Better movie: The Night of the Living Dead or The Return of the Living Dead?

[LostInAnomie]

[MrScorpio]

1. If you loved me, you'd let me eat your BRAAAAIIINNNSSSSS! et

[slay]

2. While Night is classic, Return is hilarious..

and written by Dan O'Bannon who also wrote some Twilight Zone and is father of Rockne S. O'Bannon who created Farscape. So yeah, I vote Return! :evilgrin:

[AllenVanAllen]

5. Dan O'Bannon

also wrote the story and screenplay for Ridley Scott's Alien to. I think he captured lighting in a bottle with ROTLD.

[Drunken Irishman]

8. Have you read the original script? It's horrible.

To Alien, that is.

I can't believe that movie came from his script.

[AllenVanAllen]

9. I haven't read the script.

I think Ridley Scott also lost a plagiarism suit brought by the creators of IT: The Terror From Beyond Space. When Scott was filming Alien he was far more concerned with the overall look of the film than anything else. Apparently he took just enough of the scrip to screen to make it work. Alien, another true classic.
:hi:

[Drunken Irishman]

14. It's interesting reading the original drafts of movies.

Because often they seem better than what we got.

Like Halloween H20, which is totally different than the one released.

Halloween 4's original script had Michael Myers as a ghost-like figure. Haunting people. Very paranormal.

[Forkboy]

15. The original script for the American Godzilla kicked ass.

Then Emmerich came in and fucked it up. For a movie whose tag line said, "Size Does Matter", Emmerich never thought very big. x(

[Drunken Irishman]

17. Is that the one with Matthew Broderick?

If so, that was HORRIBLE.

[Forkboy]

18. That's the one.

GINO...Godzilla In Name Only.

[AllenVanAllen]

19. The Emmerich Godzilla was a big bowl of wrong.

To think Godzilla could have been so much more, if some one else had directed it.








That's why Toho Studios let the radical Godzilla design fly, so if it tanked they could always say, "Hey that wasn't really Godzilla."

[Forkboy]

20. I actually didn't mind the suit design.

It wasn't great mind you, but if the story had actually been about Godzilla the suit would have worked for me. But the story was really just a remake of The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (and is watchable when approached as such). As a Godzilla movie though...I don't even know where to begin. :)

[AllenVanAllen]

28. "As a Godzilla movie though...I don't even know where to begin."

That was the wrong I was talking about. I really didn't mind the suit design as a generic monster myself but he was a little farther from the design I wanted to see. The GMK version would have looked cooler tromping around NY if you ask me.




As a Kaiju movie it works, the story could have been a lot better but it's better than some if the older Godzilla cheese. The Tri-Star Godzilla was even a financial success worldwide. If someone else tries an American version I hope they stick a little closer to the source material next time.



On a related note, are you familiar with the movie Gamera the Brave?
I recently found this on You Tube. It seems to be a kids film. It does seem to capture the spirit of some the early Gamera movies and his design doesn't look full grown either.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_Z3Jyrcc-k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yP5sZwGHuPM

[Forkboy]

35. I haven't seen Gamera the Brave yet.

It's definitely more of a kids movie, along the lines of the Mothra series in the 90's, but I've heard it's pretty enjoyable anyways (also like the Mothra trilogy, which I enjoy). I saw the DVD in a store not long ago but was already grabbing two others (Planet Terror and Oldboy) so I didn't get it. I will pick it up next time though. I'll watch any kaiju movie, and already have most of the Gamera films. :)

[Skittles]

6. "How was your day, dear?"

"The usual. Crap." :rofl:

[Forkboy]

3. Night is a far more intelligent and socially conscious movie.

For that alone I'd say it's the better, and smarter, movie. Return, however, is laugh your ass off funny.

