Zombies in popular culture

The dead rising from their graves and attacking the living has been a part of popular culture for ages and is by no means a new phenomenon. It is however not that long ago that zombies and zombie movies was a niche and not well known by the general public (for the most part being found in lesser known comic books and low budget cult horror movies). But the shambling flesh-eating ghouls were put in the spotlight (or at least more so then before) by George A. Romero, creator of the Living Dead trilogy (1968, 1978, 1985). With its underlying (and sometimes not so underlying) social and political commentary, the living dead films soon became fan favorites with Dawn of the dead (1978) is still considered by many to be the best zombie movie ever made.

Since then there have been countless spin-offs, imitations and inspired work that all take root in the zombie mythology established by Romero. Before Romero's films there was allot of variety on how a zombie acted, but Romero set a standard for the zombies to be shambling corpses who relentlessly hunt for human flesh.

RESIDENT EVIL

One of the best, if not only really well known zombie franchise is Resident Evil. It started as a PlayStation game in 1996 and is openly known as have been inspired by Romero's work. The first Resident Evil game takes place in and old mansion infested with zombies and you as a player must do what you can to survive the walking dead. This spawned an entire franchise that would span several more game sequels, comic books and a series of unfortunate films.

COMICS

These days there are more zombie comic books then you can count and even marvel, one of the most well known and successful comic book companies have a zombie comic book where all your beloved super heroes have been turned into zombies (Marvel zombies, 2005). Maybe not so surprising as the zombie comics started with Marvel in 1953 (Menace #5).

THE WALKING DEAD

A publication of note since then is The Walking Dead series (created by writer Robert Kirkman and artist Tony Moor), which started in 2003 and is seen by many as the best zombie comic book ever created. The story is the same as with so many other zombie stores: people trying to survive after the world has fallen pray to the walking dead. What makes this publication so good however (and what makes a zombie story good in general) is the focus on character and the interaction between people in an extreme situation.

"In a world ruled by the dead, we are finally forced to start living"

MAX BROOKS

When looking at how well established the zombie as a horror icon had become, one can not ignore the works of Max Brooks who wrote The zombie survival guide (2003) and the later more serious World war Z (2006). The survival handbook was a just what it said on the cover: a handbook on how to survive should zombies one day roam the earth. This tongue-in-cheek book became a favorite among zombie fans and was followed by World War Z - An oral history of the zombie war, which can be seen a fake documentary (or mockumentary if you will) about the human race war with zombies. It is a chilling tale that gives a more or less realistic view on how the world would react if the dead started rising and attacking the living. In style with George Romero's previous work it is filled with social and political satire and commentary and criticism.

EVOLUTION

In recent years the zombie has also undergone an evolution in two very distinct ways. In 2002 28 days later introduced the running zombie, or the "rage zombie" or "infected." This new breed of undead (though in 28 days later they are called infected and not technically dead though they behave in a zombie like fashion) was a new breed that became far more threatening then their shambling, slow moving forefathers. The running zombie was also featured in the Dawn of the dead re-make (2004) where the dead would run after their victims and rip them apart with brutal force. This new breed of terror replaced the original zombie in allot of publications to come including the Resident Evil franchise with Resident Evil 4 (2005).

The other evolution came in the form of the zombies developing a hint of cavemen like intelligence in Land of the dead (2005) which saw George Romero return to his zombie franchise for the first time since Day of the dead in '85. Here the zombies had completely taken over the world and the few pockets of human civilization that remained discovered in horror that the zombies started showing signs of intelligence, all though primitive. This can also be seen in the aforementioned Marvel Zombies where the superhero zombies have as much intelligence as humans and still has the ability to talk and use their abilities as superheroes.



There are way to many instances of zombies in pop-culture to mention here and there is allot of them that should be recognized for bringing something to the table (cult favorite Evil Dead comes to mind) and there are even more that should just be forgotten as the garbage it is. But one thing is certain: if the dead should one day rise and eat the living, there is going to be allot of people out there who will know exactly what to do. I'll see you in the streets.

For your consideration...

Whenever the name Brad Pitt comes up in your everyday conversation, be it with your friends down at the gym, your girlfriend or local milkman the one general view is that of a handsome pretty boy who the girls swoon over and the boys admire. Or at least its been that way for a long long time and with good cause mind you. But this is of course a double edged sword when it comes to the public view of him as an actor. Take my mom for example who still, when hearing the name Brad Pitt, shrugs him off (and the film in question at the time) as something will happily ignore. No doubt the average movie goer today would be aware of the films he has done in the past that clearly sets him apart from your no talent pretty boys that seem to be on the silver screen over and over again. Or at least, you'd think so, but though many a conversation I have been proven wrong over and over. People seem to remember the Oceans 11's and the Mr. and Mrs. Smith's, not thinking of the more extreme roles that showcase Mr. Pitt as a very rare breed of actor in Hollywood today.

