Zombies are passé

[Shellhead]

In his excellent non-fiction book Danse Macabre, Stephen King suggested that the best horror taps into the zeitgeist. Working from that notion, I think there is a big paradigm shift going on right now, and besides, we're all starting to get bored with zombies.

Two specific examples that King mentioned were The Exorcist and Dawn of the Dead. The Exorcist was a giant hit in the U.S., and King thinks it was because a lot of people were freaking out about their nice kids turning into dirty hippies. But Dawn of the Dead wasn't such a big hit here compared to West Germany. King suggests that was because the West Germans at that time were very uptight about their smoothly-running society, like the mall after the heroes cleaned it out, was being ruined by young hooligans.

Those examples might be iffy, but certainly mutants were more scary to the general public in the earlier years of the Cold War, when there was this vast uncomprehending fear of what might happen after the nukes start flying. Vampires in the '90s is a little harder to pin down, probably something to do with fear of AIDs and lesser STDs, boosted by White Wolf's inspiring world-building efforts. And lately it's been zombies, possibly the ultimate symbol of mindless consumerism.

So what next? I predict cannibals. They are similar to zombies in their extreme consumption habits, but they are also more recognizably us. Cannibalism is desperate consumerism and maybe the ultimate in recycling. In a time when the U.S. is heading into an ugly spiral of downward mobility, cannibals may speak best to our silent fears.

[jesse_custer]

I hope your prediction is true because it sounds like fun.

[josephrey]

i think that's too much for people to accept. and what i mean is people don't want to hear the truth about themselves. that's why any politician who points a finger at the voters and says they need to "shape up themselves before things can get better" will have a much harder go of it.

that, and all the previous mentions have some way cool supernatural elements going on.

[Charles RB]

i think that's too much for people to accept. and what i mean is people don't want to hear the truth about themselves.

That's why it'll be horror films about scary cannibals and not kitchen-sink dramas.

[Grazzt]

Torture seems to be popular now, too. Maybe the two will combine. People being cannabilized while still alive, perhaps. Or maybe more aliens that eat people from the inside out.

[Paul McEnery]

When you think about it, zombie movies are about the fear of turning into a mindless consumer.

If the latest season of Doctor Who is anything to go by, it's more of a worry now to be mindlessly consumed. Metaphor for AIDS? Or the next AIDS? Mabye -- the little fat people; wasting disease; the vashti narada -- wasting disease.

[StoneGold]

Ain't that much difference between modern, fast moving zombies and cannibals. Not in the traditional horror sense, anyway.




Scary gas prices?

[Jack Zodiac]

When you think about it, zombie movies are about the fear of turning into a mindless consumer.

"Dawn of the Dead." Where do all the zombies go? The fucking mall.

Romero could've turned zombies into pure horror. Living death, sweeping across the world and devouring it. Instead, he went camp and gave us one of the most hilarious horror genres ever. Thanks, George!

[jesse_custer]

Ain't that much difference between modern, fast moving zombies and cannibals.

Ah, but there could be.

[Shellhead]

Ain't that much difference between modern, fast moving zombies and cannibals. Not in the traditional horror sense, anyway.




Scary gas prices?

Maybe scary gas prices... Mad Max and The Road Warrior came at the tail end of the last gas crisis, in the late '70s. Taken to an extreme, scary gas prices mean a collapse of civilization. On a more personal level, it means running out of gas and then getting raped by barbarians wearing furs and salvaged sports gear.

[Ray R.]

"Dawn of the Dead." Where do all the zombies go? The fucking mall.

Oh, absolutely. Romero made it abundantly clear that his movie was going to be an indictment of consumerism. Zach Snyder's remake toned this down quite a bit, but still had some elements of it.

Stone Gold hit on what could be a continuing trend about diminishing resources.

I'd expect a few combination Mad Max/A Convenient Truth/Soylent Green post-apocalyptic stories to go into development. Children of Men was a good precursor, I think.

[Paul McEnery]

Philosophy corner!

All fear is really the fear of dissolution, the loss of identity and control.

That's what we touch on with Eternal Sunshine and The Matrix and Memento. The sense that our socially constructed selves just paper over the cracks.

So a movie like A Scanner Darkly is the real deal, looked square in the eye.

Stuff like Zombies is a way of domesticating that fear, of projecting it onto an obviously ludicrous target -- the Living Dead? Why that's a contradiction in terms! How funny!

And yet that's our big fear, the fear that shows up in the "he was dead ALL ALONG!" genre: that we are the Dead Alive.

All of which is an essential feature, as Grant reminds us, of a Grof-scale Basic Perinatal Matrix 3 state of being, the darkness before the dawn, the realization that ego defences only conceal the bliss of universal oneness which we need not fear after all -- the denouement of the classic "he was dead ALL ALONG" move Jacob's Ladder.

[Jack Zodiac]

Oh, absolutely. Romero made it abundantly clear that his movie was going to be an indictment of consumerism. Zach Snyder's remake toned this down quite a bit, but still had some elements of it.

Stone Gold hit on what could be a continuing trend about diminishing resources.

Ever see "Les Revenants?" That's exactly what it's about. It's a "zombie movie" in the sense that the dead return (something like six hundred million), and they're not flesh-eating monsters, they're just huge drains on resources. Kooky movie.

I'd expect a few combination Mad Max/A Convenient Truth/Soylent Green post-apocalyptic stories to go into development. Children of Men was a good precursor, I think.

