fresh flesh

The film that started my unhealthy obsession with stories involving dead people trying to eat living human flesh. To be fair, though, it also turned me on to how great ultra-low-budget movies can be, paving the way for my enjoyment of flicks like "Shadows" and "Killer of Sheep". This really is a great movie. The gore aside, it's just a well-done story. Rather than just using the zombies vs humans as the conflict, Romero makes the real tension happen between those trapped in the isolated farmhouse, between Duane Jones and Karl Hardman, between Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman, between Judith O'Dea and her own sanity. And even larger than that, Romero uses a cheaply made horror flick to comment on the state of race relations in the United States. Using Jones as the hero was a pretty bold move for Romero, as was the ending. Seen with his other movies, the "Dead" series, like the "Body Snatchers" movies, are great barometers of the American psyche at any given time. If you can, watch it with the original score. There've been several attempts to "improve" it, but can't beat the original.

With both "Shaun" and "Hot Fuzz", Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright not only lovingly send up their favorite movie genres, but they also made great movies that stand up just fine on their own. You can feel the love for "Night of the Living Dead" in every frame of this one. Even better, though, it's just a great comedy. I watched this one the first time with several friends who are decidedly not fans of the zombie movie genre in any way, have even called into question my mental stability because of my own love for them (a fair question at that), but they absolutely loved it and were laughing hysterically right along with me. As long as you can stomach the gore, this is one of the best comedies in the last 20 years.

Great concept! Being a zombie movie aficionado, I always love it when someone can come up with an original idea in the genre, and this was an excellent addition. As another reviewer wrote, this is basically a Lassie movie with zombies in place of a really smart dog. Some great, laugh-out-loud moments throughout, such as the commercial with the little girl exclaiming "Help. Grandpa's fallen, and he's getting up!" or Carrie-Ann Moss asking "What is it, Fido? Is Timmy in trouble?" Billy Connolly makes for a wonderfully expressive zombie, but Tim Blake Nelson stole the show as the next-door neighbor who has a rather unhealthy relationship with his zombie companion. A fun, funny flick with just the right amount of gore.

I wanted to like this one more than I actually did. All the elements were there: a great cast, a great director, a great premise. But while I enjoyed it, it just felt like there was something missing. Maybe this was a case of too much of a good thing. There were so many sub-plots and gore and violence thrown in that all the great parts didn't add up to a wholly enjoyable flick. Definitely worth a watch, but not as satisfying as I'd hoped.

Fun, gory zombie fun. Definitely more fun than "Snakes on a Plane" and takes itself much less seriously. Some good solid character actors like Kevin J. O'Connor (who had the best role in this one. "She's gumming me to death" was hilarious), as well as some solid B-movie actors like Dale Midkiff help round out the cast, and while it takes maybe a bit too long to get to the zombie goodness, once the zombie action gets rolling it's a hoot, as well as introducing an original way to kill one of the living dead: death by umbrella. Would make one helluva in-flight movie.

Zombie sheep. Luckily, there's not really more that needs to be said. A fun concept like this usually goes in one of two directions: a fun concept where the only thing fun is the premise ("Snakes On a Plane" had a bit of that problem) or a fun concept that gets turned into a fun movie. Happily, this is in the latter category. I think my favorite part of this one is the several shots of ordinary sheep staring at the camera and the fact that these gentle animals are now deadly killers. Great special effects with shades of "An American Werewolf in London" and some good-natured ribbing aimed at global warming and the tree-hugging set. In fact, Al Gore probably wouldn't mind using the climax of the film as the potential dangers of greenhouse gasses. Fun, gory flick. With sheep.

Make no mistake, this is a bad movie. But it's a good kind of bad. I was laughing through the whole thing. The acting is wooden throughout. Ironically, the zombies are more animated than the "live" people. But for a movie made on basically no budget, it was a good time. The gore and blood was done well, and you have to appreciate a movie that features a "Zombie Squad". Granted, the Zombie Squad is the Keystone Kops of zombie films, as they are the worst bunch of commandos to ever put on riot gear. Seriously, after four years of hunting zombies, you'd think these guys would know better than to casually put their flesh next to zombie experiments, zombies in cages, etc. I think like four or five of those zombie squad guys meet their end because of that. This would make a great party movie. Get a couple beers in you, and you'll be on the floor laughing.

A fun little zombie flick. Clocking in at just over an hour, even if you don't like it, you haven't wasted too much time. This one's your old-school zombies: no government experiments, no probe back from Venus, no super-contagious virus. This one's good old-fashioned voodoo curse. It's silly and doesn't take itself at all seriously, and the Irish actors and actresses are much less pretentious and actually pretty good performers when you compare them to similar low-budget American fare like the newer "Return of the Living Dead" movies. Not the strongest in the genre but can still hold its own. Besides, how awesome a title is that?