# which zombie film should i uh get jazzed and watch. list of four options VOTE! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 3, 2004, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-zombie-film-should-i-uh-get-jazzed-and-watch-list-of-four-options-vote/222424 "2004-01-03T03:59:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-zombie-film-should-i-uh-get-jazzed-and-watch-list-of-four-options-vote/222424/21 "2004-01-04T02:19:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by John Mullets \* > \*\*To be honest, I’ve never seen it. I have, however, seen quite a lot of zombie films (love 'em) and basically every one will tell you that Resident Evil is a pile of fecal matter and that it only detracts from _real_ zombie movies. I just refuse to watch it, more shit from Hollywood. > > Why don’t you tell me why you don’t like zombie movies but like Resident Evil? I’m not trying to start an arguement, I’m just interested. Why does this appeal to you while other zombie films don’t? \*\* Geez, how can you tell someone to never recommend a movie you haven’t even seen? It’s not like I’m the only one who liked it, it’s ranked higher by viewers at imdb (6.3) than more than half of the other movies in this thread. Why I like it (vague The Ring spoiler as well, if you skipped that too): - There isn’t that much gore - I can tolerate movies with some gore, but when you get to the level of remakes of HOHH and 13 Ghosts that’s my limit; this is less gory than that. But the part where the person is cut up by the lasers is neat even if it is gross. (reminds me a little of _that_ scene in Ghostship…the only good scene in Ghostship.) - They don’t know what’s going on, and you have to wait through the flashbacks to find out who sold them out. Not knowing who the enemy is is usually a good thing in movies. - I’ve always liked the visual effect of 3 people standing back to back to back as they fire into the crowd that has them hopelessly surrounded. - Girls and guns. If I was in a movie, I’d want to have a gun 🙂 - Only two people survive, more dying after you are lead to believe they’re safe. (I liked the same about The Ring) - The typical horror movie ending - surviving girl and guy wander happily off into the sunset after defeating the evil - is entirely bypassed. That’s about it in a nutshell, plus some interesting visual effects. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2004, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-zombie-film-should-i-uh-get-jazzed-and-watch-list-of-four-options-vote/222424/22 "2004-01-04T07:07:49Z")
No gore? Any self-respecting zombie film HAS to have a certain amount of gore, and by “a certain amount” I mean buckets of blood sluicing down the screen. Granted, the point of George Romero’s films is to show the breakdown of society in microcosm, but his deft sociological insights are reinforced by zombies slurpin’ up guts like they were fettucine. > [@](#): > > They don’t know what’s going on, and you have to wait through the flashbacks to find out who sold them out. Not knowing who the enemy is is usually a good thing Nonsense. That sort of misdirection might work in a murder mystery or an espionage thriller, but not in a zombie film. The viewer KNOWS who the enemy is–it’s those pesky zombies outside the mall! And, of course, the pettiness and meanness of spirit in the holed-up survivors that ultimately leads to their becoming human tartare. > [@](#): > > - Girls and guns. If I was in a movie, I’d want to have a gun See George Romero. [quote] - Only two people survive, more dying after you are lead to believe they’re safe. (I liked the same about The Ring) [quote] See George Romero. [quote] - The typical horror movie ending - surviving girl and guy wander happily off into the sunset after defeating the evil - is entirely bypassed. [quote] Well, that is true of **Dawn** and \*\*Day, but in the former, the original screenplay had the last two dying as well. In **Return of the Living Dead** (NOT a Romero film), everybody dies, incinerated in a nuclear blast, , but then the rains come, washing the ashes back into the ground and starting the cycle all over again. In order to reinforce the threat of the living dead, zombie films require blood and guts. **Resident Evil** fails largely because the audience never gets any feeling that the zombies are dangerous–what’s dangerous about an actor in latex makeup flailing his arms like a skinny Tor Johnson? **Dawn of the Dead** , the _Gone with the Wind_ of the zombie genre, succeeds brilliantly because it establishes at the very beginning that the zombies are a deadly, frightening menace. Moreover, unlike **RE** , **DotD** has characters who are not mere zombie chow and who force the audience to empathize with their plight. When characters die in **RE** , all one thinks is, “Neat FX.” In **DotD** when characters die, one thinks, “Oh, no.” ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2004, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-zombie-film-should-i-uh-get-jazzed-and-watch-list-of-four-options-vote/222424/23 "2004-01-04T07:47:26Z")
“The Serpent and the Rainbow” is a good movie _about_ zombies. It’s strange to watch, after awhile it’s almost like viewing a documentary. You actually begin to believe the guy can do it. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2004, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-zombie-film-should-i-uh-get-jazzed-and-watch-list-of-four-options-vote/222424/24 "2004-01-04T15:39:09Z")
Personally, I disliked **Resident Evil** mainly because I’ve been a big fan of the games, which had a _great_ storyline and managed to create such a great mood, that the movie wasted it all for super fun visual effects. Still, though, the movie did have its moments. The opening ten minutes were amazing, and I enjoyed pretty much every aspect dealing with the zombies. It was all that computer and licker crap that really wasted it, on top of the **Matrix** like action sequences. I didn’t mind the lack of gore because often times, that becomes the focus of it all, and for me, it takes more than intestines being thrown at the screen to make things scary. In **Resident Evil** , there’s one scene where a door opens, and the entire thing is just framed by zombies and one guy gets dragged in. There’s no gore, but for me, that was an especially creepy scene and proof that the movie has some merit Compared to other zombie films, though, it is one of the worst. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by gobear_ **Avoid Lucio Fulci films at all costs.** Truer words have never been spoken. See, this is an example of where gore really doesn’t help. His movies are pretty much known for one or two really intensly grotesque moments (like the wooden splinter threw the eye in **Zombie** or the drill bit in **The Gates of Hell** ), but outside that, the movies are just terrible to sit threw, boring, and just plain ol’ dumb. Overall, George Romero’s **Dead** trilogy are the best things out there. I still like **28 Days Later** because I find it rather reminiscient of **Dawn of the Dead** , and it’s the best serious zombie film to come out since then. **Bio-Zombie** is a fantastic Chinese comedy zombie flick that, if you like their pop culture, should please you greatly (I mean, who couldn’t enjoy a movie where the main characters roles are Woody Invincible and Crazy B?). **Night of the Creeps** is another one of my personal favorites because it’s very self indulgent. It’s a low budget lighthearted horror film and it knows it, and plays off that. The speech with the main character and the detective is absolutely wonderful, and the opening sequence is great. If you haven’t seen this one, check it out. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2004, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-zombie-film-should-i-uh-get-jazzed-and-watch-list-of-four-options-vote/222424/25 "2004-01-04T15:46:33Z")
Just piping in to say I liked **Resident Evil** as well. But then, I’m not much of a zombie film fan. Haven’t played the game, either ☹ The movie, however, was very stylish, which always gets points in my book. And the action was in my opinion well-timed, a bit like in many FPS-games, where you have quiet bits interspersed with high-adrenaline action (Doom, Unreal). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-zombie-film-should-i-uh-get-jazzed-and-watch-list-of-four-options-vote/222424.md?page=1)