Zombie Studies - Recently Updated Pages

Franchises

Simon-Cordeiro — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:22:39 CDT

Legend of Zelda-ReDead or Gibdo
Zombies!!!
Resident Evil

Dead Clowns (2003)

OttoMunoz — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:20:32 CDT

Written and Directed by Steve Sessions, Dead Clowns combines the fear of clowns and the fear of zombies in one.

Filmed DIY style on a video camera, Dead Clowns takes place in a small coastal Florida town where a hurricane is headed for it. Many years before, a circus train crashed into the ocean as it was crossing a bridge over the bay during a hurricane and sent the clown car into the ocean. The Clowns died and the town tried to 'forget' it ever happened.

During the movie, the clowns come back during the hurricane and proceed to kill and eat a handicapped man, a drugged up movie theater security guard, and 3 random women in their homes.

The zombie clowns shuffle around slowly and don't really seem to be in a hurry to go anywhere. They still wear their clown suits and decomposed make up. They even still wear their clown shoes.

The movie security guard snorts up coke and gets the substance into his system. He becomes a classic horror movie character that dies for doing drugs.

Going through the movie, one wonders what the point of it being made was? The motivation behind the Clowns that is implied is that they don't want to be forgotten for their accidental deaths.

A 'metalhead' character is shown halfway in the movie driving with his girlfriend through the hurricane trying to find a good place to stop. They come upon a house that is filled with the dead bodies of the Clown's victims. The 'metalhead' then tries to make the Clowns feel better by making a sign written in dry erase marker saying 'We remember' and sticking in the front lawn. The Clowns disappear and the day/night seems saved. The rain however, cleans the marker off the sign and the movie ends with the zombie Clowns coming back.

Link for Trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIs2kiVF_WM

"Re Your Brains" by Johnathan Coulton

Simon-Cordeiro — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 13:36:34 CDT

Back ground
Johnathan Coulton is a self-proclaimed Internet superstar and musician who gained recent popularity as the result the song Still Alive a song he wrote for the ending credits for the orange box version of the Portal video game. He left his day job of writing computer software in 2005 to write music. Johanathans music seems to be heavily influenced by his earlier profession and has produced many songs about and for geeks. When his website first started out, he released a song every week for a year in a project he called Thing a Week.

Synopsis
The song "Re Your Brains" is a comedic folk zombie song performed with a guitar. It was released on his Thing A Week Two and features a zombie named Bob who is sending e-mails to his former office coworker Tom whom is barricaded in a mall . Many of Johnathan's songs and this one in particular show a resentment for corporate atmosphere and this song seems to make light of the zombie like atmosphere of a corporate office. The site features videos, guitar tabs, lyrics, info, and art all dedicated to this and Johnathan's other songs. Johnathan Coulton's website can be found at Johnathan Coulton

Analysis
Threw out the song bob can be quoted as "saying all we want to do is eat your brain" a zombie delicacy made famous in the movie the return of the living dead. Bob seems to be a highly functional zombie this idea of a high functioning yet brain hungry zombie goes against most conceptions of zombies and adds degree of humor in place of horror to the song. In the song Bob the zombie explains how unreasonable Tom is being and why long term survival is not feasible. The idea of long term survival in a zombie situation is also explored in the Max Brook book the zombie survival guide

tom smith "undead happy tree"

Simon-Cordeiro — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:46:36 CDT

Back ground
Tom Smith is a web based singer song writer who owes his success as much to the Internet as his talent. The growth of the Internet into a new form of media has made it possible for people to find and communicate on a world wide forum , and publicly exchange ideas no matter how disturbed or bizarre those minds are.

Synopsis
"Undead Happy Tree" is a folk narrative where a now zombified Bob Ross famous for his calming voice and his layed back zen like approach to painting on his PBS show "The Joy of Painting" continues to teach his show despite the loss of fine motor skills zombie-ism has brought about. The idea of zombie celebrity's is relatively new and can also be found within dawn of the dead.