Why am I writing about Brad Pitt? For the less informed of you out there Brad Pitt stared last year in what was easily the best movie of 2008 - The curious case of Benjamin Button. A movie that hopefully and should win him an Academy Award for best male lead if any justice is to be served. So in light of this brilliant film (lest I over praise it) I thought I'd sum up the few roles he has done in the past that makes him the phenomenal actor that he really is. For your consideration: Brad Pitt.

TWELVE MONKEYS - Jeffrey Goines



SNATCH - Mickey O'Neil




BURN AFTER READING - Chad Feldheimer




THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON - Benjamin Button

Resident Evil Degeneration

Since 1996 the Resident Evil franchise has grown to such a degree that now, 12 years later, it becomes very hard for the series to maintain originality and a sense of freshness. Capcom, developer of the series, realized this when creating the game Resident Evil 4, which saw a slight reboot for the franchise replacing moaning zombies with body-snatching parasites. So it is very peculiar that 3 years after this re imagining Capcom decides to make a movie that takes a step back and revisits what has been done so many times before in the Resident Evil franchise, be it games or movies. I talk of the latest Resident Evil movie Degeneration which is a CG (computer generated) movie not unlike Final Fantasy: Advent Children.

The story is pretty much what you have seen before if you have any knowledge about the franchise. The T-virus (which makes infected people into flesh-eating zombies) breaks out, this time at an air port, and the survivors have to try and get out before they are devoured by the walking dead. We are reunited with the 'stars' from the game Resident Evil 2, namely Clair Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy who will lead the group of survivors to safety as best they can.

Degeneration takes place 7 years after Raccoon City was erased from the map and continues the story (slightly) of what happened with BIO-terrorism and the Umbrella Corporation 7 years later. BIO-terrorism has become a worldly known problem and Umbrella has seemingly plummeted into bankruptcy. Sadly this is pretty much everything that this movie brings to the main storyline of the Resident Evil franchise and the rest is more or less a stand alone adventure, which would be good enough if not for some faults along the way.

Even if you ignore that the movie repeats the tired old outbreak story (twice in fact) this movie still stands out with some serious flaws. First of which is its pacing. To put it short: the movie moves too fast for its own good. 7 minutes into the movie we get the first T-virus outbreak which leaves absolutely no room for character introduction or any sense of connection to the characters on screen. here are the players, here is the disaster - now go! To pull off such a sudden jump in a movie is difficult by any standard and sadly this movie is not able to pull it off.

The characters them selves are as you would expect from a CG movie based on a game franchise. The bad guys are either fat politicians or double faced scientists with sinister motives. Clair and Leon also become caricatures of their respected roles with Leon being the mysterious secret agent and Clair the nosy protector who is out to save the innocent. Though the movie is not without its twists (be they obvious or not - up to you), there is nothing in this movie that will ever get you invested, which is the death of any movie.

Lastly I wish to put a question mark with the quality of animation presented in this movie. For me it seemed like I was watching a movie based on a upgraded version of the Resident Evil 2 game engine which means that the characters come off more as puppets being herded around more then they became characters with motives and feelings.

In the end this is a movie for the fans and if you haven't played any Resident Evil game or seen any of the movies then chances are you will probably have gone through life never knowing this movie existed, which frankly you wouldn't need to. Ultimately this is not a good movie by any means of the word, but if you are a fan of either zombies or the Resident Evil saga then it is 1 hour 33 minutes that you probably will enjoy on some level as long as you don't think too much about what you are watching.

If Capcom do wish to produce more movies like these, then by all means let them do so. They have my blessing. But I do hope they try and use this outlet to movie the saga forwards and explore stories we have not played though in games so many times before.

The film geek's Christmas party

Now that Christmas is just around the corner you can't walk very far before stumbling over some type of Christmas festivity, and that is after all what this season is all about. So, as a film enthusiast I came to thinking: if I could invite any movie characters to the best Christmas party ever who would they be. I'm sure you have had the same thought...or not. Nevertheless, here is my guest list for what would prove to be one of the more interesting of Christmas parties...if we where to remember any of it that is.

