Why Zombies Are Cinematic Staples
If you say you’ve never seen a zombie movie, I’ll call bullshit. Known best as a horror movie trope, yet still reaching into the comedic and romantic genres, zombies are one of the most popular ideas in modern cinema. Ask anyone you know, and odds are that person has a “zombie survival plan”, whether it be to live the best few hours of their lives before dying or to try and outlive the apocalypse. While other trends in cinema have come and gone, zombies have stood the test of time thanks to a few different reasons.
First of all, zombies work with one of the best kinds of horrific feelings in the horror genre – suspense. While ghosts frighten you and murderers make you want to check your back every minute, zombies put the fright in you with the (fictional) reality of their constant, widespread presence. Zombies put fear into audiences because of the looming possibility that you could get swarmed at any time of the day, anywhere you are, for months on end. Ever since their popularization in 1968 with George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, zombies have commonly found their strength in trapping victims in houses, shopping malls, radio stations, or wherever someone can barricade, and waiting until an opportunity arises.
Even without expensive rotting, visceral appearances, zombies can instill horror into audiences. Though some productions, such as Ruben Fleischer’s Zombieland or AMC’s The Walking Dead, go all out on visual effects on zombies, a standard zombie is nothing more than a pale face, fake blood, and some neat looking contact lenses. If you slow down some of your favourite zombie movies, you’ll find that a zombie is made by its movements, the camera work, and by the inclusion of low cost sound effects. This low cost potential is attractive to production studios, as well as emerging film makers who don’t have much money to put towards a budget.
In addition to this is the versatility of the idea of the zombie. While the original zombie moved slowly and only ate brains, the idea has since evolved to encompass quick zombies, zombies who eat flesh as well as brains, zombies who behave like normal humans, zombies who can love, zombies caused by cellphone signals, and zombie animals. This is paired with the twists such as zombies in found footage, zombie comedies, zombie Nazis, and zombies being fought off by members of boybands. With zombies, nearly anything goes, and that’s a very attractive idea to writers trying to find a “new angle” that will get them noticed.
Aside from their ability to horrify is the fun that comes from a zombie movie. This may sound a little absurd, but the “zombie survival plan” I mentioned earlier is something that has passed through almost everyone’s mind at some point. A zombie movie splits audiences into two groups; the few who say they would just kill themselves to avoid any trouble, or the majority who believe that they would become the greatest survivalists on Earth. Everyone with a survival plan thinks they’re an unstoppable, yet perfectly quiet and agile force of human nature, and has that magic spot with endless supplies that nobody else has thought of, trust me. The creativity that arises and challenges audiences is part of the zombie experience.
Finally, one of the absolute best things about zombies and what makes them so popular is their seemingly plausible existence. With the CDC posting guidelines on surviving a zombie apocalypse, stories about fungi infecting and zombifying ants, and doomsday predictions happening every year or two, society loves toimagine the possibility of zombies becoming a reality. Events such as “Zombie Walks” have emerged in multiple major cities, many “escape rooms” have adopted zombie themes, and a law student in Arizona even wrote a paper on how zombies would impact taxation. While only a lunatic would actually want a zombie apocalypse to happen, most of society has fun imagining, and in turn watching movies about, the arrival of the undead hoards.
They may not be the most ubiquitous figures in cinema or society, and they may scare grandparents and small children, but zombies have proven to be a staple in the world of cinema. Regardless of the era, the political climate, or where you are in the world, zombies will always show up in a movie or on TV every so often. Until they become an issue, have fun plotting out your zombie survival strategy.
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