12 Days of Zombie (Recap)

Christmas is now over, and so are the 12 Days of Zombie in which I counted down to Christmas by revisiting 12 zombie classics. To recap the 12 Days of Zombie, I've assembled links to all 12 classics spotlights in case you missed them. Just click the wreaths.

28 Days Later (Review)

REVIEW

28 Days Later (2003)

Director: Danny Boyle

RATING:
5 / 5 zedheads
 

Two British films rekindled my love of zombies when I was away at University. First, Shaun of the Dead made me fall in love with Romero-style flesh eaters all over again. Then there was the stylistically new 28 Days Later. It captured my imagination with is frighteningly fast rage-infected zombies that stalked the cold, dead, and silent ruins of London. 28 Days Later made me believe that zombies could run.

Wish you were here

Waking from a coma, Jim (Cillian Murphy) finds himself alone in an abandoned hospital. Venturing forth into London, it seems like he's the last man on earth. When he encounters what he thinks are survivors, they turn out to be horribly savage and murderous people infected with a deadly virus. He's saved by Selena (Naomie Harris) who teaches him the cold hard facts about how to survive in a world where one drop of infected blood, or one bite from an infected person, will burn up your mind and transform you into a mindless and relentless killer. Along the way, Jim and the other survivors they meet (Brendan Gleeson and Megan Burns) teach each other about the importance of family and humanity . It's a lesson that becomes even more important when they meet a group of deranged soldiers who have lost a grip on their own humanity, and Jim must become as savage as the infected to save them.

Even British graffiti is cheeky

The script for 28 Days Later owes much to the work of George A. Romero. His themes are all here: contempt for corrupt authority, a social commentary about the savage nature of humanity, an exploration of how far people will go to survive. Unlike Romero's films, however, 28 Days Later is a much faster and more savage depiction of the apocalypse. The zombies are not undead or flesh eaters; they are clearly mortal. However, in 10 to 20 seconds, they've been transformed into bestial, raging savages with no human thoughts. Their minds have been burned up by a fever that drives them to kill, kill, kill. They spit up extremely infectious blood, their eyes turn red, and they turn on their family and friends like mad dogs. Infected, these people have no logic and seem to feel little pain. While you're tired and malnourished, the infected will chase you down even if they're on fire. These zombies will run, and it's a scary and overwhelming nightmare scenario.

Why is it that both dogs and the infected love to roll in mud?

While films following 28 Days Later sought to copy the "fast zombie" idea, they used it too often for cheap jump scares and momentary thrills captured by hand-held shaky cams. No dread. No atmosphere. No suspense. Director Danny Boyle, however, doesn't rely on his zombies to jump out and go "boo." Instead, he creates a very oppressive atmosphere of isolation, despair, and hopelessness. The majority of 28 Days Later is also spent with its survivors and forging a sincere relationship between them. Only periodically are their lives interrupted by savage violence. Those movies that followed 28 Days Later often lost track of the emotional requirements of a good zombie film. Zombies that run are not enough to be scary. They have to put people we like, people we love, in danger. There has to be stakes. In 28 Days Later, running zombies work because they pose a threat to people we've grown to love.

Seeing Red: A subtle visual pun

28 Days Later is a thematically modern zombie film. Taking the essential idea of the zombie and mapping it onto current fears about terrorism, biological warfare, civil unrest, and disease, 28 Days Later gave the zombie concept a needed boost of relevance. In a world that many people feel is moving too quickly and where violence happens so senselessly and without warning, it makes sense to present an apocalyptic scenario that occurs equally fast, without warning, and with senseless fury.

Put a shirt on young man; you'll catch your death

28 Days Later is a fantastic movie from its performances right down to its production design (kudos to making London look deserted!). It also has had profound influence on the the state of current zombie media. Even video games like Left 4 Dead owe much to the zombies in 28 Days Later. Zombies don't have to be corpses anymore. Zombies don't have to be slow anymore. While I prefer undead zombies that shamble, I recognize the contributions of 28 Days Later. When used well, fast zombies can tap deeply into that which scares us most in a contemporary society spinning out of control.

THE 12 DAYS OF ZOMBIE is over. I hope you've enjoyed my reviews of these zombie classics. Here's to finding and creating even more zombie classics in the New Year!

