Firefly

This has been a great week for genre fans when it comes to movie trailers.

First there was the excellent one for Serenity. The directorial debut of Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy, Angel, and the show this is based on, Firefly. Unfortunately, we have to wait until September to see it.

Then there was the final trailer for Batman Begins. Also an excellent looking trailer, promising, perhaps, the best big screen Batman yet.

Now we have the trailer for the next zombie film to take to the big screen. Land of the Dead. Now, you may be asking yourself what is so special about this film, let me tell you. It is directed by a one George A. Romero, who single handedly gave the zombie sub-genre it’s kickstart. He directed the classic fright fest Night of the Living Dead. After that there was, what is arguably the greatest zombie film of all time, Dawn of the Dead, which was remade last year in surprisibgly good fashion. Finally, there was Day of the Dead, whose merits are argued to this day between those who love it and those who hate it (I have migrated to the love it camp).

George is returning to his zombie universe to bring the story full circle, and one would think closure. This trailer gave me a mixed reaction. On one hand it is great to see the Romero-style slow shambling zombies, rather than the speed freaks they have become in recent years. Romero’s handling of the creatures is unparallelled. But on the other hand, it looks like it may rely heavily on the action type cliches and explosions which plague many modern films. I tend to give Romero the benefit of the doubt, as trailers, at least today, don’t seem to aim at creating an artful representation of the film, but rather a loud action packed spoiler reel to draw in the crowd.

Whatever the case may be, I am definitely looking forward to Romero’s return to zombie land.