Z.E.O. (REVIEW)

REVIEW

Z.E.O: A Zombie's Guide to Getting A(Head) in Business

By Scott Kenemore

Skyshorse Publishing: 2009

RATING:
4 / 5 zedheads



“Turn your weaknesses into strengths -- a missing arm or leg never stops a zombie.”

The New Year is a time for resolutions: goals for self-improvement to guide us into a promising future. At this time, people look to inspirational public figures, religious leaders, and even celebrities and sports stars for cues on how to improve their lives, but does anyone think about looking for a role model in the Zombie?

Author Scott Kenemore does. In Z.E.O.: A Zombie's Guide to Getting A(Head) in Business, Kenemore continues the path he started with his first self-help book The Zen of Zombie (2007) to look at zombies from a new perspective. Turning the negativism of “zombie” on its head, Kenemore's refreshing new humor book for wannabe business tycoons shows how emulating the zombie will lead its readers to the head of the corporate table . . . and to the rewarding brains within.

Offering an interesting and satirical approach to zombies and business, Z.E.O. takes the reader on a trip to unleash the inner zombie, culminating in a step-by-step plan for becoming the C.E.O. – or rather the Z.E.O. – of a company by the end of its fourth quarter. There are numerous humorous asides and tips. Also, Kenemore drops references to several well-known and obscure zombie films that shows he's clearly well-versed in zombiedom. It's refreshing to see someone who is clearly a fan of zombies writing about them instead of cashing in on a trend.

Z.E.O. is written as a guide book that instructs its readers in the ways of the zombie – the principles of selfless, antisocial dedication and unrelenting undead efficiency – that, if copied, will lead to corporate success. Unfortunately, like other zombie guide books, Z.E.O. does not have a structure that makes it as compelling to read as a fictional narrative. It's a book you can put down for weeks and then resume reading without feeling a sense of urgency. However, Z.E.O. is a far more intriguing and witty read  than a simple guidebook. Z.E.O.'s approach is quite novel. Kenemore has a gift for taking the qualities that make zombies ridiculous and vulnerable and showing them in a light that makes them noble and powerful. I mean, I love zombies, but I was genuinely surprised at Kenemore's ability to make being a zombie sound so appealing.

The most amusing part of his book is the thoughtful examination of how zombies embody many of the widely-held beliefs about business success and power. For example, you may have heard that it is better to win through actions rather than arguments. Well, as Kenemore points out, a zombie has never won an argument. It has no need to argue – it is a creature of action. Biting, rending, tearing action. Messy, yes, but, they get results every time! And in an economy crippled by waste and inefficiency, perhaps we could use a few more zombie businesses if they are as dedicated and motivated as Kenemore makes zombies out to be.

Unfortunately, the artwork and illustrations in the book are so rough and amature-looking they may dissuade people from picking up the book at the bookstore. The art, which is also on the cover, looks sloppy and rushed. It undermines the credibility of the writing itself and the otherwise effective digest-style design of the book. Don't let the cover fool you; in an overcrowded subgenre where we tend to see more of the same this book is one of the rare inventive, polished, and unique representations of the zombie.

Even if you have no interest in business, start your New Year right with a copy of Scott Kenemore's Z.E.O. “Zombie” has become something of a bad word lately, what with all the talk of "zombie" banks and government institutions in the USA, but "zombie" doesn't have to stay that way. In 2010, empower yourself to be zombie-like as Kenemore describes it. Rise up from the depressing grave of 2009 and forge ahead, united and together, in the unstoppable search for brains or, in your case, whatever you most desire. The world is your brain pan.

Links

SCOTT KENEMORE'S ZOMBIE BLOG

Z.E.O.: Official Listing

Trailer Tuesday: E'Gad, Zombies!

The Plague of the Zombies (REVIEW)

REVIEW

The Plague of

the Zombies (1966)

Director: John Gilling

RATING:
3.5 / 5 zedheads



The Plague of the Zombies was the last good voodoo zombie film released prior to George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and the shift in the public perception of zombies from voodoo slaves to cannibalistic ghouls. It is a film deserving of the credit it has received as a hidden gem in the zombie genre and Hammer catalog, but its seems to me that the movie's budgetary restraints and narrative shortcomings do too much to limit the film's effectiveness.

I do admit that The Plague of the Zombies is a film that every zombie fan should watch. It has been praised as one of Hammer's better films of the '60s and a noteworthy pre-Romero zombie film in its own right. Primarily, the film succeeds on the back of its zombies and its notable Hammer-esque atmosphere. The zombies look quite accomplished given the film's date and budget. Clothed in dusty shrouds, the zombies are grey-faced and white-eyed with desecrated, dry rotting skin. Although they are not in the film long, their striking appearance -- especially during a dream sequence -- helps sell this movie as required viewing for zombie fans.

"Zombie" is his slave name.

