Zombie Squad INTERVIEW :  |
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Night of the Living Dead
In 1968, George Romero redefined horror with his infamous Night of the Living
Dead. With his graphic depiction of grisly and disgusting scenes, Romero
was one of the pioneers of gore. When Night of the Living Dead was made,
zombies were nothing new in horror movies. However, Romero's zombies were the
first to consume their human victims, a winning formula for which the horror
of terrifying, post-cannibalistic imagery justifies the ultra-violence committed
to combat it. Survival in Romero's world of bloodthirsty living corpses is best
left to those outfitted with guns and other heavy weaponry.
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A horde of zombies from the original Night of the Living Dead. |
Much like The Evil Dead (which it likely inspired), Night of the
Living Dead documents the struggles of a group of everyday people stuck
in a remote cabin. Little or no explanation is given—all the characters (and
the audience) know is that corpses are walking around murdering and eating people
worldwide. Society is in a state of emergency and there is mass confusion and
hysteria induced by the strange events unfolding. In this case, the occupants
of the remote cabin are strangers to each other and Romero milks the most out
of this situation as his characters yell, bicker, and otherwise [sometimes violently]
struggle amongst themselves over their different survival tactics and priorities.
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A horde of zombies from Dawn of the Dead. |
In 1978, Romero put out Dawn of the Dead, considered by many to be his
finest film. Dawn of the Dead picks up where Night of the Living Dead
ends: the living dead are everywhere, society is crumbling, and the scattered
survivors are desperately trying to cope with the dire situation. For many,
this coping mechanism turns to flight as it becomes clear that populated society
is a deathtrap. Thus, this film focuses on the activities of four mavericks
as they flee in a stolen helicopter. Eventually, they find their way to an abandoned
indoor shopping mall where they hole up as a refuge against the horrors of a
zombie-infested world.
 A newscast broadcast with updates about the zombie crisis from Night of the Living Dead. |
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Like Raimi, in Dawn of the Dead, Romero takes advantage of the sequel's
similarity to its predecessor to poke fun at its [and, by association, Night
of the Living Dead's] devices by adapting them for comedic effect. Unlike
the outrageous slapstick of Evil Dead II, the humor in Dawn of the
Dead is more subdued and represents a dark social commentary. For example,
the sight of zombies staggering through a fully-functional indoor mall clearly
mocks the throngs of brainwashed consumers that typically inhabit such places.
Furthermore, the irony of people inadvertently living out the ultimate consumer
fantasy (having a mall full of goods at your fingertips) while trying to survive
in an apocalyptic world overrun by undead is pretty damn funny.
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 Even incidentals from Night of the Living Dead are repeated in Dawn of the Dead. |
In 1985, Romero put out Day of the Dead as the third chapter of his
zombie sagas. This third film seems to be a true departure from the formula
of the first two, and perhaps consequently, Day of the Dead is considerably
less popular amongst Romero fans than either Night of the Living Dead
and Dawn of the Dead. This offers insight into why a film director (and
especially producers) may opt to remake a movie or offer a sequel to a film
that is not substantially different from the original. Romero's first two films
were really quite similar and are generally praised, and Day of the Dead
fails to evoke the same reaction as the first two. People are most likely interested
in "more of the same" and it fails to deliver.
Night of the Living Dead Revisited (TWICE)
To further confuse the issue, Night of the Living Dead, in addition
to being recast in its own sequel, was itself remade in 1990 with direction
by Tom Savini. Based on the original script by George Romero and John Russo,
Romero and Russo are also credited as Executive Producer and Producer, respectively.
Savini himself worked on both Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead,
providing makeup and special effects for both films (not to mention his appearance
as the lead biker in Dawn of the Dead).
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The Night of the Living Dead begins as a dead madman attacks innocent visitors to the cemetery. |
This movie does a halfway decent job of revisiting the original without being
entirely predictable. Unsurprisingly, the gore and look of this film have been
brought up to more modern standards. Perhaps the most striking difference between
this and the original is the recharacterization of Barbara, the lead female
character. In the original, Barbara never recovers from the sight of watching
her brother get slain by a zombie. However, the slicker remake portrays her
as more of a heroic and capable lead who eventually becomes the sole survivor
of the grisly zombie invasion. The difference in characterization here seems
directed at eliminating an obviously sexist "damsel in distress" element that
would be less suited to a contemporary film. Unfortunately, it reeks too much
of a tired Alien-esque stereotype.
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The same scene is presented with different action in the remake. |
Despite some shortcomings, Tom Savini's remake is a decent zombie movie and
does not desecrate the sanctity of the original. That injustice was done
with the release of the 30 th Anniversary DVD edition of Night
of the Living Dead.
