03-22-2010, 09:27 PM
Well, seeing as how I'm working with the crew for SAW 7 that created the 'Make-Up Effects' for George's new 'Dead' opus, I was treated to a mint screening of 'SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD' Friday night. Despite the fact that MOST of the blood and gore in it were done with CGI, I must say that I actually really enjoyed the film. I really had a hard time getting through 'DIARY OF THE DEAD'. It wasn't my cup of tea at all, so I was bracing myself when I began watching 'Survival'. After seeing it, I can say that I thought the story was great, and very symbolic of what's happening in our world today, in regards to the war going on in the middle east. Like George has told me before, and has stated many times in various interviews; The zombies could be airplanes crashing into buildings. They're not the heart of the story. The heart of the story are the characters who are facing this problem, whatever it may be (in George's films, they're zombies of course, lol), and how they react and try to overcome it.Because of the fact that this film was extremely low budget, and shot within a very tight time frame, there simply wasn't enough time to use squibs for every bullet hit. It was easier to add the hits later in post production. Having said that however, there were a few gags in the film that not only 'could have' been done with practical effects, but 'SHOULD HAVE' been done with practical effects. Especially at the beginning where a zombie get's his head blown right off, and the bloody thing is done in CGI. I might also add that the CGI isn't great. Again, I know that it was due to financial reasons, but when it's CGI and looks like crap, it sort of ruins it for us die-hard Romero fans, as it can stop looking like a Romero movie after awhile. Being a die-hard Romero fan, I really tried to look past it and understand that George had many restraints when doing this film, if he was going to do it HIS way. He's still a fan of, and much prefers practical Make-Up Effects over CGI, but like I said, with only so much money, you can do only so much practical guts and gore.The zombie 'make-ups' are pretty good. Mind you, this film takes place shortly after 'Diary', so we're still roughly at the 'beginning' of it all. It also takes place primarily on an island, so they're aren't thousands of zombies in this one.At some points in the film, the acting is a little hokey, and some scenes where the sh*t is hitting the fan, some of the characters seem to be standing in the backround, doing nothing, only to react AFTER someone has been bitten, etc. Could have been choreographed better.Overall, I really enjoyed it. MUCH better than the last one, imho. I DO hope though, that George's next film will be 'zombie-free', as I've had my fill for now. <img src=\"style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/biggrin.gif\" style=\"vertical-align:middle\" emoid=\":biggrin:\" border=\"0\" alt=\"biggrin.gif\" /> -A
