In 1968 George Romero gave the world Night of the Living Dead and became the father of the modern zombie genre and clinched it with Dawn of the Dead (1978), but if America is the birthplace of the genre why does it seem like everybody else is now doing a better job?

The 80s saw Day of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead, Night of the Creeps and then come 2002 we have the beginning Resident Evil series based on a great video game but tended to not focus all that much on zombies. Romero would continue his "Dead" series but never reaching the heights of Night or Dawn, and he'd even let Zack Snyder remake Dawn in 2004. Zombieland (2009) is probably the best recent American zombie film not counting the AMC series Walking Dead.

Meanwhile in other parts of the world:

Dead Alive (1992) New Zealand
Cemetery Man (1994) Italy
28 Days Later (2002) UK
Versus (2003) Japan
Shaun of the Dead (2004) UK
Fido (2006) Canada
[Rec] (2007) Spain
Dead Snow (2009) Norwegian
The Horde (2009) France

I don't think it's fair to split the zombie film industry into "American" and "un-American" then cherry-pick the best in the latter category. There are like a dozen solid American zombie films--how many has Norway produced other than Dead Snow? And Italy has produced a few truly great ones, but that's measured against, what, several hundred godawful ones? Plus, Zombieland was pretty good! Sorry, Mike, I can't agree with your thesis here. I think that what you're seeing is yet another case of something invented in the USA that is so popular that it eventually gets bloated and run-into-the-ground...but is a great enough concept that second or third-wave adaptations from other countries eventually show up and, if done well, make the core concept seem novel and interesting again (see also: comic books, cars, rock'n'roll, giant monster movies).

There are all different kinds of "good" in zombiedom. Examples:

1) Come what may, I'll stand beside Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things as a truly satisfying zombiepic -- not least because most of the living characters truly deserved to be eaten, based on their irritating personalities, their lousy acting or just because of their striped bellbottoms.

2) I loved the remake of Dawn Of The Dead -- you'll have to admit that sprinting zombies create a whole new challenge for the plucky survivors, and the movie really is a model of complex character development in an action picture -- about the last thing you'd expect out of a gutmunch epic.

3) Ted Raimi being dispatched by a walking dead chick? In The Grudge -- supposedly a ghost story? How can you not like it?

There are so many others, honestly. Even if there's only a flicker of a good moment in a terrible movie. Or a flicker of greatness in a good one, like the Deliverance homage in Zombieland.

Army of Darkness is a good American zombie movie.It was released in 1992.It is comedy and horror movie.It is too amazing movie. It was directed by Sam Raimi.I like this movie so much .I saw this movie today.
_______________________________________________
Watch all watch jag for FREE - Download OR Stream jag videos on Demand.
Watch watch alias online - Full alias Episodes Streaming.

bloody vikings...

by the way, potatoes are carnivorous.

When SyFy presents Night of the Living Spuds, I'm blaming you.

Already happened...on an episode of Goosebumps!

My biggest disappointment with American zombie movies is with its Godfather. Romero can't seem to tell but one story within the zombie framework: we are the real enemy. The first time it was great. The second, still great. The third...fourth...fifth...I wish he would just become an executive producer and farm out the filmmaking work to his legion of influencees.

Whereas I wish he'd lay off the zombies for a while altogether, and make some quirky thing like Martin or Monkey Shines again. Hell, maybe even something as quirky as Knightriders. The old "once per decade" schedule for zombie movies seemed to be working for him.

Coincidentally I was watching Survival of the Dead off and on yesterday. Romero does something I really can't stand over and over - he sets up scenes as if the character's peripheral vision equals 'the width of the camera lens.' So he can't see the zombies or people approaching him off camera, even though in real life he'd see them from dozens of feet away (also, he gives zombies a stealth mode to help the effect).

Maybe this is OT, but I still have a weakness or a soft spot in my shriveled little beef jerkey-like heart for old, pre-modern zombie movies. You know, the kind featuring the traditional Haitian Voodoo-type zombies.

Here's a little sample clip from 1943's I Walked With A Zombie:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M40l17ACjJM

No doubt. That form of zombification seems like a natural comment, especially today. There are many ways in which humans can be protrayed as being manipulated by a malevolent influence and not know it. In a lot of ways, the social commentary that Romero imbued his zombies with in Dawn of the Dead (that won that movie the bulk of its praise) has been muted.

Plus, there are some very good movies in that line: The aformentioned Walked with a Zombie; White Zombie; and the better than average (for Wes Craven) Serpent and the Rainbow. Hammer studios put out a terrific version of that type of Zombie in Plague of Zombies.

And on the "not good, exactly, but hugely entertaining" front, there's Sugar Hill, the 70's blaxploitation voodoo movie. Starting off with that old standby of a white mobster trying to lever a black guy's business out from under him, it turns into a supernatural revenge story when the mobster has the bar-owner killed, and the latter's wife goes to a voodoo priestess for assistance. Sugar Hill is notable for featuring not merely zombies, but also a major role for Baron Samedi, the Loa of death-- whom it portrays in a surprisingly authentic manner.

Don Pedro Colley picked up that movie, tucked it under his arm, and strolled away with it. The authenticity was just icing on that particular cake.

It's a bit slow at the start because Marki Bey doesn't exactly light up the screen, but once the Baron and his creepy-ass, silver bug-eyed zombies shows up, the fun begins. We had a grand time w/ this at T-Fest a couple of years ago.



---------------------
Robert Quarry's moll couldn't carried off fast enough, however.

Oh, hells yes, I loves me some Plague of the Zombies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz4Ye3Z6aOw

I sure wish I could have gotten Jacqueline Pearce, green makeup and all, under my malevolent influence back before we both got too old for it to be any fun. Well, she may not be too old, but I guess I am.