ALL THINGS ZOMBIE

[PII | 1,886]

I did a tally on my collection of Zombie Films recently to find I had crossed the 100 mark, so I thought I'd make a thread for the posting of anything and everything zombified, zombie infused or just plain zombie related and share some pics of my my current pet zombies in Tape and DVD form.  

Post your pics of zombie movies, zombie art, zombie make-up tutorials etc.  let us know which ones are your favs, which ones are terrible but you love anyway, what the best zombie themed video game is, where and when the real thing is going to happen or if it has already begun.  If it's Zombie, it goes here.

(The two tape only's in the last pic here are "Night Of The Creeps" and "The Church."  The one above them contains a taped off of TV Simpsons Treehouse Of Horrors Ep. with a Zombie Segment.  The blank white DVD is a recorded from TV episode of Star Trek Enterprise entitled "Impulse."  And the blank black DVD is that dirty penny that keeps creeping into my posts, "Erotic Nights Of The Living Dead."

Edited October 16, 2022 by PII

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

Amazing collection, but two things:

1 - 28 Days Later is great, but 28 Weeks Later is probably the worst "we're trying our hardest to make a good movie" movie I've ever seen in my entire life.

And 2 - how is Plan 9 a zombie movie?  Granted I haven't seen it in like 25 years, but I don't remember any zombies...

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

I freaking loved this one book about “how to survive a zombie apocalypse” or something like that. It was truly serious, and as someone who has a secret survivalist streak it was outstanding.  

[PII | 1,886]

31 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

And 2 - how is Plan 9 a zombie movie?  Granted I haven't seen it in like 25 years, but I don't remember any zombies...

I knew this was coming but I didn't think it would be regarding plan 9.  I also didn't think it would be coming from you or the first response but I guess I should have known better    Anywho, the two pictured here spend most of the movie in an entranced or zombified state.  

Also, anyone who would like to show up in as ornery a state as possible, to debate whether or not something is or is not a zombie movie is more than welcome to try.   

31 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

28 Weeks Later is probably the worst "we're trying our hardest to make a good movie" movie 

I'm not precisely sure what you're getting at here other than to say that you think it's a bad movie, but please do elucidate.  Both of these films tend to run together and blur in my mind.  I always have to stop and remind myself for some reason which characters and events go with which film...

@MrWunderful Curious if you'll recall the title at some point or other..

Edited October 13, 2022 by PII

[Tulpa | 3,517]

9 minutes ago, MrWunderful said:

I freaking loved this one book about “how to survive a zombie apocalypse” or something like that. It was truly serious, and as someone who has a secret survivalist streak it was outstanding.  

Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks? (Same dude who wrote World War Z.)

[Reed Rothchild | 9,550]

Cool idea, I'll have to gather my stuff when I get home.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

19 minutes ago, PII said:

I knew this was coming but I didn't think it would be regarding plan 9.  I also didn't think it would be coming from you or the first response but I guess I should have known better    Anywho, the two pictured here spend most of the movie in an entranced or zombified state.  

Also, anyone who would like to show up in as ornery a state as possible, to debate whether or not something is or is not a zombie movie is more than welcome to try.   

I'm not precisely sure what you're getting at here other than to say that you think it's a bad movie, but please do elucidate.  Both of these films tend to run together and blur in my mind.  I always have to stop and remind myself for some reason which characters and events go with which film...

@MrWunderful Curious if you'll recall the title at some point or other..

Okay, I'll give you a pass for Plan 9, but I thought it was aliens that were hypnotizing corpses and reanimating them (although I guess that's what a zombie essentially is: a hypnotized, reanimated corpse).

As for 28 Weeks later, watch it again and tell me if you can find a single scene in that movie that isn't ridiculously flawed to a baffling degree.  Hell, just thinking about the title: after everything that happened in 28 Days Later, wiping out the entire population of human beings, they're sending people back after a mere 28 weeks!?!  Um, what?!?  Everyone died from the most deadly contagion ever and they're sending people back to live there after only half a year?!?!?!?  And yeah, the entire rest of the movie is just as mind-numblingly stupid, literally from one scene to the next.

All that said, 28 Days Later is an excellent zombie flick

[PII | 1,886]

34 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

As for 28 Weeks later, watch it again and tell me if you can find a single scene in that movie that isn't ridiculously flawed to a baffling degree.

Every movie is basically lies stitched together with lots of half-truth strings and a few globs of glue-truth = I'll bet I can find a million things wrong with it, lol.  Sounds like fun!

 

40 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Um, what?!?  Everyone died from the most deadly contagion ever and they're sending people back to live there after only half a year?!?!?!?

You are correct!  That is insipidly stupid, ridongculous even  

[MrWunderful | 2,927]

1 hour ago, Tulpa said:

Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks? (Same dude who wrote World War Z.)

Thats the one. Read it on a kindle 100 years ago. 

[guitarzombie | 924]

Hate these movies.

 

Really no one tagged me?

FWIW i'll be assisting at the Living Dead weekend Friday-Sun in Evans City.

[guitarzombie | 924]

Ill leave these here too:
 

 

 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,550]

I rushed it, but close enough!

[nesmaster14 | 436]

A few of my favorite Zombie / Ghoul films:

• Carnival of Souls (1962)

• The Last Man on Earth (1964)

• Night of the Living Dead (1968)

It's interesting how the term Ghoul was often used in reference to undead creatures until a certain point (maybe in the 70s?).  I'm admittedly not huge in the zombie genre, so I'm not sure when the modern zombie term became widely used. I re-watched a bit of White Zombie the other day, Lugosi's expressions are so iconic.

For games, I recently watched my buddy play Resident Evil: Village (2021), I was surprised how awesome it is.  I also liked the setting, and even noticed a nod to The Last Man on Earth, where hanging garlic is shown in scenes, an otherwise more obscure way to fend off zombies.  Sidenote, it's the 20th anniversary of the original Resident Evil movie.  I might re-watch today; I thought it was cool back in the day, but haven't seen it since.

The more I think of it, maybe the zombie subgenre is kinda cool haha, perhaps the saturation and spoofs have thrown me off.  Cool collection though, I recognize some good ones I haven't seen yet or forgot about. Only complaint is if you're including Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as zombie (this could be a debate in itself lol),  you gotta have Carnival of Souls somewhere . 

