Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
I admit it: I never expected my teen love of zombies would end up merely a drop in the sea of zombophilia that has given us the Resident Evil franchise, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and, now, the natural followup to this year's season of Mad Men: AMC's comic-book adaptation The Walking Dead.
So I sat down to watch the debut of the first-ever zombie TV series with the familiar combination of anticipation and dread. And to my immense gratification, episode 1 delivered. Never mind the seemingly derivative quality of the opening sequence, where Our Hero wakes up from a minor coma, much as the hero of 28 Days Later awoke, amid a major meltdown of human civilization. Here was an hour of TV that followed through on the great promise of serious zombie drama.
Consider the theatrical contrast between zombies and vampires. (A few people have weighed in on this subject, but not quite in the following way.) Vampire drama draws its power perversely from the depths of human hope: beyond transgressive erotic titillation, there's the semi-secret fantasy that life as a vampire can, ultimately, be successfully negotiated within the structures of normal human life. Vampires are like celebrities -- gaunt, exclusive, tormented -- but they're also just like us! Because, after all, they're us plus: not just alive, but too alive.
Zombies, of course, aren't too alive. They're not dead enough. And where vampire drama plays devilishly on our all-too-human hopes, zombie drama plows straight through our fears to hit us where it really hurts: at the level of human despair. Good zombie drama lowers us to the bottom of hopelessness, only to let us -- when the show's over -- return to the real world, in all its ordinary graces, stingingly thankful for the decencies, great and small, of nature and nature's God.
What can get in the way of such a powerful experience? Not much. But just as zombies are more vulnerable creatures than vampires, zombie drama can be cruelly deprived of its power in a way that vampire drama cannot. For when characters in vampire dramas utter forced, flat, lame, and soulless dialogue, we can have a laugh that merely puts the physical charge of the action in greater tension with the absurdity of talk. (Proof? Keanu didn't ruin Dracula.) But when characters in zombie dramas start speaking in Bad Screenwriter language -- as they did with stunning, disappointing consistency in episode 2 of The Walking Dead -- look out. The pathos of despair folds like a freshly decapitated revenant. Suddenly, the undead are more convincing, more real, than the living. We can't access the horror of hopelessness when the world's survivors interact like Laura Linney and Tim Curry in Congo. We're reduced to tallying up cheap gross-out thrills -- actually, inevitably, hoping that another one of humanity's last hopes falls prey to the claws and jaws of the hungry dead.
That, my friends, is a catastrophic failure of zombie drama. Let's hope The Walking Dead recovers this Sunday night. Otherwise, for we the living, it'll be a fate worse than death -- an evening of Tivo with The Vampire Diaries.
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Aug '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
I didn't get hooked on the zombie genre until I saw 28 Days Later. Now I cannot get enough of it, and I'm trying to work my way through the canon.
I just watched the original Night Of The Living Dead for the first time a couple of weeks ago. That is really inexcusable, considering that it's public domain and anybody can download it LEGALLY for free.
Last night I watched Pontypool. While it isn't STRICTLY a zombie movie, I absolutely loved it. It really does a great job of looking at the Zombie Apocalype from a completely different angle. Even with very little gore, it's a damned suspenseful little flick. (I don't want to give too much away.)
Some people were disappointed by the big reveal of what caused the outbreak, but I feel it was just a MacGuffin to move the story along, and not really the "philosophical comment" some people claim it was.
I highly recommend it for the thinking-person's zombie fan.
Nov '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
I've been drawn to vampires since...well, forever, I guess. I love Dracula. (Stoker fans: Check out Robert Whitfield's reading of Dracula for Blackstone Audiobooks. Fang-tastic!) But I didn't get the "zombie" thing until P&P&Z. I had to know what the fuss was all about and so read it. Now, understand that P&P is my favorite Austen novel--perhaps my favorite 19th C. British novel, full stop. I can honestly say that the zombification of the work was thoroughly enjoyable. Seriously.
ETA: More to the point of the OP, I should add that I found "Bram Stoker's Dracula" unwatchable regardless of the fact that Keanu Reeves was in it. Or more accurately, I watched it and hated it. In fact, I thought that "Fright Night" was better. "BSD" made Frank Langella's "Dracula" look like an art film by comparison. And I'm predisposed to adore Gary Oldman--AND Count Dracula.
