Didn't the first zombie Barbara encountered in the cemetery come up to her, touch her shoulder, then turn and walk away after saying "I'm sorry" twice (right before zombie #2 lunged)?
How is a speaking zombie reconciled with every other zombie in the movie?
He wasn't a zombie, but he was attacked by the one that killed Johnny. I dunno if he bit him though.
Don't eva let nobody tell you you ain't strong enough
There was a mark ... on the side of his forehead if I remember correctly... so I'd assume he was semi-recently bitten & was still converting from human to zombie...
Though why he didn't make more of a fuss "Watch out for that crazy guy down there" or some such...
I think he was supposed to be in shock
shareNote: in the Romero zombie universe, you don't slowly "convert from human to zombie." Instead, if you die for any reason -- heart attack, knife to the nads, cancer, car crash, or, yes, the infection you get from being bitten by a living corpse -- your dead body will, after a little while, get up, walk, and seek out warm human flesh.
"The truth 24 times a second."
The first guy is the hearse driver. He's busted up but not a full on zombie yet. The first zombie (mr. yellow skin) is just...some zombie (the one that falls on the johnnie dummie killing him) Lastly, the dude with the autopsy 'y' incision is the cat from the coffin said hearse driver brought out to the cemetery. it's a viscious circle really... and considering that is like literally 80 seconds into the film i cant figure out why it was tough to follow ...?
shareHey, ease up pal: I watched it last night and was confused about the first guy as well, the fact that he was the hearse driver wasn't exactly as obvious as you make it seem at all.
sharewahat was confusing? his uniform? the hearse they show a few seconds later? the fact that the 2nd zombie shown is a newly delivered corpse? the fact that he was chewed up but not dead? the part where he wandered up from the direction she flees?
shareUniform? Hearse drivers don't have uniforms: sue me for not thinking a guy in a suit was obviously the hearse driver just because he happened to be some random guy running around in a cemetery in a suit.
sharenever said it was OBVIOUS.... just said it was hard to miss. oh and yeah a hearse driver would wear a uniform. if he's coming from a funeral home he's going to have to meet certain professional attire requirements. i dont mean he was dolled up like a Yankee or some crap, but yeah i guess it was kind of obvious :/
shareGuess I have to frequent more funerals?
shareAcutually if you think about it, everyone expected the first guy in the cemetary to attack barbara, as thats what happened in the original, more than likely thats why Savini made the first guy not a zombie, and when the second one attacked you werent really expecting it, I think thats called a McGuffin.
make you think you know whats going to happen than throw you a curve ball. Im not even sure the first guy was attacked, my impression was he was a drunk or a drifter who was waking up from a bender.
It's a "Red herring", not a McGuffin.
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The Hearst driver for my Grandmothers funeral wore a uniform. I watched this scene with the commentary on. It wasn't explained who the old guy was, but I tend to think he was a person attending the funeral. I think the zombie who attacked Johnny was the driver, although I could be wrong.
I don't know where most of you live, but you don't wear suits and ties to funerals, how tacky...
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I must be gone and live, or stay and die...
I don't know where most of you live, but you don't wear suits and ties to funerals, how tacky...
I live in L.A., believe it or not. Yeah, not wearing a 'least' a suit and tie to a funeral is beyond tacky (at least for the men), or it is within the circle I grew up and am still around. Being female myself and Greek Orthodox (or brought up, as I have been an Atheist for decades), we wear dresses to funerals or no going inside the church...Geez, even I know it's a sign of respect for the dearly departed that you, at the very least cared enough to, wear your best to say goodbye and send them off...
I was just responding to another posters earlier comment...
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I must be gone and live, or stay and die...
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I live in Los Angeles California. Dumb, hardly.
I think that applies to you and your post...See, I can write insulting post too. How old are you...geez!
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I must be gone and live, or stay and die...
Because he did speak and didn't attack, I knew immediately he was bitten and in shock, but hadn't turned yet. Also, if you saw the original, you were expecting the shambling old man to attack. They put a little twist on it for the remake. Let us put our guards down, then bam! The real zombie attacks.
You can't go on blaming yourself forever. Just blame yourself once, then move on.