While I want to recommend the film from the start, the rest of this review is going to focus on the film's flaws because much has already been written about the film's merits. I don't disagree with Brandt Sponseller of Classic-Horror.com that The Plague of the Zombies is "minor masterpiece." I also find little to object to in David Rattigan's very insightful (if a bit exaggerated) analysis of the film's cinematic style over at Dictionary of Hammer. Like I said, you should go out and rent The Plague of the Zombies. It is worth a watch, especially if you love the Gothic Englishness of Hammer films. However, at the end of the day, my mind dwells more on the film's flaws than on its successes. Chiefly, the film is flawed in its pace, characters, and special effects.

Dan O'Bannon (1946 - 2009)

Some sad news has compelled me to break my blog hiatus.....

The news this morning is that Dan O'Bannon, writer/director of Return of the Living Dead (1985), has died at the age of 63. O'Bannon helped create not only a classic zombie film but a number of classic sci-fi films as well.

Among zombie fans, Dan O'Bannon is celebrated for directing the high-energy and comedic Return of the Living Dead -- a film that became one of the most influential and highly regarded non-Romero zombie films in the genre. It wasn't until Return of the Living Dead that zombies were thought to moan for, "Braaaaaaains!" As well as creating several other memorable quotes and zombie characters such as the Tarman, Return of the Living Dead left an indelible stamp on the history of zombies and, like Michael Jackon's Thriller, helped revitalize the genre in the 1980s.

 Although O'Bannon was not involved in the sequels to Return of the Living Dead, he was involved in prior zombie-themed projects. O'Bannon worked on the screenplay for Dead and Buried (1981), in which corpses are reanimated, and he developed the story for the "B-17" segment of Heavy Metal (1981) that featured the corpses of dead pilots and airmen returning to life.

O'Bannon only directed two films; the majority of his career was spent as a screenwriter and behind-the-scenes effects artist. He worked on the scripts and created characters for several influential sci-fi films such as Alien (1979) and Total Recall (1990). He also developed the screenplays for several well-known genre directors. He helped write the script for Tobe Hooper's Lifeforce (1985) and Invaders from Mars (1986) as well as for  John Carpenter's early effort Dark Star (1974). It was on Dark Star that O'Bannon worked in visual effects  before  getting a very behind-the-scenes job on George Lucas' Star Wars (1977) creating computer animation and graphic displays.

For his contributions to horror, sci-fi, and most of all the zombie genre, Dan O'Bannon will be remembered and missed.

"Braaaaaaaaaains! Braaaaains!

BLOG HIATUS: PLEASE STAND BY

You may have noticed the blog has been a little slow lately. Because of circumstances in my life (some technical and some personal), I have not been able to update as regularly as I want. Therefore, for the rest of December The Zed Word zombie blog is going to go on hiatus, but it will return in January with all new zombie content including more reviews, articles, original videos and special coverage.

To tide you over, why not revisit some of my favorite posts from the past year! See you in 2010 unless the zombies get us first!

THE BEST of THE ZED WORD- 2009

• Coverage of The Zombie Short Film Festival  
• Mini-Reviews of Short Films

• Interview with Rob Sacchetto (Zombie Portraits)

• Audio: Recording of Modern Literary Monsters Panel at Fan Expo 2009 featuring Max Brooks and Kim Paffenroth

• REVIEW of George A. Romero's SURVIVAL OF THE DEAD

•  Video List: 5 Best Zombie Animals

• REVIEW of THE REVENANT

• LIST: 8 Most Memorable Zombie Movie Assholes

• Zed to Zed: Living with the Living Dead
  
  

Creation of Zombie Pigs to Save Soldier Lives? (Wired)

Here's a weird story published yesterday by Katie Drummond of Wired:
"Pentagon: Zombie Pigs First, Then Hibernating Soldiers"

In short, the article describes how the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding research in medical science with the goal of finding ways to reduce the rate of blood-loss related deaths in soldiers. One of the wildest research theories describes the use of a hydrogen sulfide solution that humans could take and be kept "as close to death as possible" -- put into a state of supsended animation -- in which the heart ceases to beat and wounds cease to bleed until the body can be revived and healed.

Apparently, Dr. Mark Roth at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has already had some success with smaller organisms: the article describes that he's used a hydrogen solution on rats and was able to remove 60% of a rat's blood but keep the rat alive for 10 hours on the sulfide solution.

Tests are underway on pigs who have smaller yet similar cardiovascular systems to humans. The zombie pigs in the title of the article therefore refer to these test subjects who will be anesthetized, caused to hemorrhage, and then treated with various compounds to see if bleeding can be halted and the heart-rate reduced to a near-death level without the subject dying.

In the future, will we see badly wounded soldiers put into a zombie-like state of near death on the battlefield and then transported to hospitals where they can be revived?

I'll say again: this is wild stuff.

ZOMBIE REAGAN

We all knew it would come to this eventually.


Zombie Reagan Raised From Grave To Lead GOP