A Look Back At George A. Romero's Dead Quadrilogy

Ten years ago, I met George A. Romero at CT Horrorfest 2015 in Danbury, Connecticut, where he signed my copy of the book Zombie Movies by Glenn Kay, and I must say, he was a real class act; he kept the line moving, but still managed to take time to talk to everyone getting something signed, and also he paid attention to the little details (for example, he had been signing posters with a marker, but when he saw that I had a book for him to sign he took out a pen so it wouldn't bleed through the pages).  I also kind of found it kind of ironic that a master of the horror genre turned out to have such a cheerful, friendly, and pleasant demeanor...

 Now, I haven't seen all of his works, but I have seen his first four "...of the Dead" films, and when viewed together they do make a sort of continuity, so here are my thoughts on those films and how they fit together (spoilers abound, so if you haven't seen one of these films and don't want the ending to be given away, skip that section).

Night of the Living Dead (1968) :

Along with Clerks, I hold up this film as a classic example of doing more with less; Romero took what could have just been another low-budget b-movie and really elevated it to a significant artistic work.  The lighting, acting, soundtrack, and overall atmosphere help make for a tense and claustrophobic film with a shocking (but effective) ending, while the radio and TV broadcasts provide good exposition while keeping the action largely confined to the farmhouse and its immediate surroundings.

While much has been made about the film's (unintentional) racial symbolism (Ben wasn't specifically written as a black character; Duane Jones was given the role because he gave the best performance at the casting), the film could also be read as a commentary on the Vietnam War, the generation gap, the growing instability of society in the 1960s (and 1968 was a particularly turbulent year within that decade), or any number of other themes or allegories.

For a director's first film, it's not only extremely well-made, but it's credited with having essentially invented the modern zombie movie genre, and has influenced and inspired numerous works to this day, from films to books to video games like the Resident Evil series (it's worth noting that George A. Romero directed a live-action trailer for Resident Evil 2, and was also originally going to direct the Resident Evil film series)

Dawn of the Dead (1978):

After making Night of the Living Dead, Romero made several other films, ranging from the romantic comedy There's Always Vanilla to other horror works like Season of the Witch, Martin, The Amusement Park, and The Crazies, before returning to the zombie genre in Dawn of the Dead.

If Night of The Living Dead was an example of what Romero could do on a limited budget, then Dawn of the Dead showed what he was capable of when given a much larger budget; the locations shown on film range from a TV studio to a tenement apartment complex to the countryside to the iconic Monroeville Mall outside of Pittsburgh.  The special effects are greatly improved, with Tom Savini having come up with some truly creative ways for zombies to be finished off, ranging from being stabbed in the ear with a screwdriver to decapitation by helicopter blade.

The atmosphere of this film is very different from the previous film; if Night felt like a polished B-Movie then Dawn feels like a live-action horror comic; in addition to the aforementioned creativity in how zombies are killed, this film also has the most comedic moments in the series, from a group of national guardsmen treating the outbreak like a giant party to zombies getting pelted with pies by the bikers when they break into the mall.  That said, there are several truly effective horror moments, from the storming of the apartment blocks to Roger's transformation; for some reason, one shot that always stayed with me when thinking about this film was when the helicopter carrying the four main characters is first taking off, and in the background all of the lights in the high-rise building behind it started shutting off floor-by-floor.  In addition, Dawn also provides a hilarious satire of the consumerist lifestyle, proving that Romero could have his cake and eat it too when it comes to making a film that's both an effective horror and an effective comedy.  Compared to the other Dead films, this one has a somewhat sprawling and meandering narrative, but I think that's what makes it stand out (in some ways, it reminds me of the plot of Barry Lyndon in the sense that the events of the story keep taking the protagonists in different directions, rather than the more straightforward plots of the other films).

One thing this film introduced (at least within the Dead series) was the "costume zombie"; while in Night of the Living Dead, most zombies wore regular everyday clothing (although there was also a naked zombie with a toe-tag), in Dawn there were a number of zombies in distinctive outfits, from the iconic Hare Krishna zombie to a nurse, a nun, and a baseball player who still has a baseball glove on his hand.

Day of the Dead (1985):

A smaller-scale sequel to Dawn, Day recaptures some of the claustrophobia of the first film, except this time most of the film takes place within the confines of a complex of bunkers, and the main theme is the conflict between the three groups of inhabitants within that underground location, the scientists, the soldiers, and the support staff (a radio operator and a helicopter pilot).  By this point, not only do the zombies now greatly outnumber the humans, they're also starting to "evolve" (if that's the right word); not only does Bub show signs of intelligence and memories of his previous life when he does things like salute Captain Rhodes, but there are other signs as well, such as how the zombies kept in a pen as test specimens seem to avoid humans, almost as if they know what will happen to them if they're caught and taken to the scientists for experimentation and dissection.

