10. [REC]
9. City of the Living Dead
8. Tombs of the Blind Dead (Tombs of the Blind Dead, Return of the Blind Dead, The Ghost Galleon and Night of the Seagulls)
7. Dawn of the Dead (2004 Remake)
6. Zombie
5. The Beyond
4. Return of the Living Dead
3. Dead Alive (Brain Dead)
2. Shaun of the Dead
1. Romero’s Dead Films (most importantly, Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, but Land of the Dead isn’t a bad entry – it’s growing on me over the years).
You’ll note I don’t include zombie movies where the zombie is a worm (Night of the Creeps, Slither) or a disease (28 Days/Weeks Later). Consider those honorable mentions, with an unwritten Zombieland as number 11 and Dead Snow as number 12. Go rent some movies this Halloween. Next week – Vampires!
Now let’s look at this week’s releases, which really just boils down to one for the kids and one for the kid’s at heart.
Mortal Kombat: Legacy II – The web series reboot gets a disc media release, just in time for the sequel.
Mr. Peabody & Sherman – One of my favorite things is this cartoon. I haven’t the heart to watch this movie. I will, but, it may take some time.
My Darling Clementine – Criterion seems to be putting one a title a week. This glorious western is this week’s addition to the spine list.
Venus in Fur – Roman Polanski keeps pumping out interesting films specifically meant to cause tongues to wag. This adaptation of the David Ives play Emmanuelle Seigner and Mathieu Amalric is apparently a whiz-bang that I can’t wait to check out.
Whitey – Joe Berlinger doc about notorious Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger is coming to disc if you didn’t catch it on its run on CNN.
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Bryan Singer’s latest sequel in his highly successful X-Men franchise pulls in elements of the First Class film making for an interesting coda and reboot to the series as a whole. If you’re a fan of the X-Men films, this one is fun. If not, you’ll want to see the originals first because there is a lot of “inside baseball” references going on.
Steven Spielberg Director’s Collection – This box set collects what amounts to Spielberg’s audience favorites, leaving out most of his critical darlings. In other words, look for Jaws, Sugerland Express and Jurassic Park. Don’t look for Munich, War Horse or Color Purple.
Blu-Ray Reissues – Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, China Syndrome, The Deer Hunter, Juan of the Dead
TV Releases of Note – 2 Broke Girls: Season 3, Courage the Cowardly Dog: Season 2, Dracula: Season 1, Penny Dreadful: Season 1, Robot Chicken Dc Special 2: Villains in Paradise
Yeah, so Peabody and X-Men is what this week is really about. Come back next week and we’ll look at some great vampire films and go from there. Until then: keep spinnin’ those discs,
– Todd Doogan