I've always been a fan of horror movies, but in the past couple of years I've really gravitated toward, you know, the living dead. Shaun of the Dead is pretty much my favorite movie of all time. George Romero? Can't get enough. And lately I've been delving into zombie lit, or Z-Lit if you will. Max Brooks (son of Mel) has a tongue-in-cheek book out called The Zombie Survival Guide. It's all those essential things you need to know when Z-Day finally happens. He followed that up with World War Z, which takes place post-zombie apocalypse and talks to people who survived, documentary-style. It's not funny like the Survival Guide is; it's dead serious and pretty fascinating.
Now let me backtrack a little bit. Every Thursday night, my husband and I get together with a group of friends to watch Lost. We call this, appropriately if not unoriginally, Lost Night. Even when Lost ends for the summer (or for their mid-season hiatus), we still get together and do something in its absence. Last summer we watched a new Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) every Thursday. This summer, we've decided to watch zombie movies. This all started because I DVRed what is possibly one of the worst zombie movies ever made last week and was crying from laughter trying to explain it to our group.
The movie? Return of the Living Dead.
Now, before you all jump on me, let me preface with this: I love zombies, but I am by no means an expert. I am not purporting to have seen every zombie movie ever made or know the names of the Zed extras in Night of the Living Dead. I don't even know the Thriller Dance. That being said, I thought Return of the Living Dead was George Romero's sequel to Night of the Living Dead. I only saw the title on the Independent Film Channel; I was not privvy to that outstanding movie cover or a plot or anything. Wow, was I wrong. Turns out George and John Russo, one of the writers of the original movie, were in disagreement with how to follow up their hit movie. They went their separate ways. George ended up coming out with Dawn of the Dead 10 years later; Return of the Living Dead is what Russo came up with in 1985.
It. Is. Bad. Comically bad. Let me try to sum up for you: High school dude, Freddy, has a new job at a medical supply warehouse. On the job, a co-worker informs Freddy that Night of the Living Dead was a true story – a gas was accidentally released that reanimated the dead. Only a few barrels of the gas are still in existence, and, surprise! They're at the medical supply warehouse. The co-worker shows Freddy the barrel containing the gas and thumps on it to prove its durability, but the gas leaks and the two men are knocked out. Of course, zombies start running amok. Coincidentally, Freddy's friends are waiting for him to get off work and decide to kill time in the cemetery across the street. Makes sense. Somehow this results in Trash, one of Freddy's friends, ripping off her clothes and dancing on top of a grave wearing nothing but leg warmers (I'm proud to say the actress, Linnea Quigley, is from Davenport, Iowa). I know you're wondering, and yes, she does end up as a "seductive", dancing, naked zombie wearing leg warmers.
The zombies are smarter than you might think – when paramedics arrive on the scene, they are killed by the zombies who then call dispatch and request that they "send more paramedics." Seriously. The same thing happens when the cops show up. Also, at some point, a zombie is captured and questioned as to why they are feasting on humans. The zombie replies that it hurts to be dead, and eating live brains is the only thing that relieves the pain.
Oh, and although skeletons are rising out of the cemetery – full skeletons, not skin and muscle or anything like that – they still have tongues and eyeballs.
So, after describing this, my friends and I did a little research and discovered that some truly heinous zombie movies are floating around out here. Some that we will be viewing this summer are Redneck Zombies, Zombies on Broadway, Motocross Zombies from Hell, Hard Rock Zombies and the MST3Ked Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies. Oh! And also, Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave ("Dance til you drop... dead").
So. The point of this long-winded post is to ask you two things:
1. What's the worst horror movie you've ever seen?
2. Do you have any good (read: bad) zombie movie recommendations?
Now let me backtrack a little bit. Every Thursday night, my husband and I get together with a group of friends to watch Lost. We call this, appropriately if not unoriginally, Lost Night. Even when Lost ends for the summer (or for their mid-season hiatus), we still get together and do something in its absence. Last summer we watched a new Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) every Thursday. This summer, we've decided to watch zombie movies. This all started because I DVRed what is possibly one of the worst zombie movies ever made last week and was crying from laughter trying to explain it to our group.
