Day of the Dead (1985) - Zombie Horror Film Review

I recently re-watched George Romero's amazing Day of the Dead it was better than I even remembered it! I originally thought Night of the Living Dead was the best of his films, then Dawn of the Dead but now I definitely think this is his crowning achievement.

The film has a fantastic score. The music is one of the best things about it. So good that the band Gorrillaz sampled the opening in their fantastic song M1-A1. The plot is good, and quite original I feel.

The world has been destroyed, overrun by zombies. In a military bunker a team of soldiers, and a team of scientists have been living in disharmony. The new leader of the soldiers, Rhodes, is a nasty piece of work, he sees the scientists, and their experiments as a waste of time, he wants to leave the bunker and the scientists to rot.

The good characters are mostly a likable bunch, while the bad guys are suitably horrid, so it is fun to see the events play out. The plot is decent. The special effects are superb! I had to look away the first time I saw this film, as I was repulsed by the gruesome effects. Now ten years later and suitably desensitised I love them.

Special mention must go to the amazing intelligent zombie Bub. Though many people reckon I look like him (I don't!) he is a great character, and much better the heap of crap intelligent zombies Romero jammed into the terrible Land of the Dead.

SCORE:

EDIT 2015: I wrote this review a long time ago and to be honest it sucks. I hope to one day redo this review and give the film the love it deserves.

Zombie Song No.2 'The Pain of Being Dead' by Send More Paramedics

A nice self-explanatory (god, spelling!) song about...the pain of being dead...

The Pain of Being Dead

The pain of being dead, a suffering you would not believe

A half-life dwelt in hell, no mortal mind could ever conceive

Victims of a power outside of any human control

Abhorrent flesh is now a prison to my suffering soul

A sickening twist of science seals your fate

Your neuron juice can ease my pain

I can't endure the pain of being dead

Unless I eat your fucking head

Eat your head

Only the taste of brains can ease the pain

Urban Dead - The Diary of a Survivor - Day 1

Urban Dead is according to the website:

"A free-to-play browser-based multi-player game where you play the survivor or victim of a zombie outbreak in a quarantined city centre, alongside tens of thousands of others."

I had much fun playing it last year, I'm still on there as a Zombie, and due to Brain Rot am currently seeking out a Brain Rot Clinic to get turned back to human. Anyway I digress. While playing it I kept a diary of my exploits. Here is part 1 of...the Zombie Diaries

Day 1

Today I awoke from my catatonic state, my name is Edwin Carnaby, a 25 year old rookie cop. I awoke in a Police Station which I did not recognise. I was wearing my uniform, with a flack jacket, and had my pistol holstered, I also had my radio. The station was very crowded, no one saying much, just hiding from the...bodies.

There was a corpse in the room I awoke, not wanting to look at it, I pushed it out the window, bizarrely I felt as if I had gained experience. I had to leave the building, so going outside I headed South. I came across a walking corpse, my god it stank, an over whelming hatred for the pitiful thing overtook me, and I loosed off a volley of 6 shots at it, I was shaking too much to focus, all my shots went wide. To make myself feel better I walked up to it, and punched it square in the face, I felt its nose break under my fist.

I got to a museum, it had 2 other survivors there, I rested there for about 4 hours before heading back out. Remembering 'Shaun of the Dead' I headed for the nearest pub. Another 2 survivors were here, I discovered a mobile phone which I pocketed, but it had no signal. I decided to spend the night at the pub getting drunk. My first real day in the city of the dead...

Resident Evil 4 Poster

Wow! My Resident Evil 4 poster turned up at my work place today, so I dutifully put it up when I arrived home, pride of place on my upstairs landing. It details at the forefront Leon Kennedy, in the background, the murderous Ganado's.

Here is the Resident Evil 4 title, located appropriately enough at the top of the poster. Also a picture of the Capcom logo, located in the bottom right hand corner;

The left side has a male Ganado armed with axe, and a female Ganado. The right side has some Ganados standing behind the mayor of the Ganado village - Bitores Mendez (on a side note, it's a damn shame they never made a figure of the mayor, he is a great character). The centre is of course the amazing Leon Kennedy.

The poster is good obviously, and a decent size.

The Giant Book of Zombies - Zombie Horror Anthology Book

The blurb from the back first:

"The Giant Book of Zombies brings together twenty six-spine chilling stories depicting the Zombie in every guise - from the traditional Voodoo rituals of the Caribbean to the terrible abuses of future science."

The copy I have is quite old, was given to me by a friend at the time. It had a bottle of Vodka spilled on it the first time I got it, so it has a strange hybrid smell of Vodka and musty paper that still lingers to this day.

It is comprised of 26 short stories by various writers. Includes such famous authors such as Edgar Alan Poe, H.P Lovecraft, and Clive Barker. The book works really well, as the stories are so varied. There are futuristic stories, voodoo related ones, classic horror ones, each one different from the last.

The best story in my opinion is 'Sticks' by Karl Edward Wagner, a story about an artist who finds inspiration for his paintings in the shape of a lot of Blair Witch type stick shapes he finds in the woods, close to an abandoned house. Another good one is Lisa Tuttle's 'Treading the Maze', a bittersweet story that had me in tears by the end of it.

