I think that's why I like Omega Man, it's kinda twisted like that.

And speaking of aliens and zombies, you should check out UnDead, somewhat uneven, but very interesting nonetheless.

Wow, I know there's a lot of zombie-movies out there, but I still gets amazed every time people starts to list them.
I'll remember the movies you mentioned HAM, they sound familliar and classic-y enough to be something I'd have to see anyway, and then work my way from there.

Thanks again for all the help guys. I'm gleefully on my way to zombie-knowledge now. Heehe.

StaceyMontgomery
“Omega Man” had the “living zombies” problem. I suppose they were trying to make it more “modern” by avoiding the idea of Vampires. But As far as I could tell, the survivors of the outbreak just turned into light-averse albinos. Charlton Heston, for some reason, felt this gave him permission to slaughter them. It gives the whole movie a very disturbing feel.

Actually, that's quite similiar to what happened in the original novel, with a couple of differences. I address everyone who has not read it yet when I say "read I am Legend"!

They're making a movie of it with Will Smith, but I doubt it will remain that faithful to the book. :( I'll still see it, though.

I'll give Will Smith a chance, but Hollywood has mastered the art of lowering my expectations.

But in “I am Legend” the whole point of the book is the way that Neville has to face the nature of his crusade. “Omega Man” skips this - though you could claim that, in high art style, they leave the revelation to the viewer. No, don't they imply that Neville is a Christ-like figure? When Heston was the king of sci-fi action movies, they always had to imply the Heston was Christ - and call me weird, but that never quite worked for me.

See, now I feel an “Omega Man”/“Soylent Green”/“planet of the Apes” film festival coming on. Eew.

zombies contray to popular beleif dont eat just brains but flesh and the are rotting and can be killed from shot guns

StaceyMontgomery
But in “I am Legend” the whole point of the book is the way that Neville has to face the nature of his crusade. “Omega Man” skips this - though you could claim that, in high art style, they leave the revelation to the viewer. No, don't they imply that Neville is a Christ-like figure? When Heston was the king of sci-fi action movies, they always had to imply the Heston was Christ - and call me weird, but that never quite worked for me.

See, now I feel an “Omega Man”/“Soylent Green”/“planet of the Apes” film festival coming on. Eew.

I wouldn't go so far as to call Neville a Christ-like figure. At all really. He could walk in daylight and he knew how to kill the vampires; but it wasn't like people looked up to him as their savior. Especially since the only other people were vampires, and they wanted him killed.

–

Also, another good looking vampire movie coming out is “30 Days of Night”, based on the comic book. I haven't read the particular story it covers, but the other episodes I've read are pretty awesome. A definite good read.

Doesn't Heston end up in a “christ pose” at the end of Omega Man? Or am I thinking of someone else…I need to watch that movie again.

I hope they don't ruin 30 Days of Night…

Rori
Doesn't Heston end up in a “christ pose” at the end of Omega Man? Or am I thinking of someone else…I need to watch that movie again.

I hope they don't ruin 30 Days of Night…

It's Sam Raimi.. how could you possibly ever doubt Sam Raimi.

It IS?! I didn't see that on imdb, looked like a bunch of n00bs. Well, that makes me feel better then.

Rori
It IS?! I didn't see that on imdb, looked like a bunch of n00bs. Well, that makes me feel better then.

I think I saw it in the trailer. But if you search a little in the IMDB, you can find 'em under Producer.

I recently found myself doing a surprising amount of research on the undead (a surprising amount for me being a few hours' worth), particularly on zombies and similar types. One thing I wasn't really able to figure out is how this “Romero zombie” idea got started. Obviously from his movies, but aside from an isolated quote from the epic of Gilgamesh, this “overwhelmed with slow-moving undead corpses” seems like a pretty radical departure from the traditional view of those who have returned from the grave.

Can't say I really care for the “zombie movie” genre. Give me draugrs or revenants or a nest of vampires over a zombie horde any day.

As far as I could pin down, it started with Romero (with inspiration from I Am Legend). Apparently, NotLD was originally going to be much different (and as I understand it, cheesy), but Romero re-wrote it in a three day frenzy (and much of the dialog was still ad-libbed).

I believe one of the quotes from Mattheson about I Am Legend went something like: what is more frightening than one vampire but a world of vampires? Romero went with this with the zombies, and added the element of flesh-eating and contagion (which may or may not have been explored before, it's a bit cloudy and I don't have access to all the B-movies mentioned in the literature).

If you still need research material, lemme know and I'll send you my links.

Mainly I was just curious. I was doing research for my comic (which I have decided to start doing again) since I discovered some annoying plot-holes on looking back over my old outline for the first story arc, when the disconnect between historical views on zombies and similar critters versus the Hollywood versions struck me as strange. I know, of course, that media types like to “spice things up” to make them more dramatic, but I was surprised that zombies got to be so different in the movies that you can't even tell they're the same creature as the vodoun type. Say, that'd be another interesting thing to write a paper about … the influence of mass media on popular perception of characters from mythology, folklore and legend.

it all depends on what sort of zombie you're talking about.
Ramero zombies are the toast of the town these days. they are the embodiment of whatever social activity you want to write against. communisim, racisim, consumerisim.
But before Ramero did his business, zombies were evil henchmen controled by a magic user.
then there is the voodoo zombie, which is what the last guy is talking about. read (or watch the movie) serpent and the rainbow. It is pretty interesting.


good luck with your paper.

I got an A- on it. For sweetness!

I first saw Serpent… About 10 years ago. To date it is one of the few Bill Pullman performances I can stand.

Swisscheese, you should totally do a paper on that! Maybe I'm just dull, but I love reading about modern folklore.

Well, if you're dull my pseudo-mentor Rory, then I'm dull too. Folklore in all shapes and forms are fair reading-game in my world. And interesting too. and yaye for the A- too.

I'm still working on my zombie knowwhy, so I can't add much to the movie-discussion.