Favorite top 5 Classic Sci-Fi movies

[dan bailey]

Dan are you feeling okay? Please switch that to the original or even Day of the Dead as I'm sure you meant to before your illness compelled you to make this horrific typo... ;)

Nope. I know it's utter heresy, but I rate the "reimagining" above the original. For that matter, I rate Day above Romero's Dawn. which IMHO hasn't aged at all well, for some reason, since I first saw it on the big screen in, I think, December '78. The 2004 version, as I've noted elsewhere, is the only movie I've ever paid 3 times (albeit at our cheap matinee prices down here, probably around $5.50 ... but still) to see.

I credit/blame it for igniting a white-hot passion in me for zombie flicks, especially when paired with (IIRC) the previous summer's 28 Days Later; I've since watched probably 250 of the things, not counting re-viewings of specimens I'd seen earlier, like the '78 Dawn, The Last Man on Earth, the sublime Gates of Hell (which comes very close to tying The Beyond as Fulci's masterpiece), etc.

In short -- when it comes to zombie movies, I know what the heck I'm talking ... which of course doesn't mean that less enlightened beings might not disagree with me, misguided souls that they are.

I'm tempted to playthe elitist card & say that if destro & Venomous Mask haven't watched genuine obscurities likes The Corpse Eaters or Zombie Army or subjected themselves to real travesties like Zombiez or Hood of the Living Dead, I'm going to stick my fingers in my ears & say "la-la-la-la-la" & pretend I can't hear them when they refer to the subject. But I won't do that ... probably

[dan bailey]

There must have been a revival of 2001 in movie theatres in the early 70s, because though I was too young to see it when it came out in 1969, I did see it at the local cinema in my home town back in Nfld sometime around 1974 or so. I was blown away.

Correct. That's abolut the time I would've seen in Magnolia, Ark.

[destro]

double post

[destro]

Nope. I know it's utter heresy, but I rate the "reimagining" above the original. For that matter, I rate Day above Romero's Dawn. which IMHO hasn't aged at all well, for some reason, since I first saw it on the big screen in, I think, December '78. The 2004 version, as I've noted elsewhere, is the only movie I've ever paid 3 times (albeit at our cheap matinee prices down here, probably around $5.50 ... but still) to see.

I credit/blame it for igniting a white-hot passion in me for zombie flicks, especially when paired with (IIRC) the previous summer's 28 Days Later; I've since watched probably 250 of the things, not counting re-viewings of specimens I'd seen earlier, like the '78 Dawn, The Last Man on Earth, the sublime Gates of Hell (which comes very close to tying The Beyond as Fulci's masterpiece), etc.

In short -- when it comes to zombie movies, I know what the heck I'm talking ... which of course doesn't mean that less enlightened beings might not disagree with me, misguided souls that they are.

I'm tempted to playthe elitist card & say that if destro & Venomous Mask haven't watched genuine obscurities likes The Corpse Eaters or Zombie Army or subjected themselves to real travesties like Zombiez or Hood of the Living Dead, I'm going to stick my fingers in my ears & say "la-la-la-la-la" & pretend I can't hear them when they refer to the subject. But I won't do that ... probably

Seen 'em all man. I'm likely as big a horror nut as you are. In fact believe it or not I actually did the soundtrack for Damned (their vampire movie), by the same people who made Hood of the Living Dead! Which makes it a super odd coincidence that you happened to name it.

I understand what you mean, it's cool. I just can't agree with you on that. Didn't mean anything by it, I was just kidding. The remake just left me cold is all. I confess that I'm an ultra annoying snob about most remakes, I find it tough to be objective about them.. BTW I like the original Day of the Dead best of the trilogy which most people disagree with as well...yes I still consider it a trilogy despite the newer entries. Gates of Hell is also a favorite of mine.

[dan bailey]

How cool! Obviously, I've come across a fellow hardcore aficionado ...

You are, of course, spot-on about the vast majority of remakes, though oddly enough I also think I like the American Ring more than the Japanese Ringu ... though in that case I don't think one can discount (a) the fact that I saw the U.S. remake first & (b) the whole subtitles vs. straight dialogue thing.

Interesting how critical opinion sometimes changes over time. I can't come up with any chapter-&-verse citations now, but among the half-dozen or so zombie movie guides I own, the older ones tend to dismiss Day as a severe drop-off from Night & Dawn. I think it's regarded much less harshly these days ... though maybe it just looks a lot better to some of those people because of the disappointments we've since received in the form of Land, Diary & whatever the last one was called.