Mostly the stories are all good, I thought that Clive Barkers 'Sex, Death and Starshine' was quite poor, and didn't seem to go anywhere, also the last story 'On the far side of the Cadillac Desert' by Joe Lansdale was I feel too ambitious for a short story, so felt quite rushed.

The quality of stories is quite good overall, and most of the stories have a sense of lingering dread about them. This book has a special place in my heart as the very first zombie book I ever read.

SCORE:

Resident Evil Anniversary Collection 'Lab-coat Zombie' - Figure review

The Lab-coat Zombie is a cool figure. It is a zombie from the game Resident Evil (the Gamecube Remake). The figure is well detailed, and stands up well on its base. The figure is finely detailed, but appears to be wearing a wig, perhaps that was the intention?


Included with the Lab-coat Zombie is a Zombie Crow. The base the Crow rests on is a severed hand, which is a nice touch.

Wild Zero - Zombie Film Review

Trash and chaossss!!!!

Here is the blurb from the back of the case:

"Dastardly aliens are invading our planet making the dead rise from their graves to feed on the flesh of the living!!!

When wannabe rocker ACE unwittingly saves his rock'n'roll superstar heroes, GUITAR WOLF, from a backstage shootout with the maniacal CAPTAIN, he has the honour of becoming thier blood brother.

Answering Ace's distress call from a special whistle, the super group charge in with guns and guitars ablazing!

With help from YAMAZAKI, a sexy arms dealer, and TOBIO, a girl who is more than she appears, the ground is soon awash with blood and guts as the ROCK'N'ROLL HALEY'S COMET explodes into action!!!!!!!"

This film is ace, it really is something special. It stars the real life rock and roll super group Guitar Wolf who play as themselves in the film. The soundtrack is mostly made up of their crazy retro rock and roll songs. The music perfectly matches the crazy carefree attitude of the film. The dialogue is fantastic, and completely over the top, but gloriously so.

There is lots and lots of head poppin' in the film, every couple of seconds it seems another Zombie gets capped, so is a fun blood bath. As the film goes on, the sci-fi element comes into it more and more, leading to a totally ludicrous but great ending.

Highly recommended, a very fun film!

SCORE:

                                         Crazy film with a great soundtrack

The Hordes by Send More Paramedics - Zombie Song Lyrics

Send More Paramedics are the best ever Zombie band in my opinion. The name for their band is of course taken from a line in the fantastic 'Return of the Living Dead'.

In the film the humans have called for an Ambulance to help their injured friend. The Ambulance turns up, but it's crew are quickly eaten by the undead. A zombie gets on the Ambulances radio and shouts into it "send more paramedics!". Another Ambulance is dispatched in response, and the crew of that one are also quickly eaten, a classic scene.

Not only are Send More Paramedics actually real (Un)life Zombies (or least claim to be), they don't hide the fact, and sing like Zombies as well. I guess it's just a shame they have split up, though hopefully not literally.

This song is a description of a classic Zombie uprising. Includes a line taken straight from 'Dawn of the Dead'.

The Hordes

Resurrect
Advancing through the gloom
Reanimate
Putrescence given living form
Malevolent
A hideous malignity
Assails your sight
And chills your soul
Mass-exhumation of a field of dead remains
A horde of revenants is baying to devour your brains

When there's no more room in hell
The dead will walk the earth

Skeletal
Erupting from the ground
Dead voices raised
In symphony of evil sound
Demise of soul
A ruinous cacophony
To fill your mind
With mortal dread
Reanimation of the recently deceased
Dead hands find coffin lids and hammer wildly for their release

Here come the hordes
They're on the march again
Bringing black terror to the world of men
Post-mortal multitude that flocks to human flesh
Here come the hordes
Here come the hordes

Walking dead
With suppurating wounds
Disfigured shapes
Illuminated by the moon
A reckless haste
To feast on human flesh and blood
All thought erased
Except of you...
Freak disinterment of the dear departed dead
Your late lamented relatives are racing to devour your head

When there's no more room in hell
The dead will walk the earth

Carrion
Inspired to live again
A rotten horde
Disintegrating forms of men
Their victims rise
Infected by the evil plague
To swell the ranks
Of the undead
A spectacle so chilling human minds can scarcely bear
A panorama drawn in hell that proffers nothing but deep despair

Here come the hordes
They're on the march again
Bringing black terror to the world of men
Post-mortal multitude that flocks to human flesh
Here come the hordes
Here come the hordes

Introduction - What is a Zombie?

Many people when they think of a Zombie think of Romero's undead slow, stumbling flesh eating creature. This is a fair expectation. But there is a much bigger umbrella under which Zombies reside.

More recently of course have been the running Zombies of films such as the 28 Days, and Dawn of the Dead Remake, but through the years there have been many many types of Zombies. There have been intelligent, demon possessed, mind controlled, living, undead, mad, infected and various other types of Zombie.

Here at The Rotting Zombie you wont find elitism of what we feel constitutes a Zombie. The blog will feature many offshoots of the Zombie genre. Triffids, crazies, demons, ghosts, and aliens will all be discussed, as a big part of the Zombie genre is the feeling of being surrounded by overwhelming odds, rather than just overwhelming bods.