Recently a horror short story that I wrote was purchased by a website that does audio podcasts of such stories, and it was posted the other day. Please check it out if you have a moment and let me know what you think. (I’ll be adding a text version of the story to this site in the near future, as well as some other writing samples/loglines.)
Though it’s not explicitly stated anywhere in the story, anyone that’s a fan of zombies will figure out it’s a zombie story pretty early on. So in honor of that, I’m presenting five moments from zombie movies that, for me, rose above the limitations of the genre (believability, mainly) and managed to deeply disturb me.
It goes without saying, but there be spoilers!
“Killing Mum” from Shaun of the Dead
The scene is not without its funny moments, but the fact remains that they are discussing shooting Shaun’s mother. The music and zombie groans build until she rises up, and the reality of the situation is shoved into his face. He’s been desperately pleading a case for why they can’t kill his mother even though he knew his mother no longer existed.
In a seriousness zombie film, such a surreal circumstance might not have played right wound up being comical. But in a film that’s comedic, it’s very unsettling.
“The Walls Have Arms” from Day of the Dead
Romero’s third zombie film opens ominously, even considering the genre. In an empty room save for a wall calendar, Sarah slowly approaches the wall to contemplate the slow progression of time. And then, a shitload of zombie arms shoot through the wall, and she screams before snapping out of this daydream.
On first glance, it’s little more than an artistically done shock moment, intended to welcome the audience in with a big scare. It’s no doubt guilty of wanting to scare the audience, but there’s a creepiness to it that goes beyond simple shock value. Most zombie films deal with the, well…the dawn of the dead, or the moment that the zombie epidemic starts. This is one of the few films set well after the outbreak, when the humans are far outnumbered by their flesh-craving counterparts.
The opening daydream creates a sense of inevitability, that there is no real safety. Even isolated in their military bunker, it’s only a matter of time before they succumb to the zombies.
“Andy’s Turning” from Dawn of the Dead
The survivors in the mall make friends with Andy, a lone survivor living in his gun shop across the way. They communicate by writing on whiteboards and reading the messages with binoculars. Upon planning their escape, they send Andy some food and a radio, but he’s bitten by a zombie while gathering it. Unlike them, he doesn’t know that this will turn him into one of the creatures, and they don’t have the heart to tell him.
One of the female characters then makes the dumbest decision in the movie by going off alone to “rescue” a dog that the zombies clearly weren’t going to eat. She locks herself in the gun shop, but the survivors know Andy will be turning soon. They spot him on the roof, writing a message on the board. But when he holds it up, we see that all he’s done is smear his blood across it.
It’s sad to see a character we’ve grown to like (despite only hearing his voice one time) turn into a zombie, and even worse to realize that he’s fighting the impulse, trying to do what he would do in his normal life. It also presents a threat to the girl trapped downstairs, but considering her stupidity, I always find myself hoping that Andy would get to have one last meal before he’s put out of his misery.
“Every Man For Himself” from 28 Weeks Later
The film starts beautifully, depicting survivors in the farmland living in a boarded-up house to keep themselves safe from any wandering zombies. Don and Alice, separated from their own children, take in a small boy that somehow finds his way to the house. But shortly thereafter, zombies overrun the place, and everyone tries to get to the roof.
Don sends Alice ahead with the boy while trying to fend them off, setting him up to be the hero. But then as he catches up to them, he winds up with a group of zombies between him and the other two. A moment of silence says it all. He’s not sure if he’s going to try to save them. She cries out, drawing the attention of the zombies. And Don chooses to run, leaving them behind.
He escapes off the roof and, as he runs for the river, turns to see his wife banging on the window before being pulled back by the zombies.
It takes a lot of guts (no pun intended) to open a movie like that. Unfortunately, it veers off the path of harsh reality into sensationalism. While there are still some great moments to be had, the rest of the movie is nowhere near as visceral as the opening.
“The Last Kill” from Night of the Living Dead
If you haven’t seen the movie, you should stop reading this and go watch it. It started the American zombie craze, and it contains many of the elements that would be copied in countless films.
At the end, the African-American character Ben is the last one left alive. He survives through the night, and the next morning policemen arrive and kill the other zombies. As he peers through a window to determine whether or not it’s safe, they mistake him for a zombie (or do they?), shooting and killing him, then burning his body with the others.
As characters we liked (and some that we didn’t) were killed off one by one throughout the film, we’d come to terms that Ben would be our sole survivor. To get rid of him totally throws us off. It’s a ballsy move, and on top of that, the debate continues for what the exact message was. Was it a commentary on racism? War? Something else entirely?
Romero insists he only casts that actor to play Ben because he “gave the best audition.” Perhaps this is the case, though many directors are reluctant to reveal all of their intentions. Regardless of why the casting decision was made, the end result provides a lot to talk about.
- BROWSE / IN TIMELINE
- « Good For Nothing
- » “LOST” in Thought (Week One)
SPEAK / ADD YOUR COMMENT
Comments are moderated.
