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28 Weeks Later and “Zombies”
I just got back from seeing 28 Weeks Later. I must admit that I was a bit reluctant to see this film after it got a bit of a negative write up in STM… but then, who the hell really reads STM? And I usually don’t really listen to reviews anyway, unless I’m hearing a whole bunch of reports that pretty much say the same old negative thing.
Here’s my two cents: if you liked 28 Days Later, you like other “Zombie” films, you’ll like this one. Go see it.
As I was watching the film, there were a few things which popped into my head. As we all know, I can’t really watch a movie without coming away with something. The first thing that popped into my mind was how much it was like Resident Evil: Apocalypse. The second thing was that there was probably a reason for the fact that it was so similar…
Of course, one of the things that have always been consistent with Zombie films of recent times (1960’s onwards) is that the creatures in the films are never actually referred to as Zombies. The Living Dead, The Infected, The Undead, Walkers… whatever.. but NEVER Zombies. I think it’s because the actual word of “Zombie” doesn’t exactly strike fear in the hearts of people like say, Dracula, Werewolf or George Bush. The word Zombie seems almost like a mystical creature, although so is Dracula, Werewolves and George Bush, they don’t seem to have the same comical effect as “Zombie” does… though “George Bush” might.
I admit, it was a cheap and easy shot at G.B. A little too easy…
Continuing on… then it would seem silly to have a serious film about the post-apocalyptic state of the U.K if you’re calling these things “Zombies”. It’s enough to scoff at. The word “Zombie” brings to mind sluggish, slow, bumbling, clumsy and stupid creatures that anyone could outrun. They remind you of the kid who was always 30 minutes late to class either because they slept in or were getting stoned. Sluggish. Slow. Bumbling. Clumsy. Stupid creatures. Easy to outrun (because they could never be bothered to run). They were always good value.
Back in the day (30s - late 80s), the word “Zombie” was not really used in Zombie films much and as time went on, the word wasn’t used at all. But in post-production, directors like George A. Romero and Lucio Fulci referred to the creatures as Zombies. As time went on (Late 80s - present) it almost seems taboo to call these Living Dead.. Zombies. With the exception of Resident Evil.
Not only is the very word “Zombie” being completely removed from any part of the production process (except maybe in scripts were it instructs actors to “walk like a Zombie”), but these new Living Dead are not the Romero Zombies. They’re fast, ferocious and pretty much what you’d expect of yourself if you went mental for the rest of your life: spewing blood, biting people, gouging eyes out.
Is this kind of new breed of “Zombie” scarier than the sluggish creatures of yesteryear?
Yes. They are too much like our very selves. They are fast, they’re smart and they run. They still have instincts we have. They still have feelings. They’re probably more hungry than Oprah is all. To know that these new Zombies are so close to ourselves, it’s almost as though humans walking around and killing each other in cold blood for no reason.
AND
No. The slower creatures were also scary. Simply because while it looked as though there was one slow fucker you could outrun, you’d turn back and see 4. Then 16. Then 25. Then 43. Then you’re fucked. With their slowness comes a eeriness that cannot be replaced or matched by these new “breed” of the Living Dead (LD … I’m getting lazy).
In saying that, why are people suddenly so engrossed in these films once more? Night of the Living Dead showed a world on the brink of the beginning of chaos. Dawn of the Dead showed the gradual decline of the human race: an apocalypse. Day of the Dead showed the immediate aftermath of the apocalypse. Land of the Dead showed the post-apocalyptic world. The latter two films are probably most related to our world now. While it’s easy to say that, there is an important factor some forget. I am only able to sit here and type this now because my world has not ended. There are many people all over the world who have lost their homes, lost their loved ones. It may be to illness or it may be because of the “War on Terror”, the most paradoxical phrase in the current media. It’s easy to take example from the latter occurrence because it’s all we hear about on the news. But for us lucky people who are actually able to go and see these films in a free country, our world has not ended. For the others who are less fortunate than us, they’re living what we fear. These films show the “future”, but are happening right now. Just because it is not at our doorstep now, who is to say that it won’t ever come? Who is to say that our world hasn’t already ended and we have already been subdued to a fight for survival?
Maybe there is a fear in people that one day our whole world will fall apart and we will lose everything that we know and hold dear, enough fear to become so interested in films that depict these very events. And as I said earlier, these more recent films are so similar to one another because the current behaviour of governments and the people seems to lead down a path of destruction. These films show similar downfalls due to selfishness, greed, lust, weakness (and of course, a nasty virus). They show similar reactions before the government steps in. The government shows similar reactions. It’s a vicious circle. Is the world really that grim that there can be no other path? Do I have to sit through another post-apocalyptic “Zombie” film to know what the human behavioural cycle is like? Destructive, hateful and cruel to each other? Are we all just disposable numbers and statistics?
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Hi, my name is Jessica. No, it's not really Zoe. And no, I'm not really a Zombie. I'm a web designer and I like metal. 
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