ROTTEN TOMATOES: Guide of the Dead - An RT Romero Retrospective

Guide of the Dead - An RT Romero Retrospective

by Chris Hewitt (UK)

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When the dead start returning to life with a hunger for human flesh, a disparate band of survivors hole up in a Pittsburgh farmhouse, bicker amongst themselves, and try to stop themselves from winding up on an undead menu as a unique three-course set meal. Coffee not included.

Hey, Man! It's Not Just a Horror Movie...

Far from it. The zombies in Night of the Living Dead, according to film historian Robin Wood, represent capitalists, feasting on the flesh of society's outsiders. But as would rapidly become the pattern in Romero's films, the zombies aren't really the villains. Instead humans are, with Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman) openly fighting with the film's black hero, Ben (Duane Jones), and even trying to kill him. At the end, Ben is the sole survivor, but is shot in the head by a patrol crew who 'mistake' him for a zombie. The subtle implication is that, had Ben been white, he would still have been alive.

The hero. By making his hero an African-American, particularly one who's reasoned and intelligent, Romero was overtly addressing the racial politics that were engulfing America at the time. It would become a trend in his movies.

Barbara, played by Judith O'Dea. A far cry from the ass-kickers of later Romero episodes, Barbara spends most of the movie in a catatonic trance, traumatised by the fate she's just seen befall her brother.

Minimal in this movie, although scenes of ghouls feasting on flesh and Karen Cooper trowelling her mom to death are dripping with black goo that, legend has it, was actually chocolate sauce. At this point in time, Romero hadn't yet met a young man named Tom Savini and the gore is surprisingly restrained.

It's hard to top "They're coming to get you, Barbara!", spoken by Barbara's brother, Johnny. Referenced in the likes of Shaun of the Dead, it's also a paranoid classic to rival Kevin McCarthy's "They're here!" in Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, itself a cracking political allegory.

The movie was originally called Night Of The Flesh Eaters.

"I was brought up on Tales Of Hoffman and movies like Othello and Macbeth. Those were the visual influences -- hard shadow, hard light, obvious sources. I tried to make it look like newsreel. I used a handheld Arriflex and I felt so free!"

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(1-17 of 17 posts) | Reply

Bruce Campbell writes:
on Mar 07 2008 03:41 PM

Awesome.

(Reply to this)

Spiderbash writes:
on Mar 07 2008 03:54 PM

This is just great

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NoirZombi writes:
on Mar 07 2008 07:16 PM

George Romero is a legend. Great article.

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AquaFina writes:
on Mar 07 2008 11:10 PM

Nice job with this. Great writing, good little interview. I love the attention on Romero and his canon. He's still got stuff to say.

(Reply to this)

purelife112 writes:
on Mar 08 2008 05:43 AM

George shows a really great, worth movie. It's more than worth, actually. It's perfect.

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jokerboy1991 writes:
on Mar 08 2008 08:29 PM

I havent seen this yet, Ill probably rent it. I really like ROMERO. I hope he does WORLD OF THE DEAD.

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mattdaddy36 writes:
on Mar 09 2008 08:11 AM

One of my favorites of all time. Of all of his films, Dawn Of The Dead is by far the best. I think people would like Day Of The Dead better if it had a different soundtrack. For some reason, Dawn Of The Dead and it's 70's Goblin soundtrack has withstood the test of time. The synth heavy 80's soundtrack really kills this movie (as it kills most 80's movies - see the Lethal Weapon movies now and you would swear Phil Collins crapped out the soundtrack). If it had a more orchestral soundtrack or more dissonance in the mix, it would have been more successful. Just watch the opening sequence. When I saw this in the theaters in the 80's, this was one of the most memorable scenes in the film. Now I cringe because the music is so horrid. Even if you put this to the old Goblin soundtrack, (especially the scene in the basement of the apartment), it would be twice as effective than the current one. I really want to see the new one, because it hearkens back to the early films where the zombies are not humanized as much. I feel that this is what caused people the most problems with Land Of The Dead. The movies always worked best, even within themselves, when the antagonistic humans were "offed" by making a crucial mistake (like Tom Savini's character or the Father in Night), instead of some kind of "zombie vengance" (a la Bub, or Big Daddy).

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Elixor writes:
on Mar 09 2008 09:24 AM

Great article.

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MrDurden writes:
on Mar 09 2008 12:54 PM

Land of the Dead was one of the worst films ever made. I don't see how Diary will be any better, or worse.

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Bruce Campbell writes:
on Mar 09 2008 01:17 PM

In reply to this comment (#1623399)
Only an idot would ever say that.

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raymel1 writes:
on Mar 09 2008 03:56 PM

I still havent seen Diary of the Dead yet, and will most likely RENT it when it comes to DVD.

To say I was very DISAPOINTED with Land of the Dead, would be a VAST Understatement.

Dawn of the Dead(1978) is by far my favorite of the series, which steadily declined after Day of the Dead.

IMO the Apex of the series was Dawn of the Dead and it seems as tho (and not by my personal review as of yet, becasue I havent seen it, yet) Diary is the pit.

I've already seen [rec} so what can Diary actually add to that experience? not much im afraid.

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mattdaddy36 writes:
on Mar 10 2008 05:34 AM

In reply to this comment (#1623399)
If you think that was the worst, then maybe you haven't seen Burial Ground, a crappy Italian zombie movie that came out in the states shortly after Day Of The Dead. However, maybe you should try to find it, because it is one of the "so bad it's good" genre. The zombies wear burlap sacks, you can see the flesh part of their palms under the zombie makeup on the back of their hands, I swear a zombie makeup included a fried egg glued to some one's face, and there is a scene where a zombie kid (who looks to be in his 30's) bites off his mom's breast, and blueberry pie filling flies out. Land Of The Dead is 400 billion times that movie. Or else watch Good Luck Chuck.

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Shatter24 writes:
on Mar 10 2008 08:11 AM

Land of the Dead was an improvement on Day of the Dead (which was Romero's weakest, but I hear there was budgetary constraints). It was scary, quick paced, interesting characters, and it took the story somewhere (haves vs. have nots, zombies learning and maybe evolving). I really enjoyed it and would love to see Diary of the Dead, IF I COULD FIND A THEATRE AROUND HERE SHOWING IT!

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mattdaddy36 writes:
on Mar 10 2008 11:33 AM

In reply to this comment (#1624792)
No kidding. This movie is harder to find than Ethan Suplee's taint. I hope this makes a quick trip to video so I can see it soon (after it makes it's small budget back).

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jeffklug writes:
on Mar 10 2008 06:09 PM

Nice job, but....Romero didn't put a black guy in the movie to make a statement. He put him in because he needed someone to play the role and the guy was the only one around. I think they were buddies or something. He had no idea that people were going to think he was making a statement.

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Stevie Z writes:
on Mar 13 2008 08:22 AM

You are a movie God George, going to see diary tomorrow and i am excited as hell!

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luvneverends writes:
on Apr 26 2008 08:36 AM

He's a sexy player. I am his loyal adorer. Seems he has a personal account on a

celeb&millionaire dating site called 'Rich Match Making com'. Is he single? He wanna hook

up with hottie or cuttie?

(Reply to this)