Of vampires and zombies

[roguem]

Wow, my Supernatural review yesterday turned out so much longer than I had intended. Might seem like that episode will end up among my favourites.

Anyway, I kept referancing my 'Modern Vampire' class in that review, so I figured I'd dig out my notes form that class and write some of the stuff down for you.

I'm taking you back to my first session

Comments

[trav28]

Placing sand and poppy seeds in the coffin to prevent the vampire from leaving its coffin - it will be compelled to count every seed. This one might ring a bell with X-Files fans.

I think Mulder dealt with this stating that vampires are "obsessive compulsives" and would need to pick up the seed but folk lore states that vampires have a fear of anything with life, such as running water and seeds. A ring of salt is also meant to deter the undead.

[roguem]

Yeah, that was the episode I had in mind. 'The one with Luke Wilson' as I tend to call it. We watched that in our first session so I had to give 'em cred for doing their research.
Same people who are behind 'Supernatural' though, so can't really excpect anything less. :)

Salt? Is that for zombies or just all undead in general? They've used it in 'Supernatural' agains spirits and demons. Interesting.

[tygerx]

I love that X-files ep.. hee hee! Especially Mulder's version of buck-toothed sheriff Luke. ;P

Thanks for the info.. very interesting.

[roguem]

Yeah, I loked that one too.

You're welcome. :)

[starlit_woods]

That was really interesting Eva. I remember reading a review for a zombie movie that was about soldiers coming back from the war but it turned out they were really dead, they were zombies, and the reviewer was saying how it was a nice metaphor for what soldiers really do go through in wars, and how when they come back they have Post Traumatic Shock. I thought that was very interesting :)

[roguem]

Glad you enjoyed it.

That is a very good metaphor. Whoever came up with the idea must have had some kind of insight to how people who come back from a war deals with the aftermath.
Do you remember what the film was called?

[starlit_woods]

It is a good metaphor isn't it? I don't even like horror movies and I thought it was quite a clever parallel for the director to make. Still, I'm too chicken to watch it ;D

I think the film might have been "Deathdream", the description of the opening scene here of the soldier returning home after the parents have been told he's dead sounds like what I read in the review...

http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/deathdream.html

[roguem]

Thanks for the link, will do some research on it, see if I can dig it up. :D

[lizamarie]

Really interesting. Can I just say I'm a real sucker for vampire folklore?! That's one class I would not miss. The compulsive counting thing was also used in Dracula II: Ascension. He was a freakishly fast counter, though. Lol.

[roguem]

I loved that too. It was one of my favourite classes in my entire time in London.
I might be posting my notes from the session we had on Buffy. My teacher was a Buffyologist. ;p

I've never seen that film, cool.

[lizamarie]

I like your professor! :) Cool, that would be nice to read.

You need to see the third part to get the complete idea once you watch the second. The first one I haven't seen, though.

[roguem]

She was awesome, I was just sad I didn't discover her until my final year.

Okay, will keep it in mind. Thanks. :D

[darkspectre]

The spirits reanimated the bodies of decreased ones is strictly "Evil Dead," but the actual lore derives from Voodoo.

http://www.zombierama.com/brainwaves/zombology.html
There is a variant of Voodoo Zombie where the zombie is produced from a living person, usually through the forced consumption of mind-destroying drugs. These zombies are relatively useless in combat, since they are both slow-moving and can be killed like a normal living person. For menial household chores, though, they are quite useful.

I'm actually working on a SPN fic with that. Sam and Dean go to New Orleans and face Voodoo Zombies. :)

[roguem]

These notes are from a class I had on Vampires last year, so I don't know much more than what we were told.

That's very interesting though, about zombies and Voodoo. I think I will do some digging on the subject.

Oh, that sounds like a good plot. :D