Zombies
October 2, 2003 8:16 AM   Subscribe

Zombies Redux! More Zombies! Cartoon Zombies! More Zombies! Still more zombies! What is up with all the zombies? It's getting kind of creepy.
posted by sodalinda (20 comments total)
 
you know when you post a weird word enough times and it starts to look like an alien language and you're not sure if you spelled it right? that just happened to me.
posted by sodalinda at 8:18 AM on October 2, 2003


My personal feeling is zombies are popular because we seem to be sleepwalking thru time. Its easy to identify with people who decapitate unthinking undead. Its cathartic at the same time it makes us think we have some control over our surroundings.

Don't forget the Zombies boardgame (very slow paced yet fun for zombie movie fans).

Infowar - cofounder of the original Midwest Anti-Zombie League who has mentioned the Zombie Holocaust several times on MF. ^_^
posted by infowar at 8:24 AM on October 2, 2003


Zombie Pinups. Safe for work. I mean, well, sort of.

Deeper social meaning? I shudder to think.
posted by lumpley at 8:28 AM on October 2, 2003


Don't forget Brains4Zombies.com from Goats creator Jon Rosenberg
posted by KnitWit at 8:31 AM on October 2, 2003


28 Days Later really brought the zombie genre back to life...
posted by ph00dz at 8:34 AM on October 2, 2003


For a nifty zombie comic storyline, you cant do any worse than ScaryGoRound by John Allison.

The zombie tale starts here.
posted by elendil71 at 8:43 AM on October 2, 2003


Don't forget Zombies! Elvis! and Ossie Davis as John F. Kennedy????. God bless you Joe Lansdale, you're the best thing since horse head bookends.
posted by m@ at 8:44 AM on October 2, 2003


Actually I meant "any better" than ScaryGoRound. It'a great strip, really!
posted by elendil71 at 8:45 AM on October 2, 2003


Actually I expected the success of Resident Evil (the game) to resurrect the zombie movie genre. However, seems Asia capitalized on it before the US (and 28 Days) did.

Am I the only one to see the zombie movie genre moving away from the horror aspects and moving into the action area? Of course, BioZombie is a great humorous take on Resident Evil and zombie movies, just don't watch the atrocious Asian Pulp Cinema dubbed version.
posted by infowar at 8:58 AM on October 2, 2003


Zombies are without a doubt the scariest monsters of all time.

Dead people with crick necks that walk really slow sounds like a pretty weak concept on paper, so I don't know what makes them scarier than, say, a vampire or a CHUD...

The rotting faces?
The shambing hordes of ravenous cadavers?
Their unthinking relentlessness?
The horrifying inevitability of your grisly demise at their grave-cold hands?

I don't know.

But I do know I'll be sleeping with the light on tonight.

So thanks a fucking million, sodalinda!
posted by backOfYourMind at 9:10 AM on October 2, 2003


I have a reoccurring dream where I'm being pursued by zombies, sometimes alone and sometimes with a group of lads. I probably have at least .75 a month (or one every month and a half or so).
posted by mcsweetie at 9:32 AM on October 2, 2003


Zomby Woof
posted by TedW at 9:37 AM on October 2, 2003


real zombies! (1, 2)

anyone else ever notice how some really old people tend to shuffle around with their mouths hanging open? well I have! it freaks me the hell out.
posted by mcsweetie at 10:01 AM on October 2, 2003


Brains
posted by donpardo at 10:02 AM on October 2, 2003


lumpley: I think the current zombie crop is similar to the sci-fi alien invasions films of the 50s. To ignore a socialogical nerve being struck is, I think, a little trite. OTOH, I don't believe everythign has to have a deeper meaning, especially if it has come out of Hollywood post 1985. Its easy to identify with zombie movies when the villains are dead, don't think and mindlessly follow an agenda unknown to the protagonists. IMHO that's not dissimilar to most Americans nowadays who see a large chunk of the world as unthinking hordes that deserve no thought, only removal. Reading interviews with the zombie master, George Romero indicates he clearly had social comments in his zombie trilogy. If you can't see them, just enjoy the story! :)

backOfYourMind: Taking a look at movies like Wild Zero, Versus, and Junk appear to emphasize the action over any horror borught out by zombies. Even the recent House of the Dead and Resident Evil seem to push the gun envelope and not the horror aspect.

What makes a good zombie movie isn't the gore effect as epitomized by Savini and Italian zombie flicks of the 70s and 80s, its the human interaction. Thats what makes 28 Days a superior film to Resident Evil.

-- Spolier Warning --

IMHO the scariest moment in 28 Days wasn't the zombies at all, but the army officer and his motivation for rescuing people.

For your viewing enjoyment:

We're Going to Eat You, Bio-Zombie, Night of the Creeps. Avoid Bio-Cops

Sorry for hijacking the thread, if you wanted to avoid movie commentary sodalinda.
posted by infowar at 10:38 AM on October 2, 2003


We need more believable zombie movies...y'know...where like the backdrop is a corporate cube farm.
posted by dangerman at 10:44 AM on October 2, 2003


infowar: Oh no, I meant, when I think about it, I shudder.

I agree with you about 28 Days Later, too.
posted by lumpley at 10:49 AM on October 2, 2003


It seems like a natural progression from the whole pirate thing. I know that zombies don't have anything to do with pirates, but it seems like they do, somehow, you know?
posted by rainbaby at 12:42 PM on October 2, 2003


donpardo's Brains link is to the Best. Game. Ever.

Gimme the Brain is a cards+dice game in which you take the role of a zombie working at Friedays, the fast-food restaurant of the damned. Your cards list a bunch of chores and tasks that must be completed (discarded) before you can knock off for the day (zombies work nightshift, naturally). As a human zombie, you have the nominal two hands (though you may find a spare hand once in a while).

Thus, some chores require only one hand to perform, which means you can do two chores on your turn; and others require both hands, meaning you only do the one chore. At the same time, some chores are of such complexity (like counting the pickles) that you need a brain (the die). After you complete the chore, you may or may not keep the brain, depending on how lucky you are.

Many of the chores actually involve impeding others' ability to complete their shift, of course. Zombies aren't reknown for their good manners and helpful attitudes.

In short, in true CheapAss fashion, it's a game of screwing over your playing partners as you attempt to keep your head above water. Hilarious and fun!

The new laminated not-cheap-at-all full-colour edition of the game is well worth buying. It's got all sorts of new kinks to the gameplay.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:18 PM on October 2, 2003


Welcome to Zombo com

emily litella voice: what? Zombie? Oh, that's very different. Never mind
posted by madamjujujive at 11:22 PM on October 2, 2003


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