I'm a Zombie Snob

'No amount of time is ever enough so the length is irrelevant. Quality is the key.'

There is some really mysterious crap going on and I don't know what to do. Weird shit. I mean 112 Ocean Avenue weird shit:

Except my story has no guy who hears voices and murders his family and no Lutz's. There is no blood, no screaming, and no damage (yet). There are no flies, no creepy voices (again), and definitely no Jodie. Thank GOD there is no Jodie! Nothing goose-bumpy, or neck-tickly, or crawling out of a well, and then through the clearing, and then out of the fucking TV!!!!

Still, there is clearly something going on with the DVD players in our house. Of the five component DVD players we own, one (!) works and that's the one I bought 2 days ago. Three of the other four are decent players that either will not open for some bizarre reason(s) or will not play DVDs, as if they existed for some other purpose. NOTE: They were not working corectly BEFORE I tore them open!

Not surprisingly, in our throw-away society, it has become cheaper to simply buy another player as the deposit at the repair shop is almost 80% of the price of a new unit. This is bullshit!

So enough ranting. I get myself this fifth (!!) DVD player and have started back into my zombie marathon. Really, the main goal was simply to re-visit some of my favorite films (NOTLD, ROTLD) as well as take in a few classics that I had never gotten around to seeing. At this point I/we have managed to see a small selection of the older flix and I think it is now time to jump ahead a bit to something with a bit more modern sensibility to avoid losing interest.

One film that I had not seen which really gave me pause is "Tombs of the Blind Dead". I have certainly heard good things about the 'Blind Dead' series and was excited to see what this was all about. My initial reaction as we got into the film was that the pace was too slow and the creepiness factor much too contrived. Oh, and that good ol' 70's, "OMG! The (antagonist) is 25 feet away and moving so slow but I simply cannot do anything other than lay here and scream" element really got under my skin.

Then it occurred to me that, similar to re-visiting the older Romero films, these movies really have to be viewed with a sense of historical context. Certainly NOTLD remains one of my personal faves, but after seeing films like ROTLD and "28 Days Later" I have developed certain expectations with regard to the impact and the aforementioned pace. I suppose this is not unlike other genres, or the whole film viewing experience as a whole.

Still, I found it difficult to really let myself go and see what this film, "Tombs of the Blind Dead" was putting on the table. My sense is that my sister-in-law, and my wife, who both watched NOTLD and DawnOTD with me, were experiencing something similar. We did not really discuss any of these films after viewing them, but there seemed to be a lack-luster vibe in the air which I took to be a sign that we need to jump ahead a bit.

I still intend to watch the remainder of the 'Blind Dead' series, and will do so with a more open mind. However I am going to invoke my executive priveleges and jump up to the ROTLD series to inject some new life into our little marathon-thingy we have going here.

One last comment I will make is I am still excited to see Fulci's "Zombie" and am, for better or worse, hoping it will offer a bit more action and atmosphere; something akin to my evolving palette for zombie films. Chances are, once we have made our way through our list, I will be done with the zombie sub-genere for awhile. That is unless I stumble on a release of the zombie equivalent to "Let the Right One In" and experience a similar resurgence. One can only hope.

Anybody wanna DVD player? "Take one, get one free!"