Edited October 13, 2022 by nesmaster14

[PII | 1,886]

48 minutes ago, nesmaster14 said:

It's interesting how the term Ghoul was often used in reference to undead creatures until a certain point (maybe in the 70s?).  I'm admittedly not huge in the zombie genre, so I'm not sure when the modern zombie term became widely used. I re-watched a bit of White Zombie the other day, Lugosi's expressions are so iconic.

For games, I recently watched my buddy play Resident Evil: Village (2021), I was surprised how awesome it is.  I also liked the setting, and even noticed a nod to The Last Man on Earth, where hanging garlic is shown in scenes, an otherwise more obscure way to fend off zombies.  Sidenote, it's the 20th anniversary of the original Resident Evil movie.  I might re-watch today; I thought it was cool back in the day, but haven't seen it since.

The more I think of it, maybe the zombie subgenre is kinda cool haha, perhaps the saturation and spoofs have thrown me off.  Cool collection though, I recognize some good ones I haven't seen yet or forgot about. Only complaint is if you're including Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as zombie (this could be a debate in itself lol),  you gotta have Carnival of Souls somewhere . 

It may be inaccurate but I like the term Ghoul a lot.

IIRC in "The Last Man On Earth" they are referred to as vampires but their behavior is Zombie all the way.

I'm sort of on the fence with "Carnival Of Souls."  Technically it is not.  I do have it, and it is a good movie..........

Caligari is absolutely, indisputably a "Zombie Movie."  More than happy to get into it a little later if you like but for now I'll just voice my opinion that there is someone somewhere who really wants "White Zombie" to be viewed as the first Zombie movie when it was in fact "The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari" that was, in addition to generally being considered the first horror movie, also the first Zombie Movie.

@guitarzombie What a very strange weekend this would be!  Please come back with some good stories, details, horror stories for those of us unfortunate enough to not be in that neck of the woods this weekend..

@Reed Rothchild Nice Collection!  I see a few that I'm completely unfamiliar with and a few more where I've heard the title but don't really know anything about it.  Shockwaves is a really good film that I've seen and am kind of surprised that I haven't gotten around to picking up yet...

[guitarzombie | 924]

@PII Will do.  Im about to leave in a couple of hours.  I went in June when it was at the Monroeville Mall (where they filmed Dawn) and it was incredible.  Ill share a funny story as I kill some time.

I befriended someone who works as a talent agent for some of the actors for Night/Dawn.  When I went to the Living Dead weekend in June, I met him in person for the first time.  Ive been to the Monroeville Mall once in 2006, but never to the Evans City Cemetery and the other locals where Night was filmed, so we went on a Sunday morning.  I got a tour and thought I noticed a mistake in the movie.  So after the tour I went to my hotel room for an hour and realized I was wrong.  Once I get back to the mall, I try to find my friend to tell him my mistake.  He was not there at the booths where the people were for Night of the Living Dead.  I ended up talking to Gary Streiner (did sound for Night, was a posse member and Image Ten member).  I was telling him how I became friends with his agent by telling him "On the Bluray, I noticed the farmhouse actually had 2 sets of staircases than I never noticed before", thinking he already knew this.  He says "Pretty sure there was only one, I WAS there".   I pulled up a clip on youtube and showed him, he looks at my phone and says "Lets as my brother, Russ".  So we go to the next room, he sits down next to his brother Russ and Russ drops a batch of cupcakes for Gary, since it was his birthday that day".  So im in the middle of this really nice moment, forgot to take a picture (although my friend did), all cuz we were debating if the farmhouse and two staircases.  Finally Gary tells Russ the story and without hesitation, goes "Yeah, the farmhouse had 2 staircases".  Gary was shocked!  I just laughed and said "Happy birthday!".  We were both confused why a small farmhouse would have two staircases but it did. 

 

 

And for fun, irrefutable proof (I found this afterwards) of the 2nd staircase in a behind the scenes photo.  If you wanna know where it is, its between the dining room and kitchen, behind where the piano is next to the fake basement door they built.

[PII | 1,886]

6 hours ago, guitarzombie said:

We were both confused why a small farmhouse would have two staircases but it did. 

Yeah, that's odd, but weirdly appropriate somehow.  The interior shots of the house seem pretty twisty-turny overall, even a bit labyrinthine which would be a real accomplishment shooting in a small farmhouse.  That's how it is in my memory anyway.

Great Story!  As far as I'm concerned you've officially written yourself into Living Dead History!

Have a great weekend!

[Tabonga | 2,324]

9 hours ago, PII said:

 

IIRC in "The Last Man On Earth" they are referred to as vampires but their behavior is Zombie all the way.

 

Stakeland (which is very good movie if one has not seen it) is also ostensibly about vampires but plays out as a combination road and zombie movie.

I am pretty sure I have all of the domestically released zombie movies on laserdisc - I know that there are a couple of imports I don't have.   I do have a ridiculously rare laserdisc import of Night of the Comet.

[PII | 1,886]

@Dr. Morbis Challenge accepted.

Here is a brief documentation of just some of the things I noticed to be flawed, wrong, ridiculous etc. with 28 weeks later.

Spoiler

 

                                     28 WEEKS LATER

Opening scene: Don and his wife Alice are in a boarded up cottage.  Don expresses gratitude that they decided to pay so that their 2 children could go on a school trip and that is how they know the kids are safe right now.  It's 7 months after the initial cataclysm and they haven't seen their kids.  How in the heck do they know that they're safe?  Did someone call them on the horn as the world was crumbling to say: "Don't worry, everyone on the field trip is going to a really great refugee camp, catch ya later!"  Even so, one would think the parents would be fraught with worry over whether or not the kids are ok, if they'll ever see them again, how they'll find them etc.

Next we get a shot of guy on a couch reading of all things, a newspaper.  It's 7 months after the end of the world and this genius is reading the most useless obsolete literature imaginable.  Brilliant.

Next everyone holed up together sit down to eat a nice meal complete with wine and chocolate only to be disturbed by pounding at the front door accompanied by the sound of a child yelling for help.  Some debate over whether or not to open the door ensues.  Don goes to the door and pops it wide open without first looking through a peephole or crack in the wood or otherwise checking to see who or what is out there.

