MovieChat Forums > The Zombie Diaries (2007) Discussion > Email Reply from MICHAEL BARTLETT, on th...

Email Reply from MICHAEL BARTLETT, on the trolls and ZD's cover art!

posted 14 years ago by InfestedMe
14 replies | jump to latest

This is not fabricated in any way. This is literally a message from Michael Bartlett, and my heart literally jumped when I saw it--I had no expectations that anyone would reply to my email.

In my email, I discussed the trolls (e.g. Justin) who are spreading lies about the movie, plus the misleading cover art and how it is frowned upon. I got this as a reply from Mr. Bartlett himself, who frowns upon such activities:

"Dear Thad,

I am one of the directors involved of the film. Thank you for your e-mail.

I was aware that this thing kicked off a while back, and was led to believe that IMDB administrators had dealt with both camps who were fighting on the board. However, we live in a democracy of free speech, and if these people want to continue arguing forever, that is their decision. As producers and directors, both Kevin and I have already benefited from the territory sales globally and have moved on to two new projects; so this is really old news to us.

I understand your frustration at these Trolls, but really if that is what they want to spend their lives doing, then good luck to them. They can say how great/horrible the movie is for eternity for all I care. If you want to engage in discussion with other users, just 'block' the campaigners. I do not want to enter the board and make a statement (as I tried once before) as it will just whip things up.

The Zombie Diaries was a great little film and I enjoyed making it, but it is in the past now and I am working 24/7 on the next two flicks. Most of the haters (we are going back two years now) were just Romero fan-boys who seemed to want to engage in a Diary of the dead Vs Zombie Diaries war. I talked to Romero about this on Halloween 2007 and even he commented on how pathetic it all was. And ironically [REC] was much better than both our films anyway!

Also, to pick up on one of your points - yes the cover art, in my opinion, was terribly misleading. Kevin and I had no say in this whatsoever - we much preferred the brown-ish colored poster with the one zombie coming towards camera. However the UK and US distributors took it upon themselves to make the film look like a Vin Diesel 20 million dollar picture.

As a result of this, I am now actively involved in all poster design for new films, so this can never happen again. As you have probably guessed, I have been blamed for the artwork too. There are way too many conspiracy theorists out there who live on forums and probably need some daylight... :-)

Thanks again for your e-mail, I appreciate you being one of the people trying to have a meaningful discussion.

All the best,

-Michael Bartlett"

There you have it, folks. Bartlett apologizes for the cover art, and frowns upon trolls. The good guys win once again, and ironically one of the directors of the film is one of the good guys. Lying trolls fail epicly this time.

Don't believe this is legit? I took screenshots.

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/1360/bartlett2.jpg

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/5274/bartlett1.jpg

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Thanks for reading!

[–] rogerdemarco30 14 years ago

Overall, this was a great post. Although Bartlett name drops on the sales figures yet again. But on the flip side, I do love how Bartlett himself complains about the misleading DVD covers, that Justin consistenly praises for winning marketing awards. I think Bartlett should come back to the board, so he can learn firsthand that the only debating going on, isn't about "Diary of the Dead", but about promoting a movie with lies.

[–] InfestedMe 14 years ago

Thank you. I was honestly stunned by how Bartlett replied. I expected no reply whatsoever, or, if I got one, it would be something to the sort of: "Hey, they're promoting the film, no biggie". But nope--the man responsible for Justin's eccentric and obnoxious behavior HATES that such things occur.

Way to go, trolls! You're pathetic even in the eyes of the directors you love to lie about.

[–] Justin-197 14 years ago

He's also talking about how the spammers bump up negative threads. Agree it was a good reply and he confirmed what i knew, that the film was successful!

[–] DoomTrooper 14 years ago

Nice to see he responded. I chaulk Justin up to really just being a troll. He comes in here spam bumping threads just for the sake of getting reactions. If we were to ignore him he'd eventually lose interest and find another board to waste time on(Hint Justin go to the Twilight boards). I just find it nice that Michael liked REC more than his own film and he was not ashamed to admit it.

If one good deed in all my life I did,
I do repent it from my very soul.
Aaron the Moor

[–] InfestedMe 14 years ago

"I just find it nice that Michael liked REC more than his own film and he was not ashamed to admit it."

I concur. So at least we know that the directors aren't really the misleading bastard villains we thought they were. What a plot twist. XD

One, however, DOES exist *cough* Justin *cough*.

But, you're correct, he's just a mindless troll, not a sophisticated movie reviewer, and attempting to bring down such a person will only fuel his fire.

[–] jhray8417 14 years ago

i have a lot of respect for that response. i have always said hopefully he has learned from ZDs and his future endeavors will be better films. and from the comment about more oversight with the cover art, it appears he has.....and maybe, just maybe, all of the nonsense and silliness that's been going on here can stop.

[–] littlejimlittle 14 years ago

ew lucky you - maybe he'll take you out on a date and get all Zombie on you.

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[–] Justin-197 14 years ago

There's a guy who's real name is James Harris behind a lot of the posts on here.

[–] InfestedMe 14 years ago

"james Harris"? What, now?

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