Saturday Evening Movie Thread 04/13/2024 [TheJamesMadison]

George Romero

If there's one thing George Romero is known for it's zombies. He was the zombie guy. He made zombie movies. And, to be fair, six out of sixteen films were zombie films. That's not a small percentage, but half of those three were made in the final five years of his career from 2005-2009. Much like many film directors who started in the horror genre, he spent most of his career trying to break out of that mold before ultimately just giving up and using what little clout he had in that tiny subgenre he called home to make whatever he could.

Was that all he was, though? Was he just the zombie guy? Was he just the horror guy who made a lot of zombie films? Surely we all remember, or have at least heard of, Martin, his pseudo-vampire film, right?

Well, to figure out Romero, who he was, how he was perceived, and who he wanted to be, you have to break his filmmaking career into three parts. The first is Night of the Living Dead until Dawn of the Dead. The second would be Creepshow to the end of his career with Survival of the Dead. The third would be the film that falls in between: Knightriders.

The Start

George A. Romero began filmmaking somewhat unusually: he was an industrial filmmaker, largely making commercials for local clients around Pittsburgh through his company Image Ten Productions after he graduated from Carnegie Mellon studying drama. Wanting to get into feature filmmaking, he pulled together a bare amount of funds to make an easily marketable horror movie that became Night of the Living Dead. Using a very small cast of local actors and even some crew, a remote almost condemned farmhouse, and as much time as he could, Night of the Living Dead tapped into the cultural zeitgeist of the moment which helped propel it to become one of the most profitable independent films ever made, an honor that gave Romero precious little comfort since he and his producers signed terrible distribution deals that gave them no cut of the profits.

This led to Romero essentially going back to square one with his next film, There's Always Vanilla, made in largely the same way, a process he followed for several years, his films either simply unsuccessful (like Vanilla) or plagued by more bad distribution deals (like The Crazies).

What is common across this first decade of his career is how he made them. Every single one of them was crafted in the editing bay. What I mean by that is that he filmed quickly, with only tangential relationship to a script, and he filmed a lot of footage, taking it all into editing where he crafted. He was, essentially, the Terrence Malick of Pittsburgh and horror. Not all of these films are horror, and they provide an important glimpse into what he was trying to be outside of zombie films.

There's Always Vanilla is a relationship drama (it's not very good and a weird choice if he was trying to recreate the financial success of Night of the Living Dead). Season of the Witch is about a bored housewife who decided to dabble in witchcraft, never actually making magic but finding meaning in it anyway (while turning into a monster at the same time). The Crazies was obviously an effort to recreate the success of Night, a film about a disease attacking a small Pennsylvania town, the military's efforts to quarantine it, and the conflict between the two. Martin is about a young man who thinks he's a vampire, drugs women, and uses a razor blade to get the blood he drinks.

This period is really seemingly defined by the idea that magic isn't real, but belief in it fills a hole in the human experience. That's most evident in Season of the Witch and Martin where the lack of magic is a central idea, but the investment in trying to pursue the magic provides meaning in a world where people are alone. It seems obvious that Romero grew up in a Catholic household (his early films are filled with the iconography), but he fell out of belief before he started his filmmaking career. He had become something of a materialist who struggled to find meaning in a world without magic and wonder and God.

Martin is where his career changed, though. It's not that Martin was a financial success (it wasn't), it's that it was the start of his professional career with his producing partner Richard Rubinstein. With Rubinstein, Romero was able to get the funds to return to zombies for the second time with Dawn of the Dead, the highest grossing film of Romero's entire career, the film that solidified him as the master of the zombie subgenre, and gave him real freedom with real money for the first time. However, before we get to what he did with that, let's skip ahead to how he continued his career afterwards.

The Long, Drawn-out Ending

So, Romero became friends with Stephen King, and the two were determined to work together. What they managed to bring together was the anthology film, and homage to EC comics, Creepshow. Now, I separate at this point mostly for production reasons. The way Romero had made his films up to Creepshow are done, never to return. The "film as much as possible and I'll put it together in the editing bay" methods are discarded for much more structured productions around a script. There's a manic energy in almost every frame of Romero's first decade, but the filmmaking techniques are much more sedate and, I might say, generic for the rest of it.

One of the important things to know about Romero is his influences. They're not horror films or anything along those lines. He regularly mentioned two as the most influential to him, and they were both films by The Archers, Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, The Red Shoes and The Tales of Hoffman. Those are not rinky-dink independent productions, rather they are lush visual treats with heavy emphasis on music. The visuals in Creepshow in particular are usually accredited to influence from Dario Argento with whom Romero had worked with on Dawn of the Dead and was considered a friend, but I think it's more likely that the visual splashes of color in Creepshow have as much to do with The Red Shoes as it does Suspiria. (Note: I'm not discounting an Argento influence, just saying that the Powell/Pressburger influence can't be swept away.)

That visual sense and strictness around scripting is ironclad for the rest of his career. From Day of the Dead to Monkey Shines to, in particular, The Dark Half, all the way to the end, there's a lack of visual improvisation to his films. As I was going through the films, Mark Andrew Edwards was going through them with me, and he made regular mention of how the later films simply didn't "feel like" Romero films, and I think this change in production approach is the key. We associate Romero with that sort of improvisational style of filmmaking where he found the film in the edit, but he wasn't finding the film in the edit of something like The Dark Half. He had found the film in the script stage as he adapted his friend's book (it's based on a Stephen King novel). He was becoming more typical as a filmmaker in general.

He was also beset by the lack of financial success, leading to greater gaps between his films. After The Dark Half, it took him 7 years to release another film. Bruiser, a story of a man who wakes up with a white mask as his face and decides to kill people, was met by trepidation from the studio that funded it, leading to the decision to release it direct to video without a theatrical run. It really felt like Romero's career was over, but he was saved by Zach Snyder.

Yes, that guy.

Snyder's remake of Dawn of the Dead was successful enough to get studios interested in zombie films again, and they got Romero to make Land of the Dead. It followed a couple of years later with the found footage zombie movie Diary of the Dead, which you would think would be more improvisational, but Romero said it was the most tightly planned film he ever made. It's also his worst. His final film was Survival of the Dead in 2009. Intended as the first in a trilogy, he never got the second off the ground, beset by health problems until he died in 2017.

Who He Wanted to Be

I leave this space to talk a bit more in depth around Knightriders because I think it's probably the most important film in Romero's filmography when talking about him as an artist. We see who he was before and who he was after, but there's something key about the first film a filmmaker can put together after a big success. Martin Scorsese's New York New York after the success of Taxi Driver presaged his later, big budget career by showing his affinity for large budgeted films with actors as the central focus. Knightriders could have been something similar if Romero had ever gotten the kind of success of someone like a Scorsese, but not only was Knightriders a financial non-entity (I honestly can't find any box office numbers for it at all, just numbers from Blu-ray sales decades after its release) but he ended up stuck in the horror ghetto for the rest of his career. And Knightriders is not a horror film in the least.

I really, really like Knightriders, so I can't quite completely escape this as a plea for people to discover it and reappraise it in the light that I find appropriate, but that's not why I highlight it. I highlight it because it's obvious that it's the kind of movie that Romero wanted to make. It's the transplanting of the Arthurian legend to the Pennsylvania countryside, made with local actors (yes, Ed Harris was still local at the time), filmed loosely in that first decade style, and...kind of weird. The replication of the Arthurian court has the knights jousting on motorcycles. It's honestly bizarre to see, and it's a serious impediment for many people's enjoyment. I have no problem with it. I get into it.

The other film to point out is something that was never even meant for theatrical distribution: The Amusement Park. Made for the Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennsylvania, it's supposed to be something like an educational film about the plight of the elderly in the mid-70s, a rather typical product of industrial filmmaking of the era. However, Romero took the money and made a nightmarish fever dream built on his editing style of the time that would honestly feel right at home next to movies like Lost Highway in David Lynch's filmography. Completely unmoored from any commercial concerns and with enough money to see a project through at one clip, he went full experimental, and it is glorious (I think it's his best film, though that's an unpopular opinion, so caveat emptor).

So, if these two films are him either purely distilled or purely aspirational, then who did Romero want to be as an artist? He wanted to tell stories about characters, filmed loosely with plenty of time to film a lot and find the vibe in the editing bay, and probably stay in the Pittsburgh area. He wanted to tell a variety of stories, and yet, he was the zombie guy. That's his legacy.

Zombies

So, I've largely avoided this topic despite it obviously being the main focus of his career because I, much like Romero himself, quickly grew bored of zombies. It's about two-thirds of the way through Dawn of the Dead where it becomes apparent. Four people, two of whom have no police or military experience (one of whom is a pregnant woman), clear out a mall of zombies and live easy. Zombies are just the worst popular monster. They're slow, easy to kill, and there's no reason why they should be able to take over the planet. They're silly once you think about it. The main antagonists of the final act are raiders who find out that there are people in the mall and try to invade. Yes, the central argument becomes that zombies aren't the real danger, it's humanity. Oooo. Consider me unimpressed, to be honest.

Romero establishes the rules pretty clearly around how zombies work in the first two films. They are people who die. They eat the living to power themselves. They are not human anymore. They only operate on instinct and some kind of repressed memory (this is the explanation for zombies in the mall, never consumerism). There's honestly not a whole lot to do with them, but zombie lore has barely budged over the past 57 years, and that's despite Romero's own best efforts.

Bored of zombies, he started changing the rules in Day of the Dead, emphasizing the habit part (and overexplaining it for some reason...I really don't like the film) to the point where there's promise that the central zombie, Bub, is becoming human-like by the end. This is in direct contrast to the zombie action where the humans take out zombies with headshots like they're meat and not people while the film never seems to judge them harshly for it. The zombie stuff becomes incoherent.

That gets worse in Land of the Dead where a group of zombies led by Big Daddy band together to march on Pittsburgh where they discover that humanity has only the barest of defenses that they can just walk through despite the world being zombified for seemingly decades by this point. The point being that the zombies are effectively no longer zombies. They're ugly, decaying humans who move slowly and eat other humans. They're also supposed to represent some sort of newer form of humanity that won't have current humanity's problems. And they eat people. Do you see the incoherence?

Diary of the Dead returns to normal zombie rules (and massively overexplains them because we've never seen a zombie film before), but Survival of the Dead, Romero's final film and what was supposed to be the first in a trilogy, completely changes the rules again, emphasizing the idea of a cure, having a zombie ride horseback for most of the film, and getting them to eat something other than humans, while most of the film is actually a neo-Western...on an island...off the coast of Delaware...filled with Irish people. Gonna be honest, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would (it's still not good, though). It's obvious that Romero understood that the only way he was getting money for movies at this point was by having zombies in them, that he was bored to death by them, and he was trying to find other types of films to make while still including the zombies. The actual plot has more in common with old silent westerns about land disagreements than zombie stuff.

