Zombies in film: The Crazies

"Fear thy neighbor."



Film: The Crazies
Directed by Breck Eisner
Written by Scott Kosar and Ray Wright
Produced by Overture Films, Participant Media and Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ
Year: 2010

Story: Town sheriff, Dave, shoots the town drunk after he pulls out a shotgun during a high school baseball game. Suddenly people start to go crazy all over and kill one another, all hell really breaks loose once the military shows up and starts quarantining everyone. In the chaos, Dave's wife gets taken away for further observation while Dave is led away with the uninfected. In the chaos he manages to get back to her and a small group begin to try to escape the insanity. As the group is whittled away the truth is slowly revealed about bio-weapon that caused the whole event. Finally the military prove their relentless pursuit of mankind's safety in the final scene of the film.

Zombies: Sorry to all the people who told me to watch this film. These are not zombies. Zombies are most often undead. But even getting around that; zombies cannot speak, think, fight, shoot guns, lay traps or make any decisions. These people are more likely fallen pray to something removing their emotional controls, making them prone to obeying their impulses and desires. They also probably have increased hormone and anger-inducing chemicals which puts them into a rage and leads them to murder. Whatever reason, these are not in anyway zombies besides the fact the are led by a virus to kill. The film itself makes no claims to be a zombie film or that the infected are in anyway undead (as many zombie films don't.) I almost want to start a category of "not zombie" movies.

Survival Lessons:

• If the whole town blame you for shooting someone who points a gun at you, something is wrong.
• Kill the psychos now so you don't have to deal with them later.
• Having someone to fight for isn't always a bad thing.
• Marry a bad ass.
• The military will go to any lengths to contain the infection.
• Grunt soldiers know nothing as they will be expendable and expected to be ruthless.
• Car washes are scary places.
• Warned you about those psychos...

Warnings: Below are spoilers.




In the end I enjoyed this movie about as much as I thought I would before people told me it was a zombie movie. I'm pretty good at picking out zombie movies, even from vague trailers or references and I didn't think this was from the start. But once told it was I decided to check it out with a whole different mindset. There are some similar elements and over all it was an enjoyable movie, but not a zombie movie. More then anything though it made me want to see the original by Romero to see if that one was a zombie movie or was similar to this one. This film did not seem to have much of Romero's style to it, too much of a "happy ending" feel to the whole thing.

This will be the first time I really go on about a movie like this but I would like to point out how the heroes of this film are not the sheriff and his wife. The heroes are actually the relentless military. If the military was not to brutal and efficient in it's moves to quickly shut down the infection it would spread across the whole globe very quickly. We can only hope that the military of the real world moves so quickly to contain any threats like this and keep them to a class 3 outbreak or smaller. This movie is one example of many where the bad guys are actually the good guys and the heroes are simply people who managed to survive and gain empathy. Now Dave and Judi as it turns out were not infected. I also disagree with the way the military handled the uninfected at the truck stop. Disagree is even fairly light terms, but on the flip side would I rather the smallest chance the infection get out? Perhaps more tests, bigger surveillance centres, quarantine camps: there are many other ways to deal with the situation then to simply kill everyone who might have come in contact with the virus. Then of course, the nuclear explosion which of course all writer's like to throw in as the military's last resort. At that point have they gone too far over the top? Maybe, perhaps teams of specialists could have swept the area. Or just tried to keep the area locked down until the infection died off. But if the team got infected, or if some nosey kid slipped through the lock down, or a local bad ass sheriff and his wife turn out to not be infected but carriers of the virus? Sometimes as the situation may merit, extremes must be taken for the safety of us all.


Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in film: The Zombie Diaries

"Brace yourself... this time it's for real."



Film: The Zombie Diaries
Directed by Michael Bartlett and Kevin Gates
Written by Kevin Gates and Michael Bartlett
Produced by Off World Films and Bleeding Edge Films
Year: 2006

Story: Begins with a military unit moving in on a farm. Diary 1 is a documentary made by some British film makers leading up to the outbreak, from it's beginnings in Romania through a lot of technical exploration of the virus and government responses to London's quarantine. Diary 2 takes place one month after the outbreak and follows a few survivors on a supply run. Diary 3 is also one month later and starts with a group of survivors dealing with an attack and the cleaning afterward. Continues to trying to give directions to another group over the radio. Diary 2 picks up again with the group trying to make contact with another group (obviously those from Diary 3) and one of the characters gets bit, it all goes down hill for them from there and gets slightly more interesting. Diary 3 continues once one of their number is infected and shows how this group of more hardened survivors deals with it. Right up until the group is torn apart. Back to Diary 1 shows the first group a month earlier meeting up with a member from the Diary 3 group. The film ends with the military unit finding a member of Diary 1.

