Zombie Reconciliation

Unfortunately, I cannot provide you all of "Dial Z for Zombies" from which this segment comes, let alone all of The Simpsons Tree House of Horror III (1992). But this clip suffices to show a reconciliation of the two zombie archetypes as I've described. The zombies featured here are slow and dumb (although they are smart enough to realize that Homer doesn't have a brain), but they are specifically brain eating.

High Hopes for Zombieland

In case you didn't know, Zombieland opens Friday.

It stars Woody Harrelson (never forget Kingpin) and Jesse Eisenberg (admit it, you loved Adventureland). Also Bill Murray is in it somewhere, so you know it's going to be good.

I'm going to propose a new system for critiquing zombie films, which I would like you to print out and take with you to Zombieland. It's so easy a zombie could do it, simply place a check next to the question if it's yes, tally your checks at the end.

1. Were the zombies actually Undead? __
2. Did the gore gross you out or make you yelp with joy? __
3. Did the characters fight amongst eachother? __
4. Did anyone have trouble executing a zombie for sentimental reasons? __
5. Did it make you wish even more that zombies were real? __
6. Was Bill Murray in it? __

Okay, so I added that last one. This checklist is, of course, the bare bones of a good zombie movie, but if a movie lacks anyone of the first five, something's wrong. Hopefully we can give Zombieland six brains out of five.

Flesh vs. Brains, the Great Divide

A lot of people fight over what zombies and, naturally, zombie movies are. Zombies have evolved into their popular role from a specific Voodoo practice: Shamans who specialize in relating with the spirit of death are said to revive the recently deceased to do their bidding as a mindless slave, a zombi. Undeath and cannibalism have been addressed in many cultures, for a long time, but the gunshot which started this clumsy zombie race is certainly Night of the Living Dead, 1968. Here we were given the classic rules of zombie films: humans back from the dead are eating other people and a bunch of normal people who don't like each other are stuck to work it out. People often cite 28 Days Later as a zombie film, but why does anyone think that the 'ghouls' in 28 Days are zombies? They aren't slow and they aren't dead or undead. They living people who are infected with rage. And eat normal folks.
There are many reasons that these antagonists feed into our perception of what a zombie is, but one is called Return of the Living Dead, which isn't mentioned much.

If you can get your hands on the dvd of Return of the Living Dead, sink your teeth into the "Designing the Dead" featurette, and watch the movie with the commentary. If you do so, Director Dan O'Bannon shares that:

Night of the Living Dead was written by Russo and directed by Romero.
Afterwards, they split.
Romero went on to direct and write Dawn of the Dead.
Russo went to Warner Bros. with his screenplay, Return of the Living Dead.
This was given to Dan O'Bannon (screenwriter of Alien) to be directed.
O'Bannon felt that this RotLD screenplay was far too similar to Dawn of the Dead,
So, he made some changes: the zombies are fast, semi-intelligent, and brain-eating. Also the movie's more of a dark comedy.

There you have it. Two zombie archetypes from the 80s: slow, super dumb, flesh eaters; and fast, sort-of smart, brain eaters.

Toxins, lawnmowers, and chainsaws, oh my!

WARNING! GORY ZOMBIE GOODNESS


I know it's early for Halloween, but what a great homage to zombies.
The glowing canisters in the truck recall the Return of the Living Dead series.
The lawnmower recalls Dead Alive.
The leafblower recalls the Evil Dead series.
All of these movies are excellent.