The End

So, in retrospect, what did I think of Romero's filmography? I was pleasantly surprised. I enjoyed it more in general than I thought I would. His Stephen King adaptation (The Dark Half) is surprisingly good. The first decade is different but fairly strong. It's just...those zombies man. The kind of film that defined him fills his filmography, and they're hard to get away from. However, he still has The Amusement Park, which is amazing.

Movies of Today

Opening in Theaters:

Civil War
Arcadian

Movies I Saw This Fortnight:

Martin (Rating 3/4) Full Review "It's not some forgotten masterpiece, but it's solid and well-done in his own, dirt-cheap way." [TubiTV]

Dawn of the Dead (Rating 3.5/4) Full Review "So, the zombie stuff is good. The character stuff is good. The man-on-a-mission approach to the storytelling works. The threats are handled well. I just find it to be a bit thematically bare and inconsistent." [Personal Collection]

Knightriders (Rating 3.5/4) Full Review "I honestly loved this film. I do think it suffers slightly from being cut down (an extended cut at three hours is something I'll always want and will never see), but it's this wonderful portrait of anachronism and meaning." [Library]

Day of the Dead (Rating 1/4) Full Review "It meanders forever without a plot. Its point is thin. At least the gore is quality, I guess." [Library]

The Dark Half (Rating 3/4) Full Review "Romero allowing the film to feel like an actual series of events in a narrative form instead of a series of highlights. He was pretty good at this whole moviemaking thing." [Library]

Land of the Dead (Rating 1/4) Full Review "This movie is stupid to its core. It doesn't work as a story. Its characters are uniformly dumb. The situation makes no sense. It all falls apart the second you think about it at all. Hiding behind metaphor is a terrible defense since the text still needs to work even when there's intended subtext. Again, the gore is decent, though." [Library]

Diary of the Dead (Rating 0.5/4) Full Review "If not for the handful of guffaws, I'd say it has no worth at all. But, I did guffaw at least twice. Maybe it was only twice." [Amazon Prime]

Survival of the Dead (Rating 2/4) Full Review "So, it's not good. However, it's decently performed (a huge step up from Diary), it looks surprisingly good, and it has some entertaining individual moments." [Amazon Prime]

Contact

Email any suggestions or questions to thejamesmadison.aos at symbol gmail dot com.
I've also archived all the old posts here, by request. I'll add new posts a week after they originally post at the HQ.

My next post will be on 5/4, and it will talk about the films adapted from Robert E. Howard's stories.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:45 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Evening.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 07:46 PM (GZplb)

2 Movie Sign!

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at April 13, 2024 07:47 PM (Cp1vk)

3 I don't think I've ever liked anything Romero has done. I just don't think he's that good is all.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at April 13, 2024 07:48 PM (Cp1vk)

4 I watched "The Holdovers" recently. long after most people saw it.

I liked it a lot. A film for adults, & there was a market for it, too.

Posted by: mnw at April 13, 2024 07:51 PM (NLIak)

5 Knightriders is awesome.
It is the only Arthurian allegory I can tolerate, though it rates well above mere toleration.
It also has, because it is an allegory, the second-best Merlin on film, Brother Blue. (The first being Nicol Williamson in Excalibur. Which is close to being an allegory itself, but . . .)
I had both Excalibur and Knightriders on videotape back in the day, and usually watched them as a double feature 2-3 times a year until my last machine broke and I did not replace it.

Posted by: Sam at April 13, 2024 07:52 PM (7jMef)

6 I liked it a lot. A film for adults, & there was a market for it, too.
Posted by: mnw

I liked it but it didn't go where I thought it would go. In a good way.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at April 13, 2024 07:52 PM (Cp1vk)

7 Romero's masterpiece is 'Season Of The Witch'.
What a psychedelic fever dream. No screening of 'The Graduate' should occur without it as a double feature.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 07:53 PM (43xH1)

8 Hiya

Posted by: JT at April 13, 2024 07:54 PM (T4tVD)

9 will the movie Civil War piss me off?

Posted by: Eromero at April 13, 2024 07:54 PM (NxC5+)

10 Also, I saw 'Monkeyshines' in the theater.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 07:54 PM (43xH1)

11 9 will the movie Civil War piss me off?
Posted by: Eromero'

Yes.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 07:54 PM (43xH1)

12 Hiya James Monroe !

Posted by: JT at April 13, 2024 07:55 PM (T4tVD)

13 Just watched a zombie movie that I have never seen or heard of and it wasn't half bad.

Daylight's End

Stars a guy name Johnny Strong so at first I thought it was going to be soft porn 😀

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 07:57 PM (GvesS)

14 12 Hiya James Monroe !
Posted by: JT at April 13, 2024 07:55 PM (T4tVD)

=======

*waves enthusiastically*

How is ye?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 07:57 PM (GBKbO)

15 I watched the trailer for 'Civil War' and it looked like a Wokester, NPR Ideation of how to be even-handed.
The trailer infuriated me.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 07:57 PM (43xH1)

16 What a psychedelic fever dream. No screening of 'The Graduate' should occur without it as a double feature.
Posted by: LenNeal

My parents took me to see the Graduate when I was eight. I can count the times I watched movies with them on one hand yet they took me to the Graduate.

Now I had no idea what was going on but every few minutes they'd ask me to get popcorn or a soda or something to keep me from seeing whatever was going on. Finally they threw up their hands and sent me down the block to another theatre to see John Wayne in some movie I'd seen earlier that weekend. Win win!

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at April 13, 2024 07:58 PM (Cp1vk)

17
Yes.
Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 07:54 PM (43xH
That's what I figured.

Posted by: Eromero at April 13, 2024 07:58 PM (NxC5+)

18 5 Knightriders is awesome.
It is the only Arthurian allegory I can tolerate, though it rates well above mere toleration.
It also has, because it is an allegory, the second-best Merlin on film, Brother Blue. (The first being Nicol Williamson in Excalibur. Which is close to being an allegory itself, but . . .)
I had both Excalibur and Knightriders on videotape back in the day, and usually watched them as a double feature 2-3 times a year until my last machine broke and I did not replace it.
Posted by: Sam at April 13, 2024 07:52 PM (7jMef)

=======

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has such affection for Knightriders.

I feel so alone, but not quite so alone anymore!

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 07:59 PM (GBKbO)

19 Romero, like Carpenter, is another one of those Soft Lefties who cast all military people when society breaks down, as automatic psychopaths.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:00 PM (43xH1)

20 A film for adults,
Posted by: mnw at April 13, 2024 07:51 PM (NLIak)

Movies like that these days is like finding an oasis in the desert.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:00 PM (GZplb)

21 12 Hiya James Monroe !
Posted by: JT at April 13, 2024 07:55 PM (T4tVD)

=======

*waves enthusiastically*

How is ye?
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda

Quack Quack !

Posted by: JT at April 13, 2024 08:00 PM (T4tVD)

22 Last weekend from a podcast on Napoleonic movies mentioned some first movies made, so looked these up and was watching on YouTube The Iron Duke 1934 about Duke of Wellington. Watched 1/2 on my phone but got up to Waterloo and wanted to see it on the tablet, z little bit bigger.
But next night no matter how I tried to find it it wax gone, nowhere no how to be found again

Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 08:01 PM (fwDg9)

23 Knightriders is one of the dumbest movies I've ever seen in my life. I loved it.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:01 PM (43xH1)

24 Only Romero movie I've seen is Night Of The Living Dead.

Good stuff.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:01 PM (GZplb)

25 Horror is my least favorite genre after French New Wave.

Ironically, two of the best films of all time are horror films.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 13, 2024 08:02 PM (XV/Pl)

26 19 Romero, like Carpenter, is another one of those Soft Lefties who cast all military people when society breaks down, as automatic psychopaths.
Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:00 PM (43xH1)

======

I don't think either of them are soft lefties. I think they're hard lefties.

And the Reagan era pissed them off mightily. The wealth of Reagan's America combined with the collapse of the Soviet Union messed with their heads.

They Live and Day of the Dead are essentially sibling films

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:02 PM (GBKbO)

27 Just had a thought. Is George Miller kinda like Romero in that he's the Mad Max guy?

Well, Mad Max and dancing penguins guy.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:02 PM (GZplb)

28 I always liked when the posse arrives and starts blasting all the zombies wandering around in "Night Of The Living Dead" and the end of the film.

Ok he's dead, that's another one for the fire.

Almost a training film of sorts for The Burning Times.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at April 13, 2024 08:03 PM (R/m4+)

29 George Romero is dead.

Or…IS he???

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 13, 2024 08:03 PM (9isyS)

30 22 It had George Arliss as the Duke

Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 08:03 PM (fwDg9)

31 25 Horror is my least favorite genre after French New Wave.

Ironically, two of the best films of all time are horror films.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 13, 2024 08:02 PM (XV/Pl)

=======

Horror has this combination of being able to be made cheap and making a lot of money consistently.

So, the horror film genre is very, very big, and the distribution tends to lend towards the lower end of quality rather heavily. There's so much shit in there, probably more than average compared to any other genre.

But, it obviously doesn't HAVE to be bad.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:04 PM (GBKbO)

32 Just watched “The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes” last night. good movie and well done. Would watch again.

Posted by: Rufus T. Firefly at April 13, 2024 08:04 PM (Z8Xq7)

33 I was taken to see 'Rollerball' at the drive-in as a small child maybe 4-5, and all I remember is balls hitting guys in the head and my mother shouting at my dad afterwards at home that it was inappropriate for little kids and the entire move made her sick.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:04 PM (43xH1)

34 27 Just had a thought. Is George Miller kinda like Romero in that he's the Mad Max guy?

Well, Mad Max and dancing penguins guy.
Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:02 PM (GZplb)

==========

Nah, he's the Lorenzo's Oil guy.

jk

I think the pigeonholing of Miller as the Mad Max guy is something Miller would mind less than Romero minded as the zombie guy. Miller came back to Max with Fury Road not because it was the only thing he could make but because he wanted to.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:05 PM (GBKbO)

35 My parents...well...

We had Cinemax.

Yep.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:06 PM (GZplb)

36 I was taken to see 'Rollerball' at the drive-in as a small child maybe 4-5
Posted by: LenNeal

My mom also took me to see Hush, Hush Sweet Charlotte when I was 4. The scene of Bruce Dern losing his hand to a meat cleaver hung with me for a long while.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at April 13, 2024 08:06 PM (Cp1vk)

37 I saw Bonnie and Clyde at the Drive In with my parents when I was 7.

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:06 PM (GvesS)

38 "Let's Do Things" (1931) Hal Roach comedy short, the first of the 17 Pitts & Todd films. Starts slow, but picks up after the backcracker arrives. Watch for ~~tits~~ bits of naughty pre-Code fan service from Thelma. AFAIK, ZaSu is pronounced SayZoo, with the accent on the first syllable, and it's a real name. "Our Gang" child star Mary Kornman, age 16 here, gets a few seconds onscreen as the cigarette girl. Darn it, I lost the link; sorry!

