Day Three: Zombie Marathon

I have sort of completed the George A. Romero Zombie Movie Marathon Challenge. I've watched the first four, and given that Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead are sort of a re-boot, and not quite as awesome as the earlier films, I may not bother with them today. Having said that, once I've been sociable and played with the kittens a bit, I may go back and watch them. My options are open.

Anyway, here are some thoughts that arose during the eight and a half hours of film watching. Warning: May contain the odd spoiler.

1) I love how old fashioned Night of the Living Dead is: the zombies are blamed on radiation: they don't confirm that the "unburied dead" are arising until an hour into the film: there's an actual "The End" screen at the conclusion. Classic.

2) The tragedy at the end of the first film is that the brave Ben ends up just as dead as the cowardly Cooper. Death doesn't play favourites, or as Homer Simpson said, "blue m&m, red m&m, they all end up the same colour in the end."

3) Top tip: before starting a movie marathon, it might be advisable to find the dvds in advance. The only positive about how long it took me to find Dawn of the Dead (1978) was that I found all the other George Romero zombie films while looking for it.

4) So many great quotes across all the films, but it's safe to say that my favourite is, "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth."

5) I love how often they just punch zombies in the face in Dawn of the Dead. I'd never noticed that before.

6) I like Day of the Dead, but it's not my favourite. I think that's because it focuses so much on the collapse of human relations, or, in other words, it's jam-packed full of arseholes. Having said that, it does contain the immortal line, "I'm running this monkey-farm now, Frankenstein!" I wonder if I could fit that into an everyday conversation?

7) I love how, as the films go on, the zombie crowds become more interesting. It starts with just some dead people, and grows to include nuns, butchers, clowns, ballerinas etc.

8) God forbid I ever get eaten by zombies, but if I do, I hope I have the presence of mind for my last words to be "Choke on 'em."

9) I love Land of the Dead more than it's probably cool to admit. It was the first Romero film I was old enough to see in the cinema, and I went to the very first showing at the Cineworld Wood Green. Big Daddy may well be the coolest zombie ever.

10) They really don't use the "Z" word all that often. Peter says it once in Dawn and Kaufman (Dennis Hopper in fabulous form) says "Zombies, man. They creep me out," but that's about it. They mainly get called ghouls, creatures, stenches, and walkers.

Blimey, I think ten points are enough. Thanks to Jago for sitting on my knee and helping me write this.

Tomorrow, I create a Zombie Army!