Tonight's main course: Brains
Shambling, moaning, outstretched limbs, these are all signs of the
common zombie. Documented in many films and video games, the living
dead is a very rare occurrence. But we're not going to talk about the
characteristics of a zombie today, but a rarer subject: The creation of
a zombie.
Through countless hours of research (IE: Watching my brother's DVD collection), I have noted three distinct categories of explanation for zombification. They are as follows:
1) Summoning of the dead/Possession by evil
This is definitely a common explanation of zombies from earlier zombie films. There are many ways the dead can be summoned or possessed, and I've seen them all. Probably the most common way is the evil book, which when translated and/or read aloud by idiotic teenagers will summon evil demons into this plane of existence. This evil will then possess still living or recently dead people, creating zombies. The main difference between living and dead possession is the speed of the zombie. Living people turned zombies usually end up being much faster and nimble compared to their dead cousins.
Examples: "Evil Dead 1-3" "Plan 9 from Outer Space"
2) Virus/Mutation
More of a recent addition to the zombie films, this explanation tries to rationally explain scientifically how the living dead could actually be possible in real life. With the exception of a couple brilliant films, the use of the virus explanation creates plot holes too big to notice. For example, if a zombie-creating virus is an air-born virus, why are the main characters not affected? And how is the virus transmitted? If it's through bites or blood-transfer, why does the virus not effect it's victim immediately? This explanation does not automatically mean failure for a film's plot, however. There have been a few exceptions.
Example (Good): "28 Days Later"
Example (Bad): "Resident Evil"
3) No explanation:
This is by far the most common, and well used explanation of them all. While other zombie movies can bore the audience by trying to give a rational explanation, these movies just don't care. They know that the audience wants to see what happens when that zombie gets a hold on that girl, and believe me, the audience isn't disappointed. Some reviewers may find this explanation to be a large flaw in a movie, which is only because they haven't realized that zombies movies aren't about extremely rich back stories, and oscar winning performances.
Examples: "Zombi 2" "Shaun of the Dead"
Of course these aren't the only explanations for zombies. There are countless others, most of which fall into their own personal category, such as Weird-Symbiotic-Parasite-Demon World-Things-That-Make-No-Sense (See "Alone in the Dark"). But no matter the explanation, as long as zombies keep appearing in today's cinema, I'll keep watching them.
Through countless hours of research (IE: Watching my brother's DVD collection), I have noted three distinct categories of explanation for zombification. They are as follows:
1) Summoning of the dead/Possession by evil
This is definitely a common explanation of zombies from earlier zombie films. There are many ways the dead can be summoned or possessed, and I've seen them all. Probably the most common way is the evil book, which when translated and/or read aloud by idiotic teenagers will summon evil demons into this plane of existence. This evil will then possess still living or recently dead people, creating zombies. The main difference between living and dead possession is the speed of the zombie. Living people turned zombies usually end up being much faster and nimble compared to their dead cousins.
Examples: "Evil Dead 1-3" "Plan 9 from Outer Space"
2) Virus/Mutation
More of a recent addition to the zombie films, this explanation tries to rationally explain scientifically how the living dead could actually be possible in real life. With the exception of a couple brilliant films, the use of the virus explanation creates plot holes too big to notice. For example, if a zombie-creating virus is an air-born virus, why are the main characters not affected? And how is the virus transmitted? If it's through bites or blood-transfer, why does the virus not effect it's victim immediately? This explanation does not automatically mean failure for a film's plot, however. There have been a few exceptions.
Example (Good): "28 Days Later"
Example (Bad): "Resident Evil"
3) No explanation:
This is by far the most common, and well used explanation of them all. While other zombie movies can bore the audience by trying to give a rational explanation, these movies just don't care. They know that the audience wants to see what happens when that zombie gets a hold on that girl, and believe me, the audience isn't disappointed. Some reviewers may find this explanation to be a large flaw in a movie, which is only because they haven't realized that zombies movies aren't about extremely rich back stories, and oscar winning performances.
Examples: "Zombi 2" "Shaun of the Dead"
Of course these aren't the only explanations for zombies. There are countless others, most of which fall into their own personal category, such as Weird-Symbiotic-Parasite-Demon World-Things-That-Make-No-Sense (See "Alone in the Dark"). But no matter the explanation, as long as zombies keep appearing in today's cinema, I'll keep watching them.