[Amerigo Vespucci]

24. From Wikipedia:

Since the release, critics and film historians have seen Night of the Living Dead as a subversive film that critiques 1960s American society, international Cold War politics and domestic racism. Elliot Stein of The Village Voice saw the film as an ardent critique of American involvement in Vietnam, arguing that it "was not set in Transylvania, but Pennsylvania — this was Middle America at war, and the zombie carnage seemed a grotesque echo of the conflict then raging in Vietnam".<58> Film historian Sumiko Higashi concurs, arguing that Night of the Living Dead was a horror film about the horrors of the Vietnam era. While she asserts that "there are no Vietnamese in Night of the Living Dead, <...> they constitute an absent presence whose significance can be understood if narrative is construed". She points to aspects of the Vietnam War paralleled in the film: grainy black-and-white newsreels, search-and-destroy operations, helicopters, and graphic carnage.<59>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_of_the_Living_Dead

[Forkboy]

26. It's pretty hard to miss the metaphors in the scenes at the end when they're lynching zombies.

It's a real good movie on either a social level or just an entertainment level. It works both ways.

[AllenVanAllen]

4. I voted the classic Night of the Living Dead

If I had to say witch was the better horror film. They're both very well done movies, I have a deep appreciation for both and I love the common link they have too. NOTLD creators George Romero and John Russo made a deal each could make a zombie film, Romero made Day of the Dead and Russo did ROTLD. I'm glad Russo decided to make it a horror comedy and get Dan O'Bannon to write and direct it. It's a classic horror comedy that has some really bright moments and If I'm not mistaken,
it's also the first movie to make zombies' soul diet "BRAAINZZZZ!!!"





For me, the "Tar Man" zombie goes down as one of the coolest zombie FX ever done.

[proteus_lives]

30. Tar Man rules!

"More Brains!"

[Drunken Irishman]

7. Return is just good, old fashion fun!

Night is a classic and I like it, but Return of the Living Dead I watch and enjoy far more.

[Danger Mouse]

10. Night of the Living Dead is a better movie, but Return is a hell of a lot more fun to watch...

so make of that what you will.
'Send more cops!'

[AllenVanAllen]

13. That was great.

They were really thinking out of the box when they came up with many of the zombies in that movie. The use of a triple amputee to play one was sheer genius. He was a gruesome little fuck!

[REP]

11. Send more paramedics

Don't make me vote!! They're both great movies for different reasons. Return is a terrific parody of the genre while being a grisly genre flick; Night is Ur-movie of the genre.

[Skittles]

12. I'd say for first time viewing, the original

but for watching over and over, definitely Return. I picked it up in a bargain bin and it cracks me up no matter how many times I watch it. OMG, James Karen's expressions are a treasure. :rofl:

[Forkboy]

16. Horror movies back then kicked ass.

Stuff like Return of the Living Dead, Re-animator, Street Trash, Dead Alive...they don't make anything like that anymore (at least in the US...Thailand, Korea and Japan still do). It was all over the top, gleeful fun that didn't take itself seriously. Very few horror movies (or ones that are considered mainstream) achieve that sense of fun anymore, Shuan of the Dead being a rare exception.

And a tip to Hollywood and Asian horror directors...the "creepy kid" gimmick was old a couple decades ago.

[proteus_lives]

31. They did kick ass.

Because they didn't water them down like they do today. Even if they were d-grade, they were still fun.

I hate how most "horror" flick are PG-13 range to bring in the tweens. Then they release the DVD unrated versions to drive the home sales.

[LostInAnomie]

34. "Unrated Version" really means "Some of the crap we cut out of the theatrical version".

It's never anything good or useful. Unrated only means it's a version that wasn't viewed and rated by the rating committee. That's why I never buy them. It's only a marketing gimmick.

[redqueen]

22. I thought it was "Send more cops!"

I can't pick... so I voted Farty fart fart fart.

[Javaman]

21. "I'm coming to get you, Barbara..." nt

[Amerigo Vespucci]

23. "WE'RE coming to get you, Barbara..."

:toast:

[redqueen]

25. They're...?

These threads are driving me batty. I can't tell if people are joking, quoting other movies which I haven't seen, or what.

:crazy:

[Amerigo Vespucci]

27. "They're" in the original, "WE'RE" in "Shaun Of The Dead"...

...making it the single greatest line in a film chock full of 'em.

:toast:

[redqueen]

32. Yep...

LOVE that movie. LOVE. :toast:

[Javaman]

33. You're right, I stand corrected. I used to freak my ex out with that line.

LOL that's one of the reasons she's my ex. no sense of humor. LOL

[proteus_lives]

29. Oh damn, that's a hard one.

I couldn't vote, I love them both!

They are both fountainheads for the genre. I'll edit this after work.