The movie? Return of the Living Dead.
Now, before you all jump on me, let me preface with this: I love zombies, but I am by no means an expert. I am not purporting to have seen every zombie movie ever made or know the names of the Zed extras in Night of the Living Dead. I don't even know the Thriller Dance. That being said, I thought Return of the Living Dead was George Romero's sequel to Night of the Living Dead. I only saw the title on the Independent Film Channel; I was not privvy to that outstanding movie cover or a plot or anything. Wow, was I wrong. Turns out George and John Russo, one of the writers of the original movie, were in disagreement with how to follow up their hit movie. They went their separate ways. George ended up coming out with Dawn of the Dead 10 years later; Return of the Living Dead is what Russo came up with in 1985.
It. Is. Bad. Comically bad. Let me try to sum up for you: High school dude, Freddy, has a new job at a medical supply warehouse. On the job, a co-worker informs Freddy that Night of the Living Dead was a true story – a gas was accidentally released that reanimated the dead. Only a few barrels of the gas are still in existence, and, surprise! They're at the medical supply warehouse. The co-worker shows Freddy the barrel containing the gas and thumps on it to prove its durability, but the gas leaks and the two men are knocked out. Of course, zombies start running amok. Coincidentally, Freddy's friends are waiting for him to get off work and decide to kill time in the cemetery across the street. Makes sense. Somehow this results in Trash, one of Freddy's friends, ripping off her clothes and dancing on top of a grave wearing nothing but leg warmers (I'm proud to say the actress, Linnea Quigley, is from Davenport, Iowa). I know you're wondering, and yes, she does end up as a "seductive", dancing, naked zombie wearing leg warmers.
The zombies are smarter than you might think – when paramedics arrive on the scene, they are killed by the zombies who then call dispatch and request that they "send more paramedics." Seriously. The same thing happens when the cops show up. Also, at some point, a zombie is captured and questioned as to why they are feasting on humans. The zombie replies that it hurts to be dead, and eating live brains is the only thing that relieves the pain.
Oh, and although skeletons are rising out of the cemetery – full skeletons, not skin and muscle or anything like that – they still have tongues and eyeballs.
So, after describing this, my friends and I did a little research and discovered that some truly heinous zombie movies are floating around out here. Some that we will be viewing this summer are Redneck Zombies, Zombies on Broadway, Motocross Zombies from Hell, Hard Rock Zombies and the MST3Ked Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies. Oh! And also, Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave ("Dance til you drop... dead").
So. The point of this long-winded post is to ask you two things:
1. What's the worst horror movie you've ever seen?
2. Do you have any good (read: bad) zombie movie recommendations?
2) You absolutely have to watch "Shaun of the Dead" even though it's excellent.
I think the fact that it's cheesy has something to do with it, though.
The thing you must remember, however, is that zombie movies are a completely different breed of horror flicks: most of them are made to be comical.
that's the case with return of the living dead; otherwise, they would have left out the eyes and tongues of the skeletons (it would even have been less expensive) and there wouldn't be a naked punk zombie chick running around!
same for evil dead, brain dead and many others.
but for a truly, truly bad horror movie, I suggest Dead Meat by Connor McMahon (note that there is a movie called Dead Meat by Phillip Cruz, but it is far better and doesn't include zombies).
Outback Vampires is a good choice, too. However, being a no budjet 21 years old B-movie made down-under, I don't know how easy it will be to find it in america. In my case, it's a friend from australia who sent it to me.
Anyways, that zombie night idea is great, I should try this out.
2) While I've seen most of the zombie movies you listed above, I bring nothing new to the party. My expertise is in Kung-Fu flicks.
Have you heard of Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter, it is a kung fu musical
I would also suggest Rabid Grannies and and other Troma film you can lay hands to. (They did Redneck Zombies)
Troma is the best for hilariously bad and wtf?!? movies.
Also, get Delemorte Delemore-it's also known as Cemetery Man. It's Italian made but in English. Not horrible, but pretty bizarre.