Zombies: How did anyone get infected by these zombies? They basically just stand around. The main cause of infection is that the virus began as air born and had the same symptoms as the common cold, plus death and re-animation.

Survival Lessons:

• It might be the common cold, or it might be the virus
• Living in countries with lack gun laws helps
• Don't stand still
• Don't walk around in recently dug graveyards
• No matter how often you check there could still be more
• Check if they are living before you shoot
• Secrets tear groups apart
• Psychos tear groups apart faster
• Kill psychos early
• Sometimes even the nicest people can be the worst kind
• Do not trust quickly, do not show kindness

Warnings: Mature subject matter.





In the end I expected a little better special effects for the budget they had, cranberries for brain splatter just doesn't do it for me. And I know from experience there are many better ways to do blood then red paint. The best effect was a bitten hand which is shown for all of two and a half seconds. Also how hard is it to do an "American" accent? Actually, I wouldn't know but this British actor makes it look impossible. If it seems like I'm being harsh, I am. For a movie that advertises on it's cover that it is "better then 28 Days Later" it is basically a run of the mill low budget zombie film. The diary aspect is pretty cool and well done but nothing really good, like documenting anything really important. And the zombies in this film simply don't pose a threat, and I'm a fan of slow zombies. What the film does really well though is mix the three stories together and show the importance of who you trust and of being able to protect yourself from more then just the zombies.


Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in film: Dead Air

"All America's worst fears. Realized. At once."





Film: Dead Air
Directed by Corbin Bernsen
Written by Kenny Yakkel
Produced by Team Cherokee Productions and Antibody Films
Year: 2009

Story: A radio station is broadcasting has a zombie outbreak occurs around them. Through terrorist hijackings, crazy callers and zombie attacks the crew manage to stay on air and maybe even find a cure. The show ends with a couple hints that maybe things aren't all that they seem, these hints aren't strong enough to have any actual pull and just kind of damper out the end of an otherwise surprisingly solid story.

Zombies: Bleeding eyes and screaming rage are the only tell tale signs between these zombies and people. They feel pain and while resistant and tough will eventually fall like a normal human. The infection only lasts for twelve hours.

Survival Lessons:

• Grab improvised weapons before you need them
• Stick together
• Don't trust anyone
• Anti-viruses might not work
• Just last out the night
• Anything and everything doubles as a weapon

Warnings: There isn't really a deeper meaning.





In the end the zombies in this film were my biggest complaint but they didn't ruin it for me. The idea that the virus dies out after twelve hours makes this a terrifying weapon, because suddenly governments can use it without fear of the virus eventually making back to their soil. The ending was also very wishy-washy. It could have been a lot more direct and simple to hold with the strong ending of the actual plot (it's a side plot they just finish off to tie everything up.) Actually the whole end seemed a little rushed as if they didn't want to finish exploring the ideas that develuped through the rest of the film. Very creepy though and pretty well done, an excellent example of how to do a zombie movie without lots of gore and effects. 

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in film: Wasting Away

"Zombies are people too."





Film: Wasting Away
Directed by Mathew Kohnen
Written by Mathew Kohnen and Sean Kohnen
Produced by Wasted Pictures
Year: 2007

Story: A super soldier serum goes bad and turns the experiments into zombies. With the experiment failed the disgruntled scientist in charge sends the serum out into the world with the intent to dump it into the water system. An unwitting "black ops" soldier foils the plan and instead looses the serum on a small town. A few locals get infected and oddly enough romantic comedy ensues. The zombies believe everyone else is infected and they are in fact super soldiers! The group eventually discovers the truth and runs for their own survival as the military hunts them down.

Zombies: Well these zombies are smartish, super strong, and self aware...ish. They sometimes eat flesh but mostly just kill for their own purposes, which appear to be almost exclusively for self defence, but not completely exclusively. The film has two distinct styles, the zombies while seeing things from their point of view are for all intents and purposes, super strong, practically invincible humans. But when seen from the humans point of few are slow, moving, clumsy, flesh eating zombies.

