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This coming Sunday is the premier of The Walking Dead Season 2 and several of us are rather excited about its long awaited arrival. This got me to thinking perhaps that a Zombie SF might be applicable with Halloween fast approaching. 
A Brief History of Zombie movies
Everything we enjoy about Zombie movies, shows, games, and comics today is largely owed to George Romero, who in 1968 created what is widely accepted as the first modern Zombie Apocalypse film, Night of the Living Dead.
In it a woman named Barbara and her brother are visiting the grave of a family member when they are attacked by an unknown person. Barbara's brother is killed by the thing and she flees to an old farmhouse nearby and discovers that others inside have fled there too after being attacked by the mindless creatures, who appear to not only be risen back from the dead, but tend to like to eat people. After a long night of barricading themselves in the farmhouse the survivors have to hatch a plan to get back to safety and civilization alive before the Undead finish them off. The movie was a huge hit and a shot of adrenaline in the arm of the horror movie industry.
The Zombie Film Plot
More films followed in Romero's series, and a formula quickly was established in zombie movies that holds true today. An incurable disease breaks out in some way among the global populace, killing those whom it infects and reanimating them after death to become a zombie. The zombie outbreak eventually overwhelms civil and military forces and soon the world is a collection of small, isolated groups of survivors, usually spending most of their time fending off the undead. Because zombies are undead things that would harm or kill a regular human being will not harm a zombie, thus there are really only a few ways to dispatch them; either shooting them in the noggin, or burning them. Either way the brain must no longer function for the zombie to fall still!
A group of hungry zombies from the 2009 film Zombieland
The genre has become so popular now that there is a large subcategory of horror devoted to just zombie films, lore, and zombie apocalypse fare, video games, books, TV shows, and even a CDC (Centers for Disease Control) Bulletin released last year on how to prepare for the Zombie Apocalypse. 
Evolution of the Genre
In the past decade some Zombie films have transitioned from being about the walking dead to normal people infected with a disease that makes them attack normal persons. Most of the same rules apply; if you get bitten, scratched, etc. by a zombie you get sick. If you get sick you transform into a zombie, ad infinitum. The main difference is that rather than the standard "Romero zombie", the undead in this particular subgenre are able to move fast because they're not dead. This makes them particularly dangerous to survivors!
A prime example of this subcategory is the excellent movie 28 Days Later, starring Cillian Murphy as a bicycle courier who awakes from a month long coma in a seemingly deserted London. He discovers to his horror that the people aren't gone at all and have a tendency to want to chew on the survivors. The Rage Virus (accidentally released by animal rights activists at the beginning of the film) turns its victims into frenzied creatures who are driven to search for the uninfected and bite on em'. Infection takes a minute or less to completely consume a person. The film was an enormous hit both in Britain and the US and made a star out of Murphy.
Jim (Cillian Murphy), fresh out of his coma, walks around an abandoned London
This leads us to The Walking Dead, the first ever Zombie Apocalypse TV show. The program is based upon the best selling comic book of the same name and features most of the same characters, although the plot diverges at times. The show has been a big hit with audiences despite its graphic nature. The hero of the story is Sheriff's Deputy Rick Grimes, who with his partner Shane Walsh, get into a gun fight with some escaped convicts. Rick is wounded and goes into a coma for a couple of months and awakens to find the world around him completely changed, filled with death, decay, ruins, and zombies, referred to as "Walkers" in the show. The series is loaded to the gills with traditional zombie lore and is a great deal of fun to watch.
The main cast of The Walking Dead
At any rate, I know this is a rather incomplete SF intro, so feel free to add what you would like. Enjoy!!!
Kennel Keeper of Fenris Ulf
Topic starter
Posted : October 14, 2011 11:53 pm
Looking forward to new episodes of The Walking Dead. I skimp through them, however, as I will skip the really depressing episodes as in when a favorite character gets whacked.
Important rules for the Zombie Apocalypse:
Rule #1: Cardio. All you have to do to survive is be able to outrun the guy slower than you.
Rule #2: The Double Tap. Always shoot a zombie twice.
Which leads me into another Zombie Film, Zombieland. Reported a sequel is in the works. By no means does this make me an advocate of R rated films. 
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
Posted : October 15, 2011 1:04 pm
I Love Zombies!!!
Especially slow ones- much scarier, IMHO. I'm definitely on the side of the 'shamblers' in the shamblers vs runners debate.
That's one reason original Dawn of the Dead (1978) was better than the 2004 remake. The 1990 version of "Night' was truer to the original.
