The final Month of the Living Dead reviews (from me, anyway):
The Astro-Zombies (1968) — Because Lord knows, what the world needs is TWO new reviews of this movie in a single week.
Zombie Bloodbath (1993) — Well, there are zombies, and there are bloodbaths. If you’re looking for anything more at all, you’ll be disappointed.
(I shall now collapse. Please do not resuscitate or reanimate.)
#1 by Joshua on November 1, 2007 - 3:18 am
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The Astro-Zombie at night, his battery pack having been knocked loose in a fight, stumbling down the street with a flashlight pressed to his solar-celled forehead
This scene alone justifies anything else in this movie.
#2 by Ken Begg on November 1, 2007 - 7:38 am
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Why, this is outrageous! I just reviewed that movie myself!
#3 by Blake Matthews on November 1, 2007 - 8:34 am
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The next thing you know, Liz and the others will be slapping themselves on the forehead and saying, “Astro-Zombies”!? Why didn’t I think of that?
#4 by Nathan Shumate on November 1, 2007 - 8:55 am
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I really don’t know if “think” and “Astro-Zombies” should be in the same sentence.
#5 by Blake Matthews on November 1, 2007 - 9:33 am
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Maybe there was “thinking” involved with that film, but it was thinking on a plane that is incomprehensible to us mere mortals.
So there was actual nudity in this film? (I’m still naive enough to get surprised when a pre-70s film has nudity in it)
#6 by Nathan Shumate on November 1, 2007 - 9:34 am
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No, but there were bikinis and exposed brassieres.
#7 by Ken Begg on November 1, 2007 - 10:29 am
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The dancing lady was topless, but covered in body paint, at least on the DVD.
#8 by Blake Matthews on November 1, 2007 - 10:38 am
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We get that during Carnival season on regular TV here in Sao Paulo.
#9 by Nathan Shumate on November 1, 2007 - 10:46 am
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Whoops, forgot the dancing lady. Which tells you how engaging that scene was. (It’s pretty bad when even the pointless club scene in Blood of the Zombie is more alluring.)
#10 by Blake Matthews on November 1, 2007 - 10:59 am
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Was it worse than the Tivoli song?
#11 by Tom Meade on November 1, 2007 - 11:25 am
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What is the best nightclub scene, however? A Shot In the Dark?
#12 by Tom Meade on November 1, 2007 - 11:26 am
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this requires emphasis
good job, Nathan
#13 by Nathan Shumate on November 1, 2007 - 11:35 am
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Thank you, Tom. I have earned my rest from the subgenre for another year.
#14 by KeithA on November 1, 2007 - 12:04 pm
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Best nightclub scenes = any of the ones from Jess Franco’s films. You may not like the films themselves, but the nightclubs always seem wonderfully cool.
#15 by Matthew Fudge on November 1, 2007 - 12:05 pm
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I wonder is ‘Zombie’ could be the most over-used work in movie titling?
I wonder if titling is a word?
#16 by Matthew Fudge on November 1, 2007 - 12:05 pm
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I mean’t overused word, dammit.
#17 by Blake Matthews on November 1, 2007 - 12:08 pm
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Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster had a great nightclub scene…one of the best.
#18 by Matthew Fudge on November 1, 2007 - 12:12 pm
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Nightclub scenes now seem to be an excuse for Warner Bros (or whomever) to display 3 mins of their latest pop act in a seamless bit of corporate synergy. In fact there’s something to be said for when the girls from Charmed (fer instance) turn to eachother and say “wow it sure is great the Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s bus broke down outside”. This also used to happen a lot in Buffy.
#19 by KeithA on November 1, 2007 - 12:34 pm
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The “Hey our bus broke down so we might as well play at this school’s dance” routine has been around forever.
As for abuse of the word “zombie” and/or “living dead” in film titles, it’s gotta be a close race between that and “Ninja.” And yet, there are remarkably few zombie ninja movies.
#20 by Songino on November 1, 2007 - 12:45 pm
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Well…the bands in Buffy were rarely (if ever) named. Aimee Mann had a line of dialogue, but apart from that I can’t really think of any of the bands being named in the show. So if it was a corporate ploy to get their bands featured, it failed, since I can’t name a single band that appeared on Buffy based on any in-show referencing, and I just watched the whole series last month. Heck, the only reason I know that that one person from that one band that spoke that one time is Aimee Mann is cos I saw a line of trivia on a website about it.
I can’t speak for Charmed, though. Never seen it.
What I have (unhappily) seen is an old episode of Full House where all the girls are fighting over a ticket to a Counting Crows concert. Gah.
#21 by Blake Matthews on November 1, 2007 - 1:03 pm
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I remember an episode of Full House when they fight over going to a Beach Boys concert as well.
Keith, wasn’t there a zombie in Ninja Hunter (Wu Tang vs. Ninja)?
#22 by Nathan Shumate on November 1, 2007 - 1:18 pm
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And of course the classic Cosby Show episodes where they meet Stevie Wonder… and Lena Horne…
#23 by Ken Begg on November 1, 2007 - 1:45 pm
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Well, this actually goes back to the days when movies generally tried to appeal to as many people as possible (as well as the cross-advertising thing). This was particularly prevelent in comedies, and in general Marx Brothers films and Abbott & Costello movies often came to a screeching halt to allow for interplay between a romantic interest couple and a dance number or two.
