A Taste For Flesh
What does it say about me that I enjoy watching the dead feast on the flesh of the living? Am I one sick puppy because I love zombie movies? Probably, but I do have an intellectual justification for my twisted fascination.
The zombie, like all great and enduring film monsters, is a perfect symbol for what really scares us. In the hands of a skilled filmmaker the zombie is a powerful satirical or thematic tool.
In the original DAWN OF THE DEAD director George Romero uses the zombie hordes to satirize the consumer mall culture that emerged in the 1970s. Survivors make a stand in a shopping mall and crowds of unthinking zombies shamble back to the mall and claw at the doors trying to get in. What Romero is saying is that the American consumer is an unthinking lemming, stumbling like the unquestioning dead after meaningless materialistic goals. When we’re in love with buying things, Romero tells us, we’re all zombies.
In the precursor to DAWN OF THE DEAD, the classic (well, at least to me) NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, Romero draws connections to prejudiced, ignorant, gunhappy humans and the legions of flesh-eating undead. The shocking ending points out that given the choice we might be better off with the living dead than the reckless and uninformed. They’re the zombies, the film-maker says.
Two relatively recent zombie films update the mythology. In 28 DAYS LATER the zombies take over when a militant animal rights group frees a monkey infected with the “rage virus.” This time the zombies are faster and angrier. Do I just think too hard about horror films, or are the filmmakers saying something about a divided culture where groups are quick to react with militant rage over whatever issue outrages them? Again, who are the zombies we should fear most?
All these three films are not for the faint of heart. Not everyone likes to see dead people try and eat other people. I understand that. So, if you want a little zombie-lite, you might want to try SHAUN OF THE DEAD, possibly the only romantic comedy zombie movie ever made. In this movie Shaun stumbles through his life as if he were already one of the living dead, refusing to take decisive action in his relationship with his girlfriend, in his dead end job, and with his deadbeat roommate. After ignoring incessant warnings about the coming apocalypse on the radio and TV, Shaun wakes up one morning and stumbles out of his house and all the way to the local convenience store for something to drink without noticing the scenes of carnage and mayhem around him. It’s clear that he’s the zombie, sleep-walking through life. What better way for him to take the reins in his own destiny than to have to fight for his life and lead a group of his friends and loved ones to safety? SHAUN OF THE DEAD is so much fun you might actually forget you’re watching dead people eat living human beings. You don’t have to be a sick freak like me to enjoy it. I recommend it, unless, of course, you’re squeamish.
Then you should stick with SEVENTH HEAVEN.
zombie movies rule…
my favs…
night of the living dead (a classic)
dawn of the dead
day of the dead
return of the living dead II (the michael jackson sequence rocks)
evil dead II (all hail bruce campbell)
army of darkness
reanimator
dead alive (peter jackson in the raw)
Comment by ~gary — February 28, 2005 @ 9:22 pm
I should let Nathan do this, but in case he misses this, here’s a link to the latest installment of his annual “Month of the Living Dead” binge at Cold Fusion Video Reviews.
And I’ve linked to this elsewhere once today, for your shopping convenience (if you’re a zombie).
Comment by Bryce I — February 28, 2005 @ 10:13 pm
Evil Dead was my favorite movie as a teen, used to watch it over and over again. And every time the same scenes would make me jump. Dawn of the Dead was another favorite. Haven’t seen a zombie movie since then I don’t think.
Comment by Susan Malmrose — March 1, 2005 @ 9:56 am
Not to get all intellectual, but what counts as a zombie movie, exactly? Does Toxic Avenger count? The Crow?
It’s tough to beat Evil Dead II, imho.
Comment by Steve Evans — March 1, 2005 @ 10:02 am
I think I’m going to keep Bryce on the payroll. He’s good.
Comment by Nathan — March 1, 2005 @ 11:05 am
I don’t know about zombie movies, in particular, but I do like traditional horror films. I saw Night of the Living Dead on a double bill with the original Tales from the Crypt (Ralph Richardson, Joan Collins!) in 1972, when I was 13, and I’ve been hooked ever since. I do own all the dead movies. “Night” is the classic, but “Dawn” is truly funny.
Comment by D. Fletcher — March 1, 2005 @ 11:22 am
You know, technically, “28 Days Later” isn’t a zombie movie.
I once got into a very drunken argument with my roommate over why zombie movies are “scary”. His claim was that the fear comes from our interpersonal relationships–that we are afraid of zombies because our loved ones could become a zombie yet still be the “loved one”. This degenerated into a discussion of dualism.
My claim is that zombie movies are scary because of the “irrationality” of the zombie–you can’t reason with them, you can’t talk to them, they can’t understand you, etc. Compare to alien movies, where the villian is (usually) a rational being: many alien movies from the ‘classic’ period are metaphors for communists…I wonder if the resurgence of zombie movies is due to the war on terror, with the “irrational” enemy that we (the masses) don’t/can’t understand being the Jihadists.
How’s that for an intellectual justification for liking zombie movies?
Mmmm, brains.
Comment by Pris — March 1, 2005 @ 12:49 pm
Zombie lovers unite!
Gary, I cannot believe that you would put RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD II on your list and snub RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD. The first film has a great punk rock soundtrack and stands as a time capsule of punk fashion from the 80s. Plus, it coined the zombie motto, “Brains…more brains!” The writing is audacious and hilarious. You got to add it to your list.