Plan 9 from Outer Space.
You get zombies, aliens, bad acting, worse sets (a mosoleum is clearly a cut up cardboard box and an airplane cockpit is a door, a curtain and two folding chairs), lots of misty scenes, and Bela Lugosi who died half way through so gets replaced by a body double to finish the movie. But then what do you expect from Ed Wood?
2. Romero's Dawn of the Dead is probably my favorite BUT Planet Terror of Grindhouse fame is frickin' fantastic and if you haven't seen it already you've got to check it out. Just talking about it makes me want to watch it.
However, there is a zombie/vampire comic that is being turned into a movie. The comic is pretty good (and free to read online): Last Blood (www.lastblood.net)
The basic synopsis is that a group of vampires have to save the last humans on earth from the zombies.
2. You haven't seen the depths of zombie crap until you see some of the italian movies. Of course I can't name any but "City of the living dead", which is just awful. Another zombie comedy, nowhere near as good as "Shaun of the Dead" but better than "Ed and his dead mother" is "My boyfriend's back". Check it out.
http://www.cinemawasteland.com/xcart/product.php?productid=17081&cat=254&page=1
2. You've already seen the worst serious one. Night of the living dead is absolutely terrible. But Frankenhooker is worse. It wasn't supposed to be scary, but it's not funny and involves piecing a fiance back together with prostitute parts.
Here are some top picks:
"Killer Nerd" / "Bride of Killer Nerd"
"Bloodsucking Freaks"
"Food of the Gods"
"Redneck Zombies" has been mentioned & is also great.
"Shaun of the Dead" the most brilliant movie ever....I third to Dani and Amily......and whoever else may have said it!
http://www.theyrecoming.com/
Also, there is a great how-to on making your own zombie head cake. Mmmmmm brains!
Flesh Eating Mothers.
2wo: Ugh, still feeling ill over ISoYG. Ok, better now. Other zombie movies I love are: 28 Days Later, Slither (kind of covers a lot of things), FIDO is a great zombie comedy, and there are several italian ones you should hack through. The most impressive zombie work I've experienced has been THE WALKING DEAD graphic novel series. Highly emotional, and always shocking. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!
2. Bad Taste (Not exactly zombies back from the dead, but flesh eating aliens is pretty close.)
2. Shawn of the Dead, by far
Bad Sheep. Carnivorous zombie sheep in New Zealand. Hilarious! Don't miss the zombie fetal sheep attack. mmmmaaaaa! mmmmmmmaaaaaaa!
Fido is a hilarious zombie-comedy.
Oh and if you like zombies and are a fan of Evil Dead, then I highly recommend seeing the Evil Dead the Musical. http://www.evildeadthemusical.com/. It’s very good.
http://www.weshow.com/us/p/33781/happiness_of_the_katakuris_zombie_musical
I have no idea if the rest of it is like that clip, but it is somewhat amusing.
Don't even bother with Zombie Honeymoon... truly bad not fun bad.
Also Oldboy is a great movie... buuuuut... very heavy and actually disturbing not fun horror. Like REALLY messed up.
The Evil Dead
Army of Darkness
They Live
Here's a good one. I've never met anyone else who's seen it though:
Phantasm II - Not a zombie flick, but there are these little midget animal things, like fat gremlins.
And last but not least, I don't even know what kind of movie it is, but I suppose it could be considered horror, and it definitely is cheezy:
The Forbidden Zone
Also CHOPPING MALL, which is about these security robots that go haywire and start killing off a group of teens who work at a furniture store in the mall. Naturally it's from 1986. It's fabulous.
2. Also not really a zombie movie, but Mr. Vampire is a lame Chinese action movie from the 80s. It features Jiang Shi which are sort of a mix between vampires and zombies.
I love zombies. They are, the best things in the world. For good bad zombie films, check out Zombie Strippers. Gore, bad dialog, and undead Jenna Jamison stripping.