Edited on Nov 12, 2010 at 1:17pmAug '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
Vampires and Zombies are rich allegories for pure evil and the putrid fruits of evil. Count Dracula, Nosferatu - the undead - like Satan, is a fallen being of great gifts. He once was victorious over his enemies, and like Napoleon, had style, intelligence, wit, and self-awareness - to a degree. But he became jealous of God, longing for immortality.
Zombies are the poor dumb masses, slaves, who never had the wit and intelligence of the vampire.
These stories well told are salutary reminders of the real stakes in our lives.
May '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
Okay, a few notes from a guy who has identified himself as zombyboy on other parts of the Internet for so long that it is no longer accurate. Not the zomby part; the other bit.
I have to put in a few notes: Keanu didn't ruin Dracula but that's just because it wasn't such a great movie to begin with. Surround him with some good actors in an otherwise good movie and see what the damage he does. Much Ado About The Circle K, for instance.
Every time I throw 28 Days Later into a zombie conversation, I'm told (often condescendingly) that it isn't a zombie flick. I won't do that to you, but I'm betting someone will.
Man, I love that movie. I also love that it came from the same guy who gave us Millions, Sunshine, and Slumdog Millionaire. He also gave us The Beach, but I'm a forgiving mood.
All that aside, that's disappointing about episode 2. I watched the first and thought that the show had some promise. I hope the next episode is better.
Aug '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
I have come across that sort of pedantic zombie puritan before. They should really lay off that argument, since the zombie genre probably wouldn't be nearly as popular today if 28 Days Later hadn't been made. There are PLENTY of people out there who always thought of zombie movies as silly kid's stuff until they saw 28 Days Later and realized the genre is fertile ground for really intelligent storytelling.
Another recent favourite of mine is Dead Set, which takes place inside the locked set of the UK version of Big Brother while the Zombie Apocalypse happens outside. It's really great stuff.
Edited on Nov 12, 2010 at 1:28pmMay '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
Misthiocracy
I have come across that sort of pedantic zombie puritan before. They should really lay off that argument, since the zombie genre probably wouldn't be nearly as popular today if 28 Days Later hadn't been made. There are PLENTY of people out there who always thought of zombie movies as silly kid's stuff until they saw 28 Days Later and realized the genre is fertile ground for really intelligent storytelling.
Edited on Nov 12 at 01:28 pm
Amen to that.
Aside from which, there have been any number of reasons given for the zombie outbreaks in the past. The way I see it, 28 Days Later just took a slightly different path to get to the same station.
Any conversation about zombie flicks really has to ultimately include Shawn of the Dead. Probably my favorite recent zombie movie. Funny as all get out, it still managed to capture the genre and the tension just right.
I'll have to check out Dead Set.
Aug '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
I should have mentioned that Dead Set was a tv miniseries. Probably the only place you can find it is via BitTorrent.
Oct '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
River:
Zombies are the poor dumb masses, slaves, who never had the wit and intelligence of the vampire.
I think someone just earned a nasty gram from the Zombie Anti-Defamation League.
Edited on Nov 12, 2010 at 4:54pmMay '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
Yeah, that will make it tougher. Maybe I can find it in Netflix?
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
David Jones
Yeah, that will make it tougher. Maybe I can find it in Netflix? · Nov 12 at 2:07pm
Tim Cavanaugh speaks reasonably well of Dead Set in his reasonably hilarious Walking Dead piece at Slate.
May '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
James Poulos, Ed.: Vampires are like celebrities -- gaunt, exclusive, tormented -- but they're also just like us! Because, after all, they're us plus: not just alive, but too alive.
Zombies, of course, aren't too alive. They're not dead enough. And where vampire drama plays devilishly on our all-too-human hopes, zombie drama plows straight through our fears to hit us where it really hurts: at the level of human despair.
Beautifully written.
I have yet to see the original Night of the Living Dead because zombies generally strike me as the horror equivalent of The Three Stooges. So 28 Days Later gets my award for best zombie drama (though, unlike most, I enjoyed I Am Legend).
Best zombie action movie: Resident Evil.
Best zombie comedy: Shaun of the Dead.
However, to fully understand the terror of evil by slow-motion or sheer numbers (no, I'm not talking politics!), one must play video games.
A building full of shadows, monsters and limited ammo? Resident Evil.
Huge, hysterical waves of undead while friends guard your back? Left 4 Dead.
Single-handedly ending the zombie apocalypse with bowling balls, guitars, chainsaws and cash registers? Dead Rising.