"Atlantic" (1929) Boring fictional drama based on Titanic disaster. (Not to be confused with the boring barge movie that came out a bit later, the one that every Film 101 class forces you to watch.) Madeleine Carroll and Joan Barry, for their parts, looking fine, not boring.
youtube.com/watch?v=tn3dNIHa9AY

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:07 PM (MvF+J)

39 @31

>> But, it obviously doesn't HAVE to be bad.

The only legit horror films I thoroughly enjoyed were the Evil Dead films, Rami brought a comedic sensibility to it that I didn't feel like I had lost a bit of my soul when the movie was over.

Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 13, 2024 08:07 PM (XV/Pl)

40 In fairness, my mother was EUB then went to a Catholic college that got bought out by UW, so was educated by nuns, and thought 'The Sound Of Music' is the greatest movie ever made.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:07 PM (43xH1)

41 I thought Creepshow was a good movie. Leslie Nielson's portrayal of a terrified man was convincing. And, of course, Adrienne Barbells.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 13, 2024 08:07 PM (FVME7)

42 "City Across the River" (1949) Knife-flicking, zipgun-toting Brooklyn teen gangsters bawl like babies when gently questioned. First credited role for Tony Curtis. Sue England as the Good Girl, Barbara Whiting as the Bad Girl. A young Richard Jaeckel appears.
youtube.com/watch?v=bPDpS7y8xho

"In Nacht und Eis" (1912) Mime Misu (yes, he really was a mime) rushed out this Titanic drama in only four months after the disaster. Once thought lost, this 35 min film was rediscovered in 1998.
youtube.com/watch?v=VNtf11FFrUU

"The Incident" (1967) Here's Martin Sheen's first movie role, in this slice of NYC night life. He wields the knife, his partner brandishes felony sideburns, as they terrorize subway car passengers. Contrasty B&W location photography makes it almost worth watching.
youtube.com/watch?v=aH24v-Q9r8Q

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:07 PM (MvF+J)

43 Zombies are overplayed, and their shortcomings are counterbalanced by the fact that in most zombie movies, there’s LOTS of them. That being said, I saw the 1968 Night of the Living Dead when I was 13. My buddies and I were greatly impressed. It is a classic horror film.

I forgot he made Creepshow. Another good one.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 13, 2024 08:07 PM (9isyS)

44 In my opinion The Walking Dead offered the most logical explanation of zombies. It was the damn government, jjust like now.

Posted by: Eromero at April 13, 2024 08:08 PM (NxC5+)

45 "Once Too Often" (1950) Military training short. Jack Lemmon tempts Fate, and succeeds. Somebody puhleeze help imdb identify more of the cast.
youtube.com/watch?v=z8KpBhozfOw

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:08 PM (MvF+J)

46 I liked Romero, but like James Cameron I think he fell victim to his press clippings. "He's making significant statements about society!" became his driving force, rather than telling a story.

I still think at his best, he's better than Wes Craven ever was. At his worst, he IS Wes Craven.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at April 13, 2024 08:08 PM (CHHv1)

47 I saw Bonnie and Clyde at the Drive In with my parents when I was 7.
Posted by: polynikes'

Watched that with my Arkansas grandfather when I was maybe 7 on late-night TV, my mom found out and had a FIT.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:08 PM (43xH1)

48 Omega Man is the greatest zombie movie IMO.

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:09 PM (GvesS)

49 39 The only legit horror films I thoroughly enjoyed were the Evil Dead films, Rami brought a comedic sensibility to it that I didn't feel like I had lost a bit of my soul when the movie was over.
Posted by: Thomas Bender at April 13, 2024 08:07 PM (XV/Pl)

========

The Exorcist. The Babadook. Nosferatu.

There's plenty that I find a lot to enjoy, and as time has gone on, I've learned to find other ways to enjoy horror films. More in line with the Evil Dead films would be Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives which has a huge debt to the original Universal monster movies.

Precious little scares me, but I can appreciate the craft and a well built story built around spooky stuff.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:09 PM (GBKbO)

50 A friend of mine and I were discussing Night of the Living Dead recently. His son loves the movie.

Me, I don't care much for zombie flicks in general.

Shaun of the Dead was OK, but mostly because it was also funny.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 13, 2024 08:10 PM (BpYfr)

51 The only legit horror films I thoroughly enjoyed were the Evil Dead films, Rami brought a comedic sensibility to it that I didn't feel like I had lost a bit of my soul when the movie was over.
Posted by: Thomas Bender

I like horror, but not slasher films. I like the Haunting and the Pretty Girl down the Hall. No blood but lots of atmosphere.

That said, I really liked the Kurt Russel the Thing.

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at April 13, 2024 08:10 PM (Cp1vk)

52 43 Zombies are overplayed, and their shortcomings are counterbalanced by the fact that in most zombie movies, there’s LOTS of them. That being said, I saw the 1968 Night of the Living Dead when I was 13. My buddies and I were greatly impressed. It is a classic horror film.

I forgot he made Creepshow. Another good one.
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 13, 2024 08:07 PM (9isyS)

=========

There's this logical jump between one person wakes up from the dead and then the whole world is zombies.

It's hard for me to get past that, especially if the film decide to focus on the zombies or the world specifically.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:10 PM (GBKbO)

53 Oh, since TJM seems to be watching Ishiro Honda films, here my favorite super cute YouTube reviewer reviewing four of his films.

https://youtu.be/s0B-MrfBJPg

Atragon, Dogora, Matango and The Mysterians.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:10 PM (I2YTG)

54
I'm glad I'm not the only one who has such affection for Knightriders.

I feel so alone, but not quite so alone anymore!
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 07:59 PM (GBKbO)

I loved Knight Rider. That was my show when I was 7. Once I heard the theme song (greatest ever, IMHO) I made a mad dash for the TV.

Oh, wait. Wrong one? Never mind. : o )

I’ll go back to watching Space: MCMXCIX reruns on YT.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 13, 2024 08:11 PM (9isyS)

55 Ah yes, 'The Incident'.
I hate that movie having been on late-night NYC subway cars. A KNIFE? Seriously? At the very beginning, the pool hall would have killed both of them before they left the property.
They both would have been reduced long before any of the 'drama'.
That movie stunk.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:11 PM (43xH1)

56 By the way, I read somewhere that Romero worked as a grip on "North by Northwest."

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at April 13, 2024 08:11 PM (CHHv1)

57 My favorite zombie movie was Warm Bodies.

Posted by: Advo at April 13, 2024 08:11 PM (VHN21)

58 46 I liked Romero, but like James Cameron I think he fell victim to his press clippings. "He's making significant statements about society!" became his driving force, rather than telling a story.

I still think at his best, he's better than Wes Craven ever was. At his worst, he IS Wes Craven.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at April 13, 2024 08:08 PM (CHHv1)

========

As much as I hated Diary of the Dead, it's still not as bad as The Hills Have Eyes II.

But yeah, by Land of the Dead, he was, "I have to put messages in my movies. How do I put messages in my movies? I've only been making movies for 35 years."

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:12 PM (GBKbO)

59 Zombies are just the worst popular monster. They're slow, easy to kill, and there's no reason why they should be able to take over the planet.

Yep.

This is why Zack Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead" is so much better than the original.

Yep. That's right. I said it.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 13, 2024 08:12 PM (eDfFs)

60 I thought The Others was the most well made 'horror' though that might be a different genre of 'suspense horror'

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:12 PM (GvesS)

61 53 Oh, since TJM seems to be watching Ishiro Honda films, here my favorite super cute YouTube reviewer reviewing four of his films.

https://youtu.be/s0B-MrfBJPg

Atragon, Dogora, Matango and The Mysterians.
Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:10 PM (I2YTG)

======

Matango is next on my list to watch! (I review at least a couple of weeks ahead of time, just in case I fall behind for some reason.)

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:13 PM (GBKbO)

62 Creepiest ghost story show I've ever seen is some English business with an office guy in the late 1800s who gets sent to settle an account at a mansion by his boss, and a spirit/witch stalks him. At the end the thing kills his whole family. I do not recall the title but it's creepy as hell.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:13 PM (43xH1)

63 There's this logical jump between one person wakes up from the dead and then the whole world is zombies.

It's hard for me to get past that, especially if the film decide to focus on the zombies or the world specifically.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:10 PM (GBKbO)

And that’s why I see them in moderation. I’m not a horror fan to begin with - if I want to be frightened, I just need to study history - but Night of the Living Dead is classic. Beyond that? Meh. Your reasoning is quite valid.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 13, 2024 08:13 PM (9isyS)

64 I am a Zombie movie fan, don't like the fast zombies but they are not the normal type

Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 08:13 PM (fwDg9)

65 Best zombie movie I've seen is a South Korean movie called Train To Busan.

Posted by: Mark1971 at April 13, 2024 08:13 PM (xPl2J)

66 I do not recall the title but it's creepy as hell.
Posted by: LenNeal

The Lady in Black?

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at April 13, 2024 08:14 PM (Cp1vk)

67 59 This is why Zack Snyder's "Dawn of the Dead" is so much better than the original.

Yep. That's right. I said it.
Posted by: naturalfake at April 13, 2024 08:12 PM (eDfFs)

========

The original just starts mid-panic and then does a good enough job of showing how the problem spreads in tightly packed urban environments. I think that works, but it still requires a certain, "Don't think about it too much," to get the audience invested.

Personally, I'd take 28 Days Later over most other zombie movies. Heck, 28 Weeks Later, too.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:14 PM (GBKbO)

68 Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:11 PM (43xH1)

I'll cancel out your vote by saying it's great.

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:15 PM (GvesS)

69 I won't call it 'creepy' but honestly the little singing twins in the Godzilla movies just scare the shit out of me.
WTF.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:15 PM (43xH1)

70 60 I thought The Others was the most well made 'horror' though that might be a different genre of 'suspense horror'
Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:12 PM (GvesS)

========

Next Criterion flash sale, I'm picking that up.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:15 PM (GBKbO)

71 As for how a Zombie Apocalypse started, the Walking Dead at least tried to show it, most just jump in well into it.

Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 08:16 PM (fwDg9)

72 I thought The Others was the most well made 'horror' though that might be a different genre of 'suspense horror'
Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:12 PM (GvesS)

Watched it a couple of weeks ago. Good stuff. Very nice atmosphere plus the "What a twist!" ending.

And Nicole Kidman was delicious.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:16 PM (GZplb)

73 I won't call it 'creepy' but honestly the little singing twins in the Godzilla movies just scare the shit out of me.
WTF.
Posted by: LenNeal

Wait, Godzilla or Mothra? I remember the singing girls from Mothra. Motsura!