[destro]

How cool! Obviously, I've come across a fellow hardcore aficionado ...

You are, of course, spot-on about the vast majority of remakes, though oddly enough I also th ink I like the American Ring more than the Japanese Ringu ... though in that case I don't think one can discount (a) the fact that I saw the U.S. remake first & (b) the whole subtitles vs. straight dialogue thing.

Interesting how critical opinion sometimes changes over time. I can't come up with any chapter-&-verse citations now, but among the half-dozen or so zombie movie guides I own, the older ones tend to dismiss Day as a severe drop-off from Night & Dawn. I think it's regarded much less harshly these days ... though maybe it just looks a lot better to some of those people because of the disappointments we've since received in the form of Land, Diary & whatever the last one was called.

On the Ring I'm actually with you. I was disappointed when I saw the original, but maybe I was spoiled by seeing the english version 1st.

I just find Day to be a lot of fun. Joseph Pilato is just a goldmine of awesome-ness to me. Best zombie and gore FX of the series as well.

I think Dawn has a bit more meaning and is technically better, but it drags a bit and suffers for me thru repeat watchings, I find myself fast forwarding. That's one thing I will give the Dawn remake, it is paced a bit better. I think my main issue with it is that it feels too "clean". A lot of that is just due to the way movies are made now. But then Day is the cleanest looking of the originals...as Cei U would say, I summon the contradictions!

[berk]

oops, I see I posted this in the wrong thread

[Venomous Mask]

Day was the best of the original series. The original Dawn was fun but felt unorganized. Land had great special effect but the acting was bad in places.

[CromagnonMan]

Day was the best of the original series. The original Dawn was fun but felt unorganized. Land had great special effect but the acting was bad in places.

i would say Day is the worst of the original trilogy. Its the original for me, followed by Dawn (not the remake)

[shaxper]

i would say Day is the worst of the original trilogy. Its the original for me, followed by Dawn (not the remake)

Day was a cruder production, but it was absolutely the scariest of the series to me because the cruelty the surviving humans inflicted upon one another was so much more monstrous than anything the supernatural threat could provide. You can leave a movie theater after most horror films and tell yourself it's not real, but Day didn't permit you that luxury.

[CromagnonMan]

Day was a cruder production, but it was absolutely the scariest of the series to me because the cruelty the surviving humans inflicted upon one another was so much more monstrous than anything the supernatural threat could provide. You can leave a movie theater after most horror films and tell yourself it's not real, but Day didn't permit you that luxury.

examples? i sort of remember people being thrown into a pit or locked in a room to be eaten by Zombies (did this happen?). the scariest thing to me about it was the OTT characters and acting. just completely unbelievable. and OMG they had a pet zombie.

[dan bailey]

OMG they had a pet zombie.

So? Doesn't everyone?

Heck, over here, in the '80s people elected one president. Twice.

[dan bailey]

I regard the Shining (1980) superior to any and all Horror movies, with all due respect.

In related news, in 1988 Jethro Tull won the 1988 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental.

[shaxper]

examples? i sort of remember people being thrown into a pit or locked in a room to be eaten by Zombies (did this happen?). the scariest thing to me about it was the OTT characters and acting. just completely unbelievable. and OMG they had a pet zombie.

Aside from the noticeably increased level of background tension between this and the previous film, you have characters interacting with each other with murderous levels of hatred, resulting in several instances in the film in which people intentionally setup others to be killed by Zombies in order to further their own goals, the most dire of these being when one character commits suicide at the end by allowing the zombies to enter the compound, essentially taking everyone else down with him.

If you look at the original trilogy as one long narrative, the first film portrays the initial confusion, terror, and warped sense of priorities with which humanity responds to the dead rising, the second portrays the more existential terror of facing a world that no longer has a society to govern it, and the third deals with a total breakdown of humanity from within in response to having to live beyond the expiration of its society.

Thus, the third film is rightfully the most intense. And truly, what makes this series remarkable is that none of the films are really about zombies -- they're about humanity's response to its own devastation.

[Chris N]

Definitely another really good one.



Gave it a go a couple of years ago, but nothing that happened in the first 10 minutes or so made me want to keep watching. I'll try it again one of these years, maybe.

Watch Memento. The first 10 minutes tells you nothing.

Plus it's basically by me.