Every February 4, horror movie buffs celebrate the birth of George A. Romero, the legendary director of “Night of the Living Dead.”
There aren’t many movie directors who can boast of creating an entire subgenre, let alone those who created a day in their honor. The American George A. Romero meets both conditions. The filmmaker’s birthday, who died in 2017 at the age of 77 due to lung cancer, has motivated Zombie Pride Day to be celebrated in his honor every February 4.
And it is that, although Romero did not “invent” the zombies, with his influential film “Night of the Living Dead” he did lay the foundations of the myth of the corpses returning from the grave to devour the living, in the same way So the novel “Dracula” shaped vampirism in the popular imagination.
The work of the “father of the zombies” not only spawned an extensive series of films signed by George A. Romero himself, but also inspired thousands of audiovisual products that are still produced every year around the world to this day. produced. and whose echo in “pop” culture can be felt in phenomena such as “zombie walks” (parades in which fans gather to take to the streets dressed as the living dead) or live role-playing games simulating invasions by these creatures.
Of course, there’s no better way to celebrate Zombie Pride Day than a good movie marathon. If you need some ideas, below you will find twelve suggestions to prepare a movie, popcorn and liver session as varied as possible.
While there are antecedents like “I walk with a zombie” or “White Zombie,” director George A. Romero’s debut was the crystallization of the myth of the modern zombie, as we know it. Despite the lack of resources (although it could be argued that the low budget has been resolved so well that it sometimes even works to its advantage), more than half a century later it’s still a perfectly valid and enjoyable movie. Since the rights are currently in the public domain, it is also widely available on platforms such as Filmin, Mubi, FlixOlé, Plex, Classix or even YouTube. Alternatively, if you’ve been watching it much already, the color “remake” directed by special effects technician Tom Savini in 1990 is highly recommended zombies seen.
Catalan director Jorge Grau was kind of born George A. Romero when he was commissioned by Italian producer Edmondo Amati to make a color version of ‘Night of the Living Dead’. Far from limiting himself to shooting plagiarism, Grau made a brilliant reframing of the film, providing an interesting ecological and “hippie” backdrop that still surprises us today for its originality. This Italian-Spanish production can be found on Movistar+ and FlixOlé.
Conceived as a fake sequel to ‘Zombi’ (Dawn of the Dead), Romero’s second ‘official’ film about the undead, it is another staple production of the subgenre. In it, the Italian Lucio Fulci, one of the most revered masters of offal, endowed the living dead with a much more repulsive and terrifying design than usual, representing them as worm-like corpses in an advanced state of decomposition. The daring design of the make-up, together with the high amount of gore, make ‘New York under the terror of the zombies’ one of the most disgusting and shocking undead movies ever made to this day. It is available on Filmin.
If the previous one was a misleading plagiarism of “Zombi” (so misleading that the action doesn’t even take place in New York, as the Spanish title implies, but on a tropical island), then this is an official “remake” that has been modernized and the Romero’s tape updated for 21st century audiences. A then promising newcomer Zack Snyder gave the myth a twist with a more powerful direction, sometimes close to action movie, and gave the undead a higher movement speed to make them more menacing.
Going back to the apocryphal sequels, “The Return of the Living Dead” was more than just an attempt to make money by squeezing out the inexhaustible vein of zombies. In addition to introducing Romero’s original film as a meta-referential starting point, it pioneered treating the resurrection of the dead as the effect of a chemical agent, anticipating the misdeeds of the Umbrella company in the ‘Resident Evil’ video games. However, if it has become an indisputable classic, it is thanks to the fantastic make-up design, heir to the EC editorial comics of the 1950s, and a masterful script by Dan O’Bannon (screenwriter of ‘Alien, the eighth passenger ‘) that doesn’t skimp on black humour. It can be seen via Filmin and on Amazon Prime’s MGM channel.
Loosely inspired by a Lovecraft short story, this Stuart Gordon-directed delirium is one of the best horror-comedy hybrids out there. A mad scientist’s misdeeds end in a real mess of walking corpses and really funny entanglement situations. A good example of how to make up for the lack of resources with ingenuity and shamelessness. It is part of the Filmin catalog.
Ten years before he revolutionized the film industry with ‘The Lord of the Rings’, New Zealander Peter Jackson made his knack for the epic very clear with what is probably the most outrageous zombie film to date, not only because of the amount spilled blood (only the final scene required 300 liters of fake blood), but due to some wildly ingenious and elaborate special effects. Paradoxically, though it’s one of the goryest movies in history, its ubiquitous broad humor makes it fun rather than terrifying.
Four years after the success of “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” Wes Craven distanced himself from sheer terror with this suspenseful film that stands out for delving into the real origins of zombies in Haitian shamanism and voodoo rituals. A movie to claim that can be found on Filmin.
Despite what the misleading Spanish title might suggest, ‘My girlfriend is a zombie’ contains little frightening comedy. This unclassifiable film by Italian Michele Soavi is an existentialist journey through the mind of the caretaker of a cemetery where, for some reason, the dead insist on remaining still. Drama, black humour, visual poetry and moments of surrealism go hand in hand in a unique production that leaves no one indifferent. It is available on Movistar+.
Disconcerting and bizarre ‘Italian’ that is mainly remembered (and celebrated) for the uneasy presence of a very strange boy with an Oedipus complex who does not stop groping his mother. It’s one of those movies that are so bad they’re good, with zombies from the school of Lucio Fulci, a very mediocre production and laughable actors. It presents a series of situations so improbable and surprising that it ultimately benefits from an unexpected force of fascination. It will leave you so intrigued to find out what new crap happens next that you can’t help but watch it to the end.
All the values of the admired new South Korean cinema are present in this fast-paced and dramatic film about the living dead, but with a focus on the living. How would the population respond to a crisis of this caliber? Anything to save your skin? Writer-director Yeon Sang-ho spends two hours pondering those questions that keep you glued to the couch. Currently, “Train to Busan” is part of the Amazon Prime Video and Filmin catalog. It also spawned a sequel titled ‘Peninsula’ which, while not devoid of interest, sadly falls short of the original’s standard.
Also from South Korea comes this Netflix original production which, while a prequel to the ‘Kingdom’ series (also highly recommended), can be enjoyed as an independent film. It takes place in the 17th century of the Joseon Dynasty, adding an exotic touch to an exciting story that combines zombies, swordsmen and palace intrigue.
Source: La Verdad
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