John Carpenter Says "The Walking Dead" is 'Milking' George Romero's Work

[simbob4000]

Dude, I am talking hard facts, and you are positing hypotheticals... Facts can be verified, hypotheticals are pure conjecture and cannot be verified. They are guesswork. There is no way anyone can say for certain one way or the other if TWD would have happened if not for a smattering of Zombie projects that came before it. And I am not saying which way it would have come out either... But there is no denying that since TWD hit, there has been a major increase in the number of Zombie films, TV and literature, as well as Zombie merchandise, costumes, makeup etc...

As for your suggestion that there were more Zombie projects being made before the Walking Dead then after... That is almost comical. But again... you will distort the facts to fit your hypothetical when everyone knows that TWD is the main driving force behind the popularity of Zombies now.

I'm talking hard fact, you're putting stuff from I don't know where. It's a fact that the critically acclaimed and box office hit that was 28 Days Later gave rise to the zombie boom that would go across not only movies, but also books and video games, and eventually find its way onto television YEARS after the fact. The Walking Dead was just riding a wave that had been going on pretty strong for a number of years before it ever aired, and comic hits a year into this wave being a thing.

No, you can pretty easily just look it up, there was more zombie stuff being made in, say, 2009 than there was last year.

[Jaylarue]

I do find it odd that John Carpenter is criticising the Walking Dead when he and Debra Hill are responsible for igniting a whole genre of horror. Halloween started the slasher flick craze which continues today. Friday the 13th: movies and a TV series, comics. Nightmare on Elm Street: movies and comics. Scream: movies and now TV. Alien. Aliens. ... Saw. The list goes on and on and on. I think you can attribute the success of almost any horror movie today because of Halloween. Just saying!

In fact, you could even say that the Walking Dead is actually milking his success as well, in a round-a-bout way.

[zhris]

I'm talking hard fact, you're putting stuff from I don't know where. It's a fact that the critically acclaimed and box office hit that was 28 Days Later gave rise to the zombie boom...

It's a fact that that is your opinion. It made good box office and has a decent rating, but I don't really see it as genre-defining or ground-breaking. If your criteria is "there are more zombie movies after than there were before", then you could easily make the same claim for Resident Evil, which also came out in 2002.

And before the "But RE wasn't zombies!", neither was 28DL. The Rage Virus didn't kill it's host. they were just Very Angry People.

[Totoro Man]

I added release dates to the quote above. All those were minor and spread out over a ten year period before TWD. After the Walking Dead we are getting overlapping multiple Zombie projects. So I stand by my assertion that TWD reinvigorated a genre that was struggling to be popular.

and that contradicts what I wrote... how?

I never saw "the Walking Dead" as the start of some pop-culture wave, I considered it a sign that the wave was reaching it's peak. I think we're at a high-point for zombies in pop-culture that's not too different from the prominence of the Western in the 1950s and 1960s.

I only picked the two most successful zombie films from 2009. there were at least a dozen more obscure films with zombies that were released in the same year.

I did, after all, say that 'The Walking Dead' was part of a larger pop-culture 'wave'. waves gain mass and momentum as they move forward. obviously TWD helped push the genre forward. but to completely dismiss the dozens of films prior to the TWD premiering on television, as you seem to do, is to take the show's success completely out of context.

unlike simbob4000 I don't actually dismiss the success of TWD out of hand. are you conflating simbob's categorical dismissal of TWD with my suggestion that TWD is merely part of a larger cultural trend?

as a side-note, Mike Allred worked on a comic with a feisty reanimated corpse (Madman) long before working on iZombie with Chris Roberson. the comic is already conceptually connected to his previous work. even if TWD never existed I'm fairly confident that iZombie would have happened anyway. (but, hey, I could be totally wrong on that one. it just wouldn't surprise me)

[simbob4000]

It's a fact that that is your opinion. It made good box office and has a decent rating, but I don't really see it as genre-defining or ground-breaking. If your criteria is "there are more zombie movies after than there were before", then you could easily make the same claim for Resident Evil, which also came out in 2002.

And before the "But RE wasn't zombies!", neither was 28DL. The Rage Virus didn't kill it's host. they were just Very Angry People.

No, it's not my opinion, it's what was happening and being said at the time. The movie did extremely well for what it cost, was a big hit with critics, and was very big with audiences at the time. It is very much the reason a big movie studio came along and spent some money to remake Dawn of the Dead, and that movie is very much why the exact same studio gave Romero money to do a new Dead movie.

I did say Resident Evil was part of it before. It probably wasn't as big of a part of it, but it can't really be overlooked that it also came out the same year.

[The Cool Thatguy]

Ya know, given the current stagnate state of horror movies/genre (see: Cabin in the Woods), I think it's fair to say that every horror writer is milking it

[simbob4000]

Ya know, given the current stagnate state of horror movies/genre (see: Cabin in the Woods), I think it's fair to say that every horror writer is milking it

There are plenty of great horror movies coming up every year, Cabin in the Woods not being one of them. Green Room just came out in April, and it's one of the better horror movies that's been made.

[The Cool Thatguy]

There are plenty of great horror movies coming up every year, Cabin in the Woods not being one of them. Green Room just came out in April, and it's one of the better horror movies that's been made.

When I cited Cabin in the Woods, I was referring to how rigid and stagnate/played out the horror tropes are.