To me, the makeup and special effects in this film are probably the best out of any of the Dead films; Tom Savini was really in top form when he was making this film.  Continuing on from Dawn's tradition of zombies in funny outfits, Day of the Dead's zombies include one in a wedding dress, a clown, a ballerina, a firefighter in bunker gear (complete with a helmet!), and a fisherman in a bucket hat.

While I'd probably say I liked Dawn of the Dead more, I do think Day of the Dead is a technically a better film in the sense that the plot is tighter and less meandering and episodic. That said, it's a bit too bleak and claustrophobic, without Dawn's comedic moments to leaven the tone.  As far as the acting goes, Joe Pilato gives a memorably scenery-chewing performance as Captain Rhodes, with Richard Liberty as his foil, head scientist Matt "Doctor Frankenstein" Logan.  The other actors playing the other scientists and support staff give generally good performances, while the soldiers other than Miguel seem to be a bit one-dimensional in comparison.

Land of the Dead (2005):

 The last of the Dead series before Romero would essentially "reboot" the zombie outbreak in Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead, Land of the Dead depicts a group of survivors in a now-fortified Pittsburgh treating the zombie outbreak as the "new normal", with the privileged elite living in the luxury high-rise "Fiddler's Green" and other survivors forced to live in the more run-down districts.  Meanwhile, continuing on from the Bub plot of Day, a group of zombies, lead by former gas station attendant "Big Daddy", are starting to show increasing signs of intelligence, emotion, and problem-solving skills; when the crew of "Dead Reckoning" shoot and kill a number of Big Daddy's followers, he decides to seek revenge...

I must say that of all the films in the series, Land is probably my least favorite; compared to the other films, while those other films did provide commentary on issues of the time (like societal tensions in Night, consumerism in Dawn, and militarism and Cold War paranoia in Day), in Land the criticism of the Bush Administration is much more blatant and heavy-handed, from Fiddler's Green being used as a stand-in for the one percent to Kaufman's "I don't negotiate with terrorists" line.  I'm not saying that using the plot of a film to provide commentary or allegory is bad in and of itself, I just felt that in Land they made their points with a sledgehammer when a more subtle touch would have been better.  Also, I felt that the makeup and special effects were a step down compared to Day's.

That said, I still like Land of the Dead, and I think that its hopeful and optimistic ending make for a satisfactory conclusion to these four films.  Also, it's nice to see Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo on-screen together in something other than the 1993 Super Mario Brothers movie...

The films taken together: 

If you watch all four films back-to-back, it's almost like watching a zombie outbreak run its course; Night shows the initial stages of the outbreak, Dawn shows it in full swing, Day takes place after the tide has turned, and Land brings things to a conclusion when the survivors and Big Daddy's group come to a sort of truce.

It's not often that a single film is credited with essentially spawning an entire genre in its wake, but Night of the Living Dead is one such film that has done so; these four films trace the progress of the zombie movie genre, from a low-budget independent work (Night) to a big-budget mainstream film with well-known actors starring in it (Land). 

Plastic Soldier Review: BMC Korean War Winter Battle Pack, Part 2: US Soldiers

 In my previous post, I said I would split my review of BMC's Korean War Winter Battle Pack into separate parts for each set of figures; the first set of figures from the battle pack that I will review will be the US soldiers.

 

Overview:  These figures depict Korean War era US forces, either US Army or Marines in winter gear typical of the early part of the Korean War.  As they are in winter gear, they would be most appropriate for the winter of 1950-51 (including the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir).  By November of 1951, lines had stabilized to a war of positional warfare, after which time most soldiers tended to leave behind most of their heavier equipment like the entrenching tools and field packs that many of these figures are wearing.  In addition to depicting US forces, they can also be used for US-backed UN forces from that conflict; several countries in the coalition, including Colombia, Turkey, and Ethiopia were supplied with US uniforms and equipment.

They are primarily armed with M1 Garand rifles, but there is also a figure with an antitank weapon (either a bazooka or a recoilless rifle), a squad leader figure with an M1 carbine and M1911 pistol, and one figure who has a pineapple grenade on his webbing.

They appear to be wearing the M1948 parka (or its Marine equivalent), tall lace-up boots (possibly either shoepacs or the "Mickey Mouse Boots" issued to Marines), trigger finger mittens, and M1 helmets (both with and without covers).  Some figures have additional gear, including the squad leader with a binocular case around his neck (and wearing a pile cap under his helmet) and a rifleman who is wearing a poncho or blanket over his parka.