Aug '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
The next one on my list is Siege of the Dead, a zombie flick from Germany that appears like it follows the Dawn of the Dead template. Not too innovative, but it has subtitles, which means it MUST be classy, right?
Dead Snow, the Norwegian zombie nazi flick is guilty fun, but it's just cinematic candy floss. Is Zombloitation a valid sub-genre, cuz that's how I would label it.
May '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
Misthiocracy
I have come across that sort of pedantic zombie puritan before. They should really lay off that argument, since the zombie genre probably wouldn't be nearly as popular today if 28 Days Later hadn't been made. .....Edited on Nov 12 at 01:28 pm
28 Days is not a zombie flick, it's a rage flick. Are you Brain Dead?, Attitudes like yours should be dropped to the bottom of (Zombie) Lake.
Edited on Nov 12, 2010 at 6:22pmAug '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
I am proud of my cultivated disdain for zombie movies. I've been heard to opine that the genre peaked with "White Zombie" in 1932 and went to hell after it dropped the essential connection to Haiti and voodoo.
(And by the way, this is a difficult position to maintain when one works at a video game company.)
But now I'm going to have to give "28 Days later" a chance.
Aug '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
Try to find a copy of Pontypool while you're at it. It's also very different.
Oct '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
I think the Walking Dead is the series to end all zombie films in the future.
Aug '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
I can't do horror movies, they just stick with me once they are over. I can handle the zombie comedies though, and Shaun of the Dead is the best.
I thoroughly enjoyed Zombieland, Woody Harrelson and Bill Murray were verry funny, and Emma Stone, well, enough said.
Nov '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
It should also be noted that end-of-the-world tales are as old as Noah. However, Night of the Living Dead (1968) is a creative breakthrough precisely because Romero removed zombies from their traditional Haiti, placed them in a Middle American setting, and cranked the horror factor up to 11, thereby creating a recognizably new genre – the Zombie Apocalypse. By doing so, he vastly expanded the horizons of the zombie story. For this alone, Romero should be counted as one of the great Masters of Horror of the 20th Century.
In the years since, the Zombie Apocalypse has become part of an even larger genre, Survival Horror, which includes any film, game or story in which civilization is destroyed by nuclear attack, alien invasion, natural disaster, biological terror or (the sentimental favorite) zombies.
Having said all that, I wholeheartedly agree that White Zombie is a very good movie (with some striking scenes) and deserves a lot more attention, if only for Lugosi's bravura performance.
Nov '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
Our discussion of zombies in popular culture would not be complete without mentioning a remarkable foreign entry, the Japanese anime series Highschool of the Dead (July, 2010). If you are unfamiliar with the conventions of Japanese cartoons (which are typically much more mature than your standard Hanna-Barbera fare), then watching the bloody, gruesome tropes of a Zombie Apocalypse played out in cartoon form may be quite disturbing, to say the least. Here is a (relatively mild) clip:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33t48bMVQZk
The survivors are confronted with an endless series of tough, brutal, soul-scarring moral choices. The Japanese love to explore human nature in extreme situations, so they absolutely revel in this sort of thing.
Highschool of the Dead also includes a nice touch of chilling irony. The characters are familiar with the zombie theme in popular culture, but they always refer to their attackers as "them" and never use the "Z-word." Although they are fully aware that the world has gone to hell and that reality is now a nightmare, they are apparently unwilling to admit to themselves that they have been engulfed in a genuine Zombie Apocalypse – just like in the crazy movies!
Edited on Nov 14, 2010 at 12:08amAug '10
Re: Horrors! Vampires, Zombies, Bad Screenwriting
FYI: Zombie mythology predates Haiti by a couple of thousand years.
There's a passage in Ezekiel that sounds remarkably like our modern vision of zombies: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ezekiel+37:1-14&version=NIV
There 5000-year-old Epic of Gilgamesh includes a passage about "the dead" being allowed to feast on "the living" until "the dead" outnumber "the living". So it can be argued that even the idea of zombie contagion, which is part of the Romero mythology but not the Haitian mythology, existed thousands of years ago.
What's most fascinating is the theory of where these zombie myths actually came from, originally: http://www.cracked.com/article/177_6-popular-monsters-myths-that-prove-humanity-doomed/
(BTW: Cracked.com is, IMHO, the best source of information about zombies on the Internet. I particularly enjoy the "7 Scientific Reasons a Zombie Outbreak Would Fail Quickly" article.)