So the kid comes in and in spite of the nicely set table proceeds to eat a bowl of pasta with his extremely dirty hands.  Does using your hands make it easier to eat pasta?  For the record it was penne and I’d personally use a spoon over my dirty hands as I hear that penecillin can be tough to come by after an apocalypse.  A pile of adults watch this happen.  I’m just sorry I didn’t get to see the kid tackle some baked beans.

A minute later a zombie shows up outside the house and a woman goes to look through a large crack in the boarding.  Too bad they didn’t think to have something like that by the front door.  More zombies show up and tear into the boarded up cottage as if it were made out of paper mâché.

Next Don is faced with an ambiguous challenge: close a door and hope his wife across the hall can do the same or directly attack a crazed fast zombie that stands between them.  He closes the door and goes out the window.  Maybe he waited there.  Maybe he thought about going over to the next window, hard to say as its deliberately ambiguous.  Anyway, he ends up making his way to the ground and running for his life instead as a horde of crazed zombies pursues him to a boat where he escapes and the other guy, Jacob, who readied the boat for him was unable to step off the pier and into the boat properly.

It can’t possibly get any worse, right?

Following the opening scene and lead-up to the first exciting event we are treated to some written narration in which we are informed that 5 weeks after the start, the infected died from starvation.  Didn’t we just watch a horde of zombies chase Don?  Well maybe they just mean the city zombies.  After all, Don and company were looking a little more on the rural side a minute ago.  I suppose them country zombies could stay alive on muskrats or some other small creatures, so which is it?  Did the infected die off or not?  They must not have or we wouldn’t have much plot motivation to go on would we?  So why’d they just tell us they did?  In a short while they’re also going to tell us that the city areas outside of the now populated district 1 in London are dangerous and filled with rats and feral dogs.  So couldn’t the city zombies eat any of those?  The plot’s just off the ground here and already this movie is an illogical mess.

But it can’t possibly get any worse, right?

Next we’re taken to district one in London and introduced to Major Doctor Scarlett who is watching a plane land and unload survivors from a refugee camp while talking on a walkie.  When she sees 2 children exit she says into the walkie: “No one told me that we’re now admitting children.”  You’re admitting adult survivors, why in the heck would you deny child survivors?!

Next we get to watch the new arrivals get a little tour of District One on a mono-rail or something.  The driver tells her passengers that District One is now home to over 15,000 people.  She also tells them: We have a medical center, a super market; and… we even have… a pub.  A pub, wow; that’ll work wonders for 15,000 souls.  Imagine trying to get a drink on a Friday night.

Fast forward slightly and it’s nighttime.  We’re introduced to sergeant Doyle who sneaks up on his helicopter pilot buddy and scares him by pretending to be a zombie.  Some military-male-bonding shit-chat ensues and we cut to Doyle leaving, walking away at a distance of about 30 feet only to immediately cut back to helicopter buddy where Doyle has instantaneously materialized to frighten his pal again in the exact same manor.  Truth be told Sergeant Doyle really should have informed his superiors of his teleportation ability.  It’d come in handy a little later when it comes time for him to get some innocent souls out of dodge before it’s too late.  Imagine it: everyone join hands and hummm.

But it can’t get any more ridiculous can it?

Well, after being reunited with Don (long enough for Don to tell them their mother is dead when he’s not really sure), who is a caretaker in District One, his kids Tamm and Andy decide to sneak out and visit their old home.  It’s a moped ride away and they find a moped parked outside a pizzeria pretty quick, but no helmet.  While Tam goes inside to look, Andy snoops around the outer perimeter.  Remember those disease bearing rats and feral dogs we heard about earlier?  Well, we don’t get to see any.  But Andy does open a pizza box on the ground and briefly slide an admittedly ugly pizza part way out of it.  So there’s rats and dogs out here, but not a one of them decided to scarf that pizza that’s been up for grabs.  Maybe it’s a cultural thing and I just don’t understand British dogs and rats.  Maybe they don’t like street pizza the way North American Dogs and rats do.  I guess that makes sense, they’ve just got a higher class of beasts over there is all.  Meanwhile Tamm finds a helmet inside the Pizzeria where we are treated to a shot of a human corpse that has literally been picked clean.  So no street pizza but a human corpse is just too delectable to pass on.  Actually the pizza should not be there for another reason.  Uneaten, it should have rotted away after 7 months.  It must have been made out of big macs or something.

So the kids ride the moped to their old home where they find their mom, Alice, who survived the onslaught at the cottage and made her way here.  For whatever reason though she did not decide to go to district 1 to see if her kids might be there in spite of the fact that planes and helicopters are coming and going which would be visible even from a distance.  I know what you’re thinking.  Hold that thought for just a moment.

The military bring the kids and Alice back.  The kids hate Don for lying about mom.  Friendly reminder, you’re not supposed to like Don.  Major Doc. Scarlett is treating Alice when she says: “The last survivors we found came over 2 months ago.” (no previous indication of more than 1 day having passed.  Movies do this all the time, it’s just really sloppy here.)  So no, Alice more than likely did not just get to the old house, especially since we know That Don had been at District 1 for a while when the kids arrived as he is a caretaker with a degree of security clearances which is not the sort of thing generally granted over night, so Alice had plenty of time to come looking and a similar distance of ground to cover as Don to get to London in the first place.

Alice refuses to talk to Scarlett except to say: I want to see my kids.  Scarlett figures out that Alice is bitten and immune to the zombification effect of the virus but still a carrier and thus capable of infecting others.  So they stick Alice in a room without any kind of a guard outside the door and guess what?  That’s right.  Don waltzes right on in.  Alice won’t speak to him at first, but then Don proceeds to get himself infected by kissing Alice after she very coldly tells him “I love you.”  Alice then watches like an ice queen while Don turns into a zombie and then eats her alive.  I guess she hates him for not directly fighting that one zombie in the beginning.  Didn’t she just say “I want to see my kids?”  Who would do that?  Oh well, I guess I forgot we’re really not supposed to like Don.

Meanwhile Scarlett is talking about how she wants to keep Alice alive for obvious reasons and her cold male superior wants her to work on a corpse instead.  Might’ve been a good idea to have a 2nd medical center offsite for this, right?