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at April 13, 2024 08:16 PM (Cp1vk)

74 68 I'll mediate by proclaiming studied indifference.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:16 PM (MvF+J)

75 My significant statement. Society? That shit sucks.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 13, 2024 08:17 PM (FVME7)

76 World War Z is not for you if you dislike fast zombies. As is the remake of Omega Man.

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:17 PM (GvesS)

77 'The Woman In Black', 1989, TV movie.

Not big-budget but creepy, creepy, creepy.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:18 PM (43xH1)

78 Wait, Godzilla or Mothra? I remember the singing girls from Mothra. Motsura!
Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly'

I think they're in more than one. They're weird.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:19 PM (43xH1)

79 I saw Knox Goes Away this week. What a pleasant surprise! Great story and well acted. Made this year and not at all woke.

Michael Keaton starred and directed.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at April 13, 2024 08:19 PM (klJTj)

80 Matango is next on my list to watch! (I review at least a couple of weeks ahead of time, just in case I fall behind for some reason.)
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:13 PM (GBKbO)

Personally, I didn't like it. But...Mushroom People. Wild.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:19 PM (GZplb)

81 Finally got around to watching(and re-watching) Downfall. Free on YouTube. Re-watched because it's in German with English subtitles which distracted a bit from the movie.

The fanaticism, hysteria, paranoia, despair, murders, and suicides in and out of the bunker were well depicted, though sanitized somewhat.

The Frau Goebbels and the Goebbels children part was disturbing, especially in comparison to modern day gender mutilation.

All the acting and the rest of the production was solid.

Ganz should have won all awards.

Posted by: davidt at April 13, 2024 08:19 PM (SYTee)

82 RE: Your Brains. For the Zombies.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6vnM9I7HIo

Posted by: Blutarski, Gradually then Suddenly at April 13, 2024 08:19 PM (Cp1vk)

83 The Boyscouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse is a really fun movie. Would recommend.

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:20 PM (GvesS)

84 76 World War Z is not for you if you dislike fast zombies. As is the remake of Omega Man.
Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:17 PM (GvesS)

========

"You know, I'm happy to take the money, but if you're going to pay me, at least adapt I Am Legend."
-Richard Matheson

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:20 PM (GBKbO)

85 81 Recommended.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:21 PM (MvF+J)

86 Speaking of monsters...

We saw "Godzilla X Kong: Something or other Empire"

In an interesting move, they're going back more or less to the original early 60s type "Godzilla VS ...." movies.

Like the original "Godzilla VS King Kong" the monsters laugh at the misfortunes/ beatings of their opponents.

Not Godzilla though he's the Gary Cooper of the Monsterverse. He's sincere and serious about kicking your lame-ass.

Not a great movie, but highly entertaining.
Grab your popcorn, turn off brain and enjoy.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 13, 2024 08:21 PM (eDfFs)

87 I went to see 'Lorenzo's Oil' in the theater with a pregnant relative.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:21 PM (43xH1)

88 Speaking of Godzilla...

Saw Godzilla X Kong.

It's as stupid as you can imagine. As stupid as the previous movie but honestly a little better if only because there are no human characters running around acting like assholes. The plot is monster-centric and the humans only serve to kind of explain everything that's happened (or do just enough to move the plot along).

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:22 PM (GZplb)

89 The Karen Black part in Triology of Terror scared the crap out of me as a kid .

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:22 PM (GvesS)

90 I will have to look for Downfall, subtitles are no problem to me, heck I watch it without a word of English translsted.

Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 08:22 PM (fwDg9)

91 "You know, I'm happy to take the money, but if you're going to pay me, at least adapt I Am Legend."
-Richard Matheson'

I didn't read the book/novella until recently and man, that final line is powerful.
The movie is brutal.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:23 PM (43xH1)

92 90 I will have to look for Downfall, subtitles are no problem to me, heck I watch it without a word of English translsted.
Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 08:22 PM (fwDg9)

========

It is one of the great WWII movies.

Like, seriously. It's Germany dealing with its own awful legacy with clear eyes.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:23 PM (GBKbO)

93 Out of boredom, I watched Django Unchained the other night. I think a great movie would be about the strange land in Quentin Tarantino's head.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at April 13, 2024 08:24 PM (0EOe9)

94 The guy who played Goebbels in Downfall is about the creepiest looking person I have ever seen in a movie.

Posted by: Mark1971 at April 13, 2024 08:24 PM (xPl2J)

95 Creepiest ghost story show I've ever seen is some English business with an office guy in the late 1800s who gets sent to settle an account at a mansion by his boss, and a spirit/witch stalks him. At the end the thing kills his whole family. I do not recall the title but it's creepy as hell.
Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:13 PM (43xH1)
---
Moral of the story: Pay your bills!

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 13, 2024 08:24 PM (BpYfr)

96 By 'I Am Legend' movie I mean of course 'The Last Man On Earth' with Vincent Price.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:24 PM (43xH1)

97 94 All fine performances. It's a ten of ten.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:25 PM (MvF+J)

98 Since we're talking about Downfall, I've found myself watching JobJo Rabbit every time I come across it now. Must have watched it five times now. Scarlett Johansson did a great job. An original Hollywood movie for once.

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:25 PM (GvesS)

99 Downfall is claimed to be 90% accurate.

Posted by: davidt at April 13, 2024 08:25 PM (SYTee)

100 Never seen 'Downfall'. I suspect it's already ruined for me after years of memes.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:25 PM (43xH1)

101 76 World War Z is not for you if you dislike fast zombies. As is the remake of Omega Man.
Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:17 PM (GvesS)
I'm getting too old for fast twitch zombies. I like my zombies staggering along like a Philadelphia crackhead.

Posted by: Eromero at April 13, 2024 08:26 PM (NxC5+)

102 Matango is definite favorite, and the kid in me loves The Mysterians.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at April 13, 2024 08:26 PM (CHHv1)

103 Saw Godzilla X Kong.

It's as stupid as you can imagine. As stupid as the previous movie but honestly a little better if only because there are no human characters running around acting like assholes. The plot is monster-centric and the humans only serve to kind of explain everything that's happened (or do just enough to move the plot along).
Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:22 PM (GZplb)
--
I watched the Pitch Meeting for that movie. If even half of what Screenwriter Guy is pitching is accurate, I will choose to skip this movie. It just sounded dumb...

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 13, 2024 08:26 PM (BpYfr)

104 It was interesting to finally get the context of all those Hitler Downfall memes.

Posted by: davidt at April 13, 2024 08:27 PM (SYTee)

105 Guilty pleasure and also a bit of a horror movie:

'What About Bob?'

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:27 PM (43xH1)

106 There were at least two similar 'bunker' movies before "Downfall." All worth watching.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:29 PM (MvF+J)

107 "Land of the Dead" is a movie that I find terribly stupid, and yet will almost always watch when it comes on TV. "Day of the Dead" falls into similar territory.

Posted by: Dr. T at April 13, 2024 08:29 PM (g0Y4p)

108 Hearing fireworks, no idea why.

Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 08:29 PM (fwDg9)

109 Kaylee the Calico Kitty Cat (the cutest little cat of them all) says, "Hello!" and that we should get more movies starring zombie cats.

Posted by: "Perfessor" Squirrel at April 13, 2024 08:30 PM (BpYfr)

110 108 Hearing fireworks, no idea why.
Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 08:29 PM (fwDg9)

========

Cary Grant and Grace Kelly have met again in the afterlife?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:30 PM (GBKbO)

111 I want to see Downfall because the hundreds of memes

Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 08:30 PM (fwDg9)

112 The Cat People, were-cats, Ms Kinski.

Posted by: davidt at April 13, 2024 08:31 PM (SYTee)

113 90 I will have to look for Downfall, subtitles are no problem to me, heck I watch it without a word of English translsted.
Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 08:22 PM (fwDg9)

It's free on YouTube, last time I checked.

And TJM is right; it is one of the best movies on WWII. The depiction of Hitler is unsurpassed in its quality, in my opinion.

Posted by: Dr. T at April 13, 2024 08:32 PM (g0Y4p)

114 For those everyday life horror shows, John McNaughton.
'Normal Life' is still one of the most disturbing films I've ever seen, and 'Mad Dog And Glory' is not as appreciated for what it is as it should be.

I hated 'Henry, Portrait Of A Serial Killer' so much I wrote and illustrated my own graphic novel as a riposte to it, that cost me my printing house and my career in 1988.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:33 PM (43xH1)

115 Speaking about end of the Third Reich movies, Valkyrie comes to mind. I have watched it wondering where they got all the authentic Kraut weapons and hardware. Also, the uniforms and especially decorations are spot on. Found out the Brit sometimes tranny comedian, Eddie Izard, is a big WW2 buff and provided a lot of tech info and also appeared in it. Good movie for discussion as in "what if they got away with it".

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at April 13, 2024 08:33 PM (0EOe9)

116 Okay, speaking of zombies, what movie is it where a German scientist resurrects a dead horse at some Pennsylvania Dutch farmers' place? It was just a short part of the movie but I can't place it.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at April 13, 2024 08:34 PM (3e3hy)

117 YouTube user Cinema Net gives the extended version, which includes deleted scenes which give more context to the movie...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZvQEsQ8-a-U

Posted by: davidt at April 13, 2024 08:34 PM (SYTee)

118 116 Okay, speaking of zombies, what movie is it where a German scientist resurrects a dead horse at some Pennsylvania Dutch farmers' place? It was just a short part of the movie but I can't place it.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at April 13, 2024 08:34 PM (3e3hy)

=======

Citizen Kane?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:34 PM (GBKbO)

119 Cary Grant and Grace Kelly have met again in the afterlife?
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda'

Frank Sinatra and Janet Leigh bantering jazzily on a train?

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:34 PM (43xH1)

120 Matango is next on my list to watch! (I review at least a couple of weeks ahead of time, just in case I fall behind for some reason.)
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:13 PM (GBKbO)

Matango is a fave. But, like "Phase IV" it's one of those movies I love more for the ideas, story, and what it's trying to do than it's actual execution as a movie.

Oh, I recently got "Phase IV" on 4k. In the package they have the initial cut, which has a 2001 style WTF-freakout ending that got cut.

It is great in an evocative way to describe the indescribable.

I wish that had been in the release version. Probably would've made a much better box office. Its inclusion makes a better movie.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 13, 2024 08:35 PM (eDfFs)

121 115 That's another story that's been filmed prolly at least three times. I liked em all.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:35 PM (MvF+J)

122 Citizen Kane?
----

A deleted scene?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at April 13, 2024 08:35 PM (3e3hy)

123 Never seen a George Romero movie.

Watching "Triangle of Sadness" right now. . . odd.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 13, 2024 08:35 PM (Kl1FI)

124 Okay, speaking of zombies, what movie is it where a German scientist resurrects a dead horse at some Pennsylvania Dutch farmers' place? It was just a short part of the movie but I can't place it.
Posted by: All Hail Eris'

Gone With The Wind?

