The Ending.

[Steve-O]

yeah, I think all that "social commentary" stuff is completely accidental or purhaps "Rorschach"ed on to the film. I've heard in interviews that Romero didn't really have a black lead in mind when writing the script, Duane Jones just happened to be the best of the actors that auditioned for the part.

I've heard the same.  I suspect that at least some of the social commentary was accidental -- although the key statement on the breakdown of human relationships in times of extreme stress was clearly intentional.  Even so, it was a pretty ballsy move to cast Jones in the lead role.

The depressing ending is pretty standard in the zombie movie genre. There's just something kind of "right" about it

Before Night of the Living Dead, I don't think there actually were standards for the zombie movie genre.  NotLD set most of them.

[BBQ Platypus]

I do like the 1990 remake though.  Its pretty well done.

The first Return of the Living is pretty good too.

Send...more...paramedics!

You know, this is actually a pretty good movie.  Although Mike is right, most of it consists of extremely boring conversations.  And carpentery.  Might be the weakest Rifftrax I've listened to so far on account of that.  But I did laugh.  Just not as hard as I laughed at Roadhouse, xXx, and Plan Nine.

[mkiker]

My problem with the ending of NOTLD is that it doesn't fit the movie. Ben was a strong character, a survivor. Then all of sa sudden he isn't anymore. That's also why 90 percent of big movies need a happy ending, movies follow a character improving so then a happy ending is only logical.

[AmazingThor]

I read a comic once that took up the story from Barbara's perspective. She snapped back into reality when her brother grabbed her and then went on a zombie-bashing spree. Did anyone else catch that one?

[davo]

i liked the ending. 

Well maybe im just a sucker for happy ending.  Forget i said anything. Maybe im just use to movies like Jurassic Park were Samuel L. Jackson and the fat guy from Seinfeld get eaten and the rest get off the island alive. I dont think the ending was bad or anything. But i guess when you watch movie after movie with the same Clich?. Its kinda of a shock when a movie dose something totally different.

i really liked jurassic park,but it was unforgivable that the zookeeper gets eaten and the head of the park gets away.  the zookeeper was literally the only guy who fully understood what they were dealing with... (read the book :-)

What's worse is that version is what most video shops have.

I like the ending but then I also love Miracle Mile and other apocalypse-style movies.

nice! i liked that movie!

[Bob]

Yeah, i can only think of a couple zombie movies (Shaun of the Dead-comedy so it had to have one , 28 Days and Land of the Dead) that had "happy endings".     Wonder why that is?   And Zombie movies has had so little innovation.   The non-thinking, slow moving zombie just is not scary.   That is why I like the remake of Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later so much...... fast moving scary zombies.    When escaping the monster involves no more than walking slightly faster than the zombie...... not scary.

The only sad part of the ending of Land of the Dead was that Asia Argento was never topless.

[Winterkid]

There is a First Person Shooter based on Land of the Dead.  VERY fun game, but I can't really recommend buying it as it's a game affiliated with Universal Studios, and I'm sort of in the middle of a boycott of them right now.  At least until december.

[pyro]

ending was perfect to me......


But is Peter Jackson's "Bad Taste" considered a zombie movie?  I fell asleep during about 15-20 minutes while watching it so I may have missed something, but it seems like the people are infact zombies...  yet somehow related to the aliens...  But I guess it could be considered a happy ending when the guy goes off to destroy that planet.

[MrTorso]

ending was perfect to me......


But is Peter Jackson's "Bad Taste" considered a zombie movie?  I fell asleep during about 15-20 minutes while watching it so I may have missed something, but it seems like the people are infact zombies...  yet somehow related to the aliens...  But I guess it could be considered a happy ending when the guy goes off to destroy that planet.

Aliens actually. They come to Earth to kill humans and use them as fast food!  Fun movie!!

[pyro]

Heh, I forgot about the fast food part but what was going on with the humans that were still technically alive?  The opening chase scene where the guy's walking away from a person who seems sorta like a zombie, plus all the other people like that throughout it...

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

Happy or sad, what makes an ending good is that it ties up loose ends and brings the story to a meaningful conclusion. Anticlimactic deaths are just a way of looking deep and "realistic". 

What's original (or at least unusual) in a horror movie is having one character survive. None is overdone, and there are plenty with two.

[Steve-O]

What's original (or at least unusual) in a horror movie is having one character survive.

Unusual?

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Friday the 13th.  A Nightmare on Elm Street.  Halloween.  Alien.  Scream.  Evil Dead.  Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

Though, I'll admit, these films are pretty obscure...

None is overdone, and there are plenty with two.

You could make a case that having nobody survive is overdone in 2007, but I think you'd have a hard time finding many -- if any -- horror movies in which everybody dies prior to 1968.

[Sharktopus]

What's original (or at least unusual) in a horror movie is having one character survive.

Unusual?

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  Friday the 13th.  A Nightmare on Elm Street.  Halloween.  Alien.  Scream.  Evil Dead.  Invasion of the Body Snatchers.

That all depends on how you count. In Halloween, Jamie Lee Curtis, Donald Pleasance, and the two kids survive, although you never really fear for the kids. I guess the rule would be to count the survivors from those who had the possibly of dying, thus Halloween has two "survivors." By that rule, Alien might also have two survivors, since you pretty much spend the whole movie hoping the alien doesn't get the cat. With Scream, I might also count Courtney Cox and David Arquette for three survivors, although my memory of the first movie's a little sketchy. Were they in any danger in the first one?

And Invasion of The Body Snatchers is in a whole different league, but for our purposes the entire world, or at least North America, is in danger. Plus,  the ending is open to speculation.

[Steve-O]

I guess the rule would be to count the survivors from those who had the possibly of dying, thus Halloween has two "survivors."

Weeelll, I'd say that Dr. Loomis is never in any real danger, save for the bit where Michael steals the car near the beginning.  In the first film, there's never any doubt that he's the hunter rather than the hunted, so I didn't put him in the potential victims pool.

With Scream, I might also count Courtney Cox and David Arquette for three survivors, although my memory of the first movie's a little sketchy. Were they in any danger in the first one?

You know, I have a vague memory of seeing Scream and being pleasantly surprised that it wasn't pure shit, but beyond that, I have little recollection of the movie.  I do seem to recall that the Cox-Arquette acting powerhouse were too supporting cast to be potential victims in the first movie.

And Invasion of The Body Snatchers is in a whole different league, but for our purposes the entire world, or at least North America, is in danger. Plus,  the ending is open to speculation.

I've always thought it was pretty cut and dried, what with the howling and the look of dismay and all.

Anyway, a lot of horror movie endings are somewhat open to speculation -- hell, a case could be made that Barbara somehow survives in NOTLD -- but to call the "one survives" scenario unusual is to ignore the existence of two decades worth of slasher films.

[BEERxTaco]

I do like the 1990 remake though.  Its pretty well done.

Was that the one with the hot redhead cast in the black guy's role? I saw that on Monstervision with Joe Bob Briggs (John Bloom) years ago... that was a nice weekend movie series, naturally TNT dropped it.