What consists of a zombie movie?
Asked by
Berserker (
33548
)
October 21st, 2010
I’m curious in your opinion, or any actual fact which may exist about this.
We all think one thing when thinking of zombie flicks…but while searching for a list of zombie movies for a user here, I remembered something I addressed long ago…what exactly would consist of a zombie movie?
I see a lot of ’‘zombie’’ movies that don’t always deal with zombies, or, that propose beings and monsters that are reminiscent of zombies, but technically are not.
Zombies are simple, but they can be very complex. A Night of the Living Dead zombie is not the same as a 28 Days Later zombie. The Crazies kind of borrows the zombie concept, but these are not zombies. Pet Semetary does include the dead coming back to life, but the undead have many shapes. Why would a movie like that be considered a zombie movie by some?
I think we need to include a subgenre for horror flicks which borrow close zombie material but still are not zombie movies. Invasion/Infection movies perhaps.
I think it all depends on what a zombie is to people, despite that the zombie is very well anchored and defined in the entertainment medium… I’ve got my own idea; a zombie needs to be a returning corpse, (Or living human infected by another zombie.) and want only one thing; human flesh. Doesn’t matter how they do this, although I much prefer the shambling, slow zombies…but if those two criteria are met, then it’s good.
It gets complicated sometimes though…Pet Semetary undead to me are not zombies, because they can talk, trick people and all.
Zombies with guns and speech also make me question their authenticity…see where I’m getting at? Not to mention the concept idea for certain films I mentioned earlier.
What do you think constitutes a zombie movie? Are the monsters more important than the concept of the film, or vice versa? As we’ve seen, zombies can be a lot of different things, and can do a lot of different things…is there fact beyond generalism, or is it all opinion? What do you think?
Observing members:
0
Composing members:
0
9 Answers
I figure the closest it comes to history, the better the zombie. Zombies come from a voodoo practice of putting a spell on a person and making them a mindless slave to one’s will. They do not actually die. They just become void of volition, and subject to control. They really are not re-animated dead. That is what a “real” zombie (zombi) is .
I think the actual word for zombie is something like zambee. But yeah, gotta recognize the origins.
gore, gore, gore and more gore!
Yeah I don’t really consider 28 days later “zombies” as zombies, it’s really more like the “infected by a virus and turning batshit insane”. My criteria for zombies is kinda the same: slow moving, dead, and after human flesh. Doesn’t have to stupid, but if they start doing physics problems, I’m out. Also, I can’t really roadrunner zombies.
@Michael_Huntington Same here. Cool classic zombies do not fucking sprint around like maniacs. I’ve always had a pet peeve about Olympic Zombies.
And fuckin a on the gore lol. :)
To me, a zombie movie is a movie which includes something I would call a zombie (dead person who comes back to life in inferior form) and where that’s a major aspect of the film (e.g. as opposed to say a movie that includes zombies because they are a feature of the theme, such as a fantasy/medieval film, or a film about mummies). I would never blame someone for calling a movie a zombie movie, if it were about real-world Haitian zombies, for example, no matter how many Hollywood copycat films get made about zombie plagues. In other words, if you want to be meaningful and accurate, then you probably need another adjective or two to label the genre you mean.
Zombie movies, for me, are created by various means but end up with a basic drive to consume the living in a mindless but concerted effort that never ends unless the creature/s is/are brought to a stop. They can be infected by a virus, reanimated by a judgement from God, infected with spores from outer pace, or anything else you can dream up that is plausible and consistent. There needs to be a way to stop them, and some light of hope for refugees. I also agree about the runnig and super powers. Since when is being dead s qualification for learning to crawl on the ceiling or leaping fifteen foot high fences? If you couldn’t do it when you were alive, why can you now after you freaking die? I also don’t want zombies to be able to reason, or organize. George Romero went too far with Land of the Dead, and I insist that he take it all back!~
Sorry Haiti, your terminoloy has been pre-empted and it’s too late to expect us to rename our favorite horripilating (is that a word?) genre.
Slow moving, green faced (optional) fucktard types meandering menacingly around the mall. Basically your average wal-mart patron :¬)
I tend towards inclusiveness in zombie movies and accept that there are many takes on what a zombie is. As far as I’m concerned Carnival of Souls, Bubba Hotep, Frankenstein and even Weekend at Bernie’s should be considered zombie films since they incorporate the bodily animation of the dead. Shambling is totally optional.
Answer this question 
Composing members:
0