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:35 PM (43xH1)

125 WW2 was atrocious, but darned if we didn't get a bunch of good movies out of it.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:36 PM (MvF+J)

126 Okay, speaking of zombies, what movie is it where a German scientist resurrects a dead horse at some Pennsylvania Dutch farmers' place? It was just a short part of the movie but I can't place it.
Posted by: All Hail Eris'

Black Beauty?

Posted by: davidt at April 13, 2024 08:36 PM (SYTee)

127 Oh I remember, it's from "Pillow Talk" with Rock Hudson and Doris Day.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at April 13, 2024 08:37 PM (3e3hy)

128 120 Oh, I recently got "Phase IV" on 4k. In the package they have the initial cut, which has a 2001 style WTF-freakout ending that got cut.

It is great in an evocative way to describe the indescribable.

I wish that had been in the release version. Probably would've made a much better box office. Its inclusion makes a better movie.
Posted by: naturalfake at April 13, 2024 08:35 PM (eDfFs)

=========

It seems like a movie I've heard of before. Looking it up, the 4K is by Vinegar Syndrome, so it must look really good. I also see it's on the Criterion Channel.

I think I'll check it out.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:37 PM (GBKbO)

129 Speaking of 'Downfall' I got leaned on to see 'The Death Of Stalin' and just could not. I consider Stalin to be so existentially evil I just hated that movie from beginning to end.
Fuck that guy.
Fuck them all. I despise the work that went into it.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:37 PM (43xH1)

130 Okay, speaking of zombies, what movie is it where a German scientist resurrects a dead horse at some Pennsylvania Dutch farmers' place? It was just a short part of the movie but I can't place it.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at April 13, 2024 08:34 PM (3e3hy)

Citizen Kane?
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:34 PM (GBKbO)

It's clearly On Golden Pond.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:37 PM (GZplb)

131 I think the central problem with Romero is that he made "Night" because horror films were cheap to make and popular, and it was a way into feature film-making. Once established as a director, he could make the kind of films he wanted to make.

The problem is that "Night" became so popular that it painted him as a "horror guy." It was a label he didn't want and tried to escape. But it costs money to make movies, and the money people ("Invasion of the Money People" would be a great film) said "I'll give you more money for horror." And eventually he sighed and said, "Fine, I'm a horror guy."

Because if you look at his films, the horror ones after "Night" aren't really horror. "Martin" is a psychological study, "Dawn" is an action film, "Creepshow" is Stephen King saying "booga booga!" and so on.

So maybe "Knightriders," which I saw once on cable and didn't really like, is the film that should define him.

I wonder what might have happened if "It's Always Vanilla" was his first film. Maybe he would have become, I dunno, Peter Bogdanovich or something.

Boy am I boring. Sorry! Sorry everyone.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at April 13, 2024 08:37 PM (CHHv1)

132 130 Citizen Kane?
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:34 PM (GBKbO)

It's clearly On Golden Pond.
Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:37 PM (GZplb)

========

Either that or Waking Ned Devine.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:38 PM (GBKbO)

133 112 The Cat People, were-cats, Ms Kinski.
Posted by: davidt at April 13, 2024 08:31 PM (SYTee)
When MadisonTheCat gets on the bed I get nervous.

Posted by: Eromero at April 13, 2024 08:38 PM (NxC5+)

134 I don't recognize the editing machinery behind him in the pic up top ... not a Moviola, not a Kem, ... anyone?

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - these lying bastardi e stronzi have been lying to us for decades at April 13, 2024 08:39 PM (PFYt9)

135 Okay, speaking of zombies, what movie is it where a German scientist resurrects a dead horse at some Pennsylvania Dutch farmers' place? It was just a short part of the movie but I can't place it.
Posted by: All Hail Eris at April 13, 2024 08:34 PM (3e3hy)

Kramer versus Kramer?

Posted by: Dr. T at April 13, 2024 08:39 PM (g0Y4p)

136 >>World War Z is not for you if you dislike fast zombies.

I like that movie because it's about more than just outrunning the zombies.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 13, 2024 08:39 PM (Kl1FI)

137 129 It makes existential evil accessible to a wider audience.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:39 PM (MvF+J)

138 😆

Posted by: All Hail Eris at April 13, 2024 08:39 PM (3e3hy)

139 Oh I remember, it's from "Pillow Talk" with Rock Hudson and Doris Day.
Posted by: All Hail Eris'

Oh, I was about to suggest 'Gidget Goes Hawaiian'.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:39 PM (43xH1)

140 "Phase IV" is great, and it's the only movie ever where the novelization was by Barry Malzberg. Points all around.

It was directed by the guy who did all those title sequences, Saul Bass.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at April 13, 2024 08:40 PM (CHHv1)

141 Zombies must be hard to direct.

Posted by: What a maroon at April 13, 2024 08:40 PM (vJj6V)

142 131 Boy am I boring. Sorry! Sorry everyone.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at April 13, 2024 08:37 PM (CHHv1)

=======

Horror filmmaking is, for lack of a better term, a ghetto.

You start there, and no one wants to let you out.

This happens to so many who used that shortcut to distribution. I think that if I ever found myself there, I'd edge towards thriller movies. They're horror-adjacent but far better considered by the film community at large.

Wes Craven should have made Red Eye in the early 80s, not in the mid-2000s.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:40 PM (GBKbO)

143 Speaking of 'Downfall' I got leaned on to see 'The Death Of Stalin' and just could not. I consider Stalin to be so existentially evil I just hated that movie from beginning to end.
Fuck that guy.
Fuck them all. I despise the work that went into it.
Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:37 PM (43xH1)

Damn I keep cancelling out your vote. No judgement. People like what they like .

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:40 PM (MNhXM)

144 Okay, speaking of zombies, what movie is it where a German scientist resurrects a dead horse at some Pennsylvania Dutch farmers' place? It was just a short part of the movie but I can't place it.
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Sex and the City.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 13, 2024 08:40 PM (FVME7)

145 141 Zombies must be hard to direct. Yeah, tell us about it.

Joe Biden's handlers

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at April 13, 2024 08:41 PM (0EOe9)

146 Horror filmmaking is, for lack of a better term, a ghetto.

Wes Craven should have made Red Eye in the early 80s, not in the mid-2000s.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda'

For directors, not for actors. You get a few good roles in horror movies, you have income for life doing conventions.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:41 PM (43xH1)

147 146 For directors, not for actors. You get a few good roles in horror movies, you have income for life doing conventions.
Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:41 PM (43xH1)

========

Very true.

In fact, the trailer for the new movie Maxxxine (sequel to both X and Pearl) has lines about this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0uS3t6nFgY

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:42 PM (GBKbO)

148 141 Zombies must be hard to direct. Yeah, tell us about it.

Joe Biden's handlers

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at April 13, 2024 08:41 PM (0EOe9)

Lol.

Posted by: What a maroon at April 13, 2024 08:43 PM (vJj6V)

149 Damn I keep cancelling out your vote. No judgement. People like what they like .
Posted by: polynikes'

Tell you what, I'll take you to an art house revival of 'In The Company Of Men'.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:43 PM (43xH1)

150 Speaking of 'Downfall' I got leaned on to see 'The Death Of Stalin' and just could not. I consider Stalin to be so existentially evil I just hated that movie from beginning to end.
Fuck that guy.
Fuck them all. I despise the work that went into it.
Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:37 PM (43xH1)

Haven't watched it, but I imagine it's hard to root for anyone when each main character has (at minimum) thousands of people's blood on their hands.

Posted by: Dr. T at April 13, 2024 08:43 PM (g0Y4p)

151 World War Z is not for you if you dislike fast zombies.

I like that movie because it's about more than just outrunning the zombies.
Posted by: Lizzy at April 13, 2024 08:39 PM (Kl1FI)

Yes I agree with that. The only part I didn’t like was the CGI of the zombies crawling on each other up the wall like ants.

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:43 PM (MNhXM)

152 From the Hobby thread:

Pipe guys, can you identify the pipe in the picture in the Garden Thread? The closest I've found online is something called a Bent Dublin. There's probably a better than 50:50 chance that the pic is an AI generated image.
Posted by: Oddbob at April 13, 2024

***
Yeah, it looks like an AI image, but it closely resembles a model that Peterson offers, an 05 bell/calabash shape.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere at April 13, 2024 08:43 PM (omVj0)

153 Shadow of the Vampire.

A movie about a vampire portraying a vampire in the first vampire movie.

Posted by: davidt at April 13, 2024 08:43 PM (SYTee)

154 144 LOL

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:44 PM (MvF+J)

155 144, 145, lol

Posted by: sock_rat_eez - these lying bastardi e stronzi have been lying to us for decades at April 13, 2024 08:44 PM (PFYt9)

156 153 Shadow of the Vampire.

A movie about a vampire portraying a vampire in the first vampire movie.
Posted by: davidt'

Yes, that is a great movie. So weird, weird, weird, weird.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:45 PM (43xH1)

157 Okay, speaking of zombies, what movie is it where a German scientist resurrects a dead horse at some Pennsylvania Dutch farmers' place? It was just a short part of the movie but I can't place it.
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Was that Frankenstein's Army? because that was one twisted piece of insanity.

Posted by: weft cut-loop at April 13, 2024 08:45 PM (IG4Id)

158 Fast zombies are not real. They don't exist. They're fucking dead. Have you known anyone who's dead that's fast?

Posted by: What a maroon at April 13, 2024 08:45 PM (vJj6V)

159 Speaking of horror, I see they're making another Aliens.

DiscussingFilm
@DiscussingFilm
2 clips of ‘ALIEN: ROMULUS’ were just shown at #CinemaCon, including practical face-huggers and a chest-buster causing a bloody spaceship crash.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 13, 2024 08:45 PM (FVME7)

160 >>Shadow of the Vampire.

A movie about a vampire portraying a vampire in the first vampire movie.
Posted by: davidt at April 13, 2024 08:43 PM (SYTee)
—
That was a very creepy movie.

Posted by: Rufus T. Firefly at April 13, 2024 08:45 PM (O/etW)

161 Okay, speaking of zombies, what movie is it where a German scientist resurrects a dead horse at some Pennsylvania Dutch farmers' place? It was just a short part of the movie but I can't place it.
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Sex and the City.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 13, 2024 08:40 PM (FVME7)

With Sarah Jessica Parker as the dead horse, right?

Posted by: Dr. T at April 13, 2024 08:46 PM (g0Y4p)

162 158 Fast zombies are not real. They don't exist. They're fucking dead. Have you known anyone who's dead that's fast?
Posted by: What a maroon at April 13, 2024 08:45 PM (vJj6V

=======

In Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, they start fast when they first die, and then they slow as rigor mortis takes effect.

