiercely independent spirit has left him in a career slump that would drive most people out of the business or at least forsaking directing in favor of producing.
But he’s back.
I haven’t followed the production of …Of The Dead at all because of my reaction to Diary of the Dead. It was a particular kind of mediocre. A red flag that tells everyone that the party is over and I just couldn’t stand to watch the man twist in the wind. Even though the trailer at Bloody Disgusting is really dark, you can see what he’s driving at with this new feature and I must admit, I am very interested.
The plot of the …Of The Dead concerns an island of survivors among the living dead who refuse to kill the zombies out of some sense that these people are still their neighbors, friends and family. When one of the survivors takes matters into his own hands and starts taking them out, he is banished to the mainland where other survivors are looking for a protected area where they can make a new life. That island is looking pretty good, if they can get rid of all those damn zombies.
January 6, 2009 3:37 pm
Romero is dead to me know. After the horrible films of Land of the Dead and the hilariously bad Diary of the Dead I’ve had it. Bring on a World War Z adaptation.
I’ll probably check out his latest zombie film on DVD when I’m bored one night.
January 6, 2009 3:58 pm
Wow! That’s cold, man! I can’t seem to turn my back on him.
Also, are you aware of the World War Z film in production? Written by J. Michael Straczynski, directed by the guy who did Quantum of Solace.
January 12, 2009 10:56 pm
It’s true, Romero has “jumped the shark” at this point in his career. Land of the Dead was ok (Asiaophile here), Diary had some promise but if he wants to continue on more power to him….you never know he might have a gem left.
January 13, 2009 12:18 am
“Jumped the shark” is a little harsh. ‘Diary’ was unfocused and whatever Romero was trying to say about media saturation/voyeurism/etc. got muddled (partially, I think, because ‘Diary’ was his attempt to re-claim the ‘Dead’ franchise. I saw him in Concord NH back in 2006, and during his Q&A, this was one of the points he returned to a lot–getting back some measure of control over the films he created and, to an extent, the genre he helped spawn. I think the passion to do that clouded over some of the sharper points he was going for). But “Land” was pretty solid, a logical continuation of the story set up in “Day” and a pretty definitive populist/anti-capitalist statement, all in the guise of a zombie movie. (And Asia Argento always gets my vote). “Diary” was a miss, but I don’t think it’s worth entirely dismissing him over. Even at his most mediocre, I think Romero still has enough interesting stuff going on to keep watching.
January 13, 2009 6:09 am
In no way am I writing off Romero, but hey I think he can do better, and I’m sure he does too.