D., why am I so pleasantly surprised you own all of Romero’s DEAD movies? That’s awesome. There aren’t even songs in those movies.
Pris, aren’t you just being a leetle bit nit-picky in claiming 28 DAYS LATER isn’t a zombie flick? Since you bring up some interesting points about why zombie movies work, I’ve decided to forgive you.
The horror of having a loved one turn into the living dead is a big part of the genre’s appeal.
I believe Freddy from RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD, said it best, “That’s okay honey, because I love you and that’s why you have to let me EAT YOUR BRAAAINNNS!”
Comment by Brian G — March 1, 2005 @ 2:31 pm
Probably. The primary reason, though is that “28 Days Later” has disease-infected killers, while zombies are usually the living dead.
That, and they had fast “zombies.” I don’t consider myself one of those curse-ed purists on many things, but I do on this. You just can’t have fast zombies.
Comment by Pris — March 1, 2005 @ 3:12 pm
brian-
return of the living dead is pretty great…but for some reason i always ended up watching part II. its sort of like evil dead and evil dead II for me. but i’ll give it another watch cause it’s been awhile.
doesn’t freddy’s girlfriend have a great line after he asks to eat her brains?
Comment by ~gary — March 1, 2005 @ 9:16 pm
I think one of the reasons that zombie movies work (when they do, which isn’t a given) is the fact that the dead outnumber the living by such a margin. So what if the dead guys are slow-moving and stupid? The don’t respond to pain, and if you manage to hack one to immobility, there are more… and more… and more… and more.
Comment by Nathan — March 3, 2005 @ 10:41 am
Gary, I might have to check our ROTLD again just to see what Freddy’s girlfriend says.
Nathan, I think that’s an interesting point. Zombie flicks definitely tap into an instinctive fear of the mob. Fast-moving zombies are the lastest thing and it’s debatable if they’re really that much more scary–the faster they move the less dead they seem.
Comment by Brian G — March 3, 2005 @ 3:27 pm
A friend of mine is a connoisseur of Zombie movies. He has dozens of them in his video collection. His favorites are the ones he calls “Italian Spaghetti Zombie Movies” (I’m completely serious). They are in Italian, they have sub-titles, and the writing on the boxes is in English. He showed me one (I think the name of the movie was simply “Zombie!”) that read on the back, “When a Zombie and a shark get into a fight, who will win?” He thought that was a good question, so he bought the video to find out. Unfortunately, it’s basically a draw.
Comment by Arturo Toscanini — March 9, 2005 @ 11:25 pm
Yeah, but a zombie shark vs a shark? Zombie shark for sure.
Comment by Susan Malmrose — March 10, 2005 @ 1:28 am
Okay, but zombie shark versus cyborg shark. That’s a whole ‘nother story.
And Arturo, shouldn’t you be more familiar with the cinema of your homeland? Fulci, Bava, Argento, the great Italian horror directors are legend. Not only have they contributed to the zombie film, but they have their own brand of slasher movie–the giallo picture. Italian horror is so wacky that they have a genre Americans won’t even touch–the Cannibal movie.
Maybe you’re one of these guys who only prefers American movies?
Comment by Brian G — March 10, 2005 @ 12:02 pm
Brian G: Maybe you’re one of these guys who only prefers American movies?
Geez, Brian G. I don’t know how this started, but I think you’re referring to this post. If you read it carefully (and the others by the same author on the topic of foreign films in that thread), you’d find that the author is something of a foreign film enthusiast, but decidedly not a foreign film snob. Leave it to someone like Wilfried to take a post that begins with a quote from an Italian and call its author xenophobic and chauvinistic because he extols the virtues of films other than foreign. But what is one to do.
Anyway, sorry to disappoint on the Italian front, Brian G. I’m only a wannabe Italian.
I shot off your comment about cannibal movies to my friend via email. If he has something interesting to say, I’ll post it here. He’s actually a connoisseur of all bad movies; e.g., he has the entire Django (the cowboy who drags a coffin) series on VHS.
Comment by Arturo Toscanini — March 10, 2005 @ 7:37 pm
You’re right, AT. I was giving you a hard time and a bad rap. You’re a big Fellini fan if I recall correctly.
We recently had a debate here at work about what country makes the best movies if you take the U.S. off the table and my vote was for Italy. They make both great high-minded films and great exploitation films. From the sound of it, it sounds like your friend is crazy about the exploitation films and I don’t blame him.
Comment by Brian G — March 10, 2005 @ 8:12 pm
Brian G says:
“I might have to check out our ROTLD again just to see what Freddy’s girlfriend says.â€Â
Huh? Since when did we have a copy of ROTLD? I had no idea we owned this video. It’s a good thing that I check these blogs from time to time since I seem to learn something new about my husband every time.
Comment by Shannon Keeley — March 10, 2005 @ 10:06 pm
Shannon, all I meant is we could go rent it, sheesh.
Comment by Brian G — March 10, 2005 @ 10:36 pm
Shannon, did you catch the comment where Brian reveals that he is, in fact, a zombie himself?
Comment by Bryce I — March 11, 2005 @ 7:31 am