For the last few years, Vampires have been everywhere. They’ve saturated our movies, books and TV to a point that would bore even Anne Rice. Recently, though Zombies have finally started to fight back for some of the spotlight. In 2002, Danny Boyle and Alex Garland brought us 28 Days Later and ever since then, they’ve been creeping into greater and greater popularity. Despite having successful movies and totally ridiculous but fun cameos in video games (WW2 game – let’s throw in Nazi Zombies; old west game – let’s make the wild west overrun with Zombie humans and wildlife), Zombies have had trouble crossing over into the mainstream of television. Decaying, flesh-devouring undead are just not as sexy as shirtless bloodsuckers that sparkle when the sun hits them (get f*ck!ng real).
The Walking Dead (2010) – This Halloween, AMC spewed a mouthful of holy water at the Vampire community and delivered one of the most amazing Zombie features ever, and it was on TV?! AMC has proven over and over with Mad Men, Breaking Bad and Rubicon that they can deliver unbelievably quality programming without having to rely on nudity or swearing. Instead AMC has focused on telling unique stories without selling out characters or mood by adhering to deliberate pacing and commitment to tell each story in the best way it could be told. With the Frank Darabont-produced The Walking Dead, they have done it yet again and given Zombies the attention they deserve. I’ve never read the graphic novel that the show is based on, but the Darabont-directed first episode was better than most movies. The effects on the Zombies are absolutely incredible and must demand a budget far greater than what is normally allocated to television; the story and characters are sympathetic, interesting and acted to perfection; and the gore is the perfect amount of “oh wow, I can’t believe they showed that on TV” without being “enough is enough guys, I don’t need to see that”.
I’ve only seen the lead actor, Andrew Lincoln, in 2000s Gangster No. 1, but he is absolutely perfect as the Deputy waking up from a coma to find his wife and child missing in a world overrun with the undead. The first episode also featured Lennie James, who was fantastic in the underappreciated Jericho, and I can only hope that his character returns for more episodes as his plight was equally as riveting as Lincoln’s.
I know that this column is usually film based, but the 90-minute first episode of The Walking Dead is seriously about as good it gets. That being said, it inspired me to look back at some of my favorite Zombie movies over the last couple decades, and they are as follows.
Evil Dead 2 (1987) – Part sequel, part reboot, Evil Dead 2 shot Bruce Campbell to B-movie stardom as Sam Raimi made his mark instilling terror using just a camera moving fast through the woods. As campy and horror filled as this movie was, it was equally as funny. I don’t really know how to describe it, but if you’ve seen it, you probably love it; and if you haven’t seen it, you really need to. Sure Army of Darkness was more successful, but nothing beats watching Campbell fight with his own hand. Many have tried to duplicate this seamless blend of humor and horror, but nothing holds a candle to this movie.
Dead Alive (1992) – Long before his obsession with Hobbits, Peter Jackson disgusted the world with one of the goriest living-dead movies I can remember. Sure you can go watch a Hostel movie or a Saw movie and get more gore than you could ever want, but something about the low budget ooze-fest featuring a Zombie-killing priest that “Kicks ass for the Lord!” just elevates it to a level that modern Gorrors could never understand. Infected by a Sumatran Rat-Monkey, the guests and hijinks at the famous dinner scene will stick with you forever. If anything was ever going to give Evil Dead 2 a run for its money, this was it.
28 Days Later (2002) & 28 Weeks Later (2007) – In 2002 Danny Boyle and Alex Garland did two incredible things. They introduced us to Cillian Murphy, and they added one small but terrifying feature to the Zombies we had grown accustomed to. They made Zombies fast. Take all of those movies where you have a hundred Zombies groaning, moaning and slowly marching towards their victims. Now imagine if all of the Zombies were Usain Bolt. Which is more terrifying?
Five years later, a sequel came out with one weird twist: different director, different writer, none of the original cast, but it was still super entertaining. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo (who was responsible for one of my favorite Spanish-language films, Intacto) took over the job of bringing the British, Olympic-sprinter undead to the screen with the help of Robert Carlyle (in one of the most incredible opening scenes ever) Rose Byrne and Jeremy Renner. Entirely different from the original, this one is definitely worth watching, especially the scene shown through a rifle’s night-vision scope.
Dawn of The Dead (2004) – Way before 300, Watchmen and the upcoming Sucker Punch, Zack Snyder injected new life into North America’s Zombie movies with his remake of the George A. Romero classic. Danny Boyle showed us how Zombies can be worse when they’re fast, but Snyder added new terror by showing them in the daylight, by the hundreds. Never before has a mall felt so claustrophobic as when it’s surrounded and filled with Zombies. The black humor and relentless bloodshed in this remake, cements it as one of my favorite Zombie movies of all time. While there were great performances by Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, and Mekhi Phifer, each one of them had scenes stolen by the hilarious Ty Burrell making an appearance 6 years before landing a starring role in Modern Family. If you like him on TV, you’ve got to see him fighting Zombies.
Shaun of The Dead (2004) – I only threw this in to prove why I’m justified in hating it. Watch all of the above and then watch Shaun of The Dead. Then try telling me that it’s even watchable. It isn’t. Then go watch last year’s Zombieland (and read my write-up) to see how Zombie comedies are done.
While Halloween may be over, AMC’s Walking Dead is just starting and I’m looking forward to some quiet Sunday nights, just chilling at home with some Zombies.
– Pig
[Editor's Note: Click here to read Image Comics' The Walking Dead #1, in full, for free!]
dude, seriously, you should read the graphic novel.
I read it for 2 days straight until I finished it (finished what there is atleast).
The show seems to be sticking mostly to the book so far, which is awesome.
The Walking Dead is legitimate.
I didn’t read the comics and I’m kinda glad because now I don’t know what’s going to happen. What a great hour-and-a-half of television though! I fully expected this series to blow my mind and it officially has.
Also, I’m probably going to plagiarize this article sometime in the near future because it’s pretty sweet ass.
Sweet! I’m glad that there are other Zombie lovers out there. I’m even more glad that no one has embarrassed themseves trying to defend Shaun of the Dead.
I love Shaun of the Dead!