Thursday, September 17, 2009

Shudders abound: Video special

Want to see a mainstream music video about nightmares and child abuse that actually contains a nightmare-inducing level of actual child abuse?

I give you "Kids" by MGMT.


For those with weaker stomachs or more delicate sensibilities, here's a montage of bloody movie violence.



Clearly, I'm just interested in monsters and nature.

Welcome to The Dead Don't Die, a blog about natural monsters. Obviously.

Gollum-Like Creature Emerges from Lake in Panama (Includes EXCELLENT photos!)

United Appeal for the Dead

A classic clip from a movie I don't really consider classic, Kentucky Fried Movie. Maybe I need to see it again.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

A step forward for snakes

I'm probably getting fairly off-course from the declared purpose of this blog, but how can I not report this? I'm fuckin' scared!

Not only can a snake grow a goddamn leg, it can also use it to scale the walls of your motherfucking bedroom while you sleep.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

More SURVIVAL footage, reviews OF THE DEAD

Here's some more SURVIVAL footage. And here. I'm not sure if these are merely promo pieces or actual clips from the film (maybe the opening, pre-credits?), but I dig them. They're vintage Romero in many ways. I love the cutaways to the puddle of blood.

The first reviews of the film have gone live. Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have lots to say about Romero's latest-- the former is pretty scathing, the latter quite positive. Neither are very insightful nor are they of much use to me either way, as my ass is already in the seat.

Monday, September 7, 2009

28 Days Later comic

We picked up the new 28 Days Later comic last week, and it's... pretty much fail by our standards. Those looking for something bearing any tonal similarity to the 2002 film will be sorely disappointed. Rather than being bleak, smart, breathless, realist and emotional like the movie, the comic is dumbed-down and features a very shopworn setup.

In this imagining, the UK mainland is still teeming with infected but has been successfully quarantined. The story begins elsewhere on the continent at a safe encampment.

Serena, the street-smart, tough-as-nails, machete-wielding survivor from the film is here depicted as a stony loner who was separated from the other two survivors, her de facto family, under yet-unexplained circumstances.

For some reason--it was silly enough that it's already forgotten to me--a crew of Americans (combat journalists, I think?) wants to get back into the quarantine zone, and they ask Serena to be their guide, since she has firsthand experience with the infected. She refuses flat, then has a flashback and agrees at the last second. Like ya do. (I don't recall the content; maybe she flashed back to watching Aliens?)

These intelligent and battle-hardened journalists have never crossed paths with the infected before. Nor have they, apparently, ever seen a photo of one or read up on any accounts of identifying symptoms and behaviors before going on an armed trek by foot into infected territory. Within a couple of pages of landing on some island, a supposedly secured connection zone, one of these morons mistakes two infected for healthy people and, in trying to initiate conversation, gets close enough to be assaulted by them. Serena saves the day, natch, and determines that the infection has spread to where it's not supposed to be. (Duh-duh-DUUH!)

Yawn.

The art is a mixed bag, as photo-based sequential art tends to be. Some artists are great at action and layouts but not faces--Hitch comes to mind, of course, except he's not really great at anything except getting shit out quickly, which is apparently enough of a qualification for most comics publishers. The trouble for me is that faces and expressions and unique, consistent features are probably the criterion that matters most to me in sequential art, so it's hard for me to applaud this work for that reason alone. I guess... the color is nice? I don't know, overall it's just not a style I dig, though I suppose it works for this kind of story better than fully stylized anatomy and scene-setting.

As we mentioned before, you can check out the first few pages of the comic at newsarama.

We're going to stick with this for two or three issues just to see if Kirkman has any competition. I've described my problems with his work ad nauseum but, writing-wise, the 28 Days Later comic makes The Walking Dead look like Steinbeck.

Friday, September 4, 2009

First scene from SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD

At last, here's our first real look at George Romero's SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD, which will premiere this month at the Toronto International Film Fest. The Red camera footage looks much better than the previous (unfinished) leaked clip indicated, and it's interesting to see George shooting in what appears to be 2.35:1 again-- until now, he'd gone wide for only LAND OF THE DEAD.

George seems to be dipping his his toe into the Zombie Comedy (Zomedy? Zomby Comedie?) pool this time around, though I suspect this light moment is akin to the pie-fight in DAWN OF THE DEAD -- it's no doubt surrounded by all manner of drama, horror, and action. Speaking of DAWN: the second zombie in this clip looks as if he crawled right out of that classic flick.

Between this, [REC]2 and ZOMBIELAND, TIFF is the place to be. In fact, if you call yourself a zombie fan and you don't attend, you suck.*

*I suck.