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What is so compelling about zombie movies?
- myra dodd
- 8 hours ago
- 5 min read
This Halloween I wanted to take a deeper look into one of my favorite types of stories, the zombie apocalypse!
I will be primarily focusing on Romero's classics Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978), along with Danny Boyle's 28 Days series. All three of these are staples in the genre and helped to define what we think of when we think of a zombie movie. I won't go into plot too heavily, but be warned, there are mild spoilers for all three.
One of the most important choices to be made in a zombie movie is how your creatures look. The modern zombie, as we think of it, was not fully developed until Night of the Living Dead. This, combined with a small budget, leaves the zombies with very little makeup to tweak their appearance. The monsters in Night of the Living Dead look undeniably human. So much so that when the characters are first attacked, they believe that it was just a drunken man. Sure, this makes certain aspects feel a bit goofier. Grabbing through windows and stumbling when pushed, they are almost indistinguishable from humans, making it silly to watch them bumble around. Eventually, this loops around to horrifying. In Night of the Living Dead, the zombies retain basic functions that allow them to open doors and use tools. They are still driven by their basic instinct but are capable of these extra advantages that make them unique. These zombies are intent on killing their victims before they start to feast. It is uniquely disturbing and lacks the same feeling of mindlessness that is often attributed to hordes. It feels so much more personal. They really do just look human, and I found this is the most unsettling portrayal of all.
The zombie's appearance gives us viewers an unspoken perception of how human we think they are. The contorting bloodshot infected of the 28 Days series makes it a lot easier to separate the humanity from the zombie. Infection is almost instantaneous and irreversible. They are vicious, and they look like it. It's treated as ludicrous in 28 Years Later when Jodie Comer's character extends humanity toward an infected as it gives birth. They hold hands, and for a moment, there is unity between the two.
The zombies in Dawn of the Dead are painted light blue with pink blood. It is a stark contrast to the dark, gory colorings that are signature to the genre. They don't look quite as scary as many of their counterparts, and this makes sense for their role within the story. For the most part, they are slow, stupid, and not much of a threat if you know how to deal with them.
It is a common theme in alien stories that humanity bands together to defeat the common enemy. In almost all zombie media, it is the opposite. Almost all zombie media turn the story into being about how humans are the true threat. Groups often fragment a lot more easily, people turn, resources are scarce, but what makes this so different? So much of the underlying tension in zombie stories comes from the pressure of making even one mistake. Often one mistake can mean the difference between life and death. Society has often already been dismantled or is in the process of being destroyed. With it we see the abandonment of rational thought as tensions are high, groups begin to rely on pure survival instinct. There is no real rational route to take. There is not one villain to take down or one perfect plan that can secure your fate forever. There is nothing inherently controlling the zombies besides their own basic instinct for food. That is what makes zombie stories so compelling to me. Security is almost always temporary, and even a cure doesn't bring back everything that was lost. Zombie stories are about living within the new world that has been created, and as long as they exist within a world, Zombies will test how well a group is equipped to survive. Over and over again.
As most things in fiction, zombie stories are not just about zombies, and zombies aren't just zombies. The zombies in Night of the Living Dead (as most things in the 60s and 70s) reflect social aspects of the Vietnam War. They are a faceless, dehumanized enemy that pits the group against each other. Any individuality and control is stripped away from these creatures, and they are left to follow their one driving instinct. There is also deep social unrest within the group and society at large because of the conflict. The use of 35mm grainy black and white film mimicked that of a documentary style. Strikingly similar to the nightly broadcasts about the war. The film also stars a Black actor, Duane Jones, who at every end is distrusted and undermined by a typically patriarchal white character. The timing, along with the ending of the movie, makes it impossible to separate from its political context.
28 Years Later is an allegory for Brexit, albeit a little dramatically, and examines how Britain would fare if isolated from the rest of the world. In the movie, other nations are literally forbidden from interfering or setting foot on the island. There are absolutely no reconnaissance missions because everyone recognizes the danger. The only problems that can be addressed are internal, as the characters struggle for survival. Most of the conflict in the movie doesn't revolve around the zombies at all. Instead, the island is fundamentally missing the resources needed to survive.
The zombies in Dawn of the Dead are slow, dumb, and spend the whole time wandering around a mall. Like most zombies, they operate on one basic instinct. It's not hard to draw a similarity to materialistic culture. The zombies are consumers who cannot even make their own decisions, waiting to be swayed either way by material goods. Even for the live characters, the mall provides a certain sense of security, allowing them to ignore the outside world. They indulge in the wonders of the mall, and this perceived security results in the characters getting sloppy.
Zombie stories are so appealing because, in one way or another, we want to live without the constraints of society. Who doesn't want to explore an abandoned mall or wander throughout London without the noise of millions? These worlds free of modernity and everyday stresses seem silly to wish for when they come with such mass death and horror. Yet there is something exciting and heroic about living every day on the edge of survival, wandering through a barren country. Zombie movies explore the best and the worst of these situations. Pretty much every piece of zombie media explores more than just the monsters they depict. They display the best and worst of us.
With how much I thought about zombies today, I hope that I haven't completely screwed myself over by crafting a particularly terrible nightmare.
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