I will second, and 3rd it as the third worst scifi movie of all time. Bella agreed to do the film when he was asked, the poor guy had very little (read: no) self respect and took every role offered to him. However, Ed Wood wanted to use his name so they found a body double, who was Ed's wife's chiropractor who bared no resemblance at all to the famed actor, thus in the movie he ran around constantly covering his face with his vampire cape (Yes, zombie vampire anyone?). Oh, and "Ed Wood" by Tim Burton to your list, it documents (sorta) the making of this movie.
The Second worst movie is easily "The Head That Wouldn't Die" (or if you watch the credits "The Brain That Wouldn't Die". It was so bad they couldn't decide on a name). Plot synopsis: Crazed reanimator type scientist is rushing to his lab, wrecks his car so badly his girlfriends head comes off, though he's able to pick it up and run to his lab to reanimate it. He proceeds to hire and kill hookers to get her a new body but none of them are the right blood type or to her liking or something. It's so laughably bad you have to wonder what the crew was thinking.
The First worst, and I'm taking the public opinion at its word here, is Manos: The Hands of Fate. Made on a bet between a El Paso fertilizer salesman and a Hollywood location scout that he could film a movie for under $20,000.... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060666/trivia
There are some good suggestions here, especially Dead Alive, Black Sheep, etc. What is it with New Zealanders and zombies?? Another, surprisingly, good one "Flight of the Living Dead" (Zombies on a Plane). Funny anyway. Undead (2003) was a lot of fun.
If you're looking for something romantic, I'd suggest "Return of the Living Dead 3" over "Zombie Honeymoon."
"Happiness of the Katakuris" is brilliant! (But not really zombies, if I remember correctly.)
There's always CHUD and CHUD 2 (CHUD 2 aka "Bud the CHUD" is much funnier than CHUD)
Now, I'm ashamed of my zombie dorkness.
BTW: worst horror movies: Turistas (boring and offensive...what a combo!) or Rest Stop (it wasn't bad enough to be funny, but it was bad enough to cause pain)
Hands down, the worst horror-flick in existance is Alien 2 sulla Terra, it makes Manos: The Hands of Fate look like an oscar winner.
I have to vote for the classic Zombi 2 as the best zombie movie through the ages. Though, Braindead isn't a bad contender either.
You might look for "Nudist Colony of the Dead." It's a musical. The last time I checked Amazon.com had a VHS version, but no DVD.
Good: Zombies Anonymous - Zombies attempt to integrate into a society that discriminates against the undead. Obviously done on the cheap, but certainly has some funny moments.
Bad: Zombie Nation - Cheapo sets. Bad direction. Bad acting. Stupid story. Poorly written. Cop kills girls who come back as zombies to take revenge. But still watchable if you like bad movies (as I do).
Also, I'll second Fido and Oldboy as must-sees. Fido is humorous, but treats the subject matter seriously (until the end), and has a great cast of actors. Oldboy is ***SERIOUSLY*** twisted. Me likey! (Except for the ending, which like many foreign films is unclear about the final disposition of its characters.)
And, you should get a chance to see Return of the Living Dead III. It breaks with the first two in not going for humor as much, and thus, takes itself a bit too seriously. But, it makes up for it when she (the zombie) tries to not eat her boyfriend. (If you have the picture on the cover of the movie, you know what I mean.)
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*bangs head against table* Oldboy is not only not horror it is one of the most finely crafted films ever made! If anyone hasn't seen it they should see it!
Anyhoo; as for the horror movies I would have to seperate them into 'fun horror movies' and 'genuinely scary horror movies'. On the fun side we have Evil Dead 2 and 3, Dead Alive/Braindead, Reanimator...eh can't think of any truly greats right now.
Genuinely scary (and good) I'd say The Descent and Haute Tension...but neither has any zombies in!
I guess zombies aren't very scary, though 28 days later had it's moments!
2. Dead Alive is really great, and I think one of the goriest as far as ultimate body count and buckets of blood used at the end. Plus who wouldn't love a mutant zombie baby. We're working on a new twist for a zombie movie which includes unicycle riding zombies. Here's the trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItQimn5HWmA. The ending is a little gruesome if you are a guy.
