Trigger

I liked Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead and even the Creepshow movies just like the next guy... but what has he done for us lately? People complain alot that he didn't get to direct the Resident Evil movie, but I thought that movie turned out fantastic in the capable hands of video game-to-movie director Paul W.S. Anderson.

Romero still has a huge fanbase, but what has he done lately? His last decent movie was 15 years ago and his last decent zombie movie was 25 years ago (unless you count Day of the Dead). If you're a big fan of The Dark Half, then you could say his last good film was 10 years ago, but that's still a decade ago. We're not talking Stanley Kubrick here. He's a B-movie director at best, and his movies are for the most part complete schlock.

I know there are many Romero fans here, so I'd like to hear both sides of this (although I'm sure I'll be hearing mostly praise).

Venom

like i said in the 28 days later thread, your criticism is largely accurate, but i think you're being a tad unfair. for one, i don't think i've ever heard that he is some great director, let alone on such a level as kubrick, etc. And by your reasoning, what has lucas done for us lately?

i don't think you'll find romero's name mentioned in such ways unless you are talking about zombie movies. and hopefully we'll get to see his 4th zombie movie someday.

perhaps, since you loved RE, you should try to read romeo's script for it.

Trigger

You're right - I never read his script for it. It might indeed have been a good script, but I just don't see him as a capable director like others do. I mentioned Kubrick only because he's another director that goes nearly a decade between films (well, he's dead now, so not any more). I didn't mean to imply that Kubrick and Romero were in the same class.

As far as Lucas is concerned - he hasn't done much for us lately and I don't really consider him a very good director either. He's a decent writer though.

As for your comments in the other thread, Resident Evil was perfect the way it was IMO. I think the sequel might end up being more like Aliens than the first one was. I'm a big fan of the games and think Anderson did an excellent job... like he did with Mortal Kombat. Like I said though, I don't question Romero's writing abilities really - it's just his directing ability that I question. More so the fact that he remains such a legend for this particular genre yet I don't think he deserves the praise. I much preferred zombie movies like Night of the Creeps and Return of the Living Dead 3.

Jackskeleton

God. I loved Night and dawn the most. day was a little off but still... read Resident evil script.. it would have fit the game perfectly.. which in a sense paid homage to Night.. anyhow. I would have loved him to do RE, but oh well. I consider him the Zombie film maker god.

simple as that.

Venom

i don't know too much about romero so i may be wrong, but i don't think he went to film school. as far as i know, he was involved in commercials, i guess as a director. maybe he did go to school for that. but i think his work before making NOTLD has shaped his style, of no style. it more of a realism and documentary effort. i don't know about after the zombie movies. while i have seen most of the things he has done, i haven't seen them often or recently to comment.

i suggest you do try to read the script. to be honest, i didn't think it was great. but it was more memorable than the actual RE. i suppose the directing in RE was good, it's just the story and other things that bother me. if you removed the name of the umbrella corp, there is nothing really similar to the game. and that chick, playing the same butch girl she played in TFATF. perhaps the sequal will be better. i hope so.

have you seen dawn of the dead, or zombi? those are the hallmarks of the genre. if you don't like them maybe it's not romero but the genre you have a problem with.


ok looked it up on imdb:

"Education: Carnegie-Mellon Institute (art, theater, design)

Prior to Night of the Living Dead (1968), he was better known as an industrial film-maker, who created TV commercials, promotional featurettes and industrial training films."

and from maltin:

Innovative director who-for better or worse-helped usher in the modern horror film. ...After college, he and his friends formed The Latent Image, a production company that made very creative TV commercials and industrial shorts, and eventually secured enough money for a "real" film, Night of the Living Dead (1968). This grainy black-and-white chiller about flesh-eating zombies became a cult hit and its lean, graphic, nononsense approach to horror influenced many future practitioners of the genre.

......


you see there was nonsense everywhere in RE

Trigger

Oh - I liked Dawn of the Dead - perhaps more than Night of the Living Dead - but I didn't find either of them to be near as good as Return of the Living Dead 3 or Night of the Creeps. The original Night of the Living Dead was an inspired piece of film and surely it shaped the way people look at zombie movies... but I just don't think it remains the best ever. Dawn was cool, but today it is oh-so-dated. Day was just terrible IMO.

Romero hasn't offered much aside from Zombie flicks... Dark Half and Creepshow. Big whoop. As I said in the other thread, it's not like it's really tough directing a zombie movie - some fake skin glued on an extra's face... some moaning - "BWAAAIINS" and moving around like you're sleepwalking. Tell your actors to be scared. That's about it.

Some of the things I loved so much about RE are the things that most Romero fans complain about. I liked that the zombies weren't completely slow-moving all the time. It made things a bit more interesting. I guess the theory being that resurrected flesh that hasn't been dead too long would be more agile and controllable than flesh that had been dead and buried for days. I also think that this was more akin to how zombies reacted in the game - they would walk slow, but then lunge out at you. Also - I liked that the movie didn't just try to recreate the first or second game... it rather started elsewhere in the Resident Evil world. I found that it all tied together quite well and I have no doubt that the sequel will do the same. Unlike alot of RE haters, I found RE to be quite scary - sure, they were mostly cheap scares, but it was alot of fun. I was never ever ever scared by ANYTHING Romero has done - except when I was 9 years old and watched Creepshow on Halloween - the Cockroach part got to me because I lived in a house with alot of roaches. Other than that, nothing. I even recently watched Creepshow again and laughed at how bad it was instead of being scared by any of it.

Rocky_Stallone

He's a zombie movie god. His work will be totally different than the new "28 Days Later", I don't see how people can compare that movie with George Romero's work.