[simbob4000]

When I cited Cabin in the Woods, I was referring to how rigid and stagnate/played out the horror tropes are.

Only Cabin in the Woods doesn't make that point, it tries I guess, but it sucks so much that it can't do it. The movie doesn't know enough about horror for anything it's trying to say to actually land, none of the horror or comedy derived from trying to make a point about horror is done will enough to say anything about anything.

[Phil Clark]

I'm talking hard fact, ...

No, you weren't. You said that if not for the movies that came directly before it, that TWD would never have made it to air. That was your EXACT point that I was responding to. And that is hypothetical. There is no way anyone can quantify whether or not TWD would or would not have made it to air based on what had come before it.

But it can be quantified that SINCE TWD hit, there has been an explosion in the occurrence of Zombie fiction AND the popularity of Zombie fiction. You may not like TWD, but you cannot (legitimately) argue the fact that since TWD went to air, Zombies are more popular than they have EVER been.

[simbob4000]

No, you weren't. You said that if not for the movies that came directly before it, that TWD would never have made it to air. That was your EXACT point that I was responding to. And that is hypothetical. There is no way anyone can quantify whether or not TWD would or would not have made it to air based on what had come before it.

But it can be quantified that SINCE TWD hit, there has been an explosion in the occurrence of Zombie fiction AND the popularity of Zombie fiction. You may not like TWD, but you cannot (legitimately) argue the fact that since TWD went to air, Zombies are more popular than they have EVER been.

Only there wasn't an explosion of zombie stuff when The Walking Dead came on, the explosion started YEARS before that tv show was even a thing. What the hell is this explosion you're even talking about? You said there was a major increase in zombie movies after TWD. Well, what are this movies? I'm having a hard time even seeing how anyone could honestly say there was an explosion of zombie stuff, you either just don't know what you're talking about, or you're just intentionally being dishonest.

Given The Walking Dead's seeming lack of any kind of pop culture impact, it wouldn't really be too hard to make a point that zombies aren't more popular than ever before. The show is big, so what, it's seen by lots of people but there are a few shows seen by tons of people that seemingly have no impact.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Only there wasn't an explosion of zombie stuff when The Walking Dead came on, the explosion started YEARS before that tv show was even a thing. What the hell is this explosion you're even talking about? You said there was a major increase in zombie movies after TWD. Well, what are this movies? I'm having a hard time even seeing how anyone could honestly say there was an explosion of zombie stuff, you either just don't know what you're talking about, or you're just intentionally being dishonest.

Given The Walking Dead's seeming lack of any kind of pop culture impact, it wouldn't really be too hard to make a point that zombies aren't more popular than ever before. The show is big, so what, it's seen by lots of people but there are a few shows seen by tons of people that seemingly have no impact.

Hold on ? Were talking about a show thats inspired porn parodies , a toy line , a spin-off TV series , national conversation each time someone is killed , something big related at Comic Con each year , and now has a theme park attraction ....I gotta wonder what pop culture impact you believe its lacking right now ?

[simbob4000]

Hold on ? Were talking about a show thats inspired porn parodies , a toy line , a spin-off TV series , national conversation each time someone is killed , something big related at Comic Con each year , and now has a theme park attraction ....I gotta wonder what pop culture impact you believe its lacking right now ?

The show doesn't spark nation conversation each time someone is killed. Why do you think it does, because entertainment websites whose whole reason for being is to cover entertainment stuff writes about it? It ain't like Who Shot JR when someone dies on that show. I might see something on a site that covers shows or comics talk about it, but I don't hear actual people in the real world bring it up. I actually haven't heard real people talking much about The Walking Dead since its first season, and the few times I have heard it come up in conversations in the last few years it doesn't sound like they like it as much anymore.

Didn't even know The Walking Dead was getting a attraction. What is it, like a year around version of the haunted house thing they do on Halloween?

[Phil Clark]

Only there wasn't an explosion of zombie stuff when The Walking Dead came on, the explosion started YEARS before that tv show was even a thing. What the hell is this explosion you're even talking about? You said there was a major increase in zombie movies after TWD. Well, what are this movies? I'm having a hard time even seeing how anyone could honestly say there was an explosion of zombie stuff, you either just don't know what you're talking about, or you're just intentionally being dishonest.

Given The Walking Dead's seeming lack of any kind of pop culture impact, it wouldn't really be too hard to make a point that zombies aren't more popular than ever before. The show is big, so what, it's seen by lots of people but there are a few shows seen by tons of people that seemingly have no impact.

Ok, that statement so buries your head in the sand as to be laughable. You are out right ignoring that impact on pop culture that TWD has had and continues to had.

[Phil Clark]

The show doesn't spark nation conversation each time someone is killed. Why do you think it does, because entertainment websites whose whole reason for being is to cover entertainment stuff writes about it? It ain't like Who Shot JR when someone dies on that show. I might see something on a site that covers shows or comics talk about it, but I don't hear actual people in the real world bring it up. I actually haven't heard real people talking much about The Walking Dead since its first season, and the few times I have heard it come up in conversations in the last few years it doesn't sound like they like it as much anymore.

Didn't even know The Walking Dead was getting a attraction. What is it, like a year around version of the haunted house thing they do on Halloween?

This I cannot ignore... WHO SAID IT DOES?!? That isn't the end all and be all of being a pop culture phenomenon. A pop culture phenomenon is something that even people who don't watch the show are aware of it via merchandising, entertainment news, etc...