Rhapsodies

Continuing my slow track through the works of  George A. Romero, I returned to one of the recurring themes of my Halloween marathons, the zombie apocalypse.

Starting with Romero, the first film on my list was the third film of his Night of the Living Dead series, Day of the Dead.

The apocalypse has been going on for at least nine months, with the cities completely abandon to the zombies. Meanwhile, hidden in a Florida bunker, scientists desperately try to find a cure for the plague of the living dead. But as the months of isolations go on, their military entourage has gone slowly mad… and the head scientist (Richard Liberty) has been spending most of his time testing hypotheses that are… Counterproductive.

This was an interesting film. It was well up to Romero‘s usual standards. Makeup lies the effects are much better than his previous efforts., Though considering the past films consisted of painting people gray that’s not saying much. There were some very nice practical effects, the best being one of the zombies on an operating table with most of its spot lower half missing and it’s got hanging out.

To the movie’s credit, it also is the first one in the series of attempts to try any technobabble. For example, The lead scientist explains that the zombies aren’t rotting and don’t need to eat human flesh and it’s just instinct. Speaking of instinct, some of them are getting smarter.

Interestingly, my favorite performance in this film was entirely a pantomime performance from Sherman Howard as Bob the zombie that is beginning to remember things.

The next film on my list, Train to Busan, starts with a man hitting a deer after passing a quarantine stop. After he drives away, the deer gets up, its eyes a pale white. We switch to downtown Seoul, where Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) a divorced and workaholic fund manager is taking his six-year-old daughter on the KTX 101 train to see her mother in Busan. Just as they leave Seoul, the apocalypse begins. Now the train must reach its definition as the country burns.

This was a very good and well-paced film, with some fantastic performance. Is taking his six-year-old daughter on the bullet trip train to see her mother in Busan. Just as they leave soul, the apocalypse begins. Now the train must reach its destination as the country burns.

This was a very good and well-paced film with some fantastic performances and the rise of the zombie plague almost as subtle as the one in Shaun of the Dead. Regrettably, I didn’t like it. My appreciation and tolerance for horror have evolved over the years, just like I now like Tabasco on my eggs. Taking that particular metaphor all the way, now and then you get a ghost pepper.

I’m usually able to a detach myself from the horror and gore by studying the craft of the practical effects, this time I found the zombie effects too good to effectively pull myself away.

Also considering South Korea is a country that is no stranger to civil unrest, this was one of the most believable portrayals of the collapse of civilization I’ve seen on film in a while.

So so for me, this movie was very hard to watch… For everybody else, that’s a good thing.