Survival Lessons:

• Don't eat food that looks green.
• Always be drunk.
• If you think you are a super soldier, you're probably a zombie.
• Grenades are small nuclear bombs.
• Look at a person to make sure she is alive before you kiss her.

Warnings: There's not a lot of training material to be found here.





In the end there was a very interesting film in the way it portrayed "real life" versus "zombie life" making the zombies appear to be more real then the black and white, 50's style of the humans. An entertaining movie that really makes fun of the genre not only with it's very premise but also in some of the well thought out lines and gags. Definitely worth watching if in need of some silly entertainment, not so much if looking for a true zombie horror film.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombie in film: La Horde

"You're a good guy. But we are here for a bloodbath."




Film: La Horde
Directed by Yannick Dahan and Benjamin Rocher
Written by Arnaud Bordas, Yannick Danan, Benjamin Rocher and Stephane Moissakis
Produced by Capture (The Flag) Films, Le Pecte, Coficup
Year: 2009

Story: Some corrupt and pretty useless cops (who feel a lot more like green mafia members) go for vengeance against a local gang. In the middle of the amateur raid gone wrong, something is going on outside. You can probably guess what. Suddenly a hostage the gang kill turns and attacks. With half the gang and the cops dead and now trying to eat those still alive a truce is formed. Lines are constantly being redrawn as an old soldier joins the group and people get separated or infected. As with with many zombie films the only reason any of the group survives is the constant saving by the BJC who in this case happens to be the gang's leader. The characters in this movie all start out very bland but as the movie continues and the lines between "good guys" and "bad guys", "cops" and "robbers" become blurred each character shows an actual personality instead of a stereotype.

Zombies: These guys are zombies, vicious, post-human monsters! They move with the speed of a normal person but no coordination. The infection seems to simply reach anyone who has died and does not spread solely through bites. Though bites do seem to seal the deal in causing eventual death for the victim.

Survival Lessons:

• Not having a gun is no excuse.
• Trust is valuable. The lines of trust are constantly changing.
• Brutal, steadfast and reasonable are important leadership qualities.
• If shooting them in the body doesn't work in the beginning, it won't work in the end.
• A crazy old soldier is always an asset, just keep him under control.
• Grenades cause bigger explosions then C4... apparently.

Warnings: The ones you can trust right now, may not be the ones you can trust in five minutes.



In the end this movie blew me away. It looked like a horrible, disappointing low budget film like the dozens I've been watching over the last couple months. Then on top of that I didn't realize it was a foreign film until I started watching it. And with these things making me ready for an awful movie, and the circumstances of the opening few scenes where the police (who I still thought were mafia well into the movie) did everything wrong, just enforced my believes. But as the movie kept going it got better and better, the ways the characters fought for survival, the high quality special effects, character growth, the horde! This movie had kept the low budget charm and risky nature but put out a high quality movie that really looks at group dynamics after the fall and how far trust should go.


Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in film: Zombi 2

"The dead are among us."



Film: Zombi 2
Directed by Lucio Fulci
Written by Elisa Briganti
Produced by Variety Film Production
Year: 1979

Story: A group of four travel to an island where one of the group's father has gone missing (also the owner of the island.) On the way the group takes a little pit stop to do some shark spotting. They make it to the island and slowly members of the group begin to meet grisly ends as they meet up with a doctor who is trying to find out what the cause of the pandemic is an how to cure it. All the while the radio depicts how all of the USA is falling to the zombies. The final stand of the group has a lot to be learned involving setting up layers and layers of barricades to hold the zombies every few feet. Fire is also used to great effect in this last stand, it also shows the disregard that must sometimes be given to material things, even to the extent of your own safehouse. Finally the escape from the burning shelter was performed quick well until one character makes the fatal flaw of so many in the world of the undead.

Zombies: These zombies are what I compare zombies against. No idea how they came to be. They are slow and nearly indestructible. They have unbelievable (but not superhuman) strength. It is kind of a constant surprise through out this movie however when someone actually gets killed by one of these zombies.

Survival Lessons:

• Change your name to West.
• Body shots do nothing, even if you really want them too.
• Don't put your head against obviously weak boarding to listen for zombies.
• Don't pause for even an instant when you inevitably face a turned loved one.
• Headtshots! Come on!
• Wearing less clothing makes it easier to slip out of a zombie's grasp.
• Zombies beat sharks.
• Don't go looking for sharks if you don't want to find sharks.
• Fire is your friend.
• Sometimes you have to sacrifice your safehouse, if it's been overrun it's no good to you anyway.
• You can NEVER have enough barricades.