If you need believability in movies about dead people rising up and eating the living, then some form of fast zombies would be appropriate.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:47 PM (GBKbO)

163 125 WW2 movies. There's a little scene in William Wellman's film "Battleground". The 101st is surrounded and the Germans are dropping propaganda leaflets. A small group of troopers, picking a few up, are reading them, and one grizzled character picks up a few and goes to the woods, probably to relieve himself. Just the life of a grunt.

Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at April 13, 2024 08:47 PM (0EOe9)

164 159 I just saw a clip of a scuba diver trying to peel an octopus off his back. Giger's muse.

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:48 PM (MvF+J)

165 159 Speaking of horror, I see they're making another Aliens.

DiscussingFilm
@DiscussingFilm
2 clips of ‘ALIEN: ROMULUS’ were just shown at #CinemaCon, including practical face-huggers and a chest-buster causing a bloody spaceship crash.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 13, 2024 08:45 PM (FVME7)

=======

The trailer from a few weeks ago looks stylish and fun, but I didn't really like the director's Don't Breathe.

I'm hoping it'll just be good horror fun.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:48 PM (GBKbO)

166 Death of Stalin is brilliant. The guy laid there in his own issue while his idiot comrades spouted party bullshit.

Posted by: Deplorable Minion at April 13, 2024 08:48 PM (as3uC)

167 >> Okay, speaking of zombies, what movie is it where a German scientist resurrects a dead horse at some Pennsylvania Dutch farmers' place? It was just a short part of the movie but I can't place it.

Ride with the Devil?

Posted by: Lizzy at April 13, 2024 08:48 PM (Kl1FI)

168 I guess my problem with 'Downfall' is historical context. So, I should gloat or whatever over this pack of evil people being trapped like rats to be killed by... another pack of vile, evil rabble with no morality.
So, like, a movie about how one serial killer kills another serial killer, just one might not be as 'bad' as the other depending on perspective.
'Downfall' may be a great movie but I just don't care.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:49 PM (43xH1)

169 Speaking of Terrence Malick....

This week we saw

"The New World" by Terrence Malick.

It truly is a great movie. Probably, Malick's best.

The story concerns the founding of Jamestown and the Pocahontas/John Smith story and much more. By the end you'll feel as if you've seen real life as lived.

Just an excellent watch.

Currently streaming on Max for "free".
But, can be found elsewhere.

I'd love to see a Terrence Malick horror movie but that's not his thing at all. So, I never will.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 13, 2024 08:49 PM (eDfFs)

170 Posted by: bill in arkansas, not gonna comply with nuttin, waiting for the 0300 knock on the door at April 13, 2024 08:47 PM (0EOe9)

In my top five best movie endings ever.,

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:49 PM (MNhXM)

171 I watched the Pitch Meeting for that movie. If even half of what Screenwriter Guy is pitching is accurate, I will choose to skip this movie. It just sounded dumb...

Pitch Meeting is my primary source of information about current movies.

Posted by: Oddbob at April 13, 2024 08:49 PM (/y8xj)

172 150 Speaking of 'Downfall' I got leaned on to see 'The Death Of Stalin' and just could not. I consider Stalin to be so existentially evil I just hated that movie from beginning to end.
Fuck that guy.
Fuck them all. I despise the work that went into it.
Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:37 PM (43xH1)

Haven't watched it, but I imagine it's hard to root for anyone when each main character has (at minimum) thousands of people's blood on their hands.
Posted by: Dr. T at April 13, 2024 08:43 PM (g0Y4p)

Evil men all, but I saw The Death of Stalin as mockery in the absolute darkest sense.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 13, 2024 08:49 PM (9isyS)

173 There's also this.

With Comic Book Movies Bombing, Hollywood Returns to Video Game Adaptations

-
I can't think of any of my favorite games I'd want to see movi-ized.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 13, 2024 08:49 PM (FVME7)

174 163 Added to my list, thanks! Here tis:
ok.ru/video/391994739440

Posted by: gp's Movie Laffs at April 13, 2024 08:49 PM (MvF+J)

175 I first saw Matango when I was about 12, creeped the hell out of me! Took me 30 years to find it again because I didn't remember the name
It fools you because it starts off as some kind of Japanese remake of Gilligan's Island, buy suddenly turns into one of the creepiest horror movies ever made. Well worth watching!

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 13, 2024 08:50 PM (S6gqv)

176 Zombies discussion...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIjkNWFMdNw

Posted by: davidt at April 13, 2024 08:50 PM (SYTee)

177
159 Speaking of horror, I see they're making another Aliens.

DiscussingFilm
@DiscussingFilm
2 clips of ‘ALIEN: ROMULUS’ were just shown at #CinemaCon, including practical face-huggers and a chest-buster causing a bloody spaceship crash.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 13, 2024 08:45 PM (FVME7)
----

I'm all about the Alien mythos, but the actors all look like Abercrombie and Fitch models.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at April 13, 2024 08:50 PM (3e3hy)

178 With Sarah Jessica Parker as the dead horse, right?
Posted by: Dr. T'

I thought she was the camel's nose in 'Ishtar'.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:50 PM (43xH1)

179 169 I'd love to see a Terrence Malick horror movie but that's not his thing at all. So, I never will.
Posted by: naturalfake at April 13, 2024 08:49 PM (eDfFs)

=========

That movie honestly makes me tear up. I love it dearly.

His next film, The Way of the Wind, is about the life of Jesus, and it sounds like it should finally be ready for release...soon.

He's been editing for about 3 years. Actually, it may be 4 now.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:51 PM (GBKbO)

180 In Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, they start fast when they first die, and then they slow as rigor mortis takes effect.

If you need believability in movies about dead people rising up and eating the living, then some form of fast zombies would be appropriate.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:47 PM (GBKbO)

OK, TJM now that makes sense. But they shouldn't eat fast. That's just asking for a bad case of indigestion.

Posted by: Cannibal Bob at April 13, 2024 08:51 PM (vJj6V)

181 Speaking of 'Downfall' I got leaned on to see 'The Death Of Stalin' and just could not. I consider Stalin to be so existentially evil I just hated that movie from beginning to end.
Fuck that guy.
Fuck them all. I despise the work that went into it.
Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:37 PM (43xH1)

I had the same fear that I would hate it, or not enjoy the movie, but I was wrong. It manages to be darkly humorous, and also show the banality of evil. It has become one of my favorite movies.

The characters are not all wolves in sheep's clothing. Some are mostly sheep, and some are wolfish in particular ways that only come out sometimes. Zhukov is the only straight-up wolf.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 13, 2024 08:52 PM (lhenN)

182 I’m waiting for another Mel Gibson movie . Does he have anything in the works?

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:52 PM (MNhXM)

183 173 There's also this.

With Comic Book Movies Bombing, Hollywood Returns to Video Game Adaptations

-
I can't think of any of my favorite games I'd want to see movi-ized.
Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 13, 2024 08:49 PM (FVME7)
---/

The RLM guys pitch a "Pong" horror movie:

https://tinyurl.com/5xhnchjd

Posted by: All Hail Eris at April 13, 2024 08:52 PM (3e3hy)

184 I guess my problem with 'Downfall' is historical context. So, I should gloat or whatever over this pack of evil people being trapped like rats to be killed by... another pack of vile, evil rabble with no morality.
So, like, a movie about how one serial killer kills another serial killer, just one might not be as 'bad' as the other depending on perspective.
'Downfall' may be a great movie but I just don't care.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:49 PM (43xH1)

You barely see the Russians at all. The focus is on Hitler and his inner circle coming to grips with the end of their regime, in most cases still consumed with their own delusions; and also the people who continue to suffer from their rule, right up to the very end.

If it's not your thing, it's not your thing; but if you're interested in WWII movies at all, I do strongly recommend it.

Posted by: Dr. T at April 13, 2024 08:53 PM (g0Y4p)

185 An underrated movie for the first 20 minutes, before it goes to hell, is 'Head Office'.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 08:53 PM (43xH1)

186 182 I’m waiting for another Mel Gibson movie . Does he have anything in the works?
Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:52 PM (MNhXM)

=======

He made some kind of airplane thriller with Mark Wahlberg recently. It's called Flight Risk.

Apparently the trailer just got released at Cinemacon 3 days ago.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:53 PM (GBKbO)

187 LenNeal, in "Death of Stalin" the only character you end rooting for is Marshall Zhukov - he is the only Resl Man in the bunch, and he gets a gloriously over the top portrayal, especially when he pulls out 2 submachine guns from under his geeatcoat, which he has smuggled into the Kremlin past the guards. (And he might have really done that)

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 13, 2024 08:53 PM (S6gqv)

188 Hollywood has never really produced a good video game adaptation. It's my belief that because vidya dwarfs film considerably Hollyweird does everything in its power to make them look bad.

Exceptions being Mario and Sonic. Family films are just easy money.

And, strangely, the original Mortal Kombat movie. That was just good fun.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 08:53 PM (GZplb)

189 >>I’m waiting for another Mel Gibson movie . Does he have anything in the works?

Per IMDB, two films: Boys of Summer and Boneyard (both in post-production).

Posted by: Lizzy at April 13, 2024 08:55 PM (Kl1FI)

190 You barely see the Russians at all. The focus is on Hitler and his inner circle coming to grips with the end of their regime, in most cases still consumed with their own delusions; and also the people who continue to suffer from their rule, right up to the very end.

If it's not your thing, it's not your thing; but if you're interested in WWII movies at all, I do strongly recommend it.
Posted by: Dr. T at April 13, 2024 08:53 PM (g0Y4p)

I need to watch the whole thing.

I showed the infamous clip where Hitler explodes into a fit of rage to my history class last year - yes, the bit that was turned into thousands of YT parodies. The idea being that you can see where it all led to, and even then, there were those who followed Hitler to the very bitter end.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 13, 2024 08:55 PM (9isyS)

191 Angelina Jolie's boobehs were stand outs in the first Tomb Raider movie.

Posted by: davidt at April 13, 2024 08:55 PM (SYTee)

192 He made some kind of airplane thriller with Mark Wahlberg recently. It's called Flight Risk.

Apparently the trailer just got released at Cinemacon 3 days ago.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:53 PM (GBKbO)

Did he direct it? Those are his good ones though he’s hit a few out of the park acting with Get the Gringo and Blood Father .

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:56 PM (MNhXM)

193 187 LenNeal, in "Death of Stalin" the only character you end rooting for is Marshall Zhukov - he is the only Resl Man in the bunch, and he gets a gloriously over the top portrayal, especially when he pulls out 2 submachine guns from under his geeatcoat, which he has smuggled into the Kremlin past the guards. (And he might have really done that)
Posted by: Tom Servo at April 13, 2024 08:53 PM (S6gqv)
Profligate waster of infantry in WW II.