Analise
The idea of zombies as a sentient form and capable of independent thought is an oxymoron however this idea can be seen in many newer after (1984) zombie texts sentient zombies can be found within return of the living dead, army of darkness, evil dead, day of the dead , land of the dead, Fido, Stubs the zombie, the resident evil line. The idea of thinking zombies or zombies that retain some of there personal characteristics seems to occur around the same time that gorier splatter zombie films were being popularized and may have original been intended to add to the horror of having to deal with reanimated friends and family. In more recent films gory based horror has taken a back seat to more savage attacks by zombies that closer resemble the every day person some how a zombie that retains is memory and personal characteristics yet still exhibits the same flesh eating behavior is scarer. The humanization of zombies may allow the audience to better relate the zombies on the screen to themselves and the people around them. Being chased and around by zombie is scary but its worse when the zombie is some one you once knew.

zombie beauty pageant

Simon-Cordeiro — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 13:43:19 CDT

The Zombie Beauty Pageant can be a stand alone event or part of a larger event such as a zombie walk the traditional pageant formula is closely followed but in a satirical fashion zombie contestants compete in area such beauty, talent, costume, personality,zombie trivia. Just like there traditional counter part special award may also be given awards such as “miss congeal-iality” and “miss-pathogenic”.
The link between sex and zombie as submissive female can be found from the very earlyist zombie movie (white zombie) and have been built upon in many other. Intristingly movies that serve as bench marks in the zombie movie also carry on this. The charicter trash of return of the living dead who brought us brain hungry zombies spends a large portion of her screen time as naked ghoul the in the resident evil apocalypse movie zombies women of ill repute seem to solicite . This infatuation with the undead as These activities are usual organized on Internet and probably would not exist with out it.

Zombie Walk

Simon-Cordeiro — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 12:57:48 CDT

With an increase of zombies in media a type of sub-culture has begun to develop that of the zombie enthusiast. Part of this new culture includes zombie walks which can vary in size from only a few to a much larger hoard. Who walk with a slow Romero style gait along a preplanned route. Zombies costumes with in the walk tend to varies in quality and range from generic zombies to specific face characters such as Trash from return of the living dead or or zombie celebrity such as those made popular in the dawn of the dead remake .

many of these zombie walks are planned and organized threw the Internet threw the use of forums frequented by zombie enthusiast the logistics of finding other people who want to dress up as zombies and shamble around down town would be nearly impossible with out the Internet. The use of zombie social networking sights have aided even more the ability for large group activities take place

Plants vs Zombies

Simon-Cordeiro — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 18:29:10 CDT

Plants vs Zombies is a game made by pop cap due out May 5th. Plants vs Zombies features severely decayed brain hungry zombies like those found in return of the living dead. In the game the player fends off zombies in a sedge style zombie game where plants are used as a defensive element. The primary way that this game is being marketed is a popular youtube music video where the basic premise of the game is given.

Character Archetypes

Simon-Cordeiro — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 13:38:02 CDT

strong African-American character
hopeless person
Christ-like figure
- the Innocent
Misguided Hippie
Over Confident Male
Strong Female
Self-Centered Person
Over-emotional anti-hero
Mad scientist/the Cause
Logical hero
Specific Vitim
Side-switcher
Hope giver/Motivator
the Shocked
Logical non-sentimist
False hero/selfish authority
Exploiter of situation
Morally weak person
Female counterpart to hero
The Everyman/Blue-collar man
The Muscle
The Technician
The Sniveler/The Whiner
The Zombie

Friend or Family member

Billy and Mandy... Brown Evil

skprnck — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:41:52 CDT

The episode opens with Billy playing a game of Pat the Baker, a spoof of cooking simulator games. Mandy kicks him off the console to play a game of President Evil. Billy, now bored out of his mind, decides to play Pat the Baker for real and make brownies. Billy decides he needs salt and goes into Grim's trunk to find some. He instead finds a magic jar of evil, which is how billy spells salt (E-V-I- Salt). Billy then makes evil brownies, which summons an army of the undead in brownie crazed zombie form.

These zombies are quite stereotypical, undead ghouls with lost body parts and greatly resembling walking skeletons. In essence, this is merely this television show's "zombie episode" with jabs at zombies here and there.