Warnings: It's a scary film. There are sharks.


In the end this movie showed me many things. But first can I just point out how many people named "West" survive zombies. Peter West, Herbert West, Frank West, I'm sure there will be more now that I've caught onto this trend. Ok, seriously this movie is a classic and for good reason. It was right there with Night of the Living Dead as one of the first zombie movies and has one of the greatest zombie fights known around the world, the shark vs. zombie also one of the most gruesome deaths of any horror movie even to date. It is one of the zombie movies which set the stage for everything we know today: the BJC, the safehouse, the group of survivors, and of course, the slow but inevitable hordes of walking dead.


If you'd like to have this movie for yourself click here.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in film: Beyond Re-Animator

"They Thought Prison Would Be The Death Of Him. But For Dr. West, Death Is Only The Beginning."


Film: Beyond Re-Animator
Directed by Brian Yuzna
Written by H.P. Lovecraft and Migel Tejada-Flores
Produced by Castelao Producciones, Fantastic Factory and Filmax

Story: Herbert West is back! This time one of his experiments kills a young woman, only to get at the milk she was drinking? And he gets sent to jail for an undetermined period of time. But the young girls brother grows up to be the worst actor of all time, er... to be a doctor himself! Who volunteers to work at the jail where West is so he and West can continue his research. Of course while West is making some real progress, including a way to bring the "soul" back as well as life itself, all hell is bound to get loose as events unfold until West finally confronts a couple of dismembered zombie inmates and the warden with a rat's soul to finally exscape with no remorse for those who'se life's he ruined and continue his experiments else where.

Zombies: I'm not even sure these creatures can be called zombies. They are re-animated and therefore undead but not much else about them makes for zombies. They seem to just become crazed versions of themselves. As with the first movie there are many types of re-animated corpses in the film. One drug addict seems to avoid becoming a crazed killer by taking the serum while alive, he simply meets a grisly... end? Although this movie clearly states there is no  true end when the re-animator serum is involved. The final type of zombie are those re-animated and then given back a soul. Which seems to just warp their personality, begging the question what if the person was given back their own soul?

Survival Lessons:

• Wear clothes that don't easily rip. You shouldn't have to be told twice ladies!
• Don't let a zombie do special favors for you.
• Don't take a re-animation agent while you are currently animated (alive.)
• Make sure your girlfriend isn't just trying to learn about your partner's experiments.
• Don't try to find out about your boyfriend's partner's strange experiments.
• Lesson from series: Doctors are evil or badass, or sometimes both.

Warnings: The R rated version is rated that for good reason. Children skip this next line. Just to give an example of some of the R rate material in this movie, a re-animated "thing" off a man fights a zombie rat. While hilarious, it is definately not for the youngins.

In the end if this film had stayed more consistant with how each "type" of zombie acted it would have been far more then just a fluff piece. As the case is there are too many inconsistantcies to make the film truely worth watching for the ideas it tries to get across and the questions it asks. Like what would happen if a zombie was given back a soul? The soul of an animal? The soul of another person? The soul of the person that zombie used to be? Very interesting questions but ones to which the answers must be found elsewhere.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in film: Re-animator

"Death is just the beginning..."

Film: Re-animator
Directed by Stuart Gordon

Written by H.P. Lovecraft and Dennis Paoli
Produced by Empire Pictures and Re-animator Productions

Story: A collage student, Herbert West, tries to defeat death with a serum he creates to reanimate the brain. He moves to a new town where his experiments quickly gain him the trust of a fellow student and their search for a suitable test subject leads on a winding trail of death and chaos as events get more and more complicated until finally Herbert and his roommate and the dean's daughter must face off with a headless mastermind zombie in a morgue where all of the bodies have been infected.  

Zombies: The zombies in this film evolve through out the film. That is to say the science used to create them evolves. The first zombie simply has his eyes explode. After that zombies simply show enhanced strength and toughness. Although they can be killed by extreme means, surgical drills through the chest, etc. The zombie mastermind is a scientist who's head was cut off but he was instantly given the serum which revived him and he still retained control over his body. He then combined the zombie serum with his technique