It's official- Zombies are OVER

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A reality show about zombies. Ho ho! I bet they'll really show the foibles of bein' a zombie! I wonder if "Urgh" and "Argh" are going to "hook up"?

Between LAST NIGHT ON EARTH's goofy hillbilly shenanigans more suited to a SciFi channel original movie than apocalyptic horror, the virtual adoption of the zombie as a pop culture icon to be mocked and goofed on, and WORLD WAR Z's appropriation of the zombie as an agent to get the world to join hands and sing kumbaya, I think they've jumped the shark so far that there's no return at this point.

Growing up in the '80s, zombies were nasty, marginal, and really kind of scary. If I wanted to see a zombie movie, I had to go to one of those video stores that had the horror pictures sort of in the back in those big, styrofoam padded boxes put out by Media Home Entertainment. CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE BEYOND, BURIAL GROUND, HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD, etc. and they were so crude, gory, and exploitative that there's no way that the soccer mom and khaki shorts brigade would have ever even known they existed.

Now they're just like pirates...made cute, funny, and completely nonthreatening.

So I'm movin' on...it's time for a new "it" monster.

If zombies were a gory symbol of the mindless consumerism that has dominated American culture this decade, then the current economic downward spiral calls for a new metaphor. Especially since this downturn looks like it may have fairly permanent consequences here in the U.S., while Europe, China, India and Brazil continue to prosper.

How about cannibals? They are similar to zombies, but more knowing and thus evil in their actions. Or just desperate. Anyway, the idea is that the mindless consumerism will now be turning upon ourselves, as we fight over a diminshing supply of scraps and increasingly recycled goods.

Well, the fear there is that somehow pop culture will diminish the savage power of CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST...

Nah...that's not possible.

Yeah, it's really quite bizarre how mainstream zombies have become. I'm trying to remember what kicked the fad off... Was it 28 Days Later?

Another thing that's dismaying about the zombie genre is that even the master can only muster lifeless and derivative crap at this point (goddamn Land and Diary...).

But there are still some things zombie that pique my interest. I've only heard good things about Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic.

(Speaking of Kirkman, If Hollywood's got its thinking cap on, they need to combine those two most over-saturated movie genres -- Marvel superheroes and zombies -- and bring Marvel Zombies to the big screen for a big cash-in before both are considered dated and lame. For those who haven't seen this, an awesome fan-made trailer for just such a project: )

I like Last Night on Earth's goofy hillbilly shenanigan's.

That being said, I do agree that zombies have basically jumped the shark at this point. Pretty much all classic movie monsters have. And attempts to create new monsters have failed miserably. I'm sure there's good indy stuff, but anything put out to the masses is just the usual garbage with a different premise. The Japanese seem to have a monopoly on the ability to make creepy movies now. Which later get re-made into crappy American movies.

I still enjoy zombies, but I enjoy them as part of cinema history now. Same thing with aliens and vampires. Although I had a lot of fun watching the AvP movies, stuff like that doesn't seem to attract the talent of the Ridley Scott's or James Cameron's anymore. The best we get is fucking JJ Abrams who has yet to make a single thing that ends as good as it begins. And that's even if the beginning is good since Cloverfield was basically boring the whole way through.

the barefoot killer wrote:

But there are still some things zombie that pique my interest. I've only heard good things about Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic.

This series starts out good, but ultimately Kirkman drops the ball and doesn't put any effort into the writing or story anymore. I still read it because I'm a sucker for zombies, but it stopped being really interesting quite some time ago.

This series starts out good, but ultimately Kirkman drops the ball and doesn't put any effort into the writing or story anymore. I still read it because I'm a sucker for zombies, but it stopped being really interesting quite some time ago.

Are you reading it issue by issue or picking up the trades? A friend of mine has absolutely loved the last couple of issues.

Maybe I've not seen enough zombie material to become jaded, but I just rewatched 28 Days Later and realized how really different it is from a true zombie movie. There are relatively few scenes WITH the infected attacking people. There's seemingly less fear of randomly encountering them, but that just might be my take. But in 28 Months later, the infected seemed more zombie-like in tenor. More mass "zombie" moments.

So what's this about WWZ going all kumbaya? If they're making a movie, I am all kinds of excited about it. So don't kill my hope before it gets started!


Spoiler/
Also, thumbs in eyes is a weird movie trademark moment.
/Spoiler

So what's this about WWZ going all kumbaya? If they're making a movie, I am all kinds of excited about it. So don't kill my hope

Yep. The zombie apocalypse happens and it causes mankind to put aside their differences and realize that there's more to life than the way we've been living. World peace happens and everybody decides to be friends since they got their asses kicked.