The most important aspect of any party, be it Christmas, Hanukkah or otherwise is to invite people who will bring life to your part. In other words, people who know how to party. Jabba the Hutt is a...guy who knows how to have a good time. Just by looking at him you can tell this is what he does best (well that and underworld dealings, which may or may not come in handy later on). With him comes plenty of booze, a good band and an armada of dancing alien women. The foundation is set, but we need party people and few can party like Austin Powers. With his 60's style of getting down his mere presence will be enough to make sure this is a party to remember. Go go dancers and strobe lights alone will get things started.

Just as important is it to have people who know how to drink and can hold their own and make sure the party goes on until the wee hours of the morning and you just can't go wrong with a Scotsman. William Wallace (Braveheart) is on the top of my list, just be careful later on as he might want to pick a fight in the name of freedom. We can of course not forget Wiliam's southern neighbors the British so Shaun (Shaun of the dead) is invited. A fun drinking mate to be sure and should some of the more drunken people (stumbling and moaning along) get out of hand he and his trusty cricket bat will deal with them. When we are talking about drinking and good times I would be hard pressed to miss the Hobbit foursome Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin who are no strangers to ail and much merriment. I would invite John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey (Wedding Crashers), but...well, they don't need one.

Any party is always greatly improved with some class. A certain thing the French call...I don't know what. First names that springs to mind is a certain Mr. Bond, Patrick Bateman (American Psycho) and The Merovingian (Matrix Reloaded). With these names on the guest list the party will greatly improve. But that's not enough, we need a celebrity to really have the party to end all parties and that can only mean one thing: Derek Zoolander. Not only is he a world famous male model but he is also really, really ridiculously good looking. And if we are lucky, I mean very very lucky he might bring his friend Billy Zane; he's a cool dude.

Now lets look at entertainment. Sure Jabba and his band is here, but its always good to have several kinds of music is alien baroque music isn't for everyone. Luckily The Blues Brothers are in town and should be more then happy to play at the party. It's also good to have someone who can tell a good story and who better then Forrest Gump. Now, later on some of the guests may start to get a little rowdy (I'm looking your way Hobbits) so best to find a way to take that aggression and focus it into something we can all enjoy. I talk of course about a Fight club. Now, I'm not sure who to invite Jack or Tyler Durden so I'll send one to both.

With alcohol comes the munchies and every good party need a good source of food. Pizza is all good and well, but I was thinking about something a little more elegance. Hannibal Lecter knows all about fine foods and if we ask politely. He always have the most exotic of ingredients.

These are dangerous times however and you never know when something bad is going to happen and a high end Christmas party is no exception. Enter security. Top of the list is of course John McClain who is no stranger to terrorism or a good Christmas party. Backing him up we were able to pick up a T-800 (Terminator) from the future and reprogram him for good instead of evil...or so I was told anyway.

This is a party that needs to be well documented and therefore Raoul Duke (Fear and loathing in Las Vegas. My interest here of course strictly in his journalism skills and in no way connected to the various drugs and acids he could bring to the table *cough*

A good party is also a party that has the various problems that can arise well in hand. Should we run out of alcohol then Frank Martin (The Transporter) to make beer runs and Ice Man (X-men) is of course invited should we ever run out of cheese flavored corn chips.

But this is turning into a real sausage fest, if you will pardon the term, so we need women. Like dad used to say: it's always good to have a tomb raider around should anyone lose their keys. I never really understood that, so I just invited Lara Croft instead. She purdy. Sue Storm (Fantastic 4) is invited for two good reasons and should Hannibal's cuisine not sit well with you Leeloo (The Fifth Element) said she would bring chicken. Alice (Closer) will provide some of the more adult entertainment with her years of stripping experience and Thelma and Louise will provide overall good times (just don't piss them off). Lastly I thought it would be wise to have someone with medical experience at the party should anything go wrong, so nurse Ratched (one flew over the Cuckoo's nest) will be present.

At the end of the night John Nash (A beautiful mind) will be there to figure out how much I owe the landlord in damages and Mario and Luigi (Super Mario Brothers) have been contracted for some much needed after party plumbing.

Yes sir this shapes up to be one heck of a party, but if that Harry Potter kid comes around tell him we're all full. Jack Torrance (The Shining) was invited, but he had to work. Maybe next year.

Earth: population 0.