28 Days Later (Zombie Classic)

On the twelfth day of zombie, my true love gave to me.....

     12 zombies sprinting
              

11 bikers looting
10 survivors squabbling
9 intestines spilling
8 walkers walking

7 creeps a-creeping
6 cricket bats a-swinging
5 voodoo slaves.

4 green syringes,

3 eye gougings,

2-4-5 Trioxin, 
and a Sumatran rat-monkey.

28 DAYS LATER - 2003    [REVIEW]

Director: Danny Boyle
Writer: Alex Garland
Stars: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris and Christopher Eccleston

SYNOPSIS: 28 days after a hyper-infectious virus ravages the UK and turns the populace into savage "zombies," a bike courier named Jim wakes from a coma and must come to terms with living in a post-apocalyptic England.

BEST LINE: That was longer than a heartbeat.

BEST SCENE: When a group of soldiers attempt to rape his friends, Jim shows that he -- an uninfected person -- can be more savage and deadly than even the infected.

CLASSIC STATUS: The influence of 28 Day Later cannot be understated. While 28 Days Later wasn't breaking new ground with its plot, the film was like a rush of cocaine into the bloodstream of zombie cinema. After 28 Days Later, zombie films concentrated less on the undead and more on viral infection as the cause of zombism, zombies became more animal-like and savage, and zombie films began to present zombies that were capable of chasing their victims like Olympic sprinters. Regardless of whether you like these changes, 28 Days Later has had a profound effect on zombie media in the 21st century.

Dawn of the Dead (Review)

REVIEW

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Director: George A. Romero

RATING:
4.5 / 5 zedheads



As I write this review, it is two days before Christmas and I just returned from the mall. After fighting my way through a sea of bodies wandering through the mall with no discernible pattern and with blank, shell-shocked expressions on their faces, my thoughts turn naturally to Dawn of the Dead. Although the makeup and gore effects in Dawn of the Dead are clearly dated, the social commentary at the heart of George A. Romero's action / drama zombie film is still relevant today. You can go to any mall at any time of year and see your own zombies shambling from store to store.

While Dawn of the Dead is not a strict sequel to Night of the Living Dead, it extends the premise further by showing a society on the verge of collapse under the pressure of a relentless zombie menace. In the television studio of WGON there is chaos. Employees are abandoning their jobs as people start to realize that the zombie epidemic is getting out of control. The government has made it illegal to occupy private residences and is ordering people to turn over their dead. Scientists seem to have a pretty good grasp on what makes the zombies tick and how to defeat them, but their cold, emotionless protocols are being ignored by the average American who either refuse to believe what is happening or cannot stand to destroy the bodies of their loved ones. Socially, America is coming apart at the seems.

Zombies have no concept of personal space.

In this chaotic climate, Stephen (David Emge), a helicopter pilot, and his girlfriend at WGON  Francine (Gaylen Ross) decide to leave in Stephen's helicopter. Joining them are Roger (Scott H. Reiniger) and Peter (Ken Foree), two AWOL Swat members who have seen first hand the break down of society, the horror of the zombies, and the senseless murder that is only fueling the zombie ranks. Together they end up taking refuge in a shopping mall where they have everything they need, but soon they realize that the mall has lured them into a false sense of security, complacency, and affluence. The zombies are just as eager to get in, and a roving gang of bikers is set to take the mall and its spoils by force.

I just can't take another marathon of What Not to Wear.

The enduring success of Dawn of the Dead has nothing to do with its gore or effects. Technically, it's a dated film. While its gore effects were envelop-pushing in its day, you can now see more shocking violence on basic cable. Because of the film's budget, photography technology, and special effects techniques available in the 1970's, the film looks crude by today's standards. The zombies are colored like smurfs and the blood looks like thin tomato soup. Viewed in the context of its era, however, Dawn of the Dead doesn't look bad, but its effects are not what keeps the film relevant.

This is why you should never pop a zit, kids

Instead, Dawn of the Dead remains a classic because of how Romero managed to balance a successfully a riveting action-adventure survivor tale with a damning social commentary of consumerism. Since Dawn, Romero has lost some of his subtlety, but Dawn of the Dead remains a strong film driven by strong performances, strong imagination, and a strong social warning.

