The Rocchi Files -- Undead is the New Black!

Based on rave critical reviews (89% "Fresh" at Rotten Tomatoes) and big box office (making $25 million in its first weekend,) Zombieland had a great opening weekend -- and, while I'm sure there will be a flurry of development meetings in Hollywood this week with executives and sycophants scratching their heads to come up with pitches and plots since zombies are hot again -- but the fact is that zombies haven't ever gone away, ever since 1968's Night of the Living Dead. What explains the appeal of zombies for film makers and for fans?

1) They Work Cheap

Or, rather, they're cheap to make work -- unlike a vampire, werewolf or mummy, you don't need a lot of costuming or make-up to turn someone into a zombie. Just put someone in their usual outfit, add a little blood and dirt and voila; repeat that 10, 20, or 300 times and you've got a horror film for the cost of some fake blood and a pair of scissors. This kind of economy means that first-time and low-budget film-makers (who want to make every last penny scream as much as they want to make the audience do so) find zombies an irresistible source of scares for early efforts -- film makers Peter Jackson (The Lord of The Rings), Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) and David Cronenberg (The Fly, A History of Violence) all made zombie (or zombie-ish) films as their earliest efforts.

2) People are People

... and zombies are people, too -- which means that unlike a werewolf or vampire or mummy, we have a frame of reference for them. When a film has a supernatural creature, we get that element of escape, that cushion-space.  Ooh, that's scary, we think, but not something I have to worry about. But zombies look like people all around you-- your neighbor, your friends, your family -- and the thought of the people around you going crazy is far easier to get to, and far scarier when you wrap your head around it.

3) Living Death is a Funny Thing

... and the zombie film includes plenty of possibilities for dark humor. Take Zombieland, which uses the zombie apocalypse to establish how, even after the end of the world, people will still be bothering each other. Or Shaun of the Dead, which uses zombie-film clichés to gently mock British manners and society. Or Dawn of the Dead's re-make where the survivors, holed up in a mall surrounded by zombies, encourage a nearby sniper they're in radio contact with to find, and shoot, zombies who resemble celebrities in the middle of the mob.: "Tell him to get Burt Reynolds." Finally, zombies are funny because when they come, society breaks down -- and watching people linger with their old, civilized ways in the face of the apocalypse -- or break with their civilized ways -- is the epitome of the kind of contrast that makes for very funny, very dark jokes.

4) Zombies Don't Form Orderly Lines at the Grocery Store

.. and they don't go to the library, or hold the door for you, or bring the mail; when zombies come, it's the end of the world -- and who doesn't find that idea fascinating and thrilling?  Contemplating the end of the world isn't just a great way, psychologically, to look past your own problems; it's also a lot of fun, especially when it's done right on film. And it's the kind of fun with some thought behind it, if you're lucky, like a dessert with nutritional value; I still contend that the piece of cinema that best depicts what it felt like on the morning of 9/11 isn't United 93 or World Trade Center but, instead, the opening sequence of Snyder's Dawn of the Dead, where Sarah Polley goes to bed in a perfectly normal world and wakes up to find everything gone. Zombies are scary, and so is the world -- and if you do them right, you can use them to look look at everything from social behavior to survivor psychology to crisis management to anxiety about disease.

Of course, too many bad zombie movies are are going to spoil the wave, but right now, I'm enjoying the zombie renaissance -- we've been on a great run since 2002's 28 Days Later, and we have the film version of the Max Brooks best-seller World War Z to look forward to. Still, what do you get out of zombie films? And are they all fun and games for you, or do you think the best ones actually have something to say?

Comments

[Nyarl]

Romero will always be the king of making zombie films, with Lucio Fulchi a close second, here is a list of my all time favorite flesh and brain eating films.

1. Day of the dead, O.G. Bub will always be my fav zombie, that movie gave me nightmares for years.

2. Zombie. Hands down, Fulchi made one of the most brilliant zombie scenes with a shark, how he did it is still a mystery.

3. Dawn of the dead, O.G. Malls, zombies, afro wearing zombies, nuff said.

4.Night of the living dead, 90s remake. Yes I place this one above the O.G. I loved Tom Savinis remake of this classic, there coming to get you Barbara...

5. Dead alive. Peter Jacksons trip into zombiedom, an instant classic, enogh blood and gore to last a lifetime.

I have many others but these are my top 5. Great post, keep up the good fight for the zombie movies James. Peace.