Dawn of the Dead (1978)
If you read my post about The Fog you remember that I am not a fan of remakes. 99% of the time they just don't live up to the original. They are basically trying to cash in on a good movie by throwing in a few 20-something Hollywood turds. Well for me the remake of Dawn of the Dead from 2004 fits into the 1% that did it right. I love that movie... good acting, great action, and a very well written re-telling of the original movie. With that said I thought it would be a good time to re-watch and review the original written and directed by George A. Romero.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
This movie is a classic zombie flick that has launched many sequels and remakes, none of which capture the mood and horror of the original Night of the Living Dead. This black and white film depicts the fear and confusion of people who find themselves fighting for their lives against an unknown horror with limited ways of evading or destroying the zombies. This is also a great film to launch our ZOMBIE WEEK 2008, where we're going to review each of the Romero "Dead" movies, leading into our first ever giveaway.
Directed by: George A. Romero Written by: George A. Romero & John A. Russo
Defiance
“Tommy used to work on the docks”, beat-up his last boss, “he’s down on his luck its tough… so tough!” “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi popped into my head a few times while watching Defiance. Tom Gamble, played by Jan-Michael Vincent (Airwolf) is a cargo ship worker who is suspended for 6 months and forced to find residence in New York City. He is just like the rest of us though, he’s a great painter and he wants to learn Spanish. Well ok, maybe not like all of us, but I finger paint and I speak Spanish in my dreams. In his new slummy apartment he quickly realizes that like sucks… no one likes him, his neighbors are rowdy, and gangs run the show! The one good thing is his upstairs neighbor Marsha. She quickly befriends and they hit it off. They even go bowling… things are looking up!
Rambu (aka The Intruder)
Hmmm... Rambu... Why does that name sound so familiar? Could it be because it sounds eerily similar to that Sylvester Stallone character? What's his name? Rambo you say? Yeah, if you saw the box for this movie sitting in your video store, you'd think it probably had something to do with Rambo, right? I'm pretty sure the makers of this movie were banking on that. They even tried to make the characters somewhat similar. This guy Rambu (played by New Zealander Peter O'Brian) holds an eery resemblance to Sylvester Stallone, except he's lanky, and a little less muscular. One of the characters actually calls him Rambo, and he dons a red headband to try to capture the look. Unfortunately, all the toughness that headband provides is offset by the wet, saggy speedo he's sporting in the same shot.