Following the emergence of 1 zombie the military suddenly has everyone in district 1 on the move being herded this way and that.  There is a ton of pushing, shoving, squashing, everyone is hollering; just total instant disarray.  Then the military decides it’s a good idea to turn off all the lights which just makes things even crazier.  They go to emergency lighting in short order which makes all the lighting much dimmer and harder for everyone to see.

But things couldn’t possibly get any sillier, right?

Well it turns out a bunch of people got herded right up to a door where zombie-Don is waiting to break out and make lots more zombies.  It takes about 15 seconds of snipers shooting zombies only before the military gives them the order to just shoot everyone zombie and human alike, which they all do without question.  Just doin’ my job bra!  All except for Sergeant Doyle who just can’t bring himself to blow little Andy’s head off.

The military could have just made an announcement for everyone to stay put and close all the doors and windows while they take care of one zombie, but that would be too easy.  Never do anything in a simple and straightforward manor when you can do it in an overly complicated ass-backward way that will result in thousands of casualties.

Next, something amazing happens.  A scene that makes a modicum of reasonable sense.

Doyle has teamed up with Scarlett who is trying to get Tamm and Andy out of district one alive along with a few other nobodies who will serve as cannon fodder.  There are snipers shooting at them and they must get across a street.  Also, helicopter buddy called to let Doyle know that the military is about to flood the streets with napalm and they have 4 minutes to live if they don’t get out quick.  What to do?  Doyle holds a small mirror out around a corner and the sniper shoots it, but it take him more than one shot so Doyle knows that he is a poor marksman.  He tells one of the cannon fodder guys to run out there in a zig zag pattern, the sniper will miss, expose his position and he, Doyle will not miss shooting the sniper.  Cannon fodder guy does not want to be bait so Andy does it and it works like clockwork.  I genuinely enjoyed this scene.  Unlikely perhaps but at least half-way rational and exciting.

Next, believe it or not there are a couple more scenes that don’t have obvious problems unless I missed them for some reason.  Doyle dies the worst death ever saving Scarlett and the kids and helicopter buddy takes out a swath of zombies using the chopper’s main rotor.  Brutal!

They had made it out into a rural looking setting at one point but for some reason end up in a dark subway.  (sigh.)  Tamm and Andy fall down an escalator in the dark after Scarlett fails to guide them using the night vision on her rifle’s scope so she follows after them yelling her head off.  While she’s looking through the scope and yelling a tall lanky figure walks past.  A minute later a zombie shows up and its Don.  Wouldn’t it have made a beeline when it heard all that yelling instead of casually walking past?  Zombie Don kills Scarlett and then goes after Andy biting him.  Andy is infected but does not turn having inherited whatever from his mother Alice.  Tamm shows up with Scarletts assault rifle, knows exactly what to do with it and blows her father’s head off.  But you probably saw that coming.

Tamm and Andy make it to a stadium, hook up with helicopter buddy and fly to Paris for some reason where there are lots of zombies running around.

fin

 

 

Edited October 14, 2022 by PII

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

3 minutes ago, PII said:

@Dr. Morbis Challenge accepted.

Here is a brief documentation of just some of the things I noticed to be flawed, wrong, ridiculous etc. with 28 weeks later.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

                                     28 WEEKS LATER

Opening scene: Don and his wife Alice are in a boarded up cottage.  Don expresses gratitude that they decided to pay so that their 2 children could go on a school trip and that is how they know the kids are safe right now.  It's 7 months after the initial cataclysm and they haven't seen their kids.  How in the heck do they know that they're safe?  Did someone call them on the horn as the world was crumbling to say: "Don't worry, everyone on the field trip is going to a really great refugee camp, catch ya later!"  Even so, one would think the parents would be fraught with worry over whether or not the kids are ok, if they'll ever see them again, how they'll find them etc.

Next we get a shot of guy on couch reading of all things, a newspaper.  It's 7 months after the end of the world and this genius is reading the most useless obsolete literature imaginable.  Brilliant.

Next everyone holed up together sit down to eat a nice meal complete with wine and chocolate only to be disturbed by pounding at the front door accompanied by the sound of a child yelling for help.  Some debate over whether or not to open the door ensues.  Don goes to the door and pops it wide open without first looking through a peephole or crack in the wood or otherwise checking to see who or what is out there.

So the kid comes in and in spite of the nicely set table proceeds to eat a bowl of pasta with his extremely dirty hands.  Does using your hands make it easier to eat pasta?  For the record it was penne and I’d personally use a spoon over my dirty hands as I hear that penecillin can be tough to come by after an apocalypse.  A pile of adults watch this happen.  I’m just sorry I didn’t get to see the kid tackle some baked beans.

A minute later a zombie shows up outside the house and a woman goes to look through a large crack in the boarding.  Too bad they didn’t think to have something like that by the front door.  More zombies show up and tear into the boarded up cottage as if it were made out of paper mâché.

Next Don is faced with an ambiguous challenge: close a door and hope his wife across the hall can do the same or directly attack a crazed fast zombie that stands between them.  He closes the door and goes out the window.  Maybe he waited there.  Maybe he thought about going over to the next window, hard to say as its deliberately ambiguous.  Anyway, he ends up making his way to the ground and running for his life instead as a horde of crazed zombies pursues him to a boat where he escapes and the other guy, Jacob, who readied the boat for him was unable to step off the pier and into the boat properly.

It can’t possibly get any worse, right?

Following the opening scene and lead-up to the first exciting event we are treated to some written narration in which we are informed that 5 weeks after the start, the infected died from starvation.  Didn’t we just watch a horde of zombies chase Don?  Well maybe they just mean the city zombies.  After all, Don and company were looking a little more on the rural side a minute ago.  I suppose them country zombies could stay alive on muskrats or some other small creatures, so which is it?  Did the infected die off or not?  They must not have or we wouldn’t have much plot motivation to go on would we?  So why’d they just tell us they did?  In a short while they’re also going to tell us that the city areas outside of the now populated district 1 in London are dangerous and filled with rats and feral dogs.  So couldn’t the city zombies eat any of those?  The plot’s just off the ground here and already this movie is an illogical mess.

But it can’t possibly get any worse, right?

Next we’re taken to district one in London and introduced to Major Doctor Scarlett who is watching a plane land and unload survivors from a refugee camp while talking on a walkie.  When she sees 2 children exit she says into the walkie: “No one told me that we’re now admitting children.”  You’re admitting adult survivors, why in the heck would you deny child survivors?!