Don't look so shocked. That machete wasn't for show.

Stephen (aka. Flyboy), Francine, Roger, and Peter have to be one of the most likable and realistically flawed survivor groups in all of zombie moviedom. Each actor imbues his or her character with easy-to-identify stock traits but also a level of human depth you don't often see in an exploitation gore picture. In particular, the friendship between Roger and Peter is a touchstone for much of the film's drama. Each character also has to come to terms with their own real and imagined flaws. Francine is a strong woman but her pregnancy hinders her ability to distinguish her identity and worth. Flyboy acts impulsively and wants to be a man of action like Peter but he lacks the skill and planning, which endangers the group. Roger is also impulsive and prone to immature behaviour and losing sight of the seriousness at hand. Finally, Peter appears to be the strongest of the group, but he shoulders a silent hurt that we see from the moment he's forced to gun down some zombie children. It becomes clear that he's living for his group. If they die, he has no reason to go on. Even without the zombies, I could watch Stephen, Francine, Roger, and Peter interact in any disaster situation.

Roger's reaction to 2 Girls, 1 Cup.

Despite this thread of character drama, Dawn of the Dead is also an exciting adventure movie that appeals to an adult yet childlike mind. What kid doesn't fantasize about staying in a mall over night and having the run of the place? Projected into an adult mind, what adult hasn't fantasized about staying in a mall over night to killing zombies in a bloody massacre. Okay, maybe not everyone considers the zombie angle, but the idea of living in a mall has a kind of man-child appeal. Everything you want and could never have is yours. Meanwhile, you get to shoot off guns and wear ammo belts across your chest while driving a stolen car through a mall. Dawn of the Dead embraces this unsupervised and childish mayhem. Like in a video game, our heroes run from place to place completing tasks and killing zombies in excessively gory ways. In Dawn of the Dead, most people come for the zombie action and wish fulfillment, but they stay for the wonderful character development.

Come fly with me, let's fly, let's fly away

Finally, Dawn of the Dead remains relevant because of its insightful commentary on consumerism. In 1978, shopping malls didn't saturate the North American urban landscape like they do today, but Romero saw the concept of the mall as a sign of the rampant consumerism to come. Dawn of the Dead, therefore, used its characters, setting, and zombies to show the dangers of consumerism by showing humanity as a horde of materialistic zombies. First, Romero's human characters meet their deaths because they become too complacent in the mall. Drawn by the mall as a beacon of convenience and luxury, our heroes start to revel in luxury and grow bored because they don't have to struggle for anything. Barricaded in a tomb of consumerism that contains everything they need to survive, they ironically lose their will to live. Also, the zombies outside are metaphors for a society of consumers. Drawn to the mall by instinct, they are a farcical exaggeration of Western society at large. They are hungry to consume but mindless and not contributing anything to a world. They take, take, take, and take without nourishment or enjoyment. It's a clever use of the zombie as monster but also a warning for the future -- a warning we've ignored for 30 years.

I try really hard, but Travis just sleepwalks through his role.

Dawn of the Dead remains a smart, fun, and relevant movie today. Its effects, music, and style may be dated, but in terms of zombie movies with a message, Dawn of the Dead remains a cut above the rest. This holiday season, when you're jockeying for position at the toy store or fighting your way through a deadly mall parking lot fiasco, remember Dawn of the Dead and give yourself permission to take a break from the spend-spend-spend of Christmas. You don't want to become a zombie, do you?


THE 12 DAYS OF ZOMBIE concludes tomorrow with our final zombie classic.

All I Want for (Zombie) Christmas -- Part 2

Recently, I put out a call to fellow zombie bloggers, podcasters, writers, artists,. and filmmakers to ask them, "What do you want for Zombie Christmas?" Here's the rest of their undead wish lists. (Part One HERE)

• Jennifer Emily of ArtGreen Productions and Horror in the Hammer wants something gruesome.

Oh! This is an easy one! Gruesome Enterprises sells a body collection called Bloodbath. They sell creams and soaps all for undead skin.

And their tasty krispie brain treats? Delicious!

