The Zombie Thread

Well, with Land of the Dead coming out soon... i'd like to bring up a cult classic:
Zombie Films. The newer films try to lay down rules, like: a bite causes zombification, they eat human flesh, only severe trauma (gunshot, whacking, etc.) to the head can kill a zombie, and in most cases, they are fast. etc.
but the older ones have scratches causing zombification, brains being the main course, and slow zombies.
Some of my favorite Zombie films:
28 Days Later
Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead (old and new version)
Cannibal Apocalype
Shaun of the Dead
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apparently there are a lot more that i haven't seen, even a zombie film by Peter Jackson.
so far there's a Zombie Survival Guide i've been eyeing recently, and more.
savvy?

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The newer films try to lay down rules, like: a bite causes zombification, they eat human flesh, only severe trauma (gunshot, whacking, etc.) to the head can kill a zombie, and in most cases, they are fast. etc.

The generally accepted Romero canon is:

Blunt trauma to the cranium puts them down for good.

Zombies, being previously dead, still have limited control of their speed and motor functions. It also seems that night and dawn both suggested only the recently, unburied dead were the first to be hit (Night specifically mentions the unburied, which keeps with the implication that the cause is some form of extraterrestrial radiation settling to the ground. The source being an errant space probe that returned to earth. Dawn backs this up, as the tenement raid turns into a zombie hunt because the dying and dead are kept in the basement.). Thus meaning it's not really the saliva of a zombie, or any pathogen contained within, but rather latent radiation ON a zombie which causes infection.

Day kind of screws this up though, as the bite is mentioned as the vector.

There are also people who take the "They're us, thats all, when hell is full" line as the real reason for the outbreak. A biblical plague of sorts. But this is probably just a rationalization for the living dead.

They can also use tools. In night, a zombie breaks a car window. In dawn, the zombies even have a form of collective unconcious (the mall is "important' to them), more window smashing occurs, and one zombie seems to grow fond of an AR-15. Then in Day, a zombie is even recussitated somewhat, to the point it can remember its past, salute, talk, and operate a handgun. So while alot of people seemed to cringe when the Land of the Dead trailer mentions 'they're thinking' or something, thats really been implied throughout the original trilogy.

Fast zombies were seen once in the 1978 day of the dead, so that ideas also not totally new. Two zombified children attack one of the main characters, quite quickly, and even seem to make a sound similar to laughter while doing so.

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28 Days Later

I've always thought this idea came more from another Romero film, "the crazies", more than the Dead trilogy. The Crazies deals with an experimental military sample that (much like the "rage infection") causes a town to basically become mindless killers. A cleanup team is sent in, and gradually, through infection or simply overwhelming numbers, begins to drift from sanity themselves.

Admittedly I haven't seen this one, but thats what I've heard of it anyway.

Peter Jackson's "Brain Dead" or "Dead Alive" is an almost plotless, appallingly bad, gorefest with the cheesiest dialogue and special effects you'll ever see. Highlights include a zombie muppet baby, death by lawnmower, and a priest that "kicks ass for the Lord."

It's not on the calibre of Romero's Dead trilogy. "Dead Alive" is strictly for laughs if gross-out humor tickles your fancy. Think of it as a Kiwi Evil Dead 2. It's hard to believe the kooks responsible for this flick went on to make the definitive film adaptation of the Lord of the Rings.

If you really want to kill any living brain cells left, watch "Night of the Comet". A comet sears through Earth's atmosphere, turning people into red dust. Our story takes place in 1980's California.

Those semi-protected from the comet's influence get turned into flesh-eating zombies.

Those who were protected but breathed contaminated air (the military folks), went nutsy-koo-koo.

Those who were protected by steel buildings (nothing mentioned about the air) survived and get to pull a Charleton Heston from 'Omega Man' schtick. (And 'Omega Man' is a zombie movie mangled from a vampire story.)

The thing is, the survivors are a truck driver, two airheaded cheerleaders, and a pair of kids.

