Spawn of the Dead
Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray The Lord no monsters creep
Into my bedroom ‘til the dawn,
When all the zombies will be gone.
If they have their feng shui on straight, fans of zombie movies kneel to pray each night facing Pittsburgh. There, at the Monroeville Mall (just a few miles from my own humble upwardly-mobile home) stands a giant mural depicting the history of the proud, now-yuppified, Iron City -- where blue collars are only seen adorned by paisley ties.
There are, of course, depictions of Franco Harris on the mural, along with Andrew Carnegie, Heinz catsup bottles and other historically-significant icons (there are no images of Pinkertons assassinating steel workers, however) including zombies. For it was in Pittsburgh that George A. Romero spawned that first great zombie epic, Night of the Living Dead back in 1968.
His low budget epic brought those fun-loving flesh-feasters a flagon of film fame (if not fortune). Always struggling, over the years, George has managed to dig up (ahem) enough of a budget to continue his series of genre movies. Dawn of the Dead followed in 1978 and the sun also rose on Day of the Dead in 1985. All were shot in Pittsburgh, the Bronx-born Romero’s adopted hometown.
Last month, his biggest (and self-proclaimed bestest) zombie movie appeared, this time with a recognizable cast. John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper starred in the film shot in Canada this time for budgetary reasons. It was Land of the Dead, and will be headed to a video store near you before you can exhume the rental price.
While justly proud to be living near the Mecca of Zombie movies, I must admit that most of them leave me, well, luke-warm. Not enough humor, too slow moving, too much entrails-eating, and generally poor acting of B-movie grade scripts are my only reasons.
But on a cable channel yesterday, I watched that spawn of the dawn of the dead, Shaun of the Dead (2004). And while there are several obligatory Technicolor scenes of z-boys gnawing on the bloody steaming guts of their victims, the emphasis of the film was on humor. It’s an English film starring Simon Pegg (perhaps you’ll remember him from Band of Brothers) that’s taglined: “Bought coffee. Called Mom. Dodged zombies.”
Spoofing the self-involvment that most thirtysomethings are famous for, the camera follows our wimpy anti-hero and his slobbish flat-mate through the worst day of their lives. The streets of London teem with zombies, and it takes the dim-bulbed duo ages to catch on. Shaun eventually discovers his gumption, and sets off to rescue his ex-sweetie and his mom. There’s a cameo by Bill Nighy that’s quite nice. The survivors hole up in their favorite pub, of course, as the plot and plasma thicken.
Cute film, lots of deadpan fun, definitely one of the Best Ten Zillion Movies Ever Made.
I pray The Lord no monsters creep
Into my bedroom ‘til the dawn,
When all the zombies will be gone.
If they have their feng shui on straight, fans of zombie movies kneel to pray each night facing Pittsburgh. There, at the Monroeville Mall (just a few miles from my own humble upwardly-mobile home) stands a giant mural depicting the history of the proud, now-yuppified, Iron City -- where blue collars are only seen adorned by paisley ties.
There are, of course, depictions of Franco Harris on the mural, along with Andrew Carnegie, Heinz catsup bottles and other historically-significant icons (there are no images of Pinkertons assassinating steel workers, however) including zombies. For it was in Pittsburgh that George A. Romero spawned that first great zombie epic, Night of the Living Dead back in 1968.
His low budget epic brought those fun-loving flesh-feasters a flagon of film fame (if not fortune). Always struggling, over the years, George has managed to dig up (ahem) enough of a budget to continue his series of genre movies. Dawn of the Dead followed in 1978 and the sun also rose on Day of the Dead in 1985. All were shot in Pittsburgh, the Bronx-born Romero’s adopted hometown.
Last month, his biggest (and self-proclaimed bestest) zombie movie appeared, this time with a recognizable cast. John Leguizamo and Dennis Hopper starred in the film shot in Canada this time for budgetary reasons. It was Land of the Dead, and will be headed to a video store near you before you can exhume the rental price.
While justly proud to be living near the Mecca of Zombie movies, I must admit that most of them leave me, well, luke-warm. Not enough humor, too slow moving, too much entrails-eating, and generally poor acting of B-movie grade scripts are my only reasons.
But on a cable channel yesterday, I watched that spawn of the dawn of the dead, Shaun of the Dead (2004). And while there are several obligatory Technicolor scenes of z-boys gnawing on the bloody steaming guts of their victims, the emphasis of the film was on humor. It’s an English film starring Simon Pegg (perhaps you’ll remember him from Band of Brothers) that’s taglined: “Bought coffee. Called Mom. Dodged zombies.”
Spoofing the self-involvment that most thirtysomethings are famous for, the camera follows our wimpy anti-hero and his slobbish flat-mate through the worst day of their lives. The streets of London teem with zombies, and it takes the dim-bulbed duo ages to catch on. Shaun eventually discovers his gumption, and sets off to rescue his ex-sweetie and his mom. There’s a cameo by Bill Nighy that’s quite nice. The survivors hole up in their favorite pub, of course, as the plot and plasma thicken.
Cute film, lots of deadpan fun, definitely one of the Best Ten Zillion Movies Ever Made.
posted by Carl Larsen at 6:10 AM
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