Deciding upon the best zombie movies presupposes a reliable understanding of what exactly are zombies - or, for that matter, zombie movies. The non-aficionados on the topic might be a little surprised to learn the answer to these questions isn't so self evident. Among the keenest fans of the genre there are in fact a number of areas of dispute. Certainly no attempt is made here to conclude whether or not running zombies qualify; nor what constitutes evidence of having died. Still, even without resolving these kinds of thorny issues, we can conjecture some useful rules to guide us. I mean, a definition that merely said zombies were the undead would invite vampires into the category. And we certainly can't have that. Those vampire kids are so outre. So some kind of rule of thumb will be helpful.
Well, they do say that rules are made to be broken. And it's certainly true that the rules guiding conventions in regards to movie zombies have been broken plenty enough. Nevertheless, there remain some pretty enduring rules. Even many of those that have been broken have not thereby been vanished from the genre. So, while a little flexibility may be required in the application, some parameters can be usefully identified.
In looking at these zombie movie conventions it is useful to distinguish between the pre and the post Romero zombies. We can conclude by identifying, too, some of the standard narrative rules of zombie movies.
The Pre Romero Zombies
1. Following in the Haitian voodoo tradition that gives rise to the zombie idea, the pre-Romero zombies often had a master of some sort who raised them and thereby controlled therm.
2. Already in this early period it was common that zombie ambulation was characterized by slow, unbalanced motion.
3. Zombies were often associated to some kind of social collapse, issuing into an apocalyptic, nihilistic world.
4. Connected to the above, zombiism was often depicted as a form of plague.
Romero/post-Romero Zombies
5. Among Romero's enduring changes was that the zombies ceased to be in the control of some master-mind. Instead, now, zombies more closely resembled an act of god or natural disaster. It has become common currency that in fact the rise of zombies constituted some kind of retribution by nature against some alleged ecological evil of human action.
6. They were now driven by an insatiable hunger to eat the living, which had (and apparently required) no further explanation.
7. Romero completely re-imagined the zombie attack as a bloody gore fest, almost lovingly depicted in graphic cinematic detail.
8. And possibly the most enduring of Romero's revision of the zombie mythology was the idea that they could only be "killed" by a skull crashing blow of some sort that damaged their brain.
9 Though, as seen above, the idea of zombiism as a plague was older, the Romero tradition made standard the convention that it was passed by zombie bites.
Stock ingredients for a zombie movie
10. Pretty much every zombie movie, it seems, has to have the loser character that, whether out of stupidity, selfishness, cowardice or general inhumanity screws everything up for everyone else. Their anti-group disposition causes a break in the fortifications holding the zombies out of the safe space. So the last shred of human society, the straggling survivors, is smote by the social outcast. (There is very much a kind of communitarian conservatism to most of these movies.)
11. Straggling survivors, usually with a rainbow-like ethnic, gender and age mix, who capture in microcosm the hope and futility, dignity and venality, of the humanity that is in all likelihood about to be wiped out.
12. The "what's happening" factor. Always in the beginning, no one seems to be able to figure it out. Despite the rather large number of zombie movies, it always appears as though zombie movies take place in a world where no one has even seen one. And certainly no public official ever has. They just can't figure it out!
13. Zombie movies in fact are not about the danger of zombies, but about the danger of humans.
14. Some poor sap, emotionally attached to one of the zombies, just can't believe his or her loved one is now a flesh eating ambulating corpse. It usually goes badly.
15. A peace maker and implicit leader, who tries to pull everyone together and is usually thanked for the effort by some obnoxious jerk eventually accusingly commenting "who made you leader?"
16. And, last, but far from least, we need some hotties -- from both sides of the gender divide. Call it "love interests" if you'd like. Personally, I suspect these are secretly the main attraction of major zombie movie geeks, who can finally credibly think, "Those babes will have to have sex with me, now! How else will the human race be repopulated?" The problem of course is, as mentioned above, the hotties are usually represented by both genders. So, in fact, poor geek, there's still some alpha type getting in the way of your apocalyptic fantasy. But, at least it gives them hope. What's the real point of a zombie apocalypse if you can't have a little hope of making it with a hottie?