Watch at your own risk. ^_^

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a priest that "kicks ass for the Lord."

Crazed priests killing zombies, you say?



Zombies..vampires. Whatever. Undead, anyway.

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Watch at your own risk. ^_^

Sounds like a dare if I ever heard one.

Oddly enough, this is in some ways similar to an early concept for night of the living dead.

from IMDB:

"One of the working titles for this film was "Night of the Flesh Eaters". Originally, the beings attacking the characters were extraterrestrial in origin, either aliens or humans possessed by an alien pathogen, presumably covering a NASA satellite returning from Venus. Eventually, it was decided that the dead would rise and devour the living, presumably due to radiation that was carried by a NASA satellite returning from Venus"

Also, due to a technicality involving the copyrights, the rights to this film have been public domain for a long while. Aside from meaning you can legally download it, there was also a version made called "Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Alien, Flesh Eating, Hellbound, Zombified Living Dead Part 2: In Shocking 2-D"

"Night of the day of the dawn.." is a redubbing of the movie with humorous dialogue (kind of like "kung pow: enter the fist"). I've been trying to find a copy of this since I first heard of it. Apparently theres a dvd coming out but..no idea when.

edit: Until then it's apparently out on bittorrent.

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Fast zombies were seen once in the 1978 day of the dead, so that ideas also not totally new

i do recall them being slow. watching it again, yes, they are slow. maybe you mixed it up with something else. btw, who is Salazar? the guy screams "Salazar!" before he gets ripped apart? must be some biblical reference.

btw, anyone seen Cannibal Apolcalypse? it's pretty good, although it breaks the Romerian Laws of Zombification. the zombies are actually humans, real humans who love to eat man flesh.
a really really good zombie website is:
http://www.deadzombie.com/
it's all animated and has sound effects and everything!

There are...faster zombies, but they only appear once.

When they go to refuel the helicopter, two kids kind of ambush one of the characters. It may have just looked as if they were quicker due to the confined quarters this part takes place in.

edit: Zombiecon '05?

"Night of the Day of the Dawn of the Son of the Bride of the Return of the Revenge of the Terror of the Attack of the Evil, Mutant, Alien, Flesh Eating, Hellbound, Zombified Living Dead Part 2: In Shocking 2-D" sounds too awesomely bad to miss. Someone should give a Planet of the Apes movie this treatment. I'd like to see "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad Mad Journey to the Center of the Planet of the Apes" or something like that.

I know it's a terrible thing for an old horror movie buff and zombiephile to admit, but I prefer the color remake of NOtLD to the original. The reason- Barbara. If I were Ben in the original, I would have fed her to the ravening hordes to make good my escape. I can appreciate that she was scared to death, but so was everyone else. She's the only one who had to regress and be TOTALLY USELESS, not to mention irritating. In the remake she eventually copes and acts as more than a stone around the neck of everyone else in the house. In fact, Barbara's character was about the only thing they really changed in the movie, which is as it should be. If you are going to completely change the movie, why not completey change the title, hmmmm, Dawn of the Dead?

hahahaha, what about Mr.Cooper. now THAT is what you call a freak.
Not to mention the "squares" who got blown up in the truck... i guess the zombies got a "square" meal.
hahahahahahaha

Cooper was a serious jerk, but at least he did what he thought he had to in order to survive and protect his family. Still, I really like how he got what was coming to him in the remake.

On a side note, one of the few things I find interesting about my home state is that it is Zombie Central. Romero filmed in Pennsylvania and used actual locations in his movies. You can still shop in that mall from the original Dawn of the Dead, though it's had several makeovers since the 70's. I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head, but when they have horror/sci fi conventions in the area, sometimes that mall hosts tours of places used in the filming of the movie that shoppers wouldn't ordinarily get to see.

Also, PA claims Vincent Price as a native son. Truly, the state is so boring that locals have nothing to do but make cheesy horror movies.