What To Do On Hiatus: Week One
Hiatus is upon us. The time for waiting and wondering what’s to come may feel like a drag, but rest assured I have you covered. For the duration of the hiatus I will be covering other zombie related movies, games and books for an audience starving for more gory goodness.
This week, we’ll take a look at the film series that started the modern zombie: George A. Romero’s Dead series.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
This is the film that created the modern flesh eating zombie. George Romero crafts and excellent tale of survival, pitting a rag tag group of survivors against an army of undead. Trapped in a farm house, the survivors must learn to work together despite their differences and disagreements.
Among all of the death, Romero manages to give us the first glimpse into his use of social commentary via the zombies. By making the main character a black man, Romero does something that simply wasn’t being done at the time. Later moments in the film further this social commentary on racism, with hints of lynching and hate from white southerners appearing over the closing credits.
Night of the Living Dead is an excellent film and if you haven’t seen it, it’s required viewing. Without this film The Walking Dead (and countless other zombie fiction) simply wouldn’t exist.
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Ten years later, Romero released the second chapter of his series. Unlike its predecessor, Dawn was filmed in full color and takes advantage of this by delivering a much more boisterous and comic-book inspired film. Every ante is upped, with more blood, gore and action than before.
The film follows a new group of survivors taking refuge in a shopping mall. The world has begun to become overrun by the zombies at this point, leading to chaos and anarchy. Using the mall as his vehicle, Romero layers the epic story with more social commentary, this time on consumerism. How important are material items in the long run? Romero asks many questions to the viewer without losing sight of character development or the storyline.
Dawn of the Dead is an incredible film, and one of my personal favorites. It has humor, action and drama, giving anyone who watches it a four course meal of awesome. If you haven’t seen it, stop whatever you are doing and change that. If you have seen it, stop whatever you are doing and see it again. It’s that good.
Day of the Dead (1985)
The third chapter takes place at the end of the world. Nearly no people are left and the cities have become overrun with the undead. Another small group of survivors composed of military soldiers and civilian researchers find safe haven in an underground military complex.
During the course of the film, a brilliant (and very deranged) doctor goes about trying to teach the zombies how to behave rationally, with mixed results. This leads to an all out war between the two groups, with the military taking an aggressive “kill em’ all” approach, and the scientists attempting to cure the problem.
Romero once again brings his social commentary to the table. This time the film deals with the divide between the government and the people, as well as the distrust that lives within that relationship.
Day of the Dead is often considered the weakest of Romero’s first three films, but make no mistake; it’s as great as Dawn. This film is simply darker and bleaker than the former, which works just as well as the comic sensibilities. Watch this film, it is incredible.
Land of the Dead (2005)
Romero returned to the genre he created twenty years later with Land of the Dead. The film sports a much higher budget than his previous work, and much of that sheen does well for the film. However, some feel that Romero was beginning to lose his touch.
The film takes place after Day, with a small band of scavengers that bring supplies to a large, fortified community of wealthy people. When one of the scavengers threatens the safety of the community, his former teammates have to hunt him down to receive an impressive cash reward, all while an army of undead make their way to the community.
This time around, Romero does lay the social commentary on a bit thick. The film definitely deals with many of the problems people had with the Bush administration, as well as the neglect and degradation of the lower class. The commentary feels less organic and much more forced, leading to some under-developed characters and silly scenes.
Despite these flaws, the fourth chapter does indeed warrant a viewing. Just seeing Romero’s talents at play with a much larger studio budget is worth the watch.
Diary of the Dead (2007)
Romero returns to a lower budget film with this re-launch of his series. Starting back at the beginning of the outbreak, the film follows a group of college kids that find themselves on the road during the apocalypse.
This time around, the commentary once again feels overly forced. The main character essentially tells the audience what Romero is trying to say, taking away any subtlety. It delves into the media and their obsession with documenting everything, using today’s social network-driven crowd as a tool.
Unfortunately, the lower budget also means that some effects feel flat and some of the actors involved are very inexperienced. Though this film is much more flawed than his previous work, it still manages to entertain throughout. It may not be required viewing, but it is worth a look.
Survival of the Dead (2009)
In his latest entry, Romero tells the tale of an island inhabited by two warring families. One group believes that the zombies should be killed, while the other believes that they can be saved. This leads
to a battle culminating when the military becomes involved.
This time around, the social commentary seems less forced. Religion and man’s need to revert to tribalism are the center points of the film, but once again leave many of the characters feeling like afterthoughts.
The film ultimately feels flat and uninspired. Unfortunately, as a huge Romero fan I wish that he could find his ground once again. However, the film does have some fun moments, and for any completist wishing to finish off the long running series, it’s worth a viewing.
Romero is the father of the modern zombie and his initial trilogy of films should be seen by anyone with even a passing interest in the genre. Though his last few zombie films have been mixed in result, he will forever be known as the master of the genre.
Next week I’ll go into one of the most important zombie franchises in the history of video games: Resident Evil.
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Will Gibbs is a Michigan native and journalism student at Oakland University. He is a long time Walking Dead fan and self proclaimed "zombie survival expert." When he's not writing, Will enjoys watching movies, playing video games, and reading comic books. |
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I think its worth noting that The Walking Dead was originally going to be named Night of the Living Dead. He mentions it in one of his first comic Q/As