Monday, September 24, 2012

Top Ten Greatest Zombie Movies

As Halloween is approaching my mind is turning more and more to scary movies.  I love all kinds of horror flicks: Psycho Killers (both realistic and supernatural ones), Vampires, Werewolves, Big Apes and Bigger Lizards, Mummies, Trolls, Aliens, Goblins, and Sharks.  I’m not so much into the splatterporn/tortureporn stuff like those cheap Hotel movies or the Wood Cutting Implement series, but I’m not above gore – Texas Chainsaw Massacre jumps forward as a classic example of greatness and gore sharing the same space. 

But of all the subgenres of horror, one has dominated the spotlight in recent years: Zombie and Zombie Apocalypse movies. 

Thus, to begin our countdown to Halloween (36 Days!), I present the Ten Greatest Zombie Movies (in chronological order). 


To begin, the Rules: a Zombie isn’t a Zombie isn’t a Zombie.  White Zombie, I Walked With a Zombie, Cast a Deadly Spell, House of the Dead, and Reanimator, all feature zombies of different varieties.  None of them make this list.  Nor do Frankenstein’s monster, Mummies, or Vampires, all technically Walking Dead, but not zombies.  This list is of Romero, Russo, and O’Bannon style zombies only, MTV style zombies make the cut if they are true zombies, but not if they are only zombie like (28 Days Later). 

1.  Night of the Living Dead (1968) – the first, the classic, the film all other zombie films are judged on – and it wasn’t even supposed to be zombies.  Written by George A. Romero and John A. Russo, Night was originally supposed to be Ghouls - the traditional flesh-eating undead creatures. 
2. Dawn of the Dead (1978) – Romero and Russo split company after Night each wanting to take the series in different directions.  Romero’s follow-up was Dawn of the Dead, produced by Italian horror master Dario Argento.  It closely follows the same themes and tone as Night and is filled with Romero’s brand of humor and social commentary. 
3. Zombie (1979) – In Italy, Argento reedited Dawn and released it as Zombi, which spawned a series of sequels of its own, beginning with Lucio Fulci’s Zombi 2 or – as it was released in America – Zombie.  Fulci’s film – like Argento’s reedit of Dawn - is more serious and more graphically gory than the Romero films.  Iconic scenes include a woman getting her eye gouged out and a fight between a zombie and a shark.  Fulci went on to make more of his own – unrelated – zombie films and the Zombi series continued with one more official film and dozens of unofficial ones. 
4. Return of the Living Dead (1985) – While Romero continued the Dead films, Russo began writing novels, starting with an adaptation of Night and followed by Return of the Living Dead.  Russo’s Zombies stayed relatively true to the classic Walking Dead zombies.  But this 1985 film adaptation of the novel did not.  Anyone who thinks zombies feed on human brains has seen, or at least heard references to, Dan O’Bannon’s horror/black comedy Return of the Living Dead.  Famous for its Ghouls’ hunger – and moaning – for brains, as well as 80’s scream queen Linnea Quigley’s – a hum – “wardrobe,” Return spawned two true sequels – one funny, one not – and two in-name-only sequels – not funny and not really O’Bannon style zombies. 
5. Night of the Living Dead (1990) – Romero, along with frequent collaborator/gore effects god Tom Savini as director, returned to the original material to remake Night mostly to prevent someone else from doing it.  Not as creepy as the original film, not as fun as Return, Savini’s Night is good for a few scares and far exceeds the later 2006 remake. 
6. Resident Evil (2002) – This flick – more action than horror – based on the video game franchise of the same name, is more flash than substance, but – along with its multiple sequels (which are only in various degrees zombie movies – some are more in line with not zombie movies featuring zombies) – is among the finest examples of MTV Zombies and is a very fun film. 
7. Dawn of the Dead (2004) - Zack Snyder’s Dawn remake is an even better example of MTV Zombies – fast moving, scary (if cheaply), intense, somehow less realistic than the Romero zombie.  The two Dawns are among – if not the - greatest zombie movies of all time.  However, Dawn was only the second greatest zombie film of ’04…

8.  Shaun of the Dead (2004) – The film that made slow-moving, flesh-eating, rotting corpses cool again…and funny.  Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s “romantic comedy…with zombies” was, along with Snyder’s Dawn responsible for reigniting the zombie brushfire.  Shaun is the Zombie genre’s Scream - a serious, but funny, loving attack on the conventions of the zombie movie.  It even goes so far as to point out you’re not supposed to call them “zombies.”

9.  Land of the Dead (2005) – Romero’s studio zombie film which was made thanks to the two films immediately above.  Sometimes called Romero’s greatest zombie film, sometimes not looked at so favorably.  Land is filled with the “biting” social commentary of Romero’s former films and cameo’s several Romero regulars, but also features some name actors and a budget. 

10.  Diary of the Dead (2008) – Romero’s follow up to Land and possibly a reboot of the Dead series, Diary is my personal favorite of the second Dead trilogy films.  It comments not only on society – social media especially – and commercialism – horror movies do better than serious documentaries – but also on MTV zombies – “I told you dead things move slow!”


So there you have it.  Ten Zombie films to sink your teeth into.  Did your favorite make the list?  Or was it left out?  Was my list too Romero heavy? Not enough?  Do you like Romero zombies, O’Bannon zombies, or MTV zombies?  Or are flesh-eating zombies lame and there should be more voodoo zombie flicks. 

Let me know your Zombie preferences in the comments below or on my twitter page @nerdisnewcool. 

Also, for a long but incomplete list of zombie films see This Page on Wikipedia. 

