Zombie Flicks

nouou said:
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Night of the Living Dead (1990)

From my experience, these are the only "zombie" films worth mentioning. It's ridiculous to argue fictitious lore, but most other films people are listing on here, aren't zombie flicks. Zombies don't run.
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Well, who says all zombies are only the lumbering Romero type? That is like saying the Predator is not an alien because it is different than the ones in Aliens. Or that Blade is not a vampire story because it is not gothic and because some of the aspects of the mythology are a little different.

Technically a zombie is a reanimated corpse that is used by a slave and controlled by a sorcerer. All this comes from Vodou myths and rituals. George Romero took the basic idea of a reanimated corpse and changed it for his needs. So his zombies are really not zombies either.

As for films like 28 Days Later, sure, the infected are not your traditional bumbling zombies. They are however pretty similar except for the fact that they run. They still attack normal humans and spread their infection through bites and blood. The post apocalyptic world and basic premise could have been done almost exactly the same but with lumbering slow zombies. It is close enough to add to the zombie mythos and become a new part of it.

I think there is plenty of room for Vodou zombies, slow zombies, and fast predatory zombies to be part of a singular mythos. I personally don't want to see one type of zombie. The various films and stories would be pretty boring if that was all anyone did.

And since this post is running a bit long, I have to say that I would love to see an M. Night Shyamalan zombie film. I bet he could do something really interesting with Romero's lumbering-style zombies.
 
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^^^
I have to agree with 99% of what you said [I'll pass on M. Night based on his last string of movies however...].


I am a big Romero fan but I want to see more than just one vision and like vampire movies there should be a mix of the more tradition rules and new rules because there is room for more than one or two styles.


Vampires in the daylight – Good.
Zombies that can run – Good.
Traditional creatures of the night and slow moving zombies – Also good.


BTW even George Romero said of his first – Night of the Living Dead – that they were flesh eating ghouls and not zombies.
We slapped the zombie label on it and it took on a life of its own from there...
 
I have always had a special appreciation for zombie movies with great make-up. I prefer the pale & sick look (28 Days, Dawn of the Dead remake) over the traditional green skin. Maybe due to a change in taste over the years from the origianl Dawn of the Dead? If you are going to spend the money, it should be here. Even the Internet Zombie Movie (World Wide Dead) had a clip on the BBC showing a make-up artist applying make-up. I am not sure if they used that technique in the film though. I only saw the Zombisode on BBC.

As for the zombie vs infected. I am not a purist when it comes to the lowbrow monsters. I don't order white wine and cheese at a ball game. At a ballgame, my beer is yellow and my hotdog... well at least it comes with a bun. Zombie is a nice title for the working man's monster. Whether the cause is from voodoo, toxic waste or a bio-weapons lab, if I see a re-animated subhuman moving towards me, I'm grabbing my shotgun and killing myself a zombie.
 
Sean Smith said:
As for the zombie vs infected. I am not a purist when it comes to the lowbrow monsters. I don't order white wine and cheese at a ball game. At a ballgame, my beer is yellow and my hotdog... well at least it comes with a bun.
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Well, a hot dog without a bun is just wrong. Can't and won't eat it that way, not even at gunpoint.

Sean Smith said:
Zombie is a nice title for the working man's monster.
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The Working Man's Monster -- would be a great title for a zombie film!

Sean Smith said:
Whether the cause is from voodoo, toxic waste or a bio-weapons lab, if I see a re-animated subhuman moving towards me, I'm grabbing my shotgun and killing myself a zombie.
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Darn it, this thread is making me want to dust off some of my old zombie story concepts and get working on a script. :kali: :zombie_smiley:
 
kevin01 said:
Any one want to guess how long it will be until we're treated to "Left 4 Dead: The Movie"?

http://www.l4d.com/
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Well, maybe when the inevitable sequel game comes out, and if it sells well then I would bet there will be film adaptation. Great game though. I wonder what they will call the sequel? Left 4 Dead 2 sounds kinda stupid for some reason. How about 5 Alive?

My theory is that if World War Z is a hit, which if done right could be huge, then we'll see a whole bunch of zombie book/comic/video game to film adaptations.

Speaking of games, while not your traditional zombies, there is always Dead Space. The creatures in that are sort of a spiritual successor to the modern zombie.

http://deadspace.ea.com/

And don't forget Dead Rising, which is supposed to have a sequel coming out later this year.

http://www.amazon.com/Dead-Rising-X..._1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1233271442&sr=1-1
 
Nektonic said:
My theory is that if World War Z is a hit, which if done right could be huge, then we'll see a whole bunch of zombie book/comic/video game to film adaptations.
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It'll be 2004 all over again. I haven't read World War Z yet, but I'm a fan of The Zombie Survival Guide. I've been excited about WWZ since I saw Max Brooks interview George Romero at Comic-Con in 2007. They talked a little bit about WWZ and they introduced the screenwriter to the audience. If you're curious, I shot it, and put the entire 61 minute video on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGdJtSs9CwE

I didn't want to lug my tripod around the comic-con crowds, so I had to shoot it all hand-held with my DVX. Boy at the time I wish I had just dealt with it and brought the tripod. My arms were so sore, so please forgive me if it's too shaky.
 
Thanks for sharing the video Pilgrim. I'm gonna check it out later tonight (got a meeting in about 30 mins so I don't have time right now).
 
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