Sculpting:  These are very bulky and hefty figures, even when compared to other figures in winter gear.  Many of the reviews I have read or watched have criticized these figures for being oversized or out-of-scale, but factoring in the larger 60mm figure scale and the bulky quality of real-life winter equipment, these don't seem all that out-of-scale to me (I've been using Osprey's Men-At-Arms 561 for reference, which covers the US Army and Marine Corps), and in Korean War-era winter gear both Army soldiers and Marines have a similarly squat and bulky appearance in pictures from that conflict. 

That said, I must say the detailing of the equipment and other features like facial expressions is nothing short of superb; I really like the small details they've paid attention to, like the ragged edge of the one soldier's poncho or blanket, or how you can see the earflaps from the squad leader's pile cap even though he's wearing his helmet over of it.  The poses are also really well-done, with this set capturing the body language of the figures huddling in the cold.

Note the ragged edge on the bottom

About half the figures have full gear like this, the other half just have a belt with ammunition pouches and canteen

 

Their bases can be painted as dirt, sand, or snow, and are not as detailed as TSSD bases but more detailed and less abstract than Airfix bases.  Unlike Mir figures, kneeling figures in this set have a base.  

Molding: The set is molded in a dull green, fairly hard plastic.  Some straightening of the rifles was needed, mostly with the carbine, but was not as severe as some of the TSSD figures I've seen.  There was almost no flashing, and an almost-invisible mold line.  None of the parts came broken off, and there were no other defects. 

The color these figures are molded in is somewhat darker in real life, and fairly similar to the classic "green army men" shade of green

Note how some of the rifles are bent, as this picture was taken pre-straightening

The models were cast in multiple parts with separate arms; as a result, there was a noticeable gap in the joint between the arms and torsos of these figures, but when painted that gap mostly disappeared (also, molding them this way meant that they didn't have the infill I noticed on the Weston figures I reviewed). 

Selection:  This set comes with 6 riflemen, a squad leader with a pistol and carbine, and an anti-tank gunner; perhaps a larger group would have included a machine gunner, a figure throwing a grenade, or a figure with a submachine gun but overall this set makes for a convincing early-war squad.

Scale: Like I said before, these figures are large and bulky but not unrealistically so, especially after they've been painted.

In comparison to a Weston British WWII infantryman

L-R: BMC soldier, TSSD Greatcoat German, TSSD Red Army rifleman (with greatcoat), TSSD Red Army rifleman (with telogreigka)

 

Overall: This is a superb set depicting US soldiers during "the forgotten war"! 

Plastic Soldier Review: BMC Toys Korean War Winter Battle Pack, Part 1: Intro

 This set is a BMC-made reissue of a set of Korean War-era toy soldiers originally produced by CTS (Classic Toy Soldiers); supposedly, they were going to make a whole series of Korean War-themed figures, but so far they have only made three winter-themed sets of soldiers from that conflict; one of US troops, one of North Koreans, and one of Chinese.  They have made a number of sets with these figures in varying quantities; the set I bought for review is a 24-figure "sampler pack" featuring one of each pose: 8 US, 8 North Koreans, and 8 Chinese.  Sets consisting of 16 US troops, or 16 North Korean and Chinese troops are also available.  Reviews of the figures themselves will come in three parts, starting with the US troops, followed by Chinese, then North Koreans. I can, however, review the packaging in the intro to this review:

Packaging: The set comes in a plastic bag with a folded cardboard hanging tag on top.  In addition to the usual information, there is also a note on how to straighten out any bent parts using hot then cold water.  There is no history or painting guide, however.  The plastic bag is fairly roomy; while there were some slightly bent parts, they weren't as severely bent as some of the Weston or TSSD figures I've bought, which may have been due to the less-cramped packaging.

 

Left to Right: US soldiers (in green), North Korean soldiers (in tan), Chinese soldiers (in butternut)

Up next: Part 1: US figures

 Plastic Soldier Review: Steve Weston Toy Soldiers WWII D-Day British Infantry

Overview:  This set is a set of 12 British-outline infantrymen, with 6 unique poses and two figures in each pose.  The figures depicted are equipped with 37-pattern Battledress and webbing, gaiters, and ammunition boots.  While most figures have the "Brodie" helmet (both with and without netting), the Sten gunner appears to have a "Turtle" helmet with netting and scrim.  

