There was a bit of a zombie renaissance that started gaining a bit of steam at the turn of the millennium (Not to be mistaken with the Willennium or the song Millennium by Robbie Williams). I'm no zombie scholar but if I recall correctly 28 Days Later really helped reinvigorate/jump start a whole new slew of zombie films. And yes, I realize that in 28 Days Later they aren't actually "zombies" in the traditional sense but rather "infected" citizens who have come down with the "Rage Virus." That said they're fucking zombies who run really fast and will vomit blood and tear your face off.
After that you start getting things like 'The Zombie Survival Guide' (It's a book published in 2003), Shaun of the Dead in 2004, Dawn of the Dead (remake in 2004), Land of the Dead (2005) and so on. Then you get Zombie Pub Crawls and World War Z and quite frankly its getting a bit played out. I'm about as big a zombie fan as you can get. Have I sat with friends and talked for hours about theoretical zombie invasions and what the best course of action/survival would be? Yes. Do I sometimes secretly wish a zombie apocalypse would take place so I could finally assert myself as a badass zombie killer? Yes. Do I still think that zombies are way to over exposed at this point and are getting painfully played out? Yes!
Now you might be saying, "But Scott, why should someones enjoyment of zombies get in the way of your own enjoyment?" The simple answer is that I'm a complete blowhard. Plus you have to agree...in the way that both pirates and ninjas were briefly getting bashed in to the ground so too zombies are now being done the same way. Zombies are awesome and smashing their head in with a shovel is always awesome, but when zombies are everywhere the enjoyment just isn't the same.
Some historians view 1968 as the year that changed every thing. In particular the massive ground swelling of protests throughout the world against a variety of different opponents. I view 2009 in a similar vain...2009 the year Scott Rebelled Against Zombies.
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I just finished Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
ReplyDeleteIt ruled.
I also love zombies, have read WWZ and Zombie Survival Guide and have seen all the aforementioned movies.
I'm also sick of people talking about zombies. (and I'd totally survive a zombie-pocalypse.)
I thought Zombie Survival Guide was fun and very clever. I found World War Z damn near unreadable. By far the biggest issue was that this was supposed to be a reporter taking interviews and transcribing them...except they all read as one narrative voice (I.E. The author). Didn't matter if you were a US solider from Alabama or a peasant from India, you had the same stylized voice.
ReplyDeleteVery good point about the tone...issue I hadn't really considered before. I guess I wasn't expecting much and I was really just jazzed on a zombie-pocalypse.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies really wasn't that good. I just really like Zombies. It actually was kind of terrible, but I'd still recommend it as a piece of pop culture blahbitty blah.
FINALLY>>> GO SEE ZOMBIELAND. (If you haven't already). GO GO GO. Get off the internet and GO. This (unlike my earlier recommendation of P&P&Z) is REALLY AMAZING.