OTOH, the Infected in "28 Days" and the first half of "28 Weeks" were good in context, though "28 Weeks" totally fell apart in the second half; it was like they had no idea of how to carry on the story so they threw it out and just stuffed 'whatever' in instead.
"Zombieland' was great; another excellent parody is "Shaun of the Dead".
Brad Pitt is making "World War Z", due out in 2012, but it appears to have fast zombies, which kills a lot of the main features in the book.
And of course, one of the common threads of zombie movies is you have to have the survivors doing incredibly stupid things to give the brainless undead an even chance
The difference is that people wanted to hear the stories, whereas I never met anyone who wanted to read the essays
Posted : October 16, 2011 3:38 am
"Braaaaiiinnnsss!!!" 
Despite typically staying away from gory films (horror or otherwise) and not really being a fan of zombies, I recently gave a few "undead" movies a spin.
Night of the Living Dead (1968/color version)
I saw clips of this one in the original b&w and WILL NOT watch it that way. It completely freaked me out in b&w just from the 1 minute clip I saw. 
The color version was actually decent and somewhat enjoyable. I must say that I'm not really a fan of this film, but I can see it's historical significance.
2 and a half/5
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
I'll probably get a lot of flack for this but.... I really don't see what's so great about this one. 
It's an improvement over the first, but the constant shift between horror and comedic moments felt disjointed to me. Also, the gore effects by Tom Savini, while good, looked a bit fake to me and unfortunately added to the somewhat goofy nature of the film. Sorry!
2/5
Day of the Dead (1985)
The goriest of Romero's zombie trilogy and surprisingly the one I liked the most. Imagine that.... Anyway, I really liked the down and gritty nature of this one with its bleak outlook, the conflict between the scientists and military, everyone losing it and the REALLY amazing zombie effects. Tom Savini did a most excellent job here, when I think "zombies", these are the kind that come to mind. Great work. 
3/5
Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Starts out as a morbid parody of George Romero's films, then slides into genuine horror. Extremely bleak, mean and unpleasant. Huge downer of an ending as well. 
None, nodda, zippo!
Return of the Living Dead II (1988)
More of a remake of the first film, this one is actually more of a dark comedy and does a good job at balancing the fright and the laughs. I actually enjoyed this one and would recommend it to zombie lovers. I'm guessing this is sortof what Shaun of the Dead is like?? 
3/5
-----------------------------
Wow.... I have actually seen more zombie films than I realized. Despite having seen the above, I'm still not that big of a fan of this sub-genre. I've given it a spin, so at least I can say I tried it. 
Avvie by the great Djaq!
http://bennettsreviews.blogspot.com/
^ Short tribute to James Horner (1953-2015)
Posted : October 16, 2011 7:14 am
Wouldn't Richard Matheson's novel, "I Am Legend" be the birth of the modern zombie? That was written over a decade before "Night of the Living Dead".
Currently watching:
Doctor Who - Season 11
Posted : October 16, 2011 5:33 pm
Wouldn't Richard Matheson's novel, "I Am Legend" be the birth of the modern zombie? That was written over a decade before "Night of the Living Dead".
So Wiki says . I can certainly see the relationship, although in Matheson's novel they're vampires and not zombies. But Romero cited I Am Legend as one of his key inspirations for Night of the Living Dead, he just changed the bad guys up a little bit.
PC004, many of those movies have not aged well, admittedly. Some of them were designed by Romero to be satires on some aspect of modern society (Dawn of the Dead was in part supposed to be a play on consumerism, hence its being set in a shopping mall). Savini is great, isn't he? 
It has been many years since I've seen some of those titles...Night of course is practically required. Dawn is great stuff and probably Romero's most acclaimed zombie film. Day of the Dead I saw a very long time ago. Is that the one where they're in a bunker deep underground and that scientist is trying to uh...I guess the word is "domesticate" a zombie he summarily names Bub. Bub was the only cool zombie ever. 
But I do recall that one having a relatively depressing ending. Most zombie films do...I mean it's the twilight of the human race in most cases. PC, I highly recommend you find the remake of Dawn of the Dead which came out in 2004 or 2005. It has Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, and a few other notables in there and it was an excellent (if gory) movie.
I missed the premier to season 2 of The Walking Dead tonight because one of the folks at work called out sick, so I had to go in and cover. It's ok though...I've every certainty that it'll be on again. Till' then there's always Season 1 to go back over .