It's a stupid book. I liked it at first until I really had some distance and thought about it more, although there are some really cool scenes and a couple of ideas I really liked (particularly the notion that all these middle managers, marketing people, and corporate drones are suddenly completely useless in an economy chomped/gnawed back to an agrarian setting. Poor writing and this goofy sense of "people gonna get together" ruin it.

Plus he's one of those writers that thinks it's "cool" to tell you in the story what he's into- there's absolutely no reason in the world why Roxy Music's "Avalon" should be referenced, nor "How Soon is Now" by the Smiths. And it's also mind-numbingly stupid when there's all these off-hand references to pop culture items like "that rich bitch with the chihuahua" and all.

the barefoot killer wrote:

Yeah, it's really quite bizarre how mainstream zombies have become. I'm trying to remember what kicked the fad off... Was it 28 Days Later?

I don't know, maybe Shaun of the Dead. I think horror generally has become more mainstream and cutesy with Buffy and the whole teen horror subgenre.

I read the first Walking Dead. It was very good but as is being said here I was told the series goes downhill fairly quickly. When I was reading it, although this isn't the point of the comic, I was thinking there has to be a great zombie movie in the fact that the people most likely to survive such an event would be survivalists, cultist, gun nuts and the otherwise paranoid. Imagine surviving but being surrounded by crazy people and far righters.

I think anyone who likes zombie horror should read The Road as was recommended on this site. That was the scariest story I have encountered in a long while.

I liked both 28 Days/Weeks films quite a lot. But they're not really zombie pictures.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD will go down in history as the last great zombie movie. I think it's a masterpiece even though I usually don't do the funny zombie thing. And ironically, it's indomitable charm and whimsy are likely one of the factors that sent the genre spiralling into oblivion.

Let's be clear- THE ROAD isn't about zombies at all.

the barefoot killer wrote:

This series starts out good, but ultimately Kirkman drops the ball and doesn't put any effort into the writing or story anymore. I still read it because I'm a sucker for zombies, but it stopped being really interesting quite some time ago.

Are you reading it issue by issue or picking up the trades? A friend of mine has absolutely loved the last couple of issues.

The trades. The last one did leave off at a point where things could change for the better, but due to both stupid actions by characters and at least one unbelievable to me (yeah, yeah, zombies) character return. Basically the writing got sloppy. I do hope things recover because the premise of a never-ending zombie movie is still good. He needs to get back to realistic characters instead of caricatures though.

I firmly believe in Stephen King's thesis in Danse Macabre, that really effective horror taps into the zeitgeist. The Exorcist was huge, because so many parents were already confused and upset that their precious children were growing up to be dirty hippies, as though they were possessed. Mutants were big during the earlier days of the cold war, because there was this vast uncomprehending fear of what might happen after the nukes start flying. Vampires in the '90s is a little harder to pin down, probably something to do with fear of AIDs and lesser STDs, boosted by White Wolf's amazing world-building efforts. So I really think that the cannibal should be the next big monster. It's the ultimate in recycling. Either that, or bring back the Smog Monster.

If shellhead is right and monsters reflect the Zeitgeist, I predict a return to the Triffids and 'V' like aliens. Globalisation is finally not only displacing low wage jobs, but also affecting middle class households. (Illegal) immigration and outsourcing are the main fears of westerners, which lead to a new globalisation backlash.

Regarding WWZ, I think it is a good book, especially the start. It actually thinks about what the consequences of a breakdown of society will be and what tactics are sensible against zombies. I like the way he sets the start in China and the way it spread across the world. That is all more plausible than most zombies movie plots. The nuking of Iran is a bit less so.

The end, where everything is running towards the happy end, is weaker. But overall the book, combining the style of Studs Terkel's 'The Good War' interviews with participants in WWII, with the catastrophic zombie outbreak is done rather well.

For those who don't like the WWZ story line, The Zombie Survival Guide, by the same author, is based on the same principles, but it has its own problems, like repetitiveness.

The idea of the horror monster personifying (or at least objectifying) people's fears is very cool and makes sense. What are people scared of now? I guess:
Global warming - the environment turning on them, nature's wrath
Terrorism - something that hates unquestioningly
Massive rescession - the system failing, things not working, kind of post apocalyptic
Teenagers (at least in the UK) - a new, out of control, uncaring generation

Michael Barnes wrote:

Let's be clear- THE ROAD isn't about zombies at all.

Yeah, I hope I didn't confuse anyone. It does combine horror, despair and tragedy with social themes - like a good zombie story - that is what I meant.