Left to Right: Helmet with netting, plain helmet, turtle helmet with scrim

 

They are equipped with Sten guns, Thompson guns, and Bren guns, Number 4 Enfield rifles, and grenades.  It is described as a set of D-Day British infantry, but is also suitable for much of the Northwest Europe campaign of 1944-45 outside of the colder winter months, including other events like Operation Market Garden and Operation Varsity.  If the figure with the Sten gun and turtle helmet is removed, then the set can be used for the latter stages of the Italian campaign, as well.  In addition to depicting British troops, these can be used to depict other Commonwealth or Allied troops with appropriate insignia or other details, including Poles, Canadians (if their uniforms are painted the appropriate "Canadian Battledress" green), New Zealanders, South Africans (as long as they're "tabbed"!*), Dutch, and Belgians.

This set was made in the past by the UK-based Steve Weston's Toy Soldiers, who have apparently stopped producing their own figures and now just sell figures made by other manufacturers; as such, its current availability is a "while supplies last" situation.  As far as I can tell, this was their only WWII-themed set; all other figures I've seen made by them were old-west themed.

Sculpting:  I find the sculpting quite good, with the the folds of the uniform fabric being particularly well done; I like how they depict the way the trouser legs on British battledress blouse over the gaiters.  The figures appear somewhat heftier than their Airfix and Mars counterparts, but it's less noticeable on-camera than in person.  

 One issue this set has with the molding is that there's a significant amount of "infill", or a solid blob of plastic between the Sten and Thompson gunner's weapon and body, but with those poses this was unavoidable unless the manufacturer did something like mold the figure's arm as a separate piece.

They're depicted with 37-pattern webbing and pick-mattock entrenching tools, representing an intermediate amount of equipment compared to Airfix's "skeleton order" and Mars' "battle order" with full packs. 

Left to right: Weston, Mars, Airfix

Unlike the Mars infantry, but like the Airfix infantry, kneeling figures in this set come with a base. 

Of the 3 sets I have of British infantry in battledress, I think this set does the best when it comes to poses; they look natural and dynamic, without looking overdone and not having any of the balance issues I had with the Mars British infantry.  Like Toy Soldiers of San Diego's figures, these figures have detailed bases depicting dirt or sand, compared to the plain bases on the Airfix and Mars sets. 

 That said, I do think Mars did a better job when it came to depicting helmet netting.  On the other hand, I particularly like how this set depicts the soldiers' helmets with the chinstraps pulled over the brim of their helmets.  One blog review I read thought these figures' helmets looked oversize, but to me they looked proportional.

Molding:  The set I got was molded in a tan plastic; they also made a run in a greener shade as well.

I'm not sure if it was due to the molding or the packaging, but when my set arrived, some of the rifles and Bren guns were severely bent, and required a lot of straightening with alternating hot and cold water; not a deal-breaker, and nothing was broken off, but worth keeping in mind.  There was almost no flashing, and a nearly-invisible parting line.

Packaging:  The packaging is quite basic, in the form of a plastic bag with a folded cardboard hanging tag.  No painting guides or background information is given, but the label is somewhat eye-catching, and I do like the D-Day map design.  The figures were packed in fairly tight, which may have contributed to the bent weapons on some of the figures.

Selection:  The set comes with 2 Bren Guns, 2 Thompson Guns, 2 Sten guns, and 6 Enfield rifles, making it a bit SMG-heavy.  I'm not sure how common it would have been for there to be both Thompson and Sten guns in the same section, but those figures could be swapped out to depict an earlier or later-war infantry section.

Scale: The figures generally scale well with TSSD figures, but seem a bit oversized and heftier compared to Mars or Airfix figures.  Like with the TSSD figures, the raised bases they are on seem to emphasize their size difference, as well.

L-R: TSSD, Weston, Airfix

L-R: Mars, Airfix infantry, Airfix para, Weston

Overall: Overall, I found this set to be well-made with plenty of character, and I wish Weston had been able to make more sets like these.  If you are into collecting or painting toy soldiers, I'd highly recommend this set!

*In WWII, only volunteers could be made to serve outside of South Africa; those who chose to do so wore orange cloth tabs on their uniforms (usually on their shoulderboards) to depict this volunteer status.

Update:  I emailed the manufacturer of this set a link to this review, and got this reply from them (posted with their permission):

Hello Luke,

An interesting review - which I could have done with 10 years ago!

Bendy weapons: Our figures, along with those of TSSD, Paragon, Austin, Blackcat Miniatures, etc whilst all being sculpted by our own separate sculptors were all produced, at the same factory in China, using a hybrid Polyethylene which give a greater detail than the polystyrene used in the model kit type figures of Dragon, Masterbox, etc - polystyrene is obviously what is used in model kit manufacturing. Unlike the latter, ours come out of the injection machine red hot are dropped into bags and then sealed with the header cards, which sometimes causes the bendy weapons that you mentioned, as they are packed and compressed into packing cases all in one smooth production process. 