The main one is the character of Hoss Delgado, who is a spoof of Ash Williams from Evil Dead.
The game Mandy is playing, President Evil, is a a spoof of zombie games, except with zombies of Abe Lincoln, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and Bill Clinton, who isn't a zombie yet.
Zombies breaking rising up from the grave stating what they want is an archetype of the zombie genre. In this version, they want brownies instead of brains.
As established in Night of the Living Dead, anything that dies will return as a zombie. Billy and Mandy pokes fun at this by showing everything dead coming back to life, including meat products.
In what is the most striking resemblance to video game zombies, all of the zombies merge together into one super zombie at the end.

While the show, and it's aforementioned episode, are not particularly masterful entries into the annals of horror, it does make a good example of the archetypes of zombies. The overall feel of a zombie movie is held in great regard throughout this episode, showing that the creators had a deep respect for the living dead at the time they made this show.

Zombies on Television

skprnck — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:03:33 CDT

Supernatural (Season 2, Episode 4) "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things"
A television series that is based off of American folklore and paranormal occurrences across the continental United States. This episode features a zombie-like creature as well as many references to classical zombie media.

South Park... Night of the Living Homeless

Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy... Brown Evil

Kids In The Hall... Zombie Chase
(Season 1, Episode 11)

South Park...Pink Eye (Season 1, Episode 7)

Zombie Timeline

Simon-Cordeiro — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 00:26:35 CDT

2008

2007

28 Weeks Later (Feature Film; UK)
28 Days Later: The Aftermath (Graphic Novel)
I Am Legend (Feature Film; USA)
Planet Terror (Feature Film, first half of Grindhouse; USA)

2006

Dead Rising (Capcom Video Game; USA/Japan)

2005

2004

2003

2002

1987

1985

1981

1979

1978

1972

1968

1943

1939

son of Frankenstine(film)

1932

White Zombie (film)

1922

1919

J'accuse!(film)

Critical Tools

Simon-Cordeiro — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 23:06:56 CDT

Approaches, theories, and other critical apparatus.

Zombie Culture

Simon-Cordeiro — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 21:15:56 CDT

Revenants
The Western European variation of the walking dead.

Voodoo
A religious tradition originating in West Africa, which became prominent in the New World due to the importation of African slaves.

Zombie Walk
A gathering of people dressed up as Zombies and shambling in a coordinated demonstration of there love of zombies

Beauty Pageant
A Beauty pageant where the contestants are made to look like zombies

Planet Terror (2007)

Simon-Cordeiro — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:32:32 CDT

Released in 2007 as a double feature under the title Grindhouse
Directed by Robert Rodriguez (Sin City, The Faculty, From Dusk Til Dawn)

This is THE Fanboy (or girl) movie. It has references that range from Romero to Carpenter. The film itself is debatabley a "real zombie" text, but by the director's own admission, it is very much considered to be a zombie movie.

The source of zombification is a gas (probably a reference to Mustard or Serine Gas). The effects of which are symptomatic chaos in the form of cannibalism and communicable disease.

The film was part of the Grindhouse project and decidely the prefered film of the double feature. Homages include, but are by no means limited to...John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13,The Fog, Escape From New York, and The Thing, Reanimator director Stuart Gordon's From Beyond, Italian director Lucio Fulci's Zombie2, another italian director Sergio Martino's Torso, the list goes on, but most notably George A Romero's Day of the Dead. The film itself is an experiment in genre bending and (forgive the phrase) Zomedy.

Understandably, much of the film probably goes over the heads of the average movie goer...Its heavy on stylistic homage as well as 70's and 80's (the latter is far more prevailant) cliche film nods to the story line. All around the movie is (to use a phrase from another film *mentioned below) "a slice of fried gold". At the very least veiwers must ask themselves one thing, what other movie has a one legged machine-gun toting heroine and an honest to god testicle collector? None to my recollection, and if that isn't worth a viewing and the price of admission than I don't know WHAT is!!!

* On a sidenote, the "faux trailer" "Don't" directed by Edgar Wright (of Shaun of the Dead fame) which is arguably the best part of the Grindhouse viewing may or may not have been a zombie film as well.

