An absolute titan of horror died over the weekend. The godfather of the modern zombie flick passed away at the age of 77. His importance to genre fiction cannot be overstated. His legacy will endure for generations. George A. Romero’s zombies will always matter, despite the seemingly insistent push to shovel watered down, generic piles rotten undead limbs in front of us at every single opportunity.
Romero’s zombies will always matter because they were defined by his movies. There were zombies or zombie like monsters before Romero, but Night of the Living Dead and its sequels made them a part of the cultural conscience.
But enough ink has been dedicated to Romero’s zombies. There exist volumes of critical examinations on films. There are books delving into the philosophy and psychology of the modern zombie movie. I’m sure there’s probably a detailed examination out there on just how their biology works. So, there’s nothing I can add that others haven’t already said better and with more research to back them up.
Instead, I’d like briefly discuss the over-saturation of zombies and what can be done to keep the genre invigorated. In particular, there are two aspects of zombie fiction that can be given special attention to, which will make or break any new zombie story. Something unique has to be done to either the zombies themselves or their would-be victims.
First, let me nix the idea that setting can be the sole savior of a run-of-the-mill zombie story. You can put zombies on a space station, zombies in a post-apocalyptic world, zombies in a church, or zombies on a plane, but you still end up with stale moldy undead gunning for the brains of a handful of horror victim archetypes. It bores the life out of me. Setting simply doesn’t cut it.
What does work, is making the zombies unique. There’s a fantastic series of graphic novels where Marvel comics super heroes and villains have become zombies. Wonderful! There’s something grotesquely exciting about seeing your favorite uber-humans reduced to shambling monstrosities that keep losing their limbs.
The first time I recall seeing the zombies undergo a facelift was in the Dawn of the Dead remake which introduced fast zombies. This is a point of contention for horror fans. Some feel that zombies should never run. I guess they feel that whatever it is that makes a zombie get up and go is only potent enough to make them amble across the graveyard as if going for an evening stroll. We’re talking about the reanimated dead here. I think the rulebook should be sent to the crematorium.
The second avenue of creative spark is in our heroes. Or anti-heroes. The living, at any rate. I’d like a moratorium on survivor types. These are people in zombie stories that make weapons of mass undead destruction out of duct tape and kitchenware. You know who else has to deal with a zombie apocalypse? Literally everyone. So why are the stories centering around the same seven or eight character tropes?
A friend at work recommended the book Fiend by Peter Stenson. Here’s how he pitched and subsequently sold me on the book. Imagine your favorite drug-hobbled character. Maybe it’s one of the characters from Trainspotting or Hunter S. Thompson in Fear in Loathing in Las Vegas. No, imagine that person had to deal with a zombie outbreak. I’ve started reading it this week, both in honor of Romero and because that description alone has done something for me that no other zombie related media has been able to do for years. It got me excited about zombies.
So let’s not allow this genre to rest in peace. But on the other hand, let’s not sit back and be satisfied with the same old tropes either. Let’s do what Romero did and take these monsters and make them uniquely our own. Let’s breathe life back into the undead.
The Barberry Writers 