Next we get to watch the new arrivals get a little tour of District One on a mono-rail or something.  The driver tells her passengers that District One is now home to over 15,000 people.  She also tells them: We have a medical center, a super market; and… we even have… a pub.  A pub, wow; that’ll work wonders for 15,000 souls.  Imagine trying to get a drink on a Friday night.

Fast forward slightly and it’s nighttime.  We’re introduced to sergeant Doyle who sneaks up on his helicopter pilot buddy and scares him by pretending to be a zombie.  Some military-male-bonding shit-chat ensues and we cut to Doyle leaving, walking away at a distance of about 30 feet only to immediately cut back to helicopter buddy where Doyle has instantaneously materialized to frighten his pal again in the exact same manor.  Truth be told Sergeant Doyle really should have informed his superiors of his teleportation ability.  It’d come in handy a little later when it comes time for him to get some innocent souls out of dodge before it’s too late.  Imagine it: everyone join hands and hummm.

But it can’t get any more ridiculous can it?

Well, after being reunited with Don (long enough for Don to tell them their mother is dead when he’s not really sure), who is a caretaker in District One, his kids Tamm and Andy decide to sneak out and visit their old home.  It’s a moped ride away and they find a moped parked outside a pizzeria pretty quick, but no helmet.  While Tam goes inside to look, Andy snoops around the outer perimeter.  Remember those disease bearing rats and feral dogs we heard about earlier?  Well, we don’t get to see any.  But Andy does open a pizza box on the ground and briefly slide an admittedly ugly pizza part way out of it.  So there’s rats and dogs out here, but not a one of them decided to scarf that pizza that’s been up for grabs.  Maybe it’s a cultural thing and I just don’t understand British dogs and rats.  Maybe they don’t like street pizza the way North American Dogs and rats do.  I guess that makes sense, they’ve just got a higher class of beasts over there is all.  Meanwhile Tamm finds a helmet inside the Pizzeria where we are treated to a shot of a human corpse that has literally been picked clean.  So no street pizza but a human corpse is just too delectable to pass on.

So the kids ride the moped to their old home where they find their mom, Alice, who survived the onslaught at the cottage and made her way here.  For whatever reason though she did not decide to go to district 1 to see if her kids might be there in spite of the fact that planes and helicopters are coming and going which would be visible even from a distance.  I know what you’re thinking.  Hold that thought for just a moment.

The military bring the kids and Alice back.  The kids hate Don for lying about mom.  Friendly reminder, you’re not supposed to like Don.  Major Doc. Scarlett is treating Alice when she says: “The last survivors we found came over 2 months ago.” (no previous indication of more than 1 day having passed.  Movies do this all the time, it’s just really sloppy here.)  So no, Alice more than likely did not just get to the old house, especially since we know That Don had been at District 1 for a while when the kids arrived as he is a caretaker with a degree of security clearances which is not the sort of thing generally granted over night, so Alice had plenty of time to come looking and a similar distance of ground to cover as Don to get to London in the first place.

Alice refuses to talk to Scarlett accept to say: I want to see my kids.  Scarlett figures out that Alice is bitten and immune to the zombification effect of the virus but still a carrier and thus capable of infecting others.  So they stick Alice in a room without any kind of a guard outside the door and guess what?  That’s right.  Don waltzes right on in.  Alice won’t speak to him at first, but then Don proceeds to get himself infected by kissing Alice after she very coldly tells him “I love you.”  Alice then watches like an ice queen while Don turns into a zombie and then eats her alive.  I guess she hates him for not directly fighting that one zombie in the beginning.  Didn’t she just say “I want to see my kids?”  Who would do that?  Oh well, I guess I forgot we’re really not supposed to like Don.

Meanwhile Scarlett is talking about how she wants to keep Alice alive for obvious reasons and her cold male superior wants her to work on a corpse instead.  Might’ve been a good idea to have a 2nd medical center offsite for this, right?

Following the emergence of 1 zombie the military suddenly has everyone in district 1 on the move being herded this way and that.  There is a ton of pushing, shoving, squashing, everyone is hollering; just total instant disarray.  Then the military decides it’s a good idea to turn off all the lights which just makes things even crazier.  They go to emergency lighting in short order which makes all the lighting much dimmer and harder for everyone to see.

But things couldn’t possible get any sillier, right?

Well it turns out a bunch of people got herded right up to a door where zombie-Don is waiting to break out and make lots more zombies.  It takes about 15 seconds of snipers shooting zombies only before the military gives them the order to just shoot everyone zombie and human alike, which they all do without question.  Just doin’ my job bra!  All except for Sergeant Doyle who just can’t bring himself to blow little Andy’s head off.

The military could have just made an announcement for everyone to stay put and close all the doors and windows while they take care of one zombie, but that would be too easy.  Never do anything in a simple and straightforward manor when you can do it in an overly complicated ass-backward way that will result in thousands of casualties.

Next, something amazing happens.  A scene that makes a modicum of reasonable sense.

Doyle has teamed up with Scarlett who is trying to get Tamm and Andy out of district one alive along with a few other nobodies who will serve as cannon fodder.  There are snipers shooting at them and they must get across a street.  Also, helicopter buddy called to let Doyle know that the military is about to flood the streets with napalm and they have 4 minutes to live if they don’t get out quick.  What to do?  Doyle holds a small mirror out around a corner and the sniper shoots it, but it take him more than one shot so Doyle knows that he is a poor marksman.  He tells one of the cannon fodder guys to run out there in a zig zag pattern, the sniper will miss, expose his position and he, Doyle will not miss shooting the sniper.  Cannon fodder guy does not want to be bait so Andy does it and it works like clockwork.  I genuinely enjoyed this scene.  Unlikely perhaps but at least half-way rational and exciting.

Next, believe it or not there are a couple more scenes that don’t have obvious problems unless I missed them for some reason.  Doyle dies the worst death ever saving Scarlett and the kids and helicopter buddy takes out a swath of zombies using the chopper’s main rotor.  Brutal!