Jennifer Emily is the co-founder of ArtGreen Productions: a visual art production team in the Hamilton area that gathers artists to develop creative concepts in a collaborative workshop that produces art that is fresh, dynamic, and unconventional.

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• Derek M. Koch was hanging stockings by the chimney with care when he shared his Christmas wish.

Oh, Zombie Santa . . . Please, oh, please don't get ME anything. Instead, please visit all the good low-/no-budget movie-makers and give them a big bash of cash. You see, I know they want to make the best zombie movies possible, but sometimes money is tight and sometimes making a zombie movie can be expensive. All those good little zombie movie-making boys and girls could use a handful of cash to better realize their zombie movie-making dreams. And, no, this isn't me being selfish. No, I'm not asking you to give movie-makers more money because I want to review more zombie movies with higher budgets and better production values. This isn't about me, Zombie Santa. It's about the children . . . I mean, the zombie movie-makers of the world.

Derek, aka Brother D, is a writer, blogger, filmmaker, and the host of the Mail Order Zombie podcast.
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• Need a Nickname Scott has a very shiny nose. Some would even say it glows.

I'm hoping Zombie Santa brings one of the Left 4 Dead 2 plush characters.  Either the Boomer, the Tank or the Hunter.  Each one of them features in-sounds from the game.

Need a Nickname Scott is the Zombie Beat Cub Reporter for the Mail Order Zombie podcast and co-host of the Disney, Indiana Podcast.

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• In the meadow Jason Nagy can build a snowman

What zombie items do I want under my tree this year?  If we're talking survival, I would like Santa to hire a contractor to remove my home from the grid and fortify it.  Solar panels, water filtration, reinforced doors, and metal shutters for the windows.  While we're at it, I'll take a few handguns with silencers and some machetes.  Of course, I will need something like a Hummer for those times when I do need to venture out.  He can park it in the back where it will be surrounded by the 8 foot tall stone wall that surrounds the house.  Right next to the parked gas tanker. For under the tree, he can leave me every piece from Sideshow's The Dead line of collectibles

Jason is founder and editor of Zombies & Toys (zombiesandtoys.com), a website designed to be your one-stop shop for news of the undead.  Featuring contests and prizes every month and home of The Zombie Toy Store
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• Dave is away in a manger, so I hear.

I write the @WausauLoner zompocalypse Twitter story. I’m fairly certain what he wants for (Zombie) Christmas is a can of mandarin oranges. And maybe something for his dog, Shorty, because supplies of her favorite food have run out, too.

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• John Migliore stepped away from his grave long enough to confide the following on Zombie Santa's knee

Though it may seem redundant for me, I'd really like a copy of How To Be A Zombie: The Essential Guide For Anyone Who Craves Brains by Sarena Valentino! Tell Zanta I wouldn't mind this, either!

 John Migliore is a professional background performer and zombie who has appeared as a zombie in a number of films including Survival of the Dead, Land of the Dead, and Zombie Apocalypse: Redemption.

I hope Zombie Santa brings you everything you've wanted and takes the milk and cookies instead of your brains on his way out.

Dawn of the Dead (Zombie Classic)

On the eleventh day of zombie, my true love gave to me.....

     11 bikers looting
              

10 survivors squabbling
9 intestines spilling
8 walkers walking

7 creeps a-creeping
6 cricket bats a-swinging
5 voodoo slaves.

4 green syringes,

3 eye gougings,

2-4-5 Trioxin, 
and a Sumatran rat-monkey.

DAWN OF THE DEAD - 1978    [REVIEW]

Director: George A. Romero
Writer: George A. Romero
Stars: David Emge, Ken Foree, Gaylen Ross, and Scott H. Reiniger

SYNOPSIS: In the grips of a zombie epidemic, two SWAT officers, a helicopter pilot and his girlfriend all abandon their jobs and seek refuge in a shopping mall. Once they clear out the zombies, they have everything they want, but as they grow more complacent they do not realize more and more zombies are being drawn to the mall.

BEST LINE: "When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth."

BEST SCENE During a biker raid on the mall, a zombie takes a machete to the forehead.