So, now, when somebody asks you about the best zombie movies , you know what you're talking about!
Well, they do say that rules are made to be broken. And it's certainly true that the rules guiding conventions in regards to movie zombies have been broken plenty enough. Nevertheless, there remain some pretty enduring rules. Even many of those that have been broken have not thereby been vanished from the genre. So, while a little flexibility may be required in the application, some parameters can be usefully identified.
In looking at these zombie movie conventions it is useful to distinguish between the pre and the post Romero zombies. We can conclude by identifying, too, some of the standard narrative rules of zombie movies.
The Pre Romero Zombies
1. Following in the Haitian voodoo tradition that gives rise to the zombie idea, the pre-Romero zombies often had a master of some sort who raised them and thereby controlled therm.
2. Already in this early period it was common that zombie ambulation was characterized by slow, unbalanced motion.
3. Zombies were often associated to some kind of social collapse, issuing into an apocalyptic, nihilistic world.
4. Connected to the above, zombiism was often depicted as a form of plague.
Romero/post-Romero Zombies
5. Among Romero's enduring changes was that the zombies ceased to be in the control of some master-mind. Instead, now, zombies more closely resembled an act of god or natural disaster. It has become common currency that in fact the rise of zombies constituted some kind of retribution by nature against some alleged ecological evil of human action.
6. They were now driven by an insatiable hunger to eat the living, which had (and apparently required) no further explanation.
7. Romero completely re-imagined the zombie attack as a bloody gore fest, almost lovingly depicted in graphic cinematic detail.
8. And possibly the most enduring of Romero's revision of the zombie mythology was the idea that they could only be "killed" by a skull crashing blow of some sort that damaged their brain.
9 Though, as seen above, the idea of zombiism as a plague was older, the Romero tradition made standard the convention that it was passed by zombie bites.
Stock ingredients for a zombie movie
10. Pretty much every zombie movie, it seems, has to have the loser character that, whether out of stupidity, selfishness, cowardice or general inhumanity screws everything up for everyone else. Their anti-group disposition causes a break in the fortifications holding the zombies out of the safe space. So the last shred of human society, the straggling survivors, is smote by the social outcast. (There is very much a kind of communitarian conservatism to most of these movies.)
11. Straggling survivors, usually with a rainbow-like ethnic, gender and age mix, who capture in microcosm the hope and futility, dignity and venality, of the humanity that is in all likelihood about to be wiped out.
12. The "what's happening" factor. Always in the beginning, no one seems to be able to figure it out. Despite the rather large number of zombie movies, it always appears as though zombie movies take place in a world where no one has even seen one. And certainly no public official ever has. They just can't figure it out!
13. Zombie movies in fact are not about the danger of zombies, but about the danger of humans.
14. Some poor sap, emotionally attached to one of the zombies, just can't believe his or her loved one is now a flesh eating ambulating corpse. It usually goes badly.
15. A peace maker and implicit leader, who tries to pull everyone together and is usually thanked for the effort by some obnoxious jerk eventually accusingly commenting "who made you leader?"
16. And, last, but far from least, we need some hotties -- from both sides of the gender divide. Call it "love interests" if you'd like. Personally, I suspect these are secretly the main attraction of major zombie movie geeks, who can finally credibly think, "Those babes will have to have sex with me, now! How else will the human race be repopulated?" The problem of course is, as mentioned above, the hotties are usually represented by both genders. So, in fact, poor geek, there's still some alpha type getting in the way of your apocalyptic fantasy. But, at least it gives them hope. What's the real point of a zombie apocalypse if you can't have a little hope of making it with a hottie?
So, now, when somebody asks you about the best zombie movies , you know what you're talking about!
About the Author:
Now that you know what makes the grade as a zombie movie, check out Mickey Jhonny's provocative top five list of the all time best zombie movies . Over at the Walking Dead appreciation site, Pretty Much Dead Already, his article on the Walking Dead fanfiction is a must read for all aficionados of the zombie genre.
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