Let's start with a bit of Zombie Nonsense, shall we?
As much as I love that typeface joke (and who doesn't love a good typeface joke?) and as funny as I think it is, it still worries me that someone had the time to sit down, look at that particular font's lower-case "i" and think that it looked like a zombie, and then type it up and commit it to cyberspace, where whack-a-doos like Uncle Prospero will make sure they get spread around to other nerds who also find it funny, for the same several reasons I do.
Fans in general can be odd. Sports fanaticism can be pretty scary. Music fans are often a little left of center and movie fans? Don't ask. Genre film fans can be downright frightening. But sub-genre film fans? Obsessive and weird in a way only our fellows can understand. The two best Zombie fans in my life are my sister (still the best person for me to see a movie with, ever) and my 'adopted' sister and co-worker, Mia, maker of the fabulous Teddy Z. I occasionally share things with them (and a few other folks) before posting it here. And so it was with tonight's clip in Zombie Films:
A.D. is a movie looking for a buyer, and from the clip I found over at io9, I don't imagine it will take long to find one. I'll comment more after you've watched:
As much as I love that typeface joke (and who doesn't love a good typeface joke?) and as funny as I think it is, it still worries me that someone had the time to sit down, look at that particular font's lower-case "i" and think that it looked like a zombie, and then type it up and commit it to cyberspace, where whack-a-doos like Uncle Prospero will make sure they get spread around to other nerds who also find it funny, for the same several reasons I do.
Fans in general can be odd. Sports fanaticism can be pretty scary. Music fans are often a little left of center and movie fans? Don't ask. Genre film fans can be downright frightening. But sub-genre film fans? Obsessive and weird in a way only our fellows can understand. The two best Zombie fans in my life are my sister (still the best person for me to see a movie with, ever) and my 'adopted' sister and co-worker, Mia, maker of the fabulous Teddy Z. I occasionally share things with them (and a few other folks) before posting it here. And so it was with tonight's clip in Zombie Films:
A.D. is a movie looking for a buyer, and from the clip I found over at io9, I don't imagine it will take long to find one. I'll comment more after you've watched:
Four things strike me most about A.D. (for which I could find no IMDb listing):
One - Can an animated horror movie be truly scary to anyone over the age of 12?
Two - Could this the be the movie that makes animation for adult audiences a success?
Three - I think I really need to see this movie.
Four - Please dear God, don't let it be in effing 3D.
In Personal Zombie Film News, I am very close to finishing the first act of my latest screenplay, though I am far from happy with the working title and need to find something that better describes the movie and doesn't give too much away. The concept is solid and the general plot is in place, though sometimes I find my characters behaving in unexpected ways, changing the planned events drastically. Maybe as I continue to write the thing, I'll come up with something better. And no, I don't want to share the working title - it's too silly and descriptive and sounds like an H.G. Lewis movie title. I'm about to channel another sub-genre into the movie, something I am hoping will add a not only amusing, but much -needed twist to an already well-explored Horror movie topic. In the meantime, think about what other Horror sub-genre you would mix into Romero's mythology to add a twist? As soon as it's done, I promise you a link.
Finally, I'm starting a new Weekly Feature here at the Z-Zone:
Zombie Clip of the Week:
Each week, I'll be posting Zombie scene, trailer or short and either heap praise on it or rip it to shreds. This week's ZCW is in honor of the 70th birthday of the Father of the Modern Zombie, George A. Romero:
The only time Uncle P and his sister attended a fan convention was Fangoria magazine's first convention in NYC. It was a surreal and eye-opening event, the highlights of which were meeting and getting the autograph of Tom Savini and seeing advance footage from Day of the Dead, hosted by Uncle George, himself. Sis and I were excited to see the whole movie and when it was released the following summer, we went opening weekend... only to be a little disappointed. While Day of the Dead is certainly better than Land of the Dead, I do think (and think most of you will agree) that it is certainly the weakest of the original trilogy, leaving Dawn of the Dead in the unusual position of being one of the few sequels that's actually better than the original.
Set in an underground military facility in Florida, Day of the Dead attempts to create a claustrophobic, tomb-like feel which backfires, simply because of the facility's apparent vastness. Romero also tries to drive his message home a little too hard and bogs the movie down with an interminably boring second act filled with dime-store philosophy and bad dialog. On the upside, it introduced us to "Bud," the zombie who remembers. Funny, but oh-so-creepy, Bud was scary because he wasn't quite as mindless as we'd all like to think zombies are. And while Romero would explore zombie "intelligence" again with Big Daddy in Land of the Dead, with less successful results, Bud was the first zombie with whom audience members empathized. While Day of the Dead isn't as exciting or even original as Romero's first two films in the sub-genre he invented, it's still better than most of the Zombie movies to come after. If you're a Zombie lover and you've never seen Day of the Dead, then shame, shame, shame on you.
More ante-apocalyptic rantings, soon.
Prospero
One - Can an animated horror movie be truly scary to anyone over the age of 12?
Two - Could this the be the movie that makes animation for adult audiences a success?
Three - I think I really need to see this movie.
Four - Please dear God, don't let it be in effing 3D.
In Personal Zombie Film News, I am very close to finishing the first act of my latest screenplay, though I am far from happy with the working title and need to find something that better describes the movie and doesn't give too much away. The concept is solid and the general plot is in place, though sometimes I find my characters behaving in unexpected ways, changing the planned events drastically. Maybe as I continue to write the thing, I'll come up with something better. And no, I don't want to share the working title - it's too silly and descriptive and sounds like an H.G. Lewis movie title. I'm about to channel another sub-genre into the movie, something I am hoping will add a not only amusing, but much -needed twist to an already well-explored Horror movie topic. In the meantime, think about what other Horror sub-genre you would mix into Romero's mythology to add a twist? As soon as it's done, I promise you a link.
Finally, I'm starting a new Weekly Feature here at the Z-Zone:
Zombie Clip of the Week:
Each week, I'll be posting Zombie scene, trailer or short and either heap praise on it or rip it to shreds. This week's ZCW is in honor of the 70th birthday of the Father of the Modern Zombie, George A. Romero:
The only time Uncle P and his sister attended a fan convention was Fangoria magazine's first convention in NYC. It was a surreal and eye-opening event, the highlights of which were meeting and getting the autograph of Tom Savini and seeing advance footage from Day of the Dead, hosted by Uncle George, himself. Sis and I were excited to see the whole movie and when it was released the following summer, we went opening weekend... only to be a little disappointed. While Day of the Dead is certainly better than Land of the Dead, I do think (and think most of you will agree) that it is certainly the weakest of the original trilogy, leaving Dawn of the Dead in the unusual position of being one of the few sequels that's actually better than the original.
Set in an underground military facility in Florida, Day of the Dead attempts to create a claustrophobic, tomb-like feel which backfires, simply because of the facility's apparent vastness. Romero also tries to drive his message home a little too hard and bogs the movie down with an interminably boring second act filled with dime-store philosophy and bad dialog. On the upside, it introduced us to "Bud," the zombie who remembers. Funny, but oh-so-creepy, Bud was scary because he wasn't quite as mindless as we'd all like to think zombies are. And while Romero would explore zombie "intelligence" again with Big Daddy in Land of the Dead, with less successful results, Bud was the first zombie with whom audience members empathized. While Day of the Dead isn't as exciting or even original as Romero's first two films in the sub-genre he invented, it's still better than most of the Zombie movies to come after. If you're a Zombie lover and you've never seen Day of the Dead, then shame, shame, shame on you.
More ante-apocalyptic rantings, soon.
Prospero
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