:D
How did I get into the fictitious town of Sunnydale? Why, SecondLife, of course! :)
Someone just a bit nerdier than I am (well, maybe not nerdier, per se, but they certainly have more money than I do) bought a sim and recreated Buffy's stomping grounds.
The did a pretty good job, too!
They built Sunnydale High -- including the quad, the lounge, the library and other areas seen in the TV show -- and the Magic Box and the Bronze (though it's a restricted area, which doesn't make sense since the fictional Bronze is a public meeting place), AND the built a working cinema, where you can go and watch actual movies FREE!!!
And you can guess what's showing now!
It's a really lucky break for me, too, because I'm a HUGE fan of Romero's Dead movies, and I've been waiting forever to see this one! I was excited a couple of years ago when Diary of the Dead came out, and even more excited when I read that Romero was going to keep making them! Rebooting the franchise -- by the guy who STARTED the franchise, no less -- was a stroke of genius to those of us who can't get enough Romero-zombie action!
AND, these newer movies are better than the first ones! Not to be blasphemous, but let's be honest: Romero was learning his craft for the first 30 years.
I mean, I love Night of the Living Dead, but I believe anyone who is honest with themselves will admit that its production fell a bit short of its potential. Great story, EXCELLENT concept, decent film.
Then there was the classic Dawn of the Dead, which is a much better movie! The pacing feels quite slow by today's standards, but that's because it was made in the 1970s. Film pacing didn't pick up to the fevered pitch it is now until the 1990s.
But seriously, I've never really been a fan of Day of the Dead. Great title, and I was excited to see it just because it was the long-awaited sequel to Dawn, but in the end it was pretty dull. There were some intriguing ideas but forth in it, but the action was well bland and the story was pretty laborious (it was pretty much people in a bunker, talking, until the huge zombie kill-fest at the end).
In my opinion, the Dead series REALLY came alive (please pardon the pun) with Land of the Dead!!! Finally, the production matched the vision, and the film was brilliant!!!
The only problem with Land was the question of where the hell does Romero go from there?!
His answer? Sheer brilliance! Go back to the beginning! Start from Zero Hour and continue forward again.
AND, Romero decided to make the new batch of Dead films as an independent, like he did with Night! Dead flicks are about characters dealing with the loss of Society, so you really don't need a huge budget. Talented "no-names" can deliver their roles just as well as expensive stars! And the cost of special effects and special makeup effects have come way, way down in the last 2 decades! Back during Night and Dawn, Romero and Tom Savini and everyone were creating the Special Effects field! Now it's just another department, like wardrobe or props, on a production. And though there used to only be one Tom Savini, now there are generations who grew up learning from him! AND, they're entering the field with newer, easier and more effective (not to mention cost-effective) methods than what Savini had at his disposal! :D
So I thought Diary of the Dead was an awesome restart, and I was dying to see how Survival of the Dead would follow up...
My verdict? SUPERIOR!!! It's a great flick! Never boring! Fascinating! Scary, natch! :D
AND I GOT TO SEE IT IN SUNNYDALE!!! lol
That is, in my opinion, a really cool way to spend a couple of hours! It fed my freak-fix in so many ways! :D
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