It is not often that I will find a documentary that truly captivates me the way History channel's 'Life after people' has. To surmise it shortly it is a documentary about how life on Earth would develop if we humans should all of a sudden vanish from the face of the Earth and the results are staggering. You might think that if we as a species would die tomorrow there would be plenty of evidence that we existed for whomever would come after us. But as the documentary exposes this is not so certain.
The documentary goes from 1 day after people to 10 thousand years after people and it is staggering how fast, in cosmic terms at least, any trace of us as a species would vanish from the face of the earth. First things to go is electricity which would, with exception of whatever parts of the USA Hoover dam keeps lit, would go away withing 36 hours. Our pets would become feral and withing a couple of years buildings would begin to crumble and nature start taking back its territories. I guess spoilers are in order, but according to this documentary all signs of life on Earth would vanish within ten thousand years, which might seem allot to you and me is an insignificant number in the cosmic whole.

This becomes a rather short post, but if what I have told you here intrigues you then either pick up the book "the world without us" or check out the documentary *Life after people."

Halloweek

In case you didn't know, Halloween is just 5 days away and I am already celebrating what I have dubbed Halloweek (yes, clever). So in this light I come to you with my top 5 Halloween films that should get you in the mood for a night of ghoulish affairs.

5) A Nightmare on Elm Street



Let's start off with a classic. When young Tina is brutally murdered in her sleep, her best friend Tina starts suspecting that a supernatural force is at work. This turns out to be Freddy Kruger who lives in our dreams and slaughters those unfortunate enough to fall asleep. This movie came out in 1984 (allot of good things came out of that year it would seem) and was directed by renowned horror/thriller director Wes Craven. When released it became an instant pop-culture phenomenon and Freddy Kruger has become the poster-boy of the horror genre ever since.
When it comes down to the film it self you have to take into account that this movie was made over twenty years ago, so some of the effects don't hold up but therein lies much of the films charms. Despite some pretty horrific acting, Freddy (Robert Englund) is as menacing as anything you have ever seen and you are introduced to a young Johnny Depp in his first on-screen role. Besides, the film that made New Line Cinema what it is today deserves our respect and is a good start to your Halloweek.

4) Ring


Forget the American remake (all though the U.S. The Ring is a pretty good adaptation), but the original Japanese Ring becomes even more spine-tingling when set against a foreign backdrop. We all know the story: After a group of teenagers all die at the same day at the exact same time after having watched a supposed cursed videotape, reporter Reiko starts digging into the modern myth and soon finds herself face to face with an avenging spirit of a wronged little girl.
What really make this film scary is that it never goes for the quick, make-you-jump kind of scare, but rather builds up an unsettling vibe that never lets up and never truly lets you relax. Complete it all with a surprise ending and you have yourself a Halloween movie that you won't soon forget.


3) SAW

Sure Halloween is all about ghosts and ghouls (or at least it used to be), but when prepping up for Halloween you can't ignore what has for five years now been a Halloween tradition, namely the Saw franchise. Nothing supernatural here, just good old human malice.
With a dead body laying between them, two men wake up in the secure lair of a serial killer who's been nicknamed "Jigsaw" by the police because of his unusual calling card (IMDB.com). If you can escape his traps you get to live, but not without some sacrifice. Your life is in your hand.
What made Saw such a big deal back in 2005 was that it for the first time in a very long while was a film that brought something new and original to the horror genre. Since then we have gotten a Saw movie for each Halloween with number five just being released in cinemas as we speak. People being killed in all manner of horrible ways is just the thing to get you in the Halloween mood (and if you have the time check out Saw 2 and 3 which both offer more of the same gory goodness. Nr. 4 not so much).


2) Bram Stoker's Dracula

When Francis Ford Coppola adapts one of the best Vampire novels of all time you know you are in for a good ride and a Halloween celebration is not complete without visiting one of the classic monsters. You get a stellar cast here: Gary Oldman as Dracula, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins and Keanu Reeves (with an unfortunate British accent) and even with a running time of 123 minutes you never start looking at the clock. This is the hypnotic, Gothic and slightly erotic tale of the father of all vampires: Vlad the Impaler himself and you will be hard pressed not to find yourself drawn in by the lure and blood-lust this movie offers.


1) Halloween

Not a big surprise here as the best film to watch on Halloween is, in fact, Halloween. We started off with a horror icon and now we end with one, all though maybe a little less known. This is of course the man behind the mask Michael Myers. The IMDB.com's synopsis says it best: "A psychotic murderer institutionalized since childhood escapes on a mindless rampage while his doctor chases him through the streets." Enough said.
Made in 1978 by the legendary John Carpenter this movie quickly became another American horror film phenomenon that will remain a staple of not only Halloween, but U.S. horror for generations to come. If you can only see one film for Halloween this year, see Halloween.