This anniversary edition is surely one of the worst
things that could have happened to such a classic movie. For this "special"
edition, members of the original film crew (notably minus George Romero) got
together and shot approximately 20 minutes of new footage. Designed to be spliced
seamlessly into the original, this added material focuses on a new character,
an annoying preacher who adds nothing to the movie. These new sequences stick
out like a sore thumb and are irritatingly overacted. To add insult to injury,
a portion of the original film equal in length to the additional footage was
removed in order to preserve the running length of the original, substantially
changing the end of the movie as the focus drifts away from Barbara and Ben
(two characters who are relatively simple to relate to) over to the preacher.
This version is so bad that it is difficult to analyze the motivations of those
who were behind it. Apparently, these extra scenes were based upon portions
of the original script that were dropped during the original shoot. This "Franken-film"
is perhaps the strongest case for the championing of the original artistic decisions
made during the production of a creative project, and the best example of unnecessary
post-game "quarterbacking." Take heed, Lucas.
Recently, Dawn of the Dead was itself
remade by an entirely new film crew. This by-the-numbers production, featuring
post- 28 Days Later amphetamine-charged digital zombies and calculated
gross-out splatter effects, was a technically proficient, but hollow retread
of Romero's masterpiece.
What Does it All Mean?
 A buck head (with antlers) is used as a suspenseful horror device in the Night of the Living Dead remake. |
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There is more than one way to look at remakes. In the case of the Evil Dead
movies, Sam Raimi gets credit for keeping his series fresh with new concepts
and innovations. Although diehard Evil Dead fans may be annoyed by the final
fate of hero Ash, as portrayed in Army of Darkness, Raimi deserves credit
for not yet replacing any of his original films with redone versions, but rather
creating new films in the series. Rather than getting caught up in the trap
of completely sticking with a sequel formula, he revisited previous scenes with
a new twist. This degree of confidence works in his favor, as there is a clear
progression in production standards and intent from the original low-budget
short film Within the Woods, all the way up to the slick, ridiculous
Army of Darkness. Sure, there may be a loss of continuity, but these
movies are so unhinged that it really doesn't matter. Furthermore, Raimi's daring
experimentations in evolving the horror genre by the infusion of pure slapstick
were nothing if not inspired.
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 Curiously, Evil Dead II utilizes a buck head trophy as a horror device of a much different sort. |
George Romero managed to do a solid job crafting sequels to his landmark Night
of the Living Dead, but unfortunately, the multiple versions of his movies,
each of varying quality, obscure its legacy. This is one of the sad consequences
of alternate versions, director's cuts, special editions, and remakes: the existence
of several versions of a film present a true dilemma to the consumer interested
in renting or purchasing one of these films. For example, there are most likely
people who have seen the 30 th anniversary edition of Night of
the Living Dead who have no idea that what they saw was different (and worse)
than the original. It is a terrible tragedy that the inept tinkerings of others
have kept Romero's vision from being properly enjoyed by its potential audience.
And while Tom Savini's remake ironically does more justice to the original than
this infamous re-release, it is still a relatively inessential movie that should
be passed up in favor of the original, and whose funding could perhaps have
gone into the creation of a new horror dynasty.
| George Romero managed to do a solid job crafting sequels to his landmark Night of the Living Dead, but unfortunately, the multiple versions of his movies... obscure its legacy. |
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Ultimately, new and imaginative concepts are far more praiseworthy than the
recycling of old ideas, concepts, and storylines. With these movies, Raimi and
Romero clearly demonstrate two important facts:
1. Remakes of movies are entirely avoidable. Rather than totally redo
something, why not take a concept and run with it? Or integrate a new element
into that concept? There is a considerable difference between blatant hijacking
and creative reworking.
2. Sequels don't necessarily suck by definition. Most decent sequels
are usually the product of the same folks who were behind the original. Although
arguably less inspired, isn't a sequel to a movie more noteworthy and inspiring
than a simple rehashing of the original?
The bottom line really is that the masses do not necessarily exhibit good taste
when choosing what is popular. By indiscriminatingly buying tickets to see a
new version of something they are already familiar with, audiences make it profitable
for film studios to retread well-worn paths. We can only hope that singular
vision and creativity will eventually win out over the financial exploitation
of audiences' nostalgia and comfort with the familiar. Hopefully, more filmmakers
will be inspired to explore ideas and concepts that really are new, exciting,
and different.
a-diction.com 
The long-awaited fourth movie in Romero's Living Dead series, Land
of the Dead, opens on June 24, 2005. In November 2004, Sam Raimi
announced that he and Bruce Campbell would be producing a remake of
The Evil Dead. Much like the remake of Night of the Living Dead, this will most likely be directed by someone other than Raimi,
who will still provide much creative influence.
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