A post-apocalypse movie where we turn dead people into gas to power our dune buggies? Motherfucking sold!

[howyadoin]

As I've been saying for months, I wonder if Suydam is as bored with painting zombie covers as I am with looking at them.

[Paul McEnery]

Actually, you know what's a really scary movie that you should get the DVD of for the extras?

Shaitan, with Vincent Cassel.



No, stop arguing with me, just get it.

[Paul McEnery]

As I've been saying for months, I wonder if Suydam is as bored with painting zombie covers as I am with looking at them.

I think he wanders through the town going flesh flesh flesh it is dripping off your bones your face it is rotten drip drip BANG! ha ha ha ha flesh.

[Charles RB]

As I've been saying for months, I wonder if Suydam is as bored with painting zombie covers as I am with looking at them.

He lies back and thinks of England.

And by "England", I mean "enough cash from Marvel to make a money bin".

[Pól Rua]

When you think about it, zombie movies are about the fear of turning into a mindless consumer.

Cultural imperialism, globalisation and social and cultural conformity are all reflected in zombie fears. Loss of individuality. Siege mentality, where you're surrounded by external threats, often seen as an undifferentiated mass.
Fear of infection and violation. In zombie films, there's usually two levels to that too.
The fear that the security of the external structures may be compromised (the fortified building) and fear of personal penetration (a bite which breaks the skin turns you into ONE OF THEM!!! dun dun dah!).

The nice thing is, politically, zombies work across the spectrum.
To the far right, they're the Islamofascist hordes, gathering at our borders with their brainwashed group mind, OR the PC-Police Liberals who want to strip us of our free will and make us all think just like them.
To the far left, they're the hordes of cultural imperialism, planting McDonalds and Starbucks at every street corner, and consuming, consuming, consuming relentlessly with no regard for anything else but their lust for more.
To the Libertarians, they're the mindless, faceless forces of big government which justify your bunker and massive collection of assault weapons.

As for the next big fear, I'm not sure.
Maybe we'll end up with a bunch of post-apocalyptic survival horror scenarios as the whole global warming/peak oil thing heats up (pun intended).
Maybe more magical threats (angels and demons) as a response to the increased perception of a religious agenda in politics or the disintegration of moral and religious values (depending on which side of the argument you fall on).
Not sure.

[Monty_Cristo]

i think we're in the senseless violence era; violence minus motive. they are remaking teh Bad Seed so maybe that will spawn some more movies about child killers.

[Radioactive Zombie]

Hmmph, I prefer the occult and grotesque - Jacob's Ladder, Silent Hill [the games, of course], H.P. Lovecraft...

And yes, I'm an unapologetic zombie fan.

[Charles RB]

Cultural imperialism, globalisation and social and cultural conformity are all reflected in zombie fears. Loss of individuality. Siege mentality, where you're surrounded by external threats, often seen as an undifferentiated mass.
Fear of infection and violation.

Matt Brooks' World War Z seems to also use them as symbolic of the fear that something bad will happen and none of us are prepared for it, and everything we know suddenly goes out the window. Note the account by a generic suburban mother and wife, admitting nobody bothered watching the news and worrying about the stuff because who cares, we have more important stuff to be concerned about, and then suddenly without any warning the living dead are smashing through your window to kill your family & the whole area's overrun.

[Agent Helix]

Zombies are more or less a catch-all metaphor for whatever fears of modern life you want to ascribe to them. The problem is that they're just so fucking played out now, thanks to shit like Marvel Zombies and Walking Dead, and nobody's really done anything particularly new or interesting with them since Day of the Dead.

[josephrey]

Oh, absolutely. Romero made it abundantly clear that his movie was going to be an indictment of consumerism.

really? i thought he just got a good deal on the mall.

[Shellhead]

really? i thought he just got a good deal on the mall.

Unlike most of his peers, Romero has always had more to say with zombies than just "Braaaaains." Quaint as it may seem now, the subtext regarding race and security issues in Night of the Living Dead was almost explosive back then.

[Jack Zodiac]

Zombies are more or less a catch-all metaphor for whatever fears of modern life you want to ascribe to them. The problem is that they're just so fucking played out now, thanks to shit like Marvel Zombies and Walking Dead, and nobody's really done anything particularly new or interesting with them since Day of the Dead.

"Fido." Most heart-warming movie ever.

[Zero Hunter]

Zombies are more or less a catch-all metaphor for whatever fears of modern life you want to ascribe to them. The problem is that they're just so fucking played out now, thanks to shit like Marvel Zombies and Walking Dead, and nobody's really done anything particularly new or interesting with them since Day of the Dead.

The Walking Dead is still one of the best books out there right now.

[sehthan]

I think the emerging trend in Hollywood at the moment is the supernatural disaster movie - The Mist, Cloverfield, The Happening, 2012. Something otherworldly blows into town, and all you can do is try and get out of the way and hope to survive until it passes.

[Shellhead]

I think the emerging trend in Hollywood at the moment is the supernatural disaster movie - The Mist, Cloverfield, The Happening, 2012. Something otherworldly blows into town, and all you can do is try and get out of the way and hope to survive until it passes.

Good point. Maybe that's our new horror theme. The last time, possibly the only other time that disaster movies were big was in the '70s, when the U.S. was facing similar conditions: a stupid war, soaring gas prices, inflation, economic stagnation, and a corrupt presidency. So many things beyond our control that it all feels like forces of nature at work.