Poll of the Living Dead

Dawn
Night
Martin
Day
Haven't seen the rest.

I hope The Crazies gets some love here...

There's Always Vanilla ?

saw Dawn recently, and have to say, it doesn't hold up very well...part of it is the wooden acting (a staple of Romero flicks, it pains to say), but the vaunted make-up/special effects seemed cheap and obvious...(the undead all had blue skin, but red lips...they couldn't have used blue lipstick?)...

There's Always Vanilla was Romero's ill-fated foray into the Land of the Date Movies...(even he has disowned it)...

Night of the Living Dead is far and away the best movie, though the Stretch from '77 (Martin) to '85 (Day of the Dead) is Romero's most fertile and successful period.

The years after NOLD in '68 and before Martin are a wasteland. No reason here to see Night as anything but a one-time fluke -- Romero's a lot like Tobe Hooper in this respect. Crazies is clearly the best of a bad bunch, but that's not saying much.

With Martin, he finally pulls it all together. It's just as cheap and awkward as those early 70s efforts, but it works. An interesting story, solid characters, emotional depth and great period feel. Dawn of the Dead and Creepshow are certified classics, but even the super-ridiculous Knightriders is an admirable failure. Day of the Dead may not live up to its predecessors, but it's a gorehound's dream, and at least made money.

After that, he's fallen off. His work over the past two decades has been mediocre at best. Saddest thing is seeing through the crap to the possibility of greatness in movies like Bruiser, The Dark Half and Land of the Dead.

I always thought the Romero flicks were better in theory than in execution and as such I picked the one I liked best in theory. Day. Night is a really, really close second, though.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Dawn, but Day is better than most give it credit for. Also, Monkey Shines is pretty awesome (or was when I saw it at the time it came out.)

while objectively it's probably 'Night', I voted for 'Jack's Wife' (aka 'Season of the Witch') because it's just so flat out brilliant. Out of all the fantastical early 70's alienated suburban nightmare films, that one is _the best_, irony free terror. it pains me that 'Stepford Wives' and even increasingly 'Demon Seed' come up more often than this one, not that those aren't totally silly fun, but 'Season of the Witch' is a film that really stayed with me

& Night / Dawn / Day taken in one sitting is something that's really worth doing (I did see what Land was going for but it's still all about the first three)

Oilyrags otm

Dawn is still a great swashbuckling zombie movie, with some great memorable scenes. But Day is underated by a truck load and should come a close second.

Night is fantastic too, watched it again recently.

wherefore Shaun?

on the edgar wright thread

i totally get the flaws in dawn but i could probably watch it once a day for the rest of my life

I voted Night, but it will suck if Day of the Dead or Martin or Creepshow get no votes.

The first Romero I ever watched was Martin because of this Denny's waiter my friend & I were obsessed with (oh swoon). HIS name was Martin and he had such funny mannerisms: he hardly ever spoke and mainly gestured, and he looked like Bud Cort. Then one day we managed to get him to talk and he told us he was secretly a vampire. Like he was GRAVELY SERIOUS. The next night we were at one of those Blockbusters that has been around since the dawn of VHS & consequently has everything.* MARTIN OMGZ! And holy fuck it's about a kid who's a VAMPIRE!!!!!

*The reason we watched SHOCK TREATMENT was bcz it was at that Blockbuster and the guy on the cover looked like the Dawn of the Dead Hare Krishna zombie (you know the one). We hadn't seen Rocky Horror & didn't know who Richard O'Brien was.

only seen Night so i probably shouldn't vote, but i do love it so.

I voted for Martin, which has stuck in my head for 20 years. It's the bells.

Brother Blue from Knightriders hangs out a lot in Cambridge, near my house...(he's still droppin' wisdom)...

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

whoah! Upset Special!

Where's "Return of the Living Dead"!! Or "Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the..."?

This is a Romero-only poll.

Dawn besting Night isn't really a surprise at all, but I am a bunch preturbed to see Creepshow at the very bottom of that list under Bruiser.

http://www.beyondhollywood.com/george-romero-wants-to-remake-his-season-of-the-witch/

Am watching 'Diary of the Dead' now. It is not very good.

i barely remember it, i recall it being not very good also though.

i think i actually preferred the Day ot Dead remake.

I didn't go through everything on Criterion's THREE discs for NotLD -- an 85-minute workprint? -- but most illuminating was a 12-minute bit on Romero's company that made industrial films and commercials in Pittsburgh, clearly a film school for him and his associates.

Also in the dailies, you get to see a crew member supplying cigarette smoke for the aftermath of Duane Jones firing his rifle.