June is almost upon us and that means it is time for me to get serious about finishing the list of movies for the June Zombie Movie Marathon Month festival. I had hoped to have the entire list done by now but for a variety of reasons — scheduling conflicts, inability to confirm that movies will be available, indecision — I haven’t been able to do so. I have come up with a preliminary list of definite movies to watch (although not the when, for the most part), a couple of themes to explore and a handful of “maybes.” Now I am taking commentary from you fine readers. Help me decide!
My two themes are five days each of Italy and Japan. Italy has proven to be the easier of these, and comprises most of my “definite” list. Japan is a little trickier and I may put it to a vote next week (about time I used that poll for something, anyway). Apart from that there are a few seminal films that I have managed to not see yet and a few my daughter has managed to not see yet and those comprise the rest of what is definite.
Here’s what I have nailed down, some with commentary:
- Zombie (30th anniversary! I’m doing a free showing of this)
- Nightmare City
- Hell of the Living Dead
- Zombie 3 (Because Lucio Fulci worked on it briefly)
- Burial Grounds: Nights of Terror
- Versus
- Tokyo Zombie
- Plan 9 from Outer Space
- Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things
- Return of the Living Dead (daughter has never seen it!)
Here’s the stuff I am considering, but haven’t settled on:
- Dead Set (okay, it’s a TV miniseries, but still a moving picture show)
- American Zombie
- Mutant
- I Walked with a Zombie
- Messiah of Evil
- Night of the Living Dead (1990) (Haven’t seen this in years, like since it was fairly new)
- Pet Sematary (ditto)
- Onechanbara
- Grapes of Death
- Zombie Honeymoon
Okay, that’s where things stand at the moment. I’ve got ten nailed down, ten strong possibilities and a whole, long list of other stuff that I haven’t decided on. Comments and suggestions are welcome and encouraged.
Pet Semetary creeped me out BIG TIME with that wee little Gage and Zelda. Who names a kid Zelda, anyway??
I have not seen most of the movies on your list. I am looking forward to reading your reviews..Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things has me intrigued.
Dead Set is a must, though I think we’ve talked about it before.
Night Of The Living Dead ’90 is a good idea, I should rewatch that too.
OneChanbara, absolutely! Although I suggest you might feel more comfortable watching it with a video game controller in your hand.
@Biddie Yeah, you should see reviews for all 30 of the films, eventually. It will take me a while to work through them all. I will probably do some short, preliminary “reaction” blogs on some of them in the meantime, so that by the end of the fest I will have some kind of blog on each one of the films.
I’m thinking that even if Pet Sematary doesn’t make it on the main list, it will be an alternate. I’ve come to realize I will need an alternate list, in case something falls through, or a disc skips or other weird extenuating circumstances occur.
And Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things is considered a minor classic — no children in it though, just hippies, so don’t get to excited.
@Jay The issue with Dead Set is I would probably want to watch the whole thing in a night, and during the festival that’s a pretty big commitment. It’s five hour-long episodes, right? That’s a marathon in itself. Maybe if I watch it over a weekend…
Okay, your recommendation definitely moves OneChanbara to “very likely” for the Japanese week. And maybe JUNK too.
Chopper Chicks In Zombie Town! Trust Me you have to see it.
@Linzoid I have, actually. Here’s my review
I think I need to put up a review list somewhere on the site…
Diary of the Dead is an underrated film and my most favorite of George Romero’s recent zombie films.
Zombie Strippers, just because it’s a hilariously bad movie.
@William: I also really like Diary of the Dead. As a matter of fact, I saw it for the first time last year to kick off our first zombie movie marathon! It was my favorite of the month, partly because it was so new. I’ve cooled on it some since, but still hold it in high regard. Maybe I will find a place for it this time, too.
@Anon That’s the second recommendation for Zombie Strippers … it’s officially on my radar (I’m gathering comments in a multitude of places). Thanks for the input!
re-animator, and evil dead II. those are definitely my favorite of the genre that aren’t on the list.
Hey man,
About Dead Set. The first ep is about 45 mins and the next five are less than 30 mins each. The whole thing is less than three hours. You’ll burn through it, TRUST ME!
And I agree with William, Diary is unduly shit on.
@Michael I adore Evil Dead II but I hesitate to call it a zombie movie. More like a demonic possession/splatstick movie. It’s actually an interesting argument and one I intend to tackle at some point. I am leaning toward possibly including Reanimator, too.
@Jay Looks like Dead Set is going to make it. And maybe I should schedule in Diary, to get some Romero in there (and because it kicked off the festival last year?)