They had made it out into a rural looking setting at one point but for some reason end up in a dark subway.  (sigh.)  Tamm and Andy fall down an escalator in the dark after Scarlett fails to guide them using the night vision on her rifle’s scope so she follows after them yelling her head off.  While she’s looking through the scope and yelling a tall lanky figure walks past.  A minute later a zombie shows up and its Don.  Wouldn’t it have made a beeline when it heard all that yelling instead of casually walking past?  Zombie Don kills Scarlett and then goes after Andy biting him.  Andy is infected but does not turn having inherited whatever from his mother Alice.  Tamm shows up with Scarletts assault rifle, knows exactly what to do with it and blows her father’s head off.  But you probably saw that coming.

Tamm and Andy make it to a stadium, hook up with helicopter buddy and fly to Paris for some reason where there are lots of zombies running around.

fin

 

 

I'm going to read this in a minute, but I just wanted to touch on your Caligari comments.  Now you've probably seen more zombie movies than me, but even if you take out the fact that the entire story is strongly implied to be the paranoid delusions of a nut job living in an asylum, don't you think Cesar's actions are more in tune with a man who has been hypnotized than an actual zombie?  I mean, would a zombie carry a girl around like that or do most of the other things you see Cesar do while he's "asleep?"  Wouldn't he just savagely kill and/or eat any human he came across without thinking twice?  I guess it comes down to semantics in terms of what exactly qualifies as a true "zombie," but I've just never felt like I was watching a zombie flick any of the dozen or so times I've watched Caligari...

[Tabonga | 2,324]

5 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

I'm going to read this in a minute, but I just wanted to touch on your Caligari comments.  Now you've probably seen more zombie movies than me, but even if you take out the fact that the entire story is strongly implied to be the paranoid delusions of a nut job living in an asylum, don't you think Cesar's actions are more in tune with a man who has been hypnotized than an actual zombie?  I mean, would a zombie carry a girl around like that or do most of the other things you see Cesar do while he's "asleep?"  Wouldn't he just savagely kill and/or eat any human he came across without thinking twice?  I guess it comes down to semantics in terms of what exactly qualifies as a true "zombie," but I've just never felt like I was watching a zombie flick any of the dozen or so times I've watched Caligari...

Not speaking for PII but I suspect it was because Cesar was under Caligari's total command with no personality of his own.  Zombies in the voodoo tradition were like that and were generally to be used as slave labor. That type of zombie was the more prevalent in film and literature until Night of the Living Dead.  (For what it is worth I don't consider Caligari to be a zombie film myself.)

(If anyone hasn't seen it "I Walked With A Zombie" is well worth watching.)

[PII | 1,886]

11 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

I'm going to read this in a minute, but I just wanted to touch on your Caligari comments.  Now you've probably seen more zombie movies than me, but even if you take out the fact that the entire story is strongly implied to be the paranoid delusions of a nut job living in an asylum, don't you think Cesar's actions are more in tune with a man who has been hypnotized than an actual zombie?  I mean, would a zombie carry a girl around like that or do most of the other things you see Cesar do while he's "asleep?"  Wouldn't he just savagely kill and/or eat any human he came across without thinking twice?  I guess it comes down to semantics in terms of what exactly qualifies as a true "zombie," but I've just never felt like I was watching a zombie flick any of the dozen or so times I've watched Caligari...

There are more than a few zombie films out there that the casual viewer would not immediately think of as such.  One bit of criteria for branding something a zombie movie might be: the presence of at least one re-animated corpse.  Or, if you say zombie movie most people immediately think of Night of the living dead or something like it.  But pre-NOTLD zombie movies are nothing like what we've come to think of as a zombie movie.  

This is about to get into the point that @nesmaster14 was making earlier about Caligeri and Carnival of Souls.  I was saying that Carnival of Souls isn't a zombie film because:

Spoiler

everything very clearly turns out to be a last minute end of life delusion in the mind of the woman as she drown, including the ghoulish fellow who came after her.

In Caligeri, however, the twist ending is very ambiguous leaving more than one possible interpretation.

At any rate, the actual process of zombification in coordination with the origin of the word zombie does not involve killing someone at all but rather creating a state in which death is mimicked, followed by a burial, "mock resurrection" as the victim is dug up and finally a limited cure of sorts that gets the victim up and moving but leaves that victim under the control of the zombie master.  So, the creation of a zombie is actually the manipulation of a free person into slave state in which the victim is helpless to do any less than the master's command.

This is what Caligeri is about.

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

13 minutes ago, PII said:

At any rate, the actual process of zombification in coordination with the origin of the word zombie does not involve killing someone at all but rather creating a state in which death is mimicked, followed by a burial, "mock resurrection" as the victim is dug up and finally a limited cure of sorts that gets the victim up and moving but leaves that victim under the control of the zombie master.  So, the creation of a zombie is actually the manipulation of a free person into slave state in which the victim is helpless to do any less than the master's command.

This is what Caligeri is about.

Okay, if one is to accept that definition of a zombie, then yes, Caligari is a zombie movie, but I feel like that is not at all in line with the current definition of a zombie.  Using etymology to find original meanings and uses for words is undoubtedly interesting, but if you were happy right now would you describe yourself as "feeling gay?"  Of course not, because the meaning of the word has changed.  What I'm saying is, under the currently understood meaning of the word "zombie," Caligari is not a zombie movie, so I disagree with you, but I do understand where you're coming from.  Agree to disagree...

[Dr. Morbis | 2,091]

1 hour ago, PII said:

@Dr. Morbis Challenge accepted.

Here is a brief documentation of just some of the things I noticed to be flawed, wrong, ridiculous etc. with 28 weeks later.

  Reveal hidden contents

 

                                     28 WEEKS LATER

Opening scene: Don and his wife Alice are in a boarded up cottage.  Don expresses gratitude that they decided to pay so that their 2 children could go on a school trip and that is how they know the kids are safe right now.  It's 7 months after the initial cataclysm and they haven't seen their kids.  How in the heck do they know that they're safe?  Did someone call them on the horn as the world was crumbling to say: "Don't worry, everyone on the field trip is going to a really great refugee camp, catch ya later!"  Even so, one would think the parents would be fraught with worry over whether or not the kids are ok, if they'll ever see them again, how they'll find them etc.

Next we get a shot of guy on a couch reading of all things, a newspaper.  It's 7 months after the end of the world and this genius is reading the most useless obsolete literature imaginable.  Brilliant.

