Mr. Romero, a legend in my book, has for the past forty years made his name synonymous with the word zombie. Incredibly, though with the advancement of technology, his 'of the dead' collection of rotting flesh walk-a-bouts has not strayed from the gruesome realization that at any time, humanity could be faced with some sort of "oh, no, nuclear experiment gone wrong" and wake up to have dead people suddenly interested in your tasty flesh. An ear there, a chunk of leg here... what's to say that little Jimmy's loving mother or auntie won't find that unhealed bloody scab-wound from yesterdays bike accident totally irresistible!
For those that have been living under a rock, forty-two years ago, this seemingly normal man created a work of art so fine, that for many years after, the horror industry has repeatedly tried to duplicate the claustrophobic sensation of being trapped in a deserted house in the middle of no where with hordes of the dead rising from their graves to polish the ol' tooth on your flesh and bones. I'm talking, of course, about "Night of the Living Dead". He also defied the myth that being in a cemetery only at night could be creepy. Poor Barbara! She only wanted to visit her deceased father's grave with her annoying brother for company. Instead, she got a night's sub script ion to the 'flavor of the month club'.
What do you get if you combine together four people, some gun power, a shopping mall, and blood thirsty cannibals of the dead? "Dawn of the Dead" is what you get! Whether you liked it or not (if you didn't, leave this page right now... now... go) this hellish edition to his zombie catalog definitely left you with the thought that, in the event a zombie apocalypse does happen, you may have to fight off more than just the dead to survive. As if motorcycle gangs didn't have a bad rap to begin with, "Dawn of the Dead" fermented that heavily and kicked it up a notch or two. But all ends well, of course, with their sanity on the bluff, "a few" hole in the head zombies lying about, and a deplinished state of staples and goods, normal life could happen, right?
Mr. Georgie didn't stop here though, no, there are more sequels to be had (not counting his other works in between, like "Creepshow" and "The Crazies"). Though "Day of the Dead" was supposed to be the end to his 'of the dead' trilogy (and for some, it was), his latest works continue on with surviving somewhere on earth with bandits of flesh hungry dead on every corner. But we're not there yet. "Day of the Dead", the more gory of the previous zombie installments, took a slight turn and focused more on "how to solve this hip hop craze of neighbor eating tuesdays" with scientist holed up in an underground bunker. There are very few, literally a hand full of people left on earth now and it's up to a few scientist and military personnel to save themselves and to experiment, hopefully finding a cure for the zombie night blues. Although the gore factor is not left to be desired, logic is still present as well. They are alone in the world and will soon be the other white meat if this epidemic is not eradicated.
Now, lets build a whole city in the hopes of keeping out the unwanted, who, for a lack of better words, evolved to a greater intelligence and have found a kinship in their flesh eating comrades. In "Land of the Dead", it's become second nature now to just weed out the badies and keep the goodies on lock down within a corporate driven "society" where a central building is obviously the place to be. Meanwhile, the lowlies are still out and about, trying to survive and playing "kill the zombies". Somebody's got to do the dirty work lest we forget what this new world is all about. All hope seems lost, but wait, there's more!
We simply can't have a zombie movie without students chronically document ..ng a film diary about the "day in the life of zombie land". While a group of people are hell bent on traveling to escape the atrocities that go along with dead people starving for your minty flavored tongue, you are bound to start questioning your sanity and feel guilty that you may or may not have run over a real person instead of one that has risen from the grave on your road quest to normalcy. Let's face it, a self induced bullet to the brain might just alleviate some of your fears. In "Diary of the Dead", this group find themselves rushing to a hospital to save the life of a friend who, on second thought, decided that being a zombie herself wasn't a bad alternative. Forget the religious implications here, there are certain perks to being a feelingless, void-of-all-humanity-beast at an all you can eat buffet.
Last, but not least, "Survival of the Dead". Romero's latest zombie montage throws you for a complete loop and actually jabs at your conscience on whether or not killing the already dead is a good thing or a bad thing. I mean, it's quite possible to discover a cure while on an island staving off gut famished dead people, in the hopes of returning your lost loved ones to a non-cannibalistic nature. Hath not a zombie eyes? All in all, I reckon that for the next hundred years, if the human race still has questions on how to prevent, defeat, or just live with zombies - then the brilliant stock collection of George A. Romero's 'Of The Dead' should quite suffice.
For more about George A. Romero and other horror personas, visit The Horror Movie Tomb at www.dixieshorrormovietomb.com and watch horror movies free online!
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Ode to Weekly - articles about the creators, directors and famous actors who have made horror movies outstanding over the years!
