I have a deep and consuming love for zombie movies but, paradoxically, I only love three. I mean, 28 Days Later is ok. So is the remake of Dawn of the Dead (except for that gratuitous and completely idiotic birth scene). But I think having fully ambulatory zombies who can run is cheating. It's a lot harder to terrify the audience with a slow moving horde, and it's also a lot of fun to watch the resulting hubris that causes the living to fail.
The only three I love are Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, and Return of the Living Dead. I like how the first two combine the nightmare with social commentary. And I like how the third chooses instead to pit the zombies against a car load of 80's stereotypes.
Here's a nice scene from that movie where Rick James and two white guys chat with a torso they've chopped in half.
Return of the Living Dead has a fantastic soundtrack, too. And this week's entry kicks off with a song from that. There are other songs about zombies, including the odd "Night of the Living Dead Trading Cards" by Black Spot. They're a fun band. It's the lead singer of Rifle Sport who, apparently, wished he were actually singing for Ratt.
Anyway. Here it is.
Side A
1. Cramps - Surfin Dead
2. Air Miami - I Hate Milk
3. Bert Kaempfert - Mambo Mania
4. Blind Lemon Jefferson - See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
5. Dead Moon - Dead Moon Night
6. Jeffrey Lewis - If you Shoot the Head You Kill the Ghoul
7. African Head Charge - Beriberi
8. Marie Laforet - Marie Douceur, Marie Colere
9. Flesh Eaters - We'll Never Die
10. The Mob - Give It To Me
11. Whale - Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe
12. Hank Ray & Thee Executioneers - Outlaw Kill
13. Beat Happening - Zombie Limbo Time
Side B
1. Mekons - Big Zombie
2. Amazombies - Walked Away
3. Eugene McDaniels - Supermarket Blues
4. Bonde Do Role - Geremia
5. Q-Tip - Vivrant Thing
6. Roky Erickson - I Walked With A Zombie
7. The Gossip - Drunken Maria
8. Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow Is Born
9. Tex and the Horseheads - Oh Mother
10. Chrome - Zombie Warfare
11. Retribution Gospel Choir - Breaker
12. The Zombie Surfers - Surfin' Zombie
13. Black Spot - Night of the Living Dead Trading Cards
14. Unknown - The Gonk
1. Cramps - Surfin Dead
2. Air Miami - I Hate Milk
3. Bert Kaempfert - Mambo Mania
4. Blind Lemon Jefferson - See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
5. Dead Moon - Dead Moon Night
6. Jeffrey Lewis - If you Shoot the Head You Kill the Ghoul
7. African Head Charge - Beriberi
8. Marie Laforet - Marie Douceur, Marie Colere
9. Flesh Eaters - We'll Never Die
10. The Mob - Give It To Me
11. Whale - Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe
12. Hank Ray & Thee Executioneers - Outlaw Kill
13. Beat Happening - Zombie Limbo Time
Side B
1. Mekons - Big Zombie
2. Amazombies - Walked Away
3. Eugene McDaniels - Supermarket Blues
4. Bonde Do Role - Geremia
5. Q-Tip - Vivrant Thing
6. Roky Erickson - I Walked With A Zombie
7. The Gossip - Drunken Maria
8. Pretty Things - S.F. Sorrow Is Born
9. Tex and the Horseheads - Oh Mother
10. Chrome - Zombie Warfare
11. Retribution Gospel Choir - Breaker
12. The Zombie Surfers - Surfin' Zombie
13. Black Spot - Night of the Living Dead Trading Cards
14. Unknown - The Gonk
Here.