CLASSIC STATUS: Dawn of the Dead not only pushed the envelope of gore with its special effects, but its comic book attitude and satirical sensibilities managed to both frighten and amuse audiences for decades to come. George A. Romero likes to say that current zombie films are more influenced by zombie video games than his movies, but I'd argue that zombie video games today were influenced largely by his Dawn of the Dead with its emphasis on action, adventure, survival, and lots and lots of zombie kills. Dawn of the Dead has had such a long life precisely because of its morbidly fun attitude. It was also ahead of its time in its critique of consumer culture.

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

REVIEW

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Director: George A. Romero

RATING:
5 / 5 zedheads
 

What can be said about Night of the Living Dead that hasn't already been said? When Night was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry, it was chosen for being a "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" film. No dispute there. Its influence changed the direction of zombie media. That's a given. It has been hailed as a subversive film of the 1960s and the beginning of a new age of horror film-making.

Rather than drudge up these same arguments, I'm going to talk about why Night of the Living Dead was an important film for me and my development as a horror and movie fan.

Damn it, Bill. It says "pull," not "push." Pull, you idiot.

In a piece honoring my father that I wrote at Monster Chiller Horror Theatre, I talked about how Dad introduced me to Night of the Living Dead for the first time one Halloween night. It was probably my first adult horror film, and it taught me that horror could be bleak and socially angry. Until I saw Night, I had enjoyed films like The Monster Squad, Ghostbusters, Gremlins, and Critters, and even the Robert Englund Phantom of the Opera. While these films contained varying levels of age-inappropriate humor, violence, and nudity, they all came from a juvenile place of storytelling and more times than not focused heavily on monsters. I loved monsters. I'd doodle them all the time. Night of the Living Dead, however, took the fanged, horned, hairy, scaly, flying, clawed, and four-legged monsters that I loved and replaced them with creatures that looked alarmingly human. Alarmingly like me.

Oh, so NOW you want to help with the gardening?

The human as monster -- and by extension human behaviour as monstrous -- never really occurred to me in films where the monsters were either sympathetic goofballs or eventually destroyed by the prevailing light of good. That humans could be monsters and that humans could fail to defeat monsters because of human greed, shortsightedness, prejudices, and ignorance -- this was a new concept for me in horror. Instead of looking under my bed or in my accursed bedroom closet that also acted as an attic,  I started looking at my parents, my friends, my neighbors, and even myself to find monsters. The zombies are us. We are the monsters.

If you're zombies and you know it, raise your arms.

Night of the Living Dead also introduced me to the importance of older horror films and black and white horror. Although the films of 1968 can hardly be considered ancient, for a kid growing up in the mid 1980s anything before 1983 might as well be ancient history. Watch a black and white movie? You've got to be kidding! Night of the Dead, however, gave me and appreciation for horror films that were older than me. It encouraged me to pay more attention to the VHS copies of films from the 1960s and 1970s that populated my local Video Rental Stores. It even encouraged me to seek out black and white classics from the RKO and Universal era. Not only did these films give me a better appreciation for history, they made me a better horror fan because I could see the scope of terror on film and appreciate the longevity and durability of horror as a genre.

Let's Scare Barbara to Death!

Years later, Night of the Living Dead also taught me to appreciate small budget film-making. When I began to learn about how films are made, I saw something special in the production history of Night. Despite my diet of big-budget and special effects saturated pop culture, I realized that Night of the Living Dead was able to affect me on a visceral level with only a small budget and limited resources but an abundance of luck and talent. It opened my eyes to the possibility of independent and young filmmakers working outside of the studio system. Born into the video generation and maturing on the cusp of the digital revolution, I was always reminded by Night of the Living Dead to not discredit a film because it didn't have name actors, a large budget, or the backing of a studio pushing a multimillion dollar ad campaign and merchandise tie-in promotional strategy. To this day, I'll never turn down a film just because of its budget. If I do, I may miss out on another sleeper hit that could change film and genre forever.

Not even the zombie apocalypse could kill the Olympic Torch

For these reasons, Night of the Living Dead is a classic to me. Sure, it'sa fantastic movie with interesting characters, a terrifying premise, and a metaphorical and social weight, but it also shaped my expectations of what a horror movie could be. Say what you want, but Night of the Living Dead will always be a classic.

THE 12 DAYS OF ZOMBIE continues all this week with more reviews of zombie classics as I countdown to Christmas.