George A. Romero's Dead series

[x7q3]

What are your opinions on this series? Your favorite and least favorite movies?

The series is: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead (1985), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007), and Survival of the Dead (2009).

In my opinion, the series failed after Land of the Dead. Diary and Survival were plain awful.

Night of the Living Dead... not much to be said. It is considered a classic. Dawn of the Dead is like one epic party movie, it has horror and humor and gore, it's just a fun movie to watch. Day is a dark and talkative movie, but it still has great things about it, Land has a lot of action and gore. I've owned the first 4 movies on DVD for years now. I don't own Diary or Survival, no way.

Your thoughts on this series?

[Requiem187]

My favorite has to be "Dawn Of The Dead". I remember first coming across the 2 VHS European cut at a local library and being blown away at the young age of 7...Sadly, other than the amazing anchor bay ultimate edition on DVD... the movie at least in the united states hasn't gotten the ultimate edition Blu-ray it truly deserves.

I often wonder what George Romero would have put out if he didn't, unfortunately, pass away and The Walking Dead also interfere in the filmmaking process.

I know there was "Empire Of The Dead" being adapted for AMC as a series and also "Road Of The Dead"...Another future entry in his Living Dead Saga.

I Guess we may never know.

One thing I actually do know though is those Direct To Video sequels that had nothing to do with George Romero didn't do the series justice. How many Day Of The Dead sequels and remakes do we even need these days?.

[MassiveMovieBuff]

Night of the Living Dead (1968) is a classic IMHO and my favorite zombie film in general next to the excellent (and FAR superior) Dawn of the Dead remake.

I've never been a fan of Dawn of the Dead (1978) very unfortunately. It's just really silly and boring with bad acting and special effects IMHO. I've watched it 4 times in hopes that I would warm to it but it just never happened sadly. I've really wanted to like it. Oh well.

I've really warmed to Day of the Dead (1985) though and it's my second favorite of Romero's Dead series. I flat out love the score as well!

I also really enjoy the underrated Land of the Dead. Great cast who are all a lot of fun especially Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo. I love the cinematography too.

I haven't had a desire to see the rest after Land of the Dead. I'm really shocked how they all became direct to video fare.

[oilers73]

The best is Dawn, and I have only recently begun to appreciate it. Don't think I'll ever get used to the "melted crayon blood" (Savini's words), or forgive the pie fight.

I don't care for any of the other Romero/Dead films. I know he was working with low budgets, but surely he could have found better actors/actresses.

[DR Herbert West]

1. Dawn Of the Dead
2. Day of the Dead
3. Night of the Living Dead


4. Land Of the Dead
5. Survival of the Dead
6. Diary of the Dead

[darkness2918]

My favorite is Day of the Dead & my least favorite is actually Night of the Living Dead. Watched it for the first time ever sometime last year I think & just couldn't get into it. I much prefer the 1990 remake.

Day of the Dead
Dawn of the Dead
Land of the Dead
Diary of the Dead
Survival of the Dead
Night of the Living Dead

[Steedeel]

Dawn Of The Dead
Day O The Dead
NOTLD (90’s version)
NOTLD

The rest I didn’t care for.

I love Zombie films. My first was Creeping Flesh, followed by Flesh Eaters.

[BladeRunner2007]

Dawn of the Dead is not only my all-time favorite zombie & horror movie, I also think it's genuinely the best zombie & horror movie ever made. Doesn't matter which of the 3 official versions. They are all epic in their own right. If I had to choose only one though, I'd settle for the US Theatrical Version. That one is my favorite. I could write an entire book about how great this movie is, but I'll just stop here. Dawn of the Dead's rewatchability is just infinite.

Night of the Living Dead is the 2nd best in the series imo. It's got some truly iconic and terrifying moments. Also a great atmosphere. Tends to drag a little in the middle, but the constant sense of dread, the legendary beginning and extremely bleak ending make up for that. In a way, this movie feels truly timeless in its b/w presentation and overall themes.

Last but not least is Day of the Dead. I think it's equally as great as NOTLD, but I really have to be in the right mood and mindset to watch this movie. It's an extremely dark, depressing and talkative movie, which is why it's not an "easy watch" imo. That's why I rank it last in the original trilogy. It's not as rewatchable as the other two films.

Land of the Dead is a pretty good movie, but I have one big problem with it: it feels to Hollywood. Romero has always been that independent filmmaker, who made small, confined movies with great atmosphere and interesting subtexts and themes. Land feels like a studio influenced, shallow copy cat of Romero's legendary style imo.

Diary of the Dead is a small, low budget movie. Something Romero knows very well. He tried something new with the found footage aspect and it worked quite well 12 years ago. But after recents viewings, I have to say the found footage approach gets old really quick. It's social subtext is also not subtle at all. It hits you like a sledgehammer. Maybe the worst in the series.