TSSD, Paragon, Austin, Blackcat Miniatures all carry mention of dipping the weapons into hot water (plastic has a 'memory', so should revert to shape if not a little gentle massaging returns them to straightness and dropping in cold water should retain that shape). For some reason, that info was missed out on my own header cards. 

Not being any kind of Military historian, I employed an ex-Armed Forces person turned sculptor to make my Master figures, hence the correct detail - and yes, to get away from the 'blocking' between the arm and the weapons would have required a separate arm, all at additional cost. Many, many plastic figures suffer from this.

Scale is what Americans refer to as the 'new 1/32', it's actually 56mm and was done to match the size of the superb Conte WWII range that he originally produced in soft vinyl - with very bendy weapons that the paint could flick off!

Kind regards,

Steve Weston.

 

Love Actually: A Post-Mortem

 I watched Love Actually for the first time the other day (a thrift store was selling the DVD for 2 dollars); one of the reasons I bought the DVD was because it seemed to have all the right ingredients: written and directed by Richard Curtis (part-creator of Blackadder and Mr. Bean) and featuring an all-star cast with serious acting and comedy prowess (including, but not limited to, Bill Nighy, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Rowan Atkinson, Keira Knightley, Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, and Martin Freeman); and yet, I found myself unable to watch the film in one sitting, and later on found out that Love Actually has only a 64% Rotten Tomatoes rating.  My first thought after watching the film was "What went wrong?  How did a film with such a promising cast fall so short of my expectations?"  After a few days' reflection, here is how I think the film went wrong:

• Too many characters and subplots

AKA Syriana syndrome; this is perhaps a bit specific for me, but generally I don't like it when a work tries to follow too many different plot lines, especially when it keeps switching back and forth between them (I stopped reading the first Game of Thrones book about halfway through for this reason).  I have seen works that manage to do one of the two, such as Guy Richie's first two films, which only have only 2 or 3 major plot lines (In Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels it's the card game, robbery of the weed growers, and theft of the antique shotguns while in Snatch it's the diamond theft and boxing match), or some films in which each subplot is almost a self-contained short film within a film, such as Night on Earth, Four Rooms, and Mystery Train, or James Michener and Edward Rutherfurd's generation-spanning books, which treat each generation living in the book's setting as a short story within the overall arc of that city or region's history.  That said, I did enjoy works like The Stand and It which manage to do both things at the same time successfully, but Love Actually wasn't one of those works.  Also, the subplots in Love Actually don't seem to cross over or tie together all that much compared to those other works.

• Slow pacing

The film, especially the first half, seemed too slow-paced, with a pace ranging from "a bit slow" to "interminable".  One of the ways Guy Richie's works were able to balance those simultaneous plot lines was by having the plot advance at a frantic pace, but in this film it felt like I was watching it at 2/3rds or even half speed.  The pace of the second half does pick up, but it still feels to me like this could have been edited to about 3/4 or even 2/3rds of its current length.

• Rowan Atkinson was severely under-used 

Apparently, it was originally planned for Rowan Atkinson's character to show up and cause problems in everybody's storyline, but they cut all but two of his scenes from the film.  Not only would keeping him have (probably) made the film much funnier, having him in all the scenes would have contributed to making it feel like all of the subplots were more interconnected than they were. I also find it hard to believe that they in a film this overly long and slow-paced, they cut out most of the scenes featuring the actor with possibly the best comedy potential (that said, even keeping him in might not have been guaranteed comedy gold; while the parts he is in are quite funny, they're nowhere near the scene-stealing performance he gave in Four Weddings and a Funeral as the gaffe-prone clergyman).

• Tonal inconsistency

Some of the sequences were quite risque, others felt like they were from a family film, some felt like they were from a melodrama while others felt like they were from a zany comedy; all in all, the whole was less than the sum of its parts.  

That said, this wasn't a terrible movie, or even really all that bad, just a disappointment; given the cast and crew, it should have been an A, but instead ended up being around a C+ if I was grading it (and given that I'm writing this analysis, I suppose that in a way I am grading it).  That said, I think a part of why this film fell flat for me was because it was a romantic comedy, a genre I don't really watch all that much in general; the only other romcoms I've seen and liked are either ones that could be considered classics or semi-classics like When Harry Met Sally or Sixteen Candles, or films like My Big Fat Greek Wedding (which was as much a clash-of-cultures/fish-out-of-water comedy as it was a romantic comedy).