Nerd Is the New Cool, signing off.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

New Post: Top 10 Zombie Movies Coming Tomorrow

No new post today.  I have started it and expect to publish tomorrow (Monday, September 24) night. 

The subject - kicking off Nerd Is the New Cool's countdown to our favorite holiday: Halloween - is Zombie movies.  Hope to see you then. 

Sorry for the time delay - and for not publishing last weekend.

Nerd is the New Cool, signing off. 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

The Summer of the Nerd

I’ve always been a nerd… I think.  I might be a geek instead.  I’ve recently discovered that either I don’t know the difference or there isn’t one. 

I’ve seen stuff online that basically says a geek is a high functioning nerd.  A nerd is an obsessed, intelligent, socially awkward person and a geek an obsessed, intelligent, not socially awkward person.  On the other hand, I’ve heard a geek is a more socially awkward, less intelligent nerd, or that a geek’s intelligence is limited to technology.  I’ve also read that a geek is obsessed with multiple things “nerdy” and a nerd with only one or two specific things, but I’ve also read the exact opposite of that two. 

Regardless, I identify myself as a nerd, mostly because I’ve always identified myself that way. 

My nerdy obsessions have always been limited to a couple of areas (comic books, horror and sci-fi movies, some cult TV shows) and I’ve never gotten into many others (video games and the whole gaming community have always been outside my area – I got an NES back when it was still cool, but my most recent game system purchase was a GameCube and when I bought it Wii, PS3, and X-Box 360 had all been around for a while). 

This summer though, I’ve been starting to expand my geekdom and nerd culture.  So, this week on Nerd Is the New Cool, I’m showcasing my Top Ten New Nerd Obsessions (in no particular order)

Conan the Barbarian

This one may be a little further back than “summer” but I recently started reading a collection of Robert E. Howard’s Conan short stories, and it has dominated my kindle ever since.  My current Conan obsession stems out of my long standing Lovecraft/Cthulhu obsession and this as a whole works well with my other new obsessions below. 

YouTube

Aw, YouTube, how have I lived without you?  Ok, that’s not true.  I have been watching YouTube for awhile now: Candy Mountain Charlie, The Guild, and Bite Me have long been in my browser history, but only recently did I truly become a YouTube junky.  Blame ScreenTeam’s Pokémon/Party Rock video.  I found it one night while watching the Party Rock music video, 6 hours later, I’d watched a ton of ScreenTeam and Black Nerd videos, plus discoved Felicia Day’s Geek and Sundry channel.  Now such nerd worthy names as Katie Wilson and Lisa Foiles have joined the ranks of my YouTube subscriptions. 

And speaking of Geek and Sundry…

TableTop

Wil Wheaton’s YouTube show about tabletop gaming has led to a number of purchase from Hastings, Barnes and Nobles, and Amazon, and a very long Amazon Wishlist to boot.  I have now watched every episode of the show and plan on continuing into the future.  Anyone needing birthday or Christmas gift ideas for me should check out the show, I want basically everything they’ve played plus more…Settlers of Catan and Munchkin are my top two wants.  I have bought both Zombie Dices and Star Munchkin and have played them both dozens of times already. 

Dungeons and Dragons

Also, brought on by TableTop, D&D is the quid-essential tabletop game.  Though a nerd/geek classic, I never played it largely due to its bad rap as a “satanic” game that leads to murder, witchcraft, and suicide, rumors that in recent years have largely faded way. 

I’ve recently purchased the basic set, the “Red Box,” and have downloaded a couple of adventures/modules off the internet.  My wife and I have both played the solo adventure from the Red Box and have a few friends – all also D&D virgins – lined up for our first campaign. 

World of Warcraft

Talking about (tabletop) gaming naturally lead to talking about video gaming.  Several of my friends play WOW, but it was one of my wife’s coworkers who, calling me out on not playing, got me too start.  I’m not sure what I think of the game, it isn’t the funnest thing I’ve ever played but it is good, mindless entertainment.  I downloaded the free version and my wife upped me to the “battlechest” – the basic game and first two expansions. 

Hot Nerds/Geeks

Ok, I’ve always been obsessed with hot girls, and geekiness is hot.  But this summer I’ve discovered some truly hot nerds.   ScreenTeam’s Angie Griffin, Lisa Foiles, Katie Wilson, Katrina “ActionFlickChick” Hill.  Yet, one more reason I’ve become a YouTube junky. 

Twitter

Is Twitter still nerdy? I’m not sure, but I’m more into twitter than I ever was facebook, probably because facebook is all funny cat pics (funny since YouTube is largely funny cat videos). 

Game of Thrones

This is another one of those, I’m not sures.  We rented the first two episodes and now I want to see the rest of the first season, but I’m not sure I like it.  I haven’t finished watching it yet so we’ll see.  I’ll let you know. 

The Summer of Valiant

Yes, I know, I said I was already into comics, but it had been months since I picked up a new issue before this came out.  It was my dad who started getting Valiant, both the classic 90s version and this new one.  I’m also picking up Hit Girl and Before Watchmen but so far I’m not impressed with either of them. 


So, last time I ended up with about 20 on my top ten list, so to balance out the universe I looks like I’m going to stop at 9.  I’d like to say this was intentional symmetry on my part but I’m just hard up to think of a 10th entry.  Oh well and Say “La V.”


Now, I wanna see your nerd obsessions both old and new (or even your take on the nerd and geek definitions).  Let me know in the comments below or on my twitter page @nerdisnewcool. 

Nerd Is the New Cool, signing off.