Survival of the Dead. Well, I'll be honest here. I might enjoy this one the most out of the new trilogy. It is a small, low budget, independent movie and Romero's direction is very old school in this one. It's a new movie, done the old fashion. Which makes it very interesting to watch imo. I also liked how much humor he put into this one. The CGI effects are crap, sure. But it all feel so tongue-in-cheek, which is why it doesn't reall bother me that much. The Western elements are also pretty cool. Really liked the music in this one, too.

1) Dawn of the Dead
2) Night of the Living Dead
3) Day of the Dead
4) Survival of the Dead
5) Land of the Dead
6) Diary of the Dead

[Zillamon51]

I love all the films in the OG trilogy, with Dawn being one of my all-time favorite films. Land (a continuation of the previous three) is good. Diary is a reboot that a lot of people hate, but I think it's decent. It is already very dated, though. Survival is easily the worst. It's so bad, it contends with ersatz knockoffs like Children of the Living Dead and the Day of the Dead remake.

[stvn1974]

Night Of The Living Dead and Dawn Of The Dead are masterpieces of not just horror but film in general. Day Of The Dead while not as good as the first two it is still a solid 3/5. I remember liking Land Of The Dead at the time. Haven't seen the others. To be honest I have never been a zombie fan. I don't like gore and zombies and gore go hand in hand.

[klauswhereareyou]

1.Dawn of the Dead
2.Night of the Living Dead
3.Day of the Dead
4.Land of the Dead
5.Survival of the Dead
6.Diary of the Dead

Even though I ranked Diary the lowest, I still like enough of it to not dislike it.

[drush9999]

The original trilogy is the best

Land of the Dead is passable.

The last two were dire.

[GuruAskew]

Originally Posted by Zillamon51

I love all the films in the OG trilogy, with Dawn being one of my all-time favorite films. Land (a continuation of the previous three) is good. Diary is a reboot that a lot of people hate, but I think it's decent. It is already very dated, though. Survival is easily the worst. It's so bad, it contends with ersatz knockoffs like Children of the Living Dead and the Day of the Dead remake.

Diary isn’t a reboot. They all take place on a floating timeline. Dawn, Day and Land all have stuff like fashion and technology that shouldn’t really exist after the events of Night. It GAR had made Diary before Dawn he woulda had everyone running around shooting on 8mm but he didn’t make it before Dawn.

[CinemaBlu]

1-Dawn
2-Night
3-Land
4-Day
5-Diary

Still haven't seen Survival of the Dead.

I also love the Savini remake of Night of the Living Dead (possibly more than the original), but I'm not really a fan of the Dawn of the Dead remake. I don't like zombie movies where the zombies can run.

[Bobbyjoe766]

1) Night (1968) / Dawn (1978).

2) Day (1985).


I have no interest in the others. I saw Land and disliked it.

[Zillamon51]

Originally Posted by GuruAskew

Diary isn’t a reboot. They all take place on a floating timeline. Dawn, Day and Land all have stuff like fashion and technology that shouldn’t really exist after the events of Night. It GAR had made Diary before Dawn he woulda had everyone running around shooting on 8mm but he didn’t make it before Dawn.

Yes, Diary is a reboot. (And Survival is a sequel that follows one of the characters after those events.) While Dawn - Land are all contemporary to the times they were made in, they all take place in a world already infested with the living dead. Like Night, Diary explicitly shows the dead rising for the first time.

[SymbioticFunction]

I used to own all six entries on blu-ray but I got rid of Diary and Survival a few months ago. Decided that I was only keeping those two films for the sake of it. Diary was just average at best and Survival was quite a dodgy film imo. In future, I'll just keep Night, Dawn, Day and Land.

[CinemaBlu]

I should point out that I put Diary of the Dead last on my list, but that's only because I like the others better. I actually like Diary a lot. It's still better than most of the other zombie films out there. It's also not just a narrative reboot, but a modern return to really low budget independent filmmaking that Romero started the series with. It's a film I really admire.

[Todd Tomorrow]

1. Dawn
2. Night
3. Day
4. Land
5. Survival
6. Diary

[GuruAskew]

Originally Posted by Zillamon51

Yes, Diary is a reboot. (And Survival is a sequel that follows one of the characters after those events.) While Dawn - Land are all contemporary to the times they were made in, they all take place in a world already infested with the living dead. Like Night, Diary explicitly shows the dead rising for the first time.

That doesn’t make it a reboot. It’s the same dead rising as in Night. Romero just didn’t care to make it a period piece.

Dawn is supposedly only weeks after Night but it’s clearly a different decade. Romero just didn’t care about that sort of thing. He could have had everyone wearing 60s hairstyles and clothes in Dawn, Day and Land. He could have had the Diary characters using 8mm cameras. He didn’t though.

This floating timeline thing is common in books and comics. It happened in the pre-Craig Bond movies. If Marvel published a recap of Spider-Man’s origins right now they’d have him using a cellphone and using a tablet or computer in school. Romero wanted to tell a story that took place close to the zombie outbreak but he wanted to use a modern found-footage aesthetic. That doesn’t make it a reboot, especially when there was other chronological weirdness previously. The only difference is that he went back in the chronology instead of forward.