Speaking of Japanese movies, it's not a zombie movie, but you might try "The Calamari Wrestler." A wrestling champion is killed and reincarnated as a giant squid, so he decides to win back his title and his girlfriend. It's like a mix between a Godzilla flick and a Rocky movie.
Not even bad funny.. watch in fast forward.
re: Zombie Strippers
Just saw this in the theatre the other week- a great time.. tongue in cheek.. lots of stripping and lots of zombie stripping.
As far as just AWFUL movies go.. try FRANKENSTEIN ISLAND (mr. stein is underwater pretty much the entire film) or BEGOTTEN (FUCK that movie, seriously)
For a good sampling of zombie flix (a specialty of mine) try the premiere Nazi Zombie movie, SHOCK WAVES. It has Peter Cushing in it! And, the bizarre not-sure-what-it-is aussie UNDEAD.
Once you're done with those, start down the list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Zombie_films
Best zombie flick? Tossup between Return of the Living Dead and Shaun of the Dead (although I'm leaning toward the Tarman.)
By the way ... I live in Iowa (CR)and think it's time for a Big Fat Zombie Movie Fest in IA complete with zombie farm animals. Which leads me to second the recommendation of "Black Sheep".
Also Rise of the Dead. Horrible, just horrible.
I recommend, Peter Jackson's "Brain Dead" (aka, "Dead Alive") - a brilliant homage and great parody of the zombie genre.
and don't forget the toxic avenger series....CLASSIC!
how was world war z? i was looking at it in the bookstore the other day....
In essence, a rip-off of "Blade", only shot in the daytime (what?), shot in South Carolina (or thereabouts in the south) with locals cast in major roles (yikes!). Oh, and it's all about MIDGET VAMPIRES. The plot? Midget vampires need the blood and sword of a tall vampire half-breed in order to make the world infested with tall vampires. Not kidding. Seriously, WTEverlovingF.
"Fido" is a great postmodern zombie movie. "Dead/Alive" is one of the most fantastically bad, gory, and entertaining movies of all time.
Bad:
Undead... I don't remember much about it other than it was aweful. It was kind of a Zombies, meets aliens, meets Army of Darkness demons....
The acting is godaweful and I can't even tell you what the plot was.
2. i have a lot of experience screening the best and the worst zombie films, some of my favorites are:
*dawn of the dead ROMERO(1978)- the real sequel to NOTLD, widely considered the ultimate zombie film. tackles socioeconomic differences and capitalism
*day of the dead ROMERO(198?)- army base as last outpost during zombie takeover
*night of the creeps- like slither, form the 80's with european vacation's "russ"
*night of the comet-valley girls vs zombos
*omega man- kind of zombies, post apocalyptic world
*hard rock zombies- horrible, but has zombie nazi midgets, and rockers who will not die.
* wild zero- japanese zombie/alien invasion film, starring the great japanese band guitar wolf. this one will blow your mind.
*28 days later- directed by danny boyle
*dead alive- directed by peter jackson aka: braindead
*undead- aussie zombies with serious camp and a twist
*the serpent and the rainbow- about haitian zombies, a good change from the brain eaters, john carpenter i think.
the one i'm eager to see isromero's newest: diary of the dead, a first-person account ala blair witch of the zombie invasion.
oh yeah and night of the living dead is public domain, you can watch it all day on google video along with some other classic horror films.
HYSTERICALLY BAD.
Has no one said Resident Evil? Seriously? That one is pretty good. I personally prefer witchcraft and satan creating zombies over science, but it's still pretty good. The second RE movie is terrible; the third is also pretty bad.
How in the world could you say ROTLD is horrible. It was (no pun intended) groundbreaking. First zombie film to bring up the whole "I wanna eat your brains"!!!! Send more paramedics!!! The Uneeda medical supply company!! A half zombie dog! And last, but not least, the coolest zombie ever - TARMAN! WOW!
