posts tagged with: zombies

Via VideoSift

Adam sent me this, which had somehow slipped my radar. I felt the need to share it, and to offer some observations.

Firstly, this is great news! The Walking Dead is probably the best zombie literature to ever be written. No matter that it’s in comic book form- the only people who make distinctions about that sort of thing are people too blinded by their perceptions to see brilliance. (See also: The World Fantasy Awards, Gaiman’s Sandman)

However, one quote in the article gave me reason to pause:

“This is not about zombies popping out of closets,” said AMC SVP of programming, Joel Stillerman to Variety. “This is a story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances. The world is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way.”

Clearly, this is a person who knows absolutely nothing about zombie cinema, except the vision of zombie cinema they’ve developed in their own head.

I can say this with confidence as someone who has consumed a massive amount of zombie-related media. There is only ONE zombie movie I can think of that involves zombies popping out of closets. Unfortunately for Joel Stillerman, it is probably also one of the deepest zombie movies ever made, a “story about survival, and the dynamics of what happens when a group is forced to survive under these circumstances” where “the world is portrayed in a smart, sophisticated way.”

I’m talking, of course, about the 1978 Romero version of Dawn of the Dead. Don’t believe me? Check it out. The scene is also the only occurrence of “fast zombies” in a Romero film.

I suppose one should know their roots before they knock them.

Why haven’t I seen this movie yet? It doesn’t appear to be on Netflix, that’s probably a good reason. Must still be a VHS-only movie :(

It seems right up my alley, what with all the sillyness, and the zombies, and the stupid religious zealots getting (I imagine) eaten. Plus, the ridiculous comedy / horror / song mashup seem to be along the same lines as the wonderful Cannibal! The Musical, which, as you may know, I loved.

Here’s one of the musical numbers, which I found today on ectomo, and which prompted this post:

Edit: Found it on DVD!

Via Rue Morgue, a stop-motion silent film and bloodbath.