Movie review - "Martin" (1977) ***1/2

 Confronting. Well made. Thought provoking. Romero firing all cylinders. Makes you identify with a killer the way Peeping Tom does (not Psycho becauseyou don't know he's the killer until the end). Acting totally fine.

Movie review - "Season of the Witch" aka "Hungry Wives" (1972) ***

 Entertaining low budget Romero effort, one of his lesser known movies. A bored housewife with an abusive husband gets interested in witchcraft. I've become fond of these Romero Pittsburgh actors.

Well directed. I like the early 70s of it all. Simple story, logically developed. I'm sympathetic to the distributors wanting to add more sex and nudity but it holds on its own terms.

Movie review - "The Crazies" (1973) ***1/2

 Romero's zombie film without zombies - it's a transmittable virus that makes people crazy and sends the world into meltdown. This is fast paced, cynical, chaotic, with some characters we care about - the bombastic doctor, the decent officer, the pregnant nurse and her boyfriend, and his mate who has bad PTSD. Downbeat ending. Very Vietnam era.

Can't believe this flopped. Maybe having no zombies was too much. 

Movie review - "Knightriders" (1981) **

 I love how George Romero blew his success of Dawn of the Dead on this. Bikers as knights. No one dies. So many subplots. No drama. Nothing at stake. No one dies. I kept expecting the Guinnevere triangle, or the Nazi bikers to come back or a big bunch of cops to attack... something. But no.

The actors give their all. 

Movie review - "Creepshow" (1982) **1/2

This film was a big deal among kids in the early 80s. I saw it recently at the Egyptian Theatre on the big screen, which is always good. It's a film of its time. The very specific comic book treatment is entertaining. George A Romero wasn't always the most subtle director in the world, but he benefits from a strong cast and Stephen King's good writing.

I did feel there were too many stories - there were five. This sort of movie works better with only three, I feel.

The book end plot is entertaining. "Father's Day" is okay - very over the top and camp (dead man, greedy relatives) but alright. It's fun to see Ed Harris with hair and his disco mad fiancee. Romeo had a few balding blonde heroes in his films.

"The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" has a really strong performance from King - he should do more acting - and some good effects but is only one act. Farmer finds meteor, grass grows everywhere... the end. It needed something else to happen.

"Something to Tide you Over"is pretty good. I always remembered Ted Danson buried up to his neck with the water coming in and Leslie Nielsen is excellent as a crazy rich dude. It doesn't really make sense why Danson would go with Nielsen or dig himself into a hole - easier for Nielsen to have knocked him out. Danson's hair is interesting to watch.

I had forgotten "The Crate" was in this film. It's all over the shop - a story about a mysterious animal in a crate that's opened, mixed in with the story of a trampy wife (Adrienne Barbeau having the time of her life) and her henpecked husband (a miscast Hal Holbrook - he's too strong and sure, it needed to be someone more obviously meek). This is dull and took forever and was full of bits that didn't pay off (eg introducing that new couple at the beginning).

"They're Creeping Up on You" is superb, the best segment. EG Marshall is great as Howard Hughes, basically, who is attacked by bugs. This was the smartest and best.

Movie review - "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) ***

The spirit of the 70s is strong in this classic zombie flick - even though the zombies are slow moving and dumb, easy to walk past and kill, the authorities are incapable of stopping them; it's general panic stations, the only people who look keen to take them out are rednecks, journalists and SWAT team members want to run away.

The four leads aren't the best actors in the world but all have defined characters - the honorable black guy, the balding white dude who has a romance with the black guy and goes nuts, the silly helicopter pilot, the stunned girl (who remains disappointingly whimpy throughout the movie). All have one thing in common - they consistently make bad decisions.

The setting is clever (a shopping mall), the music rhythmically intense, the action sequences impress, the running time is too long. Enjoyable gore, silly zombie fighting tactics, and plenty of NRA propaganda underneath a thin veneer of redneck bashing.

Movie review – “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) ***1/2

I remember seeing this at a cinema in the early 90s and the audience laughed through it, but just try watching it at home alone, especially if in a deserted house like the one in the film. It was a remarkably accomplished debut, very well directed, especially considering the low budget, and still holds up well.

Yes, some of the acting is a bit creaky (especially the women, who admittedly have weaker characters), and the shots of the zombies staggering around outside are funny rather than scary, but the atmosphere is still terrifically creepy, the music effective, and some scenes still pack a wallop: the failed escape attempt, when the little girl kills her parents horribly, and the nihilistic ending.

Attention was given to the film because the hero (Duane Jones) was black – but although he seems sensible and brave, he’s not much of a hero: his decision to stay upstairs is wrong, he organises a disastrous escape attempt, he’s bossy, he gets himself shot at the end when he should have known to keep his head down.

Movie review - "Land of the Dead" (2005) ***

I love it how movie makers always throw this left wing propaganda into zombie movies in an attempt to cover up how they are the biggest right wing fantasies - you get to shoot an inexhaustible supply of easy targets, loot shopping malls, drink beer and have a great time with your mates, don't have to answer to any government authority.

This one has the advantage of an excellent idea: the zombies pretty much rule outside world, forcing humans behind compounds (though again, the big irritant of zombie movies - zombies are so easy to kill the humans should have been able to knock the problem on the head ages ago; I'll just assume there was some extra social problem of which we're unaware which let things get out of control, eg break down of society, and go with it).

The film has a bigger budget than most Romero zombie films and looks handsome, with plenty of action and a decent cast. Simon Baker is a likeable hero; Asia Argento looks spectacular in her first appearance but is frustratingly restrained after that. There is some of the usual lazy social satire - the rich live in a luxury complex, the poor are on the ground, Dennis Hopper says we don't negotiate with terrorists - and Romero loses points by giving Baker a mentally challenged friend (have you no shame Romero?) but the zombie action is good.