Our introduction is by Matt Zoller Seitz:
"Ever since director George A. Romero released his 1968 shocker Night of the Living Dead—which reimagined zombies, the dark magic-entranced slaves of voodoo folklore, as shambling fiends that crave warm flesh and can only be offed with a head shot—the zombie genre has displaced the western as cinema’s most popular and durable morality play. As the video essay “Zombie 101” demonstrates, while the genre’s superficial appeal is the spectacle of torn and mangled flesh—living and dead—its deeper resonance lies in its portrait of ordinary people struggling to survive in extreme circumstances.
Ultimately zombie films aren’t about the zombies, which have no conscious mind and therefore no personality. They’re a collective menace—rotting emblems of plague, catastrophe, war, and other world-upending events. The films depict representative social types wandering amid the ruins of the civilization they once took for granted, trying to reconcile their pre-zombie moral code (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) with the harsh necessities of the present (“If you’ve got a gun, shoot ’em in the head,” a sheriff tells a TV reporter in Night of the Living Dead, adding, “If you don’t, get yourself a club or a torch. Beat ’em or burn ’em, they go down pretty easy”).
If there’s no military, no police force, no law, no justice, and no hope, what’s the point of being decent as opposed to selfish? Might it be possible that, under such unimaginably awful circumstances, selfishness is decency? And if your mom is bitten by a zombie, at what point is it all right to stop treating her like your mom and reach for the 12-gauge? Dear Abby never had to ponder such questions. To quote the alternative title of a 1974 Werner Herzog movie, in zombie films it’s every man for himself and God against all. And as survivors sift through the rubble, weighing selfish imperatives against kinder, gentler impulses that might get them and everyone around them killed, the genre pulls off a nifty bit of creative jujitsu, defining civilization, morality, stability, and decency by depicting their opposites."
Film options:
Night of the Living Dead (USA: George Romero, 1968)
MB: This is the seminal modern Zombie film and Romero was always associated with the zombie genre. He would go on to make 6 more 'Dead' films (you are welcome to watch any of the other ones for final project response credits) and other directors would make films in the "cinematic world." I have seen this film multiple times and it still holds up today. The subtext also still resonates (I don't want to spoil anything).
"The film that established the cinematic zombie as we still know it, George Romero‘s debut remains so rich in socio-political allegory, so fascinating in its discussions around race, gender and the fundamental impossibility of peaceful human coexistence, and so central in shaping the landscape of contemporary horror cinema, that one particular aspect of the film is often overlooked – just how damn beautiful it is. Shot on gorgeously grainy black and white, it blends vérité-like realism with bold cuts and exaggerated angles, crafting a monochromatic marvel that feels simultaneously retro and forward thinking. No matter which of Romero’s Dead films tops your own personal list, there’s no denying that the days to follow never looked as good as the night before." – Michael Blyth
Resources for After You Watch the Film
Zombie (aka Zombi 2, or, Zombie Flesh Eaters) (Italy: Lucio Fulci, 1979)
MB: This film is clearly seeking to exploit the market in the aftermath of Romero's 2nd zombie film Dawn of the Dead (1978). It is low budget, with not a whole lot of plot, but horror fans appreciate its non-stop gore and the over-the-top zombie vs shark scene.
"After making his name in the giallo subgenre, Lucio Fulci breathed new life into his career with this ultra-gory 1979 masterpiece about a group of unfortunate Americans who foolishly set sail for a remote Caribbean island that's crawling with worm-filled zombies. Thanks to its extraordinarily gruesome FX and that still-unbelievable zombie vs. shark-scene, ZOMBIE sparked a zombie-gore trend in Italy, and landed itself a permanent spot on the list of the greatest zombie movies in
the history of the subgenre." - Shudder
Resources for after you watch the film:
Dixon, Winston Wheeler. "Surrealism and Sudden Death in the Films of Lucio Fulci." Film International (December 24, 2012)
Re-Animator (USA: Stuart Gordon, 1985)
MB: This film had achieved cult status by the time I was a grad student and I remember tracking down a video copy to watch with friends. We had a great time with the over-the-top horror film, which still came off as a very well made film. Jeffrey Combs is perfect as the main character crazed scientist Herbert West. There was a sequel and it even had a musical production.
Film Description: "Adapted from H.P. Lovecraft’s sepulchral 1922 pulp horror story, arguably the first such tale to ever consider scientifically affected corpses as zombies, Re-Animator is Stuart Gordon’s cult classic trip into the realm of the living dead. Conducting clandestine experiments within the morgue at Miskatonic University, scientist Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs, From Beyond) reveals to fellow graduate student Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) his groundbreaking work concerning the re-animation of fresh corpses. West’s secret reagent is a powerful injection with the capacity to give life where there is none – destined to capture the imagination of the entire scientific community. However, between life and death is a thin thread of understanding and when obsession gets the better of West, there is no stopping his wicked ways – dead or alive!"
Resources for after you watch the film:
Roger Ebert's review of the film
An article by Lauren Coates on how the LGBTQ horror fan base has embraced the campy aesthetics of Re-animator
Cemetery Man (Italy: Michele Soavi, 1994)
MB: This is easily one of my favorite zombie films. It is existential, romantic, sexy, horrific, comedic, surreal, shlocky - seriously, I could go on. It is based on a hugely popular Italian comic book Dylan Dog whose protagonist's look is actually based on Rupert Evert who plays the main character in the film.
Film Description: "Something is causing the dead to rise from their graves as flesh-eating zombies, and cemetery custodian Francesco Dellamorte (Rupert Everett) grows tired of killing them all for the second time. However, the town politicians won't listen to him, so Francesco is on his own. One day, he falls for a beautiful woman (Anna Falchi) whose husband has recently died -- but their affair is tragically interrupted by zombies, sending Francesco into a tailspin of madness and woe."
Resources for after you watch the film:
Kuersten, Erich. "The Shrouds of Soavi: Cemetery Man, The Devil's Daughter." Acidemic (September 8, 2016)
Curtis, Kyle. "“Cemetery Man”: A philosophical film, with zombies!." Cinephiled (ND)
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