If you want really bad look up Class of 1984.
http://www.badmovies.org/movies/
I see someone's recommended the comic series Walking Dead, I'd second that. More Zombie-related reading material:
The Undead and Philosophy - Chicken Soup for the Soulless, a collection of philosophical essays on the nature of being undead, focusing on zombies and vampires. Really interesting stuff.
The Ultimate Zombie, an anothology of zombie fiction.
And just for sheer overkill, I just found this:
The Ultimate Zombie Booklist
For you viewing pleasure, here's a trailer for 3 Days Later: Jesus Chris Zombie Lord, zombie-themed sequel/spoof of the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. We're trying to raise money to film this, so if you've got a couple bucks and want to help, check out our Donations page!
Thanks! Or rather:
Rrruuhhrrrr.... Brrrraaaiiinnnssss....
The intent was a lot of the humor in a winking-at-the-audience/tongue and cheek sense.
It placed a lot of the peripheral humor of the Romero films and put it front and center- which is part of it's "love it" or "hate it" following.
It also skewered mid-eighties punk and new wave culture and resulted in a decent soundtrack.
The eighties were host to a lot of near-sadistic schlock horror/humor films which fostered a lot of the horror culture we enjoy today.
Most likely you've seen the Re-Animator, but I'd recommend the "near-sequel" From Beyond. I'm certain you'd great it with a similar and passionate disdain.
While I was just an unpaid extra, I did manage to get my face on the advertisements and the back cover. Eeeek. What a thing to tell my grandkids.
Alli
On the plus side, it is also the single goriest film I have ever seen. Hands down. Nothing has ever shown so many going from alive and well to giblets without a tasteful cut-away.
b) I think I love you guys.
I don't know if it's good or bad, but it certainly was one of the hardest to stomache I've ever seen. You've got everything from zombie fetus shot out of a pregnant zombie, to a sex scene with a gun done in too-graphic detail, to the usual parade of pink-red to mottled purple grey-skinned burn victim zombies. Couple this with some of the most deadpan acting I've ever seen (most of the leads were apparantly up well past their bedtimes)and strange paranoid schizophrenic pseudo philosophy, and you've got a movie that is too strange for even cult status.
The whole Sleepaway Camp series is hysterical (Part 2 is the ultimate in Camp Camp!)
H.P. Lovecraft's Re-Animator
and finally Revenge Of The Living Dead Girls
My favourite movie of all time: Braindead - aka Dead Alive, as mentioned before - IT IS LOVE. This has been my favourite movie for YEARS (I'm from NZ, where Peter Jackson is from and so it was more widely available than in the rest of the world). You have to have to have to see it. Lets just say that after Braindead I was thoroughly disappointed in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings because I know the genius that he is capable of, and LOTR just wasn't it.
My least favourite: Killer Clowns from Outer Space. They turn people into giant coloured pears and suck their, like, essence or whatever out through straws. May not be as bad if you're expecting it to be bad, but on the night of my birthday sleepover all those years ago, we were expecting a little more.
Watch Braindead. Love Braindead. BEST MOVIE EVER EVER!!
Evil Dead (terrific)
Evil Dead II (even campier)
Basket Case
You won't be sorry!
Also of course Evil dead series, the first two more than the third (the 3rd, army of darkness is not scary at all and isn't very funny imho either), they have both some scary gotcha moments and lots of humor.
Fido which is newish and very Shaun of the dead, a Horror/comedy
for more great Zomie movie reviews check out the Drunken Zombie Podcast
White zombie, the first zombie film ever made, is on Google Video. Made in 1932, so copyrights have long since expired. This means it is completely legal to stream off the internet.
Flight of the Living Dead is AWESOME. They got it when they made this film. They play by the rules; headshots kill, the zombies are nonsentient fleshdevouring abominations, and the black dude is a badass.
Also, if you haven't already, the Evil Dead series. Watch them in order, if possible.
movies to watch, zombie, boy eats girl, city of the dead, chudd, cemetery man, and movies soon to be released, zombies zombies zombies (aka zombie vs strippers), zombie strippers.