Posted by: Eromero at April 13, 2024 08:56 PM (NxC5+)

194 Of his latest efforts I meant to include.

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:56 PM (MNhXM)

195 Okay, speaking of zombies, what movie is it where a German scientist resurrects a dead horse at some Pennsylvania Dutch farmers' place? It was just a short part of the movie but I can't place it.
Posted by: All Hail Eris

Hey Eris,

Are you thinking of "Blood Creek"?

About the zombie Nazi on the farm. There was a zombie horse in that.

I thought that was a pretty good horror movie from Joel Schumacher(!) of all people. a last ditch attempt to get back in the game I suppose.

Posted by: naturalfake at April 13, 2024 08:56 PM (eDfFs)

196 192 Did he direct it? Those are his good ones though he’s hit a few out of the park acting with Get the Gringo and Blood Father .
Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:56 PM (MNhXM)

========

Yeah, that's his next directed feature, the follow up to Hacksaw Ridge.

After that, it'll be either Lethal Weapon 5 or Resurrection (sequel to The Passion of the Christ). No idea which (if either) will get to lens first.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:57 PM (GBKbO)

197 Profligate waster of infantry in WW II.
Posted by: Eromero at April 13, 2024 08:56 PM (NxC5+)

That's the Russians for you.

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 13, 2024 08:57 PM (9isyS)

198 Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:57 PM (GBKbO)

Thanks to you and Lizzy.

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 08:59 PM (MNhXM)

199 I showed the infamous clip where Hitler explodes into a fit of rage to my history class last year - yes, the bit that was turned into thousands of YT parodies. The idea being that you can see where it all led to, and even then, there were those who followed Hitler to the very bitter end.
Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 13, 2024 08:55 PM (9isyS)

If you want to sneak in a bit of counter-programming, I recommend showing them the parody video where Hitler rants about Obamacare. You can explain you're just using it as an example of how the clip has been parodied, and anyway it's a particularly funny example.

"Mein Fuhrer, you might still qualify for subsidies--"

"Subsidies?! I WORK for a living!!!"

Posted by: Dr. T at April 13, 2024 08:59 PM (g0Y4p)

200 Angelina Jolie's boobehs were stand outs in the first Tomb Raider movie.

Joke on rec.guns when that came out:

"What was she packing?"

"A pair of forty-fives. And some pistols."

Posted by: Oddbob at April 13, 2024 09:01 PM (/y8xj)

201 After that, it'll be either Lethal Weapon 5 or Resurrection (sequel to The Passion of the Christ). No idea which (if either) will get to lens first.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 08:57 PM (GBKbO)
TMJ, It was all I could do to watch The Passion Of The Christ.

Posted by: Eromero at April 13, 2024 09:01 PM (NxC5+)

202 Growing up in Western PA, I can confirm there are no zombies stumbling around. Those are just drunks.

I have relatives buried in Evans City Cemetery, so I can say I had family in 'Night of the Living Dead'. They were even dead!

Posted by: Puddleglum at work at April 13, 2024 09:01 PM (wrXPz)

203 As it happens, the scene used for those Hitler parodies is actually the turning point in the movie.

Posted by: davidt at April 13, 2024 09:01 PM (SYTee)

204 202 I have relatives buried in Evans City Cemetery, so I can say I had family in 'Night of the Living Dead'. They were even dead!
Posted by: Puddleglum at work at April 13, 2024 09:01 PM (wrXPz)

========

Now that is fun.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 09:01 PM (GBKbO)

205 Always been a fan of the zombie genre from Night of the Living Dead when I was a kid to Train to Busan to TheWalking Dead

Posted by: San Franpsycho at April 13, 2024 09:01 PM (RIvkX)

206 If you want to sneak in a bit of counter-programming, I recommend showing them the parody video where Hitler rants about Obamacare. You can explain you're just using it as an example of how the clip has been parodied, and anyway it's a particularly funny example.

"Mein Fuhrer, you might still qualify for subsidies--"

"Subsidies?! I WORK for a living!!!"
Posted by: Dr. T at April 13, 2024 08:59 PM (g0Y4p)

For government and economics. : o )

Posted by: Catch Thirty-Thr33 at April 13, 2024 09:01 PM (9isyS)

207 OT but this should be a movie but it's only reality.

Illegal Immigrant Unable To Rob Bank, Doesn't Know English Translation For "Put The Money In The Bag"

He even used a translator app on his phone to get the message across to the teller.

https://shorturl.at/jHLMX

-
Possible title: Real Stupidity Trumps Artificial Intelligence

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 13, 2024 09:04 PM (FVME7)

208 Are you thinking of "Blood Creek"?

About the zombie Nazi on the farm. There was a zombie horse in that.

I thought that was a pretty good horror movie from Joel Schumacher(!) of all people. a last ditch attempt to get back in the game I suppose.
Posted by: naturalfake at April 13, 2024 08:56 PM (eDfFs
----

Yes!! That's it! I'm not crazy!

Thanks 'Fake.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at April 13, 2024 09:07 PM (3e3hy)

209 I'm not crazy!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at April 13, 2024 09:07 PM (3e3hy)

Counterpoint: You *do* comment here.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 09:08 PM (GZplb)

210 209 I'm not crazy!

Posted by: All Hail Eris at April 13, 2024 09:07 PM (3e3hy)

Counterpoint: You *do* comment here.
Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 09:08 PM (GZplb)

=========

https://tinyurl.com/36zf37ru

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 09:09 PM (GBKbO)

211
Profligate waster of infantry in WW II.
Posted by: Eromero at April 13, 2024 08:56 PM (NxC5+)

I think that's a requirement for any Marshall in the Red Army, then or now.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 13, 2024 09:10 PM (S6gqv)

212 116
'where a German scientist resurrects a dead horse at some Pennsylvania Dutch'

Mr. Dead?

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 13, 2024 09:15 PM (roH4R)

213 Exceptional artists can identify and develop the comic aspects of almost anything (see, for example, The Extraordinary Life and Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin, a comic novel set in the time of the Nazi invasion of Russia, written by Vladimir Voinovich).

I thoroughly enjoyed the Death of Stalin, for a number of reasons: the excellent performances, the outstanding casting, and the marvelous satire (if, for no other reason, watch it to see Beria get his) Stalinism was monumentally evil, but it was also monumentally absurd, and comedy - even very dark comedy - is an entirely appropriate approach. Remember: the Devil hates laughter, particularly when it's at his own expense.

Posted by: Paco at April 13, 2024 09:15 PM (njExo)

214 Been awhile since I’ve been on a Saturday night thread

Posted by: thathalfrican - The One at April 13, 2024 09:15 PM (8JpqG)

215 Followed The Walking dead a few years. Got so gratuitous violence was a bit out of hand, lost interest

Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 09:16 PM (fwDg9)

216 214 Been awhile since I’ve been on a Saturday night thread
Posted by: thathalfrican - The One at April 13, 2024 09:15 PM (8JpqG)

========

All are welcome.

Except those who know what they did and who they are.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 09:16 PM (GBKbO)

217 215 Followed The Walking dead a few years. Got so gratuitous violence was a bit out of hand, lost interest
Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 09:16 PM (fwDg9)

=======

I gave up about 2 episodes into the second season. Never bothered to check in again.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 09:17 PM (GBKbO)

218 Hey movie guy ! The smoking lamp is out. Make sure you police up your butts before you leave.

F Hollywood and this guy in particular.

Posted by: Queequeg the Harpooner at April 13, 2024 09:17 PM (c/QiF)

219 129
'I consider Stalin to be so existentially evil '

The movie did a good job showing how the fear of Stalin was so thoroughly stamped on an entire country.
Every single character's behavior was warped by it.

Posted by: Dr. Claw at April 13, 2024 09:18 PM (roH4R)

220 Can you see Starlink satellites? I'm seeing an unending stream of lights overhead, moving a bit south of east at a good clip. I'm pretty sure I'm not dreaming.

Posted by: t-bird at April 13, 2024 09:18 PM (JMsLj)

221 Posted by: Paco at April 13, 2024 09:15 PM (njExo)

I love that they used western idioms and no attempts at accents. It added to the movie to me in ways I can’t really describe.

Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 09:18 PM (MNhXM)

222 221 Posted by: Paco at April 13, 2024 09:15 PM (njExo)

I love that they used western idioms and no attempts at accents. It added to the movie to me in ways I can’t really describe.
Posted by: polynikes at April 13, 2024 09:18 PM (MNhXM)

=======

More films should give up on trying foreign accents for characters speaking English but we're supposed to believe them to be speaking another language.

Paths of Glory is easier to accept with New York accents than everyone badly doing French accents.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 09:20 PM (GBKbO)

223 Have we considered making Bostonian the default foreign accent?

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 09:21 PM (GZplb)

224
Illegal Immigrant Unable To Rob Bank, Doesn't Know English Translation For "Put The Money In The Bag"

___________

A bank robber handed the teller a note demanding money. The teller said, "This is a deposit ship. You need a withdraw slip." While the robber was writing a new note, the police arrested him.

Posted by: Hadrian the Seventh at April 13, 2024 09:23 PM (MoZTd)

225 223 Have we considered making Bostonian the default foreign accent?
Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 09:21 PM (GZplb)

========

Wouldn't that be a bit redundant?

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 09:23 PM (GBKbO)

226 I started the audiobook Mortal Engines, and in the first few minutes the pathetic protagonist was late rushing to work. I turned it off because it seemed too precious and cliched.

On a whim I tried the movie, and the first eight minutes was a huge chase. The premise of the whole story is that tank-tread cities, bigger than aircraft carriers, can chase down smaller ones and devour them like prey on the Serengeti. It's original with great steampunk design and the action is exciting.

The pathetic moment appeared after the title credit, and it was five seconds long.

The title showing up relatively late is a trope of action-packed movies, EG Fury Road or Raising Arizona. It is a flex.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 13, 2024 09:24 PM (lhenN)

227 226 I started the audiobook Mortal Engines, and in the first few minutes the pathetic protagonist was late rushing to work. I turned it off because it seemed too precious and cliched.

On a whim I tried the movie, and the first eight minutes was a huge chase. The premise of the whole story is that tank-tread cities, bigger than aircraft carriers, can chase down smaller ones and devour them like prey on the Serengeti. It's original with great steampunk design and the action is exciting.

The pathetic moment appeared after the title credit, and it was five seconds long.

The title showing up relatively late is a trope of action-packed movies, EG Fury Road or Raising Arizona. It is a flex.
Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 13, 2024 09:24 PM (lhenN)

========

I actually wrote a whole thread about the adaptation of Mortal Engines forever ago.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 09:25 PM (GBKbO)

228
All are welcome.

Except those who know what they did and who they are.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda'

Oh. Well, see ya.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 09:26 PM (9yXr+)

229 Way past bed time, someone has to get up at 4am to tell when the Tech thread starts.
Have a great evening everyone

And if in Israel, God be with you

Posted by: Skip at April 13, 2024 09:27 PM (fwDg9)

230 OK, no longer watching "Triangle of Sadness."
Ugh.

Posted by: Lizzy at April 13, 2024 09:27 PM (Kl1FI)

231 No love for Tom Savini's remake of Romero's NotLD? The nifty Mrs Some Guy REALLY disliked the original because of the annoying Barbara character, but liked Savini's remake. The remake was just a bit heavy on Ripley-itis, but was still a fun watch. And Patricia Tallman and Tony Todd were both good in there.