Mikels isn’t the only one to stretch out a movie this way), although his Girl in Gold Boots was built upon it. Still, other then contemporary bad filmmakers like Al Adamson (Dracula vs. Frankenstein), Ray Dennis Steckler (Incredible Strange Creatures Who…), Arch Hall (Eegah), Del Tenney (Horror of Party Beach), etc. all used musical numbers to stretch out a film, many of them actually employing night club acts as the rationale.
#24 by KeithA on November 1, 2007 - 2:31 pm
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If you cut out the musical numbers, all the remaining pieces of every Elvis film could be compiled into a single 90-minute film where Elvis is an honest tour guide/pilot/actor/racecar driver/waiter/acrobat/roustabout who must battle an army of rich snobs.
So what’s better: Todd Sheets’ “Zombie Bloodbath” or Todd Sheets’ “Zombie Rampage” ?
#25 by Nathan Shumate on November 1, 2007 - 2:47 pm
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As soon as I watch the latter, I’ll answer you, if I don’t first choke on my own vomit.
#26 by Songino on November 1, 2007 - 3:28 pm
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That’s the spirit! Onward to victory! EXCELSIOR!
#27 by Braineater on November 1, 2007 - 6:09 pm
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All it took was the one “Zombie Ninja…” movie to kill that idea permanently. Just ask Nathan’s therapist.
#28 by John Doe on November 1, 2007 - 7:52 pm
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hmm. well played mr. shumate. this year’s month of the living dead is perhaps the best to date.
#29 by Nathan Shumate on November 1, 2007 - 9:06 pm
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AAAAGH! FLASHBACK! Damn you, Will!
#30 by Matthew Fudge on November 2, 2007 - 4:56 am
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It’s understandable in cheap movies, where the producers are looking to stretch things out to feature length, but when on some well funded corporate tv shows the cameras linger far too long on the act playing in the background you know somebody somewhere is promoting something.
….so are they Ninjas who were bitten by zombies, or zombies who were subsequently trained to be ninjas? Coz the latter would be harder I reckon….
“remember the ninja is silent as the wind”
“gaaaarraaahhh”
#31 by Nathan Shumate on November 2, 2007 - 5:58 am
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In the podcasted show “The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd,” in last year’s Halloween episode, the evil Dr. Steve lured Dr. Floyd (along with his protege Dr. Grant, and their faithful robot companion Chips) to a Japanese ninja graveyard, and raised an army of zombie ninjas.
…Who promptly fell apart when anyone struck them.
#32 by Blake Matthews on November 2, 2007 - 6:20 am
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I’m pretty sure Ninja Hunter, a Chinese movie, had a scene where the Chinese heroes fight corrosive zombies. However, I don’t think the ninjas were in the same scene. If you put “Ninja Hunter” in the search engine at YouTube, you can find it.
#33 by KeithA on November 2, 2007 - 11:32 am
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I do love Ninja Hunter, as I love pretty much every Alexander Lou film. And while there are certainly kungfu films with zombies in them (like KUNGFU ZOMBIE), and probably at least a couple instances of zombie ninjas (or ninja zombies), my primary shock comes from there not being even more of them. I guess ZOMBIE 3 did have that kickboxing zombie in a tight t-shirt…
#34 by Blake Matthews on November 2, 2007 - 1:45 pm
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Well, we’ll always have our zombie ninja from the climax of Ninja III: The Domination.
#35 by John Doe on November 2, 2007 - 5:49 pm
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the webcomic “Supermegatopia” had a story line where ninjas battled pirates and then became zombies. Does that count?
#36 by Braineater on November 2, 2007 - 7:36 pm
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Ninjas, pirates, zombies… hmmm… good stuff, but something’s missing here.
Ahh, yes: monkeys. Gotta have monkeys. Zombie ninja pirate monkeys. Preferably ROBOT zombie ninja pirate monkeys. Oh, but wait — “Scary Go Round” has probably done that already. Never mind.
#37 by Blake Matthews on November 2, 2007 - 7:38 pm
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A question for the philosophers: Why do monkeys have more entertainment value than many human actors?
#38 by Songino on November 2, 2007 - 8:51 pm
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Because monkeys…
1) are better on roller skates
2) can publicly smoke cigars with impunity
3) are more likely than most actors to fly into a violent, poop-flinging rage (although I’ve heard the weirdest stories about Brando)
#39 by lyzard on November 2, 2007 - 9:08 pm
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I am not generally into monkeys (I share somewhat Dr Freex’s resentment at the “Aww, monkey” expectation), but I thought I might take this opportunity to point out that the Buster Keaton film The Cameraman has THE – BEST – MONKEY – EVAH.
Although, granted, there’s no flinging….
#40 by The Rev. D.D. on November 26, 2007 - 10:01 am
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The webcomic Dr. McNinja had a couple of recent storylines where, first, a drug was introduced that gave anyone who used it ninja powers. Some of them ended up dead. Then, when Ben Franklin’s clone resurrected himself thanks to a special concoction he’d created, the rupture in the planes between life and death brought a lot of people back to life as zombies…including some of the ninjas.
Seriously.
Just go read it, it’s f’in’ awesome.