So there you have it, my 5 choices for one week of Halloween. Of course there are countless horror films you can chose from that will do the job and I am sure you will have your own personal top 5 Halloween movies that puts you in the mood for a night of fright. So please, leave a comment and let me know what five films you would chose for your own personal Halloweek. Until next time remember: lock your door and close the window. You never know who or what is stalking you in the night.

Where is....Half-Life the movie?

Everyone that play games at a more then casual level have one or more franchises they wish to see make the transfer to the silver screen. I have quite a few game to film adaptations I wish to see (or write and make), so I have decided to create this segment in the blog simply named "Where is..."

Feel free to suggest something to out in this segment if there is something you would be curious to see make the transfer from game, book, what have you, to film.


For this firs installment of Where is... I wish to look at what is possibly the greatest First Person Shooter (FPS) in modern gaming. Since its release in 1998 the Half-Life series has set the standard for the FPS that followed, with a strong focus on story and puzzle solving mixed with great action sequences.

The game:

The story of Half-Life is simple, but engaging. You play as Gordon Freeman, a a recent graduate theoretical physicist who must fight his way out of a secret underground research facility (Black Mesa) who experiments with teleportation technology. After a test went horribly wrong, several alien life forms were teleported from another world to the facility. As aliens trying to kill you wasn't enough, U.S. marines are tasked with infiltrating the base and kill any survivors to cover the incident up, and that includes you.

The film:

For a feature film I would keep the general outline of the game and build from there. We are introduced to Gordon Freeman as he enters the Black Mesa underground complex and follow as he is going through the motions of day to day work. But of course everything goes horribly wrong during a test and the facility is overrun by vicious alien creatures of various kinds. Now Gordon, with the help of security guard Barney and surviving scientist Kleiner, have to make their way through the facility and escape aliens and marines alike.

In the terms of storytelling it doesn't get much simpler then this, so if the movie is to be any good and engaging we will need more meat to put on the bone here.

First would of course be to flesh out Gordon Freeman as an actual character. In the game he is a blank slate that you never see nor does he ever speak. He is you in the game, but in the movie he needs to be a man of his own so to speak.
In the game Gordon also travels alone for the most part, only occasionally paring up with either scientists or security personnel. But for a better story dynamic the film would see Gordon team up with Barney and Dr. Kleiner, both of which are featured as key characters in Half-Life 2 (game), so it makes sense to have them playing key roles in the first film.

Since we are already borrowing story dynamics from Half-Life 2 why not go full throttle. I would want to see all the dynamics we see in Half-Life 2 having their origins in the first move. This would include seeing a very young Alyx Vance following her dad, Eli, around at work. Throw in Judith Mossman and Breen in there and you have a pretty good cast of characters. Seeing were all these characters start out will enforce where they are in the Half-Life 2 movie a great deal and making the movies fit together better.

That being said, I would not have the narrative of the movie go away from Gordon at any time. Just like the game, which never have cut-scenes or ever move away from Gordon in any way. the movie would always follow Gordon as he makes his way through the facility. So, like the game, whenever we want exposition from other characters Gordon will have to be in the scene. This would create a rather unique narrative (again like the game) where background information and story details are overheard from conversations between characters surrounding Gordon, avoiding scenes designed purely for narrative exposition which more often then not comes across rather clumsy.

But the film would be nothing without the G-man, who in the games are a mysterious man in a suit that follows Gordon around and simply observes the events taking place. He ends up giving Gordon an ultimatum at the end of the game: join hi and whoever it is he is representing (which to this day is a mystery) or die basically. This is a character made for a film adaptation and for those of you familiar with the franchise the G-man I see playing more or less the same role in the movie as he does in the game.

All in all I see Half-Life being a mix between balls out action with Gordon, Barney and Kleiner working together battling aliens and U.S. Marines and horror moments filled with suspense.

Towards the end I would see Gordon, Barney and Kleiner trying to close the dimensional rift that allows the aliens to come through to our world, but in doing so sees Gordon being transported to Xen, the alien homeworld. Here he would be confronted by the G-man who informs him that the rift will never close as long as the alien mastermind (the final boss so to speak) is defeated. Gordon agrees to take him out and in doing so closes the rift between the worlds. But by defeating the alien Gordon also handed control over Xen to G-man and the people he represent (which could be suggested being the government). Now Gordon is faced with the ultimatum he faces in the game: Start working for the G-man or face a battle he can't possibly win.

The movie ends with Gordon agreeing to work for G-man, entering a bright white light to god knows what. FADE TO WHITE, THE END.

I won't go too much into what a sequel or trilogy would offer, but if you have played Half-Life 2 you would get a good sense of where the film series could go.

Hopefully all of that made sense, but if it didn't please let me know.