Kennel Keeper of Fenris Ulf
Topic starter
Posted : October 16, 2011 7:16 pm
True, Shadowlander, they are vampires but they have some zombie similarities. Also, if we're that strict with what is and isn't a zombie, would the infected people in 28 Days Later even be considered zombies? Probably not but I recognise them as such.
Currently watching:
Doctor Who - Season 11
Posted : October 16, 2011 7:37 pm
Yep, Day of the Dead is the one set in a bunker and stars Bub... who wins major brownie points for
Spoiler
killing the annoying, crazy and demented military leader dude.
I caught most of the Dawn remake over the weekend. It was much more disturbing than the original and good... sortof. I would have preferred it if they had ended the film with the scene before the credits and not shown the "found footage" during the credits. I liked the slight ambiguity of
Spoiler
the small handful of survivors sailing off to who-knows-what.
I guess all this boils down to.... I just don't like sad/depressing/hopeless movies/endings. I still like Return of the Living Dead II and Day of the Dead, though.
I'm also curious about Shaun of the Dead.... I think I may have to see if my cousins have that one. 
Avvie by the great Djaq!
http://bennettsreviews.blogspot.com/
^ Short tribute to James Horner (1953-2015)
Posted : October 17, 2011 8:13 am
Shaun of the Dead is the most hilarious romantic comedy zombie movie I've ever seen! You'll have to enjoy and understand British humour to get the most out of it.
Currently watching:
Doctor Who - Season 11
Posted : October 17, 2011 3:30 pm
I saw some of Shaun of the Dead and enjoyed what I saw. I especially like that Shaun keeps walking around for almost half the movie completely oblivious to the fact that a zombie apocalypse is happening all around him 
. I tend to think Zombieland is funnier, but SotD was a lot of laughs from what I saw of it .
PC, the Dawn remake was a really worthy remake of the 1st one. But I have to agree with you that I did not like the ending/credits portion of the movie. It would have been better not to know. And long live (or in this case unlive) Bub, the only zombie with a working brain (and a working trigger finger as I recall ).
I got to watch the Walking Dead season premier last night and it blew my mind....it also left me hanging . Bring on Sunday!
Kennel Keeper of Fenris Ulf
Topic starter
Posted : October 18, 2011 12:53 am
I finally got to watch Zombieland last week and loved. I didn't know there was a sequel in the works; hopefully it will be as good as the first and not succumb to sequelitis.
Not thrilled with the idea of World War Z having fast zombies. Max Brooks used the classic Romero style zombies exclusively and the storyline of the book would completely fall apart if they were dealing with fast zombies. And a lot of the material in The Zombie Survival Guide would probably be useless when dealing with the fast style. Hopefully they aren't ripping off 28 Days Later on top of all of that.
So I guess I must be the only NWebber that got to see The Walking Dead on Sunday. It was good, but not as good as last season's premiere. I have to say,
Spoiler
I'm not surprised at all that they're apparently killing the children off. There's really no way that characters of that age can be done practically on television. Lost ran into the same problem with Walt, which is why they quickly disposed of his character. But still, the scene in which Carl was shot was ridiculous.
Posted : October 18, 2011 5:03 am
I confess that zombies usually aren't my cup of tea, but I did enjoy The Walking Dead last season (I watched it when A&E ran a marathon, all episodes in order, after the encouragement of NarniaWebbers).
I liked the plot complexity and character development; the violence not so much. But once I have access to On Demand I'll catch up with this season's premiere.
But all night, Aslan and the Moon gazed upon each other with joyful and unblinking eyes.
Posted : October 18, 2011 7:09 am
Gazer, you can see the episode for free on amctv.com. That's how I got to see it .
Booky, World War Z is a book I've been meaning to pick up (I have the Zombie Survival Handbook), and am surprised it'll have fast zombies in the movie. You sure about that? I have heard that they're casting Brad Pitt in the film, so says the latest rumor.
Kennel Keeper of Fenris Ulf
Topic starter
Posted : October 18, 2011 10:58 am
That's what Gray Mouser posted upthread. I haven't really kept up with the news on that film, mainly because I'm skeptical that they could come even slightly close to doing it justice. I suspect we'll get more of a generic hack and slash zombie flick than the more episodic storytelling of the book.
Posted : October 18, 2011 11:28 am
A link to the story on fast zombies- also says they are the "instant infection" variety a la "28 Days":
http://www.ifc.com/news/2011/09/world-w ... -video.php
The difference is that people wanted to hear the stories, whereas I never met anyone who wanted to read the essays
Posted : October 19, 2011 12:00 am
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