I Am Legend (2007)

Simon-Cordeiro — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:20:56 CDT

United States of America

Director: Francis Lawrence
Screenplay: Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman
Based on the novella "I Am Legend" by Richard Matheson

Synopsis

Following the mutation of a cancer cure into a deadly virus, Army virologist Robert Neville, apparently the last uninfected human in New York, struggles to find a cure as he fights for survival against those who were infected but not killed. Through often-lethal scientific experiments on the beastial transformed, Neville works on a cure while trying to contact other uninfected survivors. The arrival of other survivors coincides with Neville's discovery of a cure, and the climactic showdown with the infected. Alternate endings show either Neville dying heroically to protect the cure, or realizing the inhumanity of his experiments.

Analysis

I Am Legend is the third feature film adaptation of Richard Matheson's novella "I Am Legend" (1954), following The Last Man on Earth (1964) and The Omega Man (1971). While Matheson's original is a kind of science fiction take on the vampire story, with infected who crave blood, and fear sunlight, garlic, and their own reflections, in I Am Legend the vampire elements are downplayed, with only sensitivity to UV light remaining. The removal of these vampiric elements makes this adaptation seem to engage the genre of Zombie narratives through its connections to post-28 Days Later "fast zombies" and viral transformation. Certainly these are not "Romero Zombies," and many viewers might hesitate to label this a zombie text at all, but if one takes the broader view of the subgenre, that zombie narratives are about the loss of self rather than just the reanimation of the dead, I Am Legend qualifies. Interestingly, the film's "alternate ending," available on the DVD, complicates the issue. Where the theatrical ending treated the infected as violent, unthinking beasts who must be defeated through Neville's heroic self-sacrifice, the alternate ending suggests that the transformation hasn't completely stripped the infected of their humanity. In this context, Neville's experimentation is linked, through a wall of photographs of his deceased subjects, with attrocities like Josef Mengele's experiments during the Holocaust, a connection that even Neville seems to recognize in the end. The sympathy thus generated for the infected is reminiscent of that engendered for the zombies of George Romero's Land of the Dead (2005).

Production History

Warner Bros. Pictures began developing I Am Legend in 1994, and various actors and directors were attached to the project, though production was delayed due to budgetary concerns related to the script. Production began in 2006 in New York City, filming mainly on location in the city, including a $5 million scene at the Brooklyn Bridge, the most expensive scene ever filmed in the city at the time. Warner Bros. launched a tie-in comic and an online multiplayer game on Second Life as part of its marketing campaign. I Am Legend was released on December 14, 2007 in the United States. It opened to the largest ever box office for a non-Christmas film released in the U.S. during December.

Keywords

Apocalypse
Fast Zombies
Urban
Virus

External Links

I Am Legend page on The Internet Movie Database

Romero, George A. (1940- )

Simon-Cordeiro — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 20:14:14 CDT

George Romero, the Godfather of Zombie films in America, is also horror film’s unofficial Doctor of Cultural and Social issues. Beginning with his landmark horror zombie fest, "Night of the Living Dead" released in 1968, Romero has his hand on the pulse of American culture and society.

In the mist of the civil rights movement, the Black Panther Party and Social and Civil unrest in the south. Romero decided to give his Zombie film on African American hero and an armed one at that! Duane Jones, Romero's hero would carry a rifle throughout most of the move as . Caucasian Zombies tried to destroy him. Even though the film was shot near Pittsburg, Pennsylvania it could have just as easily been shot in the deep South. Romero's controversial ending to his film made a social statement as the black hero is shot down in cold blood, mistaken allegedly for a Zombie; this action taken place at the approximate time as the Kennedy and King’s assassinations.

Romero has never lost his touch for what ails America society in general. His contribution to social satire extends throughout his Zombies films. Allegorical in nature, Romero's films can be enjoyed on one level as pure horror fantasy and on another level as social commentary. In an interview with "Rolling Stone" magazine, Romero told interviewer Peter Travers "I see something shitty happening in the world, and I slap some Zombies on it."

Romero's take on American commercialism and capitalism is lambasted as Zombies walk through a shopping mall in a trance in 1978's, "Dawn of the Dead". Take a trip through Chandler Mall or Scottsdale's Fashion Square Mall to see how right on Romero was in his Zombie satire. Misogyny is addressed in his Zombie movie 1985's "Day of the Dead" as female Zombies are continually and mindlessly destroyed throughout the film. 2005's "Land of the Dead" took on the theme of survival and death in a post 9/11 world.

