I heart zombies.

I’m shocked that it has taken this long to post about one of the stranger aspects of my personality, but (finally) here it is. Zombies are a little obsession of mine. Specifically, films about the living dead. More specifically, films by the god of the genre, Mr. George A. Romero. This weekend sees the first Romero zombie film in more than 20 years, Land of the Dead. (For you trivia buffs, the first six minutes were shot at Chernobyl, and the camera guys could only film for moments at a time before they had to leave and detox themselves and the equipment. The filming budget allocated for those shots went to the Russian government to aid in clean-up efforts.) ps- do any of those zombies in that picture look familiar?

Why, you may ask, zombies? Well, here’s a little story. When I was about 11 I was home from school sick one day. We had a shelf full of videotapes, and I had had my eye on Night of the Living Dead for ages, but was too scared to watch it. This day I was feeling bold, and I popped in the tape. I rolled my eyes at the beginning sequence (Black and white?? Puh-lease!), but from the second that the guy in the graveyard grabbed Johnny, I was hooked and petrified.

I paused the tape and went to get some water at one point, and I looked out the window above the sink into the cemetery that was beside our house, and there was an old woman standing there, with a vacant look in her eyes. I’m sure (now) that she was reflecting on the life of a loved one, but at the time I was convinced she was standing there for one reason: she was trying to figure out how to get through the fence so she could tear off and ingest my flesh. It took me two years to finally finish watching the movie.

My fear and my fascination grew hand-in-hand. I would watch every living dead movie that was made, and then curse myself for the sleepless nights that followed. My best friend and I would use the cemetery as a set for shaky movies shot with our Panasonic handy-cam. These masterpieces inevitably ended with the heroine (me or Shana) chucking a severed, reanimated limb (latex glove filled with red jello and dog food) into a machine (blender with no lid) and throwing the switch, spewing blood and guts (aforementioned j-e-l-l-o concoction) all over the set (kitchen). The undead triggered life in my young imagination.

The years have not diminished my love of the genre- in fact, my brother and I have several scripts in various stages of completion for new zombie films (that may or may not involve jello).  It is important to note that we are undead purists- we take the lead from Romero and know that it is the slow, moaning, incessant zombies that instill the most fear. The new breed of supercharged creatures are good for shocks and gore, but there is a reason that Night of the Living Dead is such a timeless and terrifying classic.

We have discovered that we not alone…the zombie genre has grown every year, with releases such as Undead, Dawn of the Dead (remake), the fabulous 28 Days Later (the movie that made me love Cillian Murphy), and the hilarious Shaun of the Dead (check out the pumpkin). Once I wandered the landscape all by myself; now, like the monsters themselves, there is a shuffling, unending mob of zombie-loving weirdos just like me.  Bring on the brrrraaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnssssssssss……………

Currently Listening to: Pet Sematary, by the Ramones. From a technical standpoint,  Church, Gage, and Rachel Creed were all zombies. Other good songs in this "vein":
Zombie Zoo, by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Panic, by The Smiths
Thriller, by Michael Jackson
Zombie Nation, by Kernkraft 400 (you've heard it used as a soccer song)
Quote OTLD: There are SO MANY to choose from, so let's just go with a classic from NOTLD. (The best part of this movie is when Ben FINALLY bitch-slaps Barbara. I always watch it over and over)
Johnny: They're coming to get you, Barbara, there's one of them now!

Comments

[TomC]

"They're coming to get you Barbara" is permanently etched in my brain from numerous viewings of Halloween (my horror obsession). It plays on the TV at the house where Jamie Lee is babysitting, while everyone is being slaughtered.

My first viewing of NOTLD was at a drive in. The drive in limped along in it's final year playing horror films to college kids, who mostly didn't watch them. Stiil, I can't imagine there was a better place to see it.

Sadly, no one shares my horror obsession so I typically watch them alone.

Now, where's that DVD.

Tom

[Melissa]

Oh man, oh man. Night of the Living Dead is the sole (soul) entire reason that I am still scared of the dark. I spent at least five years of my teen-aged life jumping way, way out from my bed when I got up in the night so that the living dead living under there couldn't grab my ankles and pull me in with them. My sister was non-too-happy that I'd wake her up each night.