Survival of the Dead (2009) - Page 8

Al (Sex Gore) Simpson · #71 19th March 2010, 08:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAMIOUSE

Well I watched Survival last night, it wasn't what I was expecting. It's not terrible but it's not Romeros best either. There just aren't really any charcters to root for or care about. The CGI is pretty bad the zombie heads scene is possibly the worst. Not terrible but nowhere near as good as it should have been.

Pretty much agree, though definetely think this is the best of the recent run of Romero zombie flicks. The cgi is a massive let down when you think how much better it could have been with a Savini reunion. In the main though, I thought it was a nice side order storywise to the original trilogy (plays like a short story from the excellent Skipp and Spector collection 'Book of the Dead'), sure no classic but had more relevance to the original films and for me anyway had the feel of an old school Pittsburgh Romero movie

Roughale · #72 21st March 2010, 07:58 AM

Oh dear... I had the BD lying here at my tiny flat since Wednesday, but knowing I have a ticket to see it at the cinema during our Fantasy Filmfest Nights this weekend, I was strong and waited and now I have a BD lying around I have not much intention to ever watch...

I have my positive views of all Romero Zombie films, even the less liked Diary, bu all of them show a motive why he did it and that is always a winer in his films. Survival does not even hint at that, what was the intention? Lady Godiva gone zombie? Hey, we did not kill a zombie with ??? (no spoilers, those who saw it will know!) I am clueless... This is the first pointless Romero zombie film. Add to that the lack of characters (I subtract 1 from the given 1 in an earlier review), a silly and illogical story which shifts like a pendulum, very cheap and awful CGI and just too much of the same old song and dance... Anyone else might have done this and maybe even got better through with it, but George? Sad sad sad...

Can't await the Day BD, I need a good zombie fix now!

Side note: The follow-up films yesterday were both great, I got Heartless and Daybreakers. Today's films will be REC 2, Splice and La Horde...

JAMIOUSE · #73 21st March 2010, 11:20 AM

Yes the horse riding zombie was a bit erm, strange. I think Romero is trying to say that the 'Zombie Problem' has been around for decades in Survival. Which considering that the rest of the Dead films never mention each other, there is no strict timeline of the events. Survival has people with iPhones etc, if the whole world in turmoil because of the undead still coming back to life after 30 years iPhones and such trivial things are the last things to be invented! Seems very odd.

Roughale · #74 21st March 2010, 01:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAMIOUSE

Yes the horse riding zombie was a bit erm, strange. I think Romero is trying to say that the 'Zombie Problem' has been around for decades in Survival. Which considering that the rest of the Dead films never mention each other, there is no strict timeline of the events. Survival has people with iPhones etc, if the whole world in turmoil because of the undead still coming back to life after 30 years iPhones and such trivial things are the last things to be invented! Seems very odd.

And what does that tell us? I do not agree, Survival is a direct sequel to Diary, you even see the military group in Diary and that clip is repeated and as Diary was a re-start of the zombie thing, I see Survival to be one of the films in the earlier stages of the new plague. So there is a timeline for the new plague...

I also did not get the humans killing each other just for profit, was that the social commentary of Survival? If so, it was weak...

Maybe the clan fight on the island was something about religions and their pointless fight, but focusing more on the pointless than on the fight^^

vincenzo · #75 21st March 2010, 01:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JAMIOUSE

Yes the horse riding zombie was a bit erm, strange.

Prince Charles does it all the time.

Philleh · #76 21st March 2010, 01:21 PM

I thought the horse riding scene was in relation to zombies still having some humanity - hence why they wanted to save the dead in hopes they could bring them back.

Steel76 · #77 21st March 2010, 07:57 PM

The Zombie heads on the pole and the flare through the chest FX really pissed me off!

Why not just put some animatronic heads on the poles and just set a fake Zombie body on fire just like in the good old days?

Even though the movie was made on a really small budget I bet KNB still would have done the job almost for free just to work on a new Romero Zombie project.

Still a decent movie. But George should have ended the series with Land.

napalm-in-the-morning · #78 22nd March 2010, 11:24 AM

I still find it amazing that he can't get a decent financial deal in place and STILL retain creative control. I don't believe he is difficult to work with or that there is a big deal about the MPAA any more. A bit more money would have pushed this WAY up in terms of production values and fx.

Roughale · #79 22nd March 2010, 01:54 PM

After a few nights sleep, I cannot really say that the film leaves any positive memory, a shameful thing, really. Add to that that the UK BD release was a film only quick off-the-wrist job does not make it any better, will I be forced to buy a better version of it one day? Being the Romero fanatic I am? I fear I will

With all fairness to those who enjoyed the film (feel my jealousy

), but this catastrophe was easily visible in the title, the more I think about the title, the more I dislike it, as it looks like a bland joke (dead vs. life - hrr hrr, Butthead!) and it shows after all the different titles (of which Island... fits best I think) that George might not have had this idea of the struggling for the Zombie's survival in the beginning. I am puzzled what he might have had in mind, maybe there are interviews I am not aware of, if you know of any, please post a link or something...

Let me stress just one more time that I think the film is by far not the worst zombie films of them all, but by far the worst and most pointless Romero zombie film... It may be unfair to say, but if any of the directors that brought us even worse (e.g. the Day remake!) had put out Survival as it is, it might not have been slammed this much, but who knows what would have happened if...

antmumford · #80 22nd March 2010, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steel76

The Zombie heads on the pole and the flare through the chest FX really pissed me off!

Why not just put some animatronic heads on the poles and just set a fake Zombie body on fire just like in the good old days?

Even though the movie was made on a really small budget I bet KNB still would have done the job almost for free just to work on a new Romero Zombie project.

Still a decent movie. But George should have ended the series with Land.

I don't get why he had alive zombie heads on sticks, we all know that zombies die when the head is severed from the neck. Not only that but the sticks would also have penetrated the brain when the heads were put on the sticks. Tut tut George, you should know better. The more I think about this shambolic scene the angrier I get.