Romero is always on the cutting edge as his movies look at the latest rage in American culture. In his new flick "Diary of the Dead", Romero crucifies U-Tube and other internet madness. In the film one of the characters named “Debra" tells her boyfriend "Jason", "For you, if it's not on film, it never happened." As Jason goes through the movie filming Zombies in all their murdering glory! It's as if we as a country sold our souls for one good close up. -- Smile --

Zombies on the Web

mlcarpen — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 18:02:10 CDT

How to Survive a Zombie Attack

Zombi Headquarters

Zombie Humor- www.zombiepinups.com

Youtube Videos

All Things Zombie

Zombiefriends.com

Zombiefriends.com

mlcarpen — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 17:57:24 CDT

Zombiefriends.com is a peer-to-peer networking site that allows people who take an active interest in zombie and other horror related media to meet and over the site become friends. The tag line of the website reads, “The only place for people like us.” As well as all things related zombie, users can discuss horror movies, or in general, “all things horror and undead.” Users create a profile for themselves, often an alter ego with a horror related user name, such as “gungrave” or “Gingersalt”. The site is set up almost identically to myspace.com. The user profiles show where the user was born, how old they are, and a list of their “top zombie friends”, as well as a profile picture. For some of the user’s profile pictures a “normal” photo is used, but most of them show the user wearing heavy make up and making muted faces as to look like a zombie. They can also upload other pictures or videos onto their profiles and the “zombie friends” communicate by writing wall posts. The user can also blog their feelings and ideas on their page. The site also features a section for zombie based bands and a forum for discussing general topics such as upcoming horror conventions or even current events. There is also a forum for discussing the upcoming event of “Z-Day”, which according to zombie culture is the day that zombies will rise up from the earth and destroy humanity. This site is an important documentation on the popularity of zombie media. Zombie culture has become so widespread that sites such as this one have been created. There is a such a large fan base and following for zombie media and texts that this site was specifically created for those people who actually picture themselves as zombies or are at least so involved in zombie culture that they create an alter ego on the internet. From when they were introduced the fascination with the undead has grown to surprisingly large proportions, not only in movies but on the internet as well.

Zombies on Stage

Simon-Cordeiro — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:24:34 CDT

Evil Dead: The Musical

Hack / Slash: Stage Play

Zombie!!!

Simon-Cordeiro — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 23:03:10 CST

Zombies!!! is a twilight creation variable tile board game designed by Todd and Kerry Breitenstine. The zombie!!! game is a zero sum game and offers a variety of alternative and suggested rules and encourages house rules and game customization to a degree more commonly found in RPG games. Players take on the role of a surviver of a large scale urban zombie out break. The goal of the game is to either kill 25 zombies or reach the safety of a helicopter.

The zombies are depicted in the games art as rotting corpse the in game mechanics make the movement rate slower than the survivors. During normal game play a turn consists of drawing and placing a tile and the zombies associated with the tile, fighting any zombies that may have entered your space drawing back up to three event cards,making a movement determined by rolling a standard dice, moving your character but stopping to fight any zombies on the way, moving zombies one space the number of zombies moved is determined by rolling a standard dice. The zombie!!! game has large library of expansions, there area total 8 expansions not including the 2 separate releases of the core game. Zombies!!! 2 :Zombie Corps(e), Zombies!!! 3 Mall Walkers, Zombies!!! 3.5 not dead yet, Zombies!!! 4 The End, Zombies!!! 5 School's Out Forever, Zombies!!! 6 Six Feet Under, Zombies!!! 6.66 fill in the !!!, Zombies!!! 7 Send in the Clowns with an expected 9th expansion called Jail break coming in march, The entire line of zombie!!! games seem to closely follow through plot, through setting or props other zombie media types. In addition the Humans!! game could be considered a expansion but can allso be played as a stand alone game. In Humans!!! players assume the role of a zombie each zombie with the goal of eating or infecting humans.

Many of the expansions and even the core game appear to be directly influenced by popular zombie cinema. Similarity can easly be identified between the setting of Zombie!!! Corps(e) and the setting of Day of the Dead both take place in a military base in both utilizing helicopters as the safest mode of transposition, Dawn of the Dead and Zombies!!! 3 Mall Walker share the same setting and both feature the use of air ventilation as a zombie free passage.