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It was always my impression that he was funeral attendee, possibly a paid mourner (whose job is to tell people "I'm sorry") who'd just seen something horrible and was in total shock, and could say nothing but "I'm sorry, I'm sorry"...
I always thought it was pretty eerie.
I always thought he was a funeral attendee, but listening to this discussion made me think: I don't think that funeral had occured yet. I'm going to have to check, but everything looked pretty neat and tidy at the gravesite; not what you'd expect if the deceased got up during a ceremony. So maybe he WAS the herse driver, or maybe a funeral director, getting everything ready for a later ceremony when the deceased reanimated. He is in pretty bad shape because a dead guy just got up and started wandering around.
(This must have happened recently too: the guy loses his suit after like 4 steps toward Barbra!)
"Yes, it's the Apocalypse alright. I always thought I'd have a hand in it."share
I always figured the first guy was the hearse driver, and most likely the county coroner/mortician, who stopped and opened the coffin he was delivering when he heard the zombie animate in the coffin. He heard banging and he opened the lid and was attacked. The guy who attacked Jonnie I think might have been the gravedigger(i'll have to watch again to see for sure), and the guy that walks out of suit is probably the corpse from the coffin.
but that's just my humble opinion, and in now way should be taken as law. Ask GAR and Savini to be sure.
http://i684.photobucket.com/albums/vv207/haspenc13/zombiestronghold.jp g
I've always guessed that the old man wasn't really in connection with the
funeral or the hearse. I've always figured he was just visiting a gravestone
and was attacked by the "cemetery zombie" who I'm thinking was in charge of
the "autopsy zombie's" burial. I don't know.
I've always wondered why Barbara didn't try to leave in the hearse once she
realized she didn't have keys to the car she arrived in. Or why did she not
just run back and grab them? I know she was scared but I would've tried to
do something besides just lock the doors and scream.
As for a reply to those who are discussing funeral attire, wearing all black
is sort of a thing of the past really. I haven't been to one lately but
you don't wanna show up wearing jeans and t-shirt. But no one said it's
mandatory you wear a suit. The person in the coffin isn't gonna care....
Its simple. The old man was hurt and in shock not bitten.
I am the Walrus - Goo Goo Ga'joob
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I always thought that the old guy had something to do with the burial. The burial must have been taking place when the autopsy zombie awoke cause the coffin was already in it's place, meaning that the pallbearers had already carried it to it's location when they must of heard noises. The autopsy zombie must have reanimated and scared the hell out of everyone and the old guy must have been attacked by him weather it was cause he's old and slow or cause he tried to check out what was happening. He looks completely scared and still in shock, not to mention like he's only a couple of minutes of turning into a zombie himself. Why he said "I'm sorry" well, it could be cause he's trying to get away from two zombies and he led them to barbara and the nerd, or maybe cause he bumped into them and was simply apologizing (still in shock), or I like something that a poster said about him being a hired mourner and was saying the I'm sorry out of memory. The yellow zombie must have been just a random zombie that ended up in the cemetery, he looks in a more advanced decomposed state. He looks like he's been dead a couple of days.
But then again, I'm just another glue sniffing cyber slut with a homicidal mind and handgun
Its funny how long this circle of interpretations went on especially when the answer is right in front of you all. The character's name in the cast credits pretty much reveals the reason he was in the cemetery. His name is listed as "The mourner" for pity's sake.
Food is meant to be eaten, not watched. Stop chewing on that porno mag!
I believe that he was attacked and scared in shock how would you react to a dead guy standing up that u knew was dead,also you ever noticed how he walks away and just before the zombie lunges at Barbra he spins around and his hands are stiff head tilted just like a zombie! But than why didn't he go to them if he was a zombie?
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The old guy is a mourner, he says "I'm sorry" for grabbing onto Barbara. The suit zombie is from the casket. The other zombie looks like he had all ready been buried and dug his way out. Interesting that the old mourner disappears from the cemetery in 10 seconds though...
sharePulled out my DVD for a different thread and found this bit from the making-of featurette "The Dead Walk: Remaking A Classic".
Two quotes...
Tom Savini:
Tried to manipulate you in the remake - to believe that the first guy you see is a zombie, just like in the first film.
He scares us, we think he's gonna be the zombie; turns out, he's just a freaked out old guy.share