But accusing something of being overrated doesn't make sense to me at all.

Jackskeleton

oh great, I got the sly lover on my side. Can I change sides and say romero is a hack now?

Sunday Morning

I like almost all of his films. I think he has something to say in all of them. For me, he's more than a zombie director. Of course that's what he'll always be remembered as, with good reason.
He's work in the horror genre is pretty substantial.

He hasn't been doing much lately, yes. The gap from his last two pictures, The dark half (1991) To Bruiser (2000) Is pretty wide.
And those films aren't exactly on par with his dawn of the dead or even creepshow, but they were pretty good.
If he gets around to making another film anytime soon, i'm sure
he'll like I said earlier, always have something to say in it.
That's why his films hold up.

Romero directs in the order I like 'em:

01. Martin
02. Dawn of the dead
03. Night of the living dead
04. Monkey shines
05. Day of the dead
06. Creepshow
07. The Crazies
08. Knightriders
09. The Dark half
10. The Facts in the Case of Mr. Valdemar sement in "Two Evil eyes"
11. Bruiser
12. There's always vanilla
13. Jack's wife (aka: season of the witch)

Buford T Pusser

I LOVE Dawn of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead-all-time faves.

I've seen the majority of his films and even read the book on him, but I must admit not enjoying the others nearly as much as I'd hoped to.

DonnachaOne

Hit-or-miss, really. Some great films, a good few bad ones.

Creepshow is really, really, really quite bad.

Scot1458

Overated hack. One trick pony...Night is a total rip off of LAST MAN ON EARTH, and the sequels are average entertainment.

I compare him to Tobe Hooper, another one trick pony.

Bilbo Baggins

George Romero is a great director. "Dawn of the Dead" is not only the greatest zombie movie of all time it is one of the greatest horror movies of all time. It also has at it's heart a very good social commentary about consumerism and culture. I would put it on my top ten list of all time favorite movies. He has made movies the way he wants to make them for decades now. He is not a compromiser and I thank him for that. I love his take on the vampire mythos with Martin as well. He is great at what he does. Has he made bad movies? Sure. But so has Coppola, Scorsese, Spielberg, and every one of the "great" directors.

F For Fake

I love Romero. Sure, some of his stuff doesn't really turn my crank (The Dark Half and Knightriders, specifically). But if the man had only done 'Dawn of the Dead', I'd be beyond impressed. DOTD is one of the great films of the 70's film-making renaissance!
I also love the others in the dead trilogy, and let's not forget "Martin" and "The Crazies", two great great great movies.

Groucho

I really liked Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead and I thought Creepshow wasn't too bad. Other than that, I'm not impressed with Romero's work. He's just not that talented as a director, nor as a writer.

I have read his script for Resident Evil. It was okay, but not great. It was pretty much a remake of the first game. It's not worth comparing to the final film since they are both completely different approaches to material.

DeputyDave

Yeah? Well what has Kubrick done lately? Huh? I haven't seen anything new by in him in, like four years. Talk about stalling between projects.

BTW although I love the Dead movies, Knightriders is BY FAR my favorite Romero movie.

NavinJohnson

I hope Mr. Romero is in better health than Mr. Kubrick. I'm not really a big horror fan, but I liked his work. Knightriders is my fave Romero film too. I didn't vote because I thought there should have been a choice or two between 'GOD' and 'hack'. I think he's very talented, but certainly not a 'hack'.

Trigger

Well, in that case - I'm glad he wasn't associated with the RE movie. Remaking the first game would've been a big mistake.

Groucho

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention. In Romero's version, Chris is no longer a member of STARS. He's now a farmboy who lives nearby.

renaldow

There really should be a vote available that says, 'BOTH Zombie movie god and overrated hack.' I think that's moer accurate in many ways.

I like Romero myself, in many ways he's a pioneer and took on controversial subjects and social issues during a time in the 70's when most filmmakers wouldn't touch them with a 10' pole. It gets wrapped up in a low budget horror movie, but that's nothing new. I liken him to Roger Corman, who is way more prolific, but has filmed a couple of the best movies ever made, unfortunately the 98% of the rest wasn't even close, and that's what you get judged on.

No director is 100%. Hollywood is like baseball. If you do the right thing 1/3 of the time you're a star. You can pick apart any director or writer on the other 2/3.

On a side note, I think most of us have seen more Romero films than we realize, possibly enjoying and learning from them without even knowing it. His production company Latent Image made many of the films for Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. When Fred took us to the paper factory, Romero was there!

yecul

Perhaps. I'll have to read the script. However, RE lacked one thing - zombies. It was more human vs machine than anything else with two zombie and one monster scene mixed in. I enjoyed it, but the middle portion didn't remind me much of the RE games, which is what I wanted to see.

Buford T Pusser

sidebar: what are those films? i've seen some of his and some that he produced.

JesseCuster

FWIW, I think Romero is an extraordinarily good director. He's done a great many of his films on, at best, a small budget so there was no SFx or star power to cover up for directorial shortcomings. And if you want to see some masterful directing, watch the end of Knightriders. It's one of the more moving sequences I've seen in my life. And there's not a zombie in sight He's also a good writer, as he's penned most if not all of his scripts himself. He's not the most prolific director in the world but I've never seen a film of his that I would call poor. I can't say the same, unfortunately, for John Carpenter, who's possibly my favorite director of all time. The only thing I really fault Romero for is not being more prolific, but I'm sure that was a conscious and personal choice on his part, to work and stay within the Pittsburgh area, which he's largely done during his career.

Scot1458

A BUCKET OF BLOOD
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM
THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER
THE RAVEN
X THE MAN WITH THE X RAY EYES