Saw the original twice in the theater when it came out. Aside from the (then) shock value of watching people get pulled limb from limb and eaten in rather too much detail (hard to imagine too little detail, really), it certainly had redeeming value in comic relief. Loved the scene where they found out what all the zombies were converging on... <img src="images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> As for the genre, this one makes me sort of sad for what "The Omega Man" could have been, if they'd really cared at all. Now, THERE's a candidate for a remake.

Anyone that was into "survival" in the late '70s or thereabouts has probably found at some point that they were a little too prepared for this sort of thing, rather than for some more realistic scenarios. Culture changes, perceptions change. "The Survivors" with Robin Williams and Walter Matthau hit a little too close to home at the time- I recognized several of my aquaintances at the time amongst the characters.

Don't laugh. If there's a message behind that, and '50s bomb shelters, and Y2K survival books, it's that some of our currently-urgent concerns may look pretty ridiculous in 25 years. I won't venture to guess which ones.

On the other hand, everyone seems to be getting awfully soft lately. I'm even almost tempted to abandon my Charter Membership in the Burt Gummer Fan Club, but that would leave me with no role models at all... <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />