Given the current fashion in Hollywood, however, it looks like we're stuck with them, and thus, this had to be done sooner or later. And may well have increased my respect for what is rapidly becoming a genre on its own.Or maybe just for James Gunn and director Zack Snyder.
What we got was what felt like true homage to me -- right down to a sweet cameo of Tom Savini -- liberally splashed with a gutful of gore that George Romero, the father of the modern zombie himself, no doubt would have loved to get his twisted mitts on.
They're bright enough not to mess too much with the Master's sociological insights, yet still manage some pretty decent character background and development -- even a little reformation for you moralists out there -- and, although Ving Rhames was as typecast as ever, it's always fun to watch him grunt a role out. Sarah Polley manages a combination of backbone and low-key likeability that is a relief from the shrill heroines of today's cinema. A thread of humor running throughout, highlighted by a hilariously-faithful swing version of Disturbed's "Down With the Sickness", kept things nicely well-rounded. Singalongable as hell, you'll be snapping along and singing it months later, and in the same smarmy tone, if you can manage it.
The true stars of the film? The makeup department. Gore, gore, and more gore -- they give us everything available to the modern makeup, prop and prosthetic artist and then some -- going to lengths you'll need to watch the DVD extras find out about. I frankly regressed to a 14 year old boy with every splash and splatter, driving Dear Hubby nuts with gleeful "awwwwwesomes!!!" at every in-your-face headshot and flying skull fragment. An incredibly detailed featurette on the makeup and props in the Extras section made me damn near want to rethink my career plans and start playing with corn syrup.
Which brings me to the other great thing about this film -- I've yet to see better Extra's on a dvd yet, and they served as inspired prologues and epilogues to what was already a stand-alone great horror film. What felt like inspired amateur work served to lock you in so completely to the suspension of disbelief that the subject matter required, that by the time it was all over, at least 2 hours later, I briefly regretted not boarding up my doors and windows.
From the perfectly-paced deterioration of Mr. Properly Coiffed TV Reporter to Andy's Lost Footage....you'll be checking your home's weakspots too after this gleeful and intelligent splatterfest.
5 comments:
Awesome post! You really raise the bar of writing on this blog!
I have a mixed reaction to this film. I love the opening 10 minutes and the main title sequence. (I loved the way they used Johnny Cash's "When the man comes around".) But the film never quite lives up to it's opening. But it is one of the better horror remakes of recent years.
I have to agree with scott. I saw the first ten minutes on the U.S.A. Cable network on T.V. and those first ten minutes made me want to see the film. Unfortuantly it never really lived up to those first ten minutes. Though of note is another wonderful performace by Sarah Polley. She is undoubtedly the most unsung actress working today. Her work in films like The Sweet Hereafter and Guinevere is brillant and if she dosn't win an Oscar someday I will be shocked!
Check out her bio. at:
http://www.canadianactors.info/sarah_polley.htm
I really liked this movie, it´s great! violence, gore, what else can you ask for? it's one of my favorites. I´ve always liked apocalypse-related movies.
Scott, thanks for your kind words -- my apologies to both you and Gary, and our readers here for having been away so long.
Ah, the opening sequence. In the interests of length, I didn't even go there, but so true Scott -- great opening sequence, that gave a nice overview of how the world arrived at such a pass to begin with, saving a lot of backstory. Again, I disagree with you about the overall quality of the film, but you're also right, in that it definitely is one of the more ambitious remakes out there.
Another great point, thanks Gary. Polley did a great job with her role, and I hope it leads to bigger and better for her.
Thanks, Humberto -- I do, too. Imagining how and in what form society would pull itself out of the ashes of some apocolyptical disaster has always been endlessly facinating to me. And when it's depicted with a nice long featurette on the Head Shot, so much the better:P
What's interesting to me about this film is how quick you become a zombie! That really seems to represent our society today. In the original film, it took at least 5 minutes of screen time before you became one of the undead. In the remake, it takes about 15-45 seconds of screen time! In this age of fast video games, I guess everything has to move real quick.
I just love the original movie. I really felt for the characters. That's why I keep coming back to that film. You know what? I think the original film has a great screenplay! What I love about the original is the addition of the biker threat in the third act. It really spins the story around and adds an extra challange for our heros. In the remake, it's really just a lot of razzle dazzle action sequences as our heros run from the zombies. Been there, done that... I love Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames but I think the screenplay ultimately short changes the characters. I didn't have the investment in them as I did in the original.
That being said, another great sequence in the remake is when Andy "turns". (He's the guy on the roof.)
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