Need to revisit Knightriders and The Amusement Park; never saw There's Always Vanilla but have seen the others. Didn't care much for Day of the Dead the first time I saw it, but it kinda grew on me; the zombie flicks that followed weren't nearly as much fun as the first three (YMMV). If memory serves Romero was supposedly going to be the director on King's Pet Sematery, and that would have been something to see. God knows Romero had high points and low in his filmography, but he was seldom really dull; that's high praise nowadays.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 13, 2024 09:28 PM (q3u5l)

232 Can you see Starlink satellites? I'm seeing an unending stream of lights overhead, moving a bit south of east at a good clip. I'm pretty sure I'm not dreaming.
Posted by: t-bird'

It's an illusion, don't worry about it.

Posted by: Grey Aliens at April 13, 2024 09:28 PM (9yXr+)

233 Blo Jiden: Today Duran Duran attacked Israel and as of today all of their concerts in the US are cancelled.

Jake Sullivan: No you F**king idiot it was Iran. Boy this guy is an idiot that could screw up a wet dream !!!!

Posted by: Joe Biden at April 13, 2024 09:29 PM (Mig/N)

234 231, I actually like the remake/reimagining of NoTLD. I thought it was good.

Posted by: Grey Aliens at April 13, 2024 09:29 PM (9yXr+)

235 Can you see Starlink satellites? I'm seeing an unending stream of lights overhead, moving a bit south of east at a good clip. I'm pretty sure I'm not dreaming.
Posted by: t-bird'

It's an illusion, don't worry about it.
Posted by: Grey Aliens at April 13, 2024 09:28 PM (9yXr+)

Nothing to see here, infidel.

Posted by: Iranian Drones at April 13, 2024 09:31 PM (GZplb)

236 Another week without mention of the greatness that is Summer School starring Mark Harmon. Damn shame it is.

Posted by: Duke Lowell at April 13, 2024 09:31 PM (u73oe)

237 Here it is, the Mortal Engines thread (don't comment, you'll get banned):

https://ace.mu.nu/archives/399757.php#399757

I just had to find it. It's impossible to search this marvelous site.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 09:32 PM (GBKbO)

238 The title showing up relatively late is a trope of action-packed movies, EG Fury Road or Raising Arizona. It is a flex.
Posted by: BourbonChicken'

I remain impressed with the credits of Mad Max 2/The Road Warrior: a blast of music, a title, then POW into the movie.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 09:32 PM (9yXr+)

239

232 Can you see Starlink satellites? I'm seeing an unending stream of lights overhead, moving a bit south of east at a good clip. I'm pretty sure I'm not dreaming.
Posted by: t-bird'

I'm not saying it was aliens.

But it was aliens.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 13, 2024 09:32 PM (S6gqv)

240 I actually wrote a whole thread about the adaptation of Mortal Engines forever ago.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 09:25 PM (GBKbO)

Can you give me a link? I searched for it but didn't find it.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 13, 2024 09:33 PM (lhenN)

241 Another week without mention of the greatness that is Summer School starring Mark Harmon. Damn shame it is.
Posted by: Duke Lowell at April 13, 2024 09:31 PM (u73oe)

Holy crap, I haven't seen that movie since...since...*Counts on fingers and toes*

It's been a while.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 09:33 PM (GZplb)

242 Knightriders is fantastic!

the version I saw ages ago was very very long, on old-school cable. hmm. if there's a blue ray of the full thing or laserdisc my brother would have it - he loved that movie!

Posted by: BlackOrchid at April 13, 2024 09:35 PM (AcWfM)

243 240 Can you give me a link? I searched for it but didn't find it.
Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 13, 2024 09:33 PM (lhenN)

=========

https://ace.mu.nu/archives/399757.php#399757

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 09:36 PM (GBKbO)

244 237 Here it is, the Mortal Engines thread (don't comment, you'll get banned):

https://ace.mu.nu/archives/399757.php#399757

I just had to find it. It's impossible to search this marvelous site.
Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 09:32 PM (GBKbO)

240 Can you give me a link? I searched for it but didn't find it.
Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 13, 2024 09:33 PM (lhenN)

And just like that cause & effect are nullified and all the known rules of science are abolished.

The world as we knew it is over.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 09:37 PM (GZplb)

245 Another week without mention of the greatness that is Summer School starring Mark Harmon. Damn shame it is.
Posted by: Duke Lowell'

Mark Harmon was actually really funny in 'Worth Winning', 1989. The movie is vulgar and rote but the cast is terrific.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 09:38 PM (9yXr+)

246 OT but this bottle of water I bought tastes like coconut.

*Looks at bottle*

Oh. It's made with coconut water.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 09:39 PM (GZplb)

247 The worst horror movie was Babe - Pig In The City.

Posted by: pudinhead at April 13, 2024 09:39 PM (/UtnQ)

248
Blo Jiden: Today Duran Duran attacked Israel and as of today all of their concerts in the US are cancelled.

Jake Sullivan: No you F**king idiot it was Iran. Boy this guy is an idiot that could screw up a wet dream !!!!

So it was just a Flock of Seagulls?

Posted by: Joe Biden at April 13, 2024 09:41 PM (63Dwl)

249 I passed Dave Chapelle on the street today. Which was kinda neat.

Posted by: Victor Tango Kilo at April 13, 2024 09:41 PM (Dp1ER)

250 Mr. Dead?

Aaaaa... horse is a horse, of corpse, of corpse...

Posted by: Oddbob at April 13, 2024 09:41 PM (/y8xj)

251 Yes, you can see starlink satellites. We've actually seen them at the last 2 TXMoMe's.

Posted by: lin-duh at April 13, 2024 09:41 PM (PZo5T)

252 I avoid Romero. I've not been impressed with what I've seen. I just don't think he was all that good.

Posted by: Mmmm, brainssss at April 13, 2024 09:42 PM (Ph95D)

253 Have we considered making Bostonian the default foreign accent?
Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 09:21 PM (GZplb)

That would be great, but unfortunately the point of having characters speak English is so we can understand them without sub-titles.

Posted by: Kindltot at April 13, 2024 09:42 PM (D7oie)

254 Also in 1989 was Blake Edwards' 'Skin Deep, John Ritter, which I saw in a dive theater in a dead mall amongst a 'crowd' of crackheads and layabouts.
During the glow-in-the-dark condom scene literally nobody laughed, it was so bizarre not even the street people knew what to do.

Posted by: LenNeal at April 13, 2024 09:44 PM (9yXr+)

255 That Mortal Engines write up was good! I had wanted to see the movie once, and then I read a synopsis and it was just too awful to contemplate. Glad to know why.

Posted by: Tom Servo at April 13, 2024 09:45 PM (S6gqv)

256 So it was just a Flock of Seagulls?
Posted by: Joe Biden'

Hey, Flock of Seagulls!

(BLAM)

Posted by: Jules Winnfield at April 13, 2024 09:47 PM (9yXr+)

257 TJM -- liked the Matheson quote re: I Am Legend; thanks -- hadn't run across that one before.

An adaptation of I Am Legend as faithful as the Vincent Price Last Man on Earth and with the budget frittered away on the Will Smith version would be a delight.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 13, 2024 09:48 PM (q3u5l)

258 257 TJM -- liked the Matheson quote re: I Am Legend; thanks -- hadn't run across that one before.

An adaptation of I Am Legend as faithful as the Vincent Price Last Man on Earth and with the budget frittered away on the Will Smith version would be a delight.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 13, 2024 09:48 PM (q3u5l)

========

Really, it's a paraphrase. I probably should have made that clear. But, it's definitely his sentiment.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, fighting kaiju with Ishiro Honda at April 13, 2024 09:49 PM (GBKbO)

259 "158 Fast zombies are not real. They don't exist. They're fucking dead. Have you known anyone who's dead that's fast"

Quick, maybe. Fast, no.

Posted by: ogmrobvious at April 13, 2024 09:49 PM (UvsqG)

260 Horror filmmaking is, for lack of a better term, a ghetto.

You start there, and no one wants to let you out.

This happens to so many who used that shortcut to distribution. I think that if I ever found myself there, I'd edge towards thriller movies. They're horror-adjacent but far better considered by the film community at large.

Not me. If I got a rep as a horror film maker, I'd revel in it. My own stupid videos should be proof of that.

Posted by: BeckoningChasm at April 13, 2024 09:51 PM (CHHv1)

261 I've probably had more fun watching Matheson's work than that of most other screenwriters/novelists. All the Twilight Zone episodes (many from his own short stories), a bunch of Roger Corman's Poe pictures (Pit and the Pendulum is still a joy six decades later), Hell House with Pamela Franklin and Roddy McDowell... Just great stuff.

Posted by: Just Some Guy at April 13, 2024 09:52 PM (q3u5l)

262 Horror filmmaking is, for lack of a better term, a ~~ghetto~~ trailer park.

Posted by: Anonosaurus Wrecks, Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? at April 13, 2024 09:53 PM (FVME7)

263 There was a thowaway line "Hell is filled, and now the dead roam the earth" or something like that.

Zombies as a theological problem is more terrifying than a problem of science. There are zombies in my Heroquest game, and I only ever called them Shambling Corpses, because sci-fi is not fantasy.

SCI FI
IS
NOT
FANTASY!

If I had been stuck in a zompocolypse, I would be anxious to find out just how long it takes for them to die a second time. Because I'd give it a week tops. The fact that that walking dead show went for eight years is insulting for that reason alone.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 13, 2024 09:57 PM (lhenN)

264 ONT is nood, I repeat, ONT is nood!

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 09:57 PM (GZplb)

265 They never let John Carpenter out of the horror ghetto, and he deserved better.

Posted by: BourbonChicken at April 13, 2024 09:57 PM (lhenN)

266 John Carpenter did direct Starman.

Karen Allen had a great ass.

Posted by: Robert at April 13, 2024 10:00 PM (GZplb)

267 Though the museum has moved to the mall in Montoeville, the cemetery in Evans City, PA, still looks almost the same as it did 50 years ago, with very little change. It’s worth a stop on the way through if you’re ever in the Pittsburgh area.

Posted by: El Conquistador at April 14, 2024 07:05 PM (Y2NGV)

268 Whаt a stuff of un-аmbiɡuity and prеserveness of preсious knowⅼedge concerning unpredicted emotions.

Posted by: slab at April 22, 2024 06:07 PM (CUJvy)

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