Zombie movies have become increasingly popular in the last few decades.
The protagonists(humans)
Zombie movies usually have a similar approach when it comes to the protagonists. The human(s) usually have to find a safe haven to hide in and survive the zombie infested world that they are trapped in. Normally there are a group of survivors and it is almost a certainty that at least one of them will die or become infected by the end of the film. There is usually a struggle in morality between the group on ending the life of one of the group when they become in infected.
Setting
When it comes to setting, there are a few locations that are commonly used in zombie films. The protagonist will more often than not, awake to find the town or city they are in deserted. The atmosphere is very ominous and quiet. After they have explored the setting they usually will meet a survivor or group of survivors. Aside from the deserted city, there will sometimes be a holdout where the characters have to defend themselves from the zombie onslaught, somewhere recognisable like a barn or a pub with windows that allow for gun fire to be used against the zombies... on an opportunity for them to break through. More often than not this location will be compromised and the remaining survivors have to flee.
Obviously a zombie movie will involve some type of zombie. The living dead usually have no form of speech and a limited brain capacity. The term zombie was first introduced to the American people in 1929 as a Haitan creole for a reanimated corpse by voodoo, where it was then used in motion pictures.Different movies offer different variations of zombies such as:
Early zombies: These zombies generally remained faithful to Haitian tradition. Their skin was grey and their eyes were darkened or exaggerated. They were reanimated corpses that were used by their masters to carry out tasks and generally follow orders(though usually the master would lose this control. By the 1950's began to diverge from the standard zombie movie conventions. Experimentation with humans turning into zombies started to emerge.
Romero zombies: In 1968 George A. Romero released his directorial debut 'Night of the living dead', which revolutionised zombie movies as we know them today. Whilst he used some of the ideas from previous horror movies he introduced ideas that would remain part of his films for the next three decades. For example the zombies had a hunger for human flesh, the zombie attacks were shown in explicit detail with a heightened extent of gore and blood, the zombies could only be killed by destroying the head/brain and the zombies infection could be spread. One major difference was the move away from voodoo and a master controlling the zombies, other traditions that also became popular that weren't necessarily founded by Romero are the slow clumsy movement, the humans fight for mere survival and the zombies infection being treated as a plague.
Modern zombies:Zombie movie conventions have been played a lot with in the 21st century. 'House of the dead' and 'Resident evil' have drawn inspiration from video games counterparts, the likes of '28 days later' and 'I am legend' have dealt with the idea of zombies as a contagion. 'Shaun of the dead' and 'Zombieland' have introduced comedy into the zombie formula. The 2004 remake of 'Dawn of the dead' introduced the idea of the zombies being agile and able to run, allowing them to chase after the humans and being a bigger threat.
Violence and Gore
The way in which the zombies are dealt with usually involves a lot of weaponry and violence. Weapons such as guns, knives, grenades and particularly chainsaws are commonly used to stop the zombie hoard. As you can imagine this creates a lot of gore, blood splattering all over the place, disembodied limbs flying every where and horrific scenes of body horror and a staple to the genre. A great example of how gory a zombie film can get is, Peter Jacksons 'Braindead', where the main character takes out a whole hall of zombies with a lawn mower. Zombies are not the only thing that produce a lot of blood however, those that fall victim to the hoard usually are seen being ripped apart or having their organs eating, sometimes whilst still alive which can provide for some uncomfortable viewing.
No comments:
Post a Comment