Next everyone holed up together sit down to eat a nice meal complete with wine and chocolate only to be disturbed by pounding at the front door accompanied by the sound of a child yelling for help.  Some debate over whether or not to open the door ensues.  Don goes to the door and pops it wide open without first looking through a peephole or crack in the wood or otherwise checking to see who or what is out there.

So the kid comes in and in spite of the nicely set table proceeds to eat a bowl of pasta with his extremely dirty hands.  Does using your hands make it easier to eat pasta?  For the record it was penne and I’d personally use a spoon over my dirty hands as I hear that penecillin can be tough to come by after an apocalypse.  A pile of adults watch this happen.  I’m just sorry I didn’t get to see the kid tackle some baked beans.

A minute later a zombie shows up outside the house and a woman goes to look through a large crack in the boarding.  Too bad they didn’t think to have something like that by the front door.  More zombies show up and tear into the boarded up cottage as if it were made out of paper mâché.

Next Don is faced with an ambiguous challenge: close a door and hope his wife across the hall can do the same or directly attack a crazed fast zombie that stands between them.  He closes the door and goes out the window.  Maybe he waited there.  Maybe he thought about going over to the next window, hard to say as its deliberately ambiguous.  Anyway, he ends up making his way to the ground and running for his life instead as a horde of crazed zombies pursues him to a boat where he escapes and the other guy, Jacob, who readied the boat for him was unable to step off the pier and into the boat properly.

It can’t possibly get any worse, right?

Following the opening scene and lead-up to the first exciting event we are treated to some written narration in which we are informed that 5 weeks after the start, the infected died from starvation.  Didn’t we just watch a horde of zombies chase Don?  Well maybe they just mean the city zombies.  After all, Don and company were looking a little more on the rural side a minute ago.  I suppose them country zombies could stay alive on muskrats or some other small creatures, so which is it?  Did the infected die off or not?  They must not have or we wouldn’t have much plot motivation to go on would we?  So why’d they just tell us they did?  In a short while they’re also going to tell us that the city areas outside of the now populated district 1 in London are dangerous and filled with rats and feral dogs.  So couldn’t the city zombies eat any of those?  The plot’s just off the ground here and already this movie is an illogical mess.

But it can’t possibly get any worse, right?

Next we’re taken to district one in London and introduced to Major Doctor Scarlett who is watching a plane land and unload survivors from a refugee camp while talking on a walkie.  When she sees 2 children exit she says into the walkie: “No one told me that we’re now admitting children.”  You’re admitting adult survivors, why in the heck would you deny child survivors?!

Next we get to watch the new arrivals get a little tour of District One on a mono-rail or something.  The driver tells her passengers that District One is now home to over 15,000 people.  She also tells them: We have a medical center, a super market; and… we even have… a pub.  A pub, wow; that’ll work wonders for 15,000 souls.  Imagine trying to get a drink on a Friday night.

Fast forward slightly and it’s nighttime.  We’re introduced to sergeant Doyle who sneaks up on his helicopter pilot buddy and scares him by pretending to be a zombie.  Some military-male-bonding shit-chat ensues and we cut to Doyle leaving, walking away at a distance of about 30 feet only to immediately cut back to helicopter buddy where Doyle has instantaneously materialized to frighten his pal again in the exact same manor.  Truth be told Sergeant Doyle really should have informed his superiors of his teleportation ability.  It’d come in handy a little later when it comes time for him to get some innocent souls out of dodge before it’s too late.  Imagine it: everyone join hands and hummm.

But it can’t get any more ridiculous can it?

Well, after being reunited with Don (long enough for Don to tell them their mother is dead when he’s not really sure), who is a caretaker in District One, his kids Tamm and Andy decide to sneak out and visit their old home.  It’s a moped ride away and they find a moped parked outside a pizzeria pretty quick, but no helmet.  While Tam goes inside to look, Andy snoops around the outer perimeter.  Remember those disease bearing rats and feral dogs we heard about earlier?  Well, we don’t get to see any.  But Andy does open a pizza box on the ground and briefly slide an admittedly ugly pizza part way out of it.  So there’s rats and dogs out here, but not a one of them decided to scarf that pizza that’s been up for grabs.  Maybe it’s a cultural thing and I just don’t understand British dogs and rats.  Maybe they don’t like street pizza the way North American Dogs and rats do.  I guess that makes sense, they’ve just got a higher class of beasts over there is all.  Meanwhile Tamm finds a helmet inside the Pizzeria where we are treated to a shot of a human corpse that has literally been picked clean.  So no street pizza but a human corpse is just too delectable to pass on.  Actually the pizza should not be there for another reason.  Uneaten, it should have rotted away after 7 months.  It must have been made out of big macs or something.

So the kids ride the moped to their old home where they find their mom, Alice, who survived the onslaught at the cottage and made her way here.  For whatever reason though she did not decide to go to district 1 to see if her kids might be there in spite of the fact that planes and helicopters are coming and going which would be visible even from a distance.  I know what you’re thinking.  Hold that thought for just a moment.

The military bring the kids and Alice back.  The kids hate Don for lying about mom.  Friendly reminder, you’re not supposed to like Don.  Major Doc. Scarlett is treating Alice when she says: “The last survivors we found came over 2 months ago.” (no previous indication of more than 1 day having passed.  Movies do this all the time, it’s just really sloppy here.)  So no, Alice more than likely did not just get to the old house, especially since we know That Don had been at District 1 for a while when the kids arrived as he is a caretaker with a degree of security clearances which is not the sort of thing generally granted over night, so Alice had plenty of time to come looking and a similar distance of ground to cover as Don to get to London in the first place.

Alice refuses to talk to Scarlett except to say: I want to see my kids.  Scarlett figures out that Alice is bitten and immune to the zombification effect of the virus but still a carrier and thus capable of infecting others.  So they stick Alice in a room without any kind of a guard outside the door and guess what?  That’s right.  Don waltzes right on in.  Alice won’t speak to him at first, but then Don proceeds to get himself infected by kissing Alice after she very coldly tells him “I love you.”  Alice then watches like an ice queen while Don turns into a zombie and then eats her alive.  I guess she hates him for not directly fighting that one zombie in the beginning.  Didn’t she just say “I want to see my kids?”  Who would do that?  Oh well, I guess I forgot we’re really not supposed to like Don.

Meanwhile Scarlett is talking about how she wants to keep Alice alive for obvious reasons and her cold male superior wants her to work on a corpse instead.  Might’ve been a good idea to have a 2nd medical center offsite for this, right?

Following the emergence of 1 zombie the military suddenly has everyone in district 1 on the move being herded this way and that.  There is a ton of pushing, shoving, squashing, everyone is hollering; just total instant disarray.  Then the military decides it’s a good idea to turn off all the lights which just makes things even crazier.  They go to emergency lighting in short order which makes all the lighting much dimmer and harder for everyone to see.

But things couldn’t possible get any sillier, right?

Well it turns out a bunch of people got herded right up to a door where zombie-Don is waiting to break out and make lots more zombies.  It takes about 15 seconds of snipers shooting zombies only before the military gives them the order to just shoot everyone zombie and human alike, which they all do without question.  Just doin’ my job bra!  All except for Sergeant Doyle who just can’t bring himself to blow little Andy’s head off.

The military could have just made an announcement for everyone to stay put and close all the doors and windows while they take care of one zombie, but that would be too easy.  Never do anything in a simple and straightforward manor when you can do it in an overly complicated ass-backward way that will result in thousands of casualties.

Next, something amazing happens.  A scene that makes a modicum of reasonable sense.

Doyle has teamed up with Scarlett who is trying to get Tamm and Andy out of district one alive along with a few other nobodies who will serve as cannon fodder.  There are snipers shooting at them and they must get across a street.  Also, helicopter buddy called to let Doyle know that the military is about to flood the streets with napalm and they have 4 minutes to live if they don’t get out quick.  What to do?  Doyle holds a small mirror out around a corner and the sniper shoots it, but it take him more than one shot so Doyle knows that he is a poor marksman.  He tells one of the cannon fodder guys to run out there in a zig zag pattern, the sniper will miss, expose his position and he, Doyle will not miss shooting the sniper.  Cannon fodder guy does not want to be bait so Andy does it and it works like clockwork.  I genuinely enjoyed this scene.  Unlikely perhaps but at least half-way rational and exciting.

Next, believe it or not there are a couple more scenes that don’t have obvious problems unless I missed them for some reason.  Doyle dies the worst death ever saving Scarlett and the kids and helicopter buddy takes out a swath of zombies using the chopper’s main rotor.  Brutal!

They had made it out into a rural looking setting at one point but for some reason end up in a dark subway.  (sigh.)  Tamm and Andy fall down an escalator in the dark after Scarlett fails to guide them using the night vision on her rifle’s scope so she follows after them yelling her head off.  While she’s looking through the scope and yelling a tall lanky figure walks past.  A minute later a zombie shows up and its Don.  Wouldn’t it have made a beeline when it heard all that yelling instead of casually walking past?  Zombie Don kills Scarlett and then goes after Andy biting him.  Andy is infected but does not turn having inherited whatever from his mother Alice.  Tamm shows up with Scarletts assault rifle, knows exactly what to do with it and blows her father’s head off.  But you probably saw that coming.

Tamm and Andy make it to a stadium, hook up with helicopter buddy and fly to Paris for some reason where there are lots of zombies running around.

fin

 

 

Okay, I enjoyed reading your summation, except that you did not make a big enough deal about zombie Don showing up later on (in the subway, I think - it's been years since I watched it).  That particular zombie inexplicably showing up to try and kill his own family in a completely different time and location is the icing on the cake for me; I mean, what an intelligent and discriminating zombie!  Like, did he hire a PI to keep tabs on them?  Did he put a secret tracking device on their clothes?  Was he following them for miles and miles like Gollum?  How in the everloving fuck could that particular zombie - of all the zombies in the universe - be the one to attack them there?!?!  Oh yeah, the movie is beyond retarded, that's how.  So that's my favourite moment in the absolute shitfest that is 28 Weeks Later.  I'd have to watch it again to see if you missed anything else major, but that's probably never going to happen.  But anyway, it was a good read

Edited October 14, 2022 by Dr. Morbis

[PII | 1,886]

22 hours ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Okay, if one is to accept that definition of a zombie, then yes, Caligari is a zombie movie, but I feel like that is not at all in line with the current definition of a zombie.  Using etymology to find original meanings and uses for words is undoubtedly interesting, but if you were happy right now would you describe yourself as "feeling gay?"  Of course not, because the meaning of the word has changed.  What I'm saying is, under the currently understood meaning of the word "zombie," Caligari is not a zombie movie, so I disagree with you, but I do understand where you're coming from.  Agree to disagree...

If a guy in Haiti creates a zombie today in the same way they have always been produced in his culture would it not be a zombie just because a lot of people think of a zombie as a flesh-eating re-animated corpse?

Your analogy is specious.

If an Englishman goes fishing and an Asian man goes fishing but calls the activity by a different word they are still partaking in the same activity.

Likewise just because the activity and behaviors exhibited in Caligeri take place outside of the context of Haitian Voodoo that does not change the essence of what's occurring being the same.

We may, as you say, however; agree to disagree if you like.

Edited October 15, 2022 by PII

[PII | 1,886]

11 minutes ago, Dr. Morbis said:

Okay, I enjoyed reading your summation, except that you did not make a big enough deal about zombie Don showing up later on (in the subway, I think - it's been years since I watched it).  That particular zombie inexplicably showing up to try and kill his own family in a completely different time and location is the icing on the cake for me; I mean, what an intelligent and discriminating zombie!  Like, did he hire a PI to keep tabs on them?  Did he put a secret tracking device on their clothes?  Was he following them for miles and miles like Gollum?  How in the everloving fuck could that particular zombie - of all the zombies in the universe - be the one to attack them there?!?!  Oh yeah, the movie is beyond retarded, that's how.  So that's my favourite moment in the absolute shitfest that is 28 Weeks Later.  I'd have to watch it again to see if you missed anything else major, but that's probably never going to happen.  But anyway, it was a good read

That's true, I did not bother to point that out.  It is ridiculous.  But if he didn't show up the audience wouldn't be made to see his daughter blow his brains out.

I think movies are made as illogical as this one just to test and see if anyone is actually paying attention.  

Now, is there a really bad zombie movie that you like in spite of, or even because of its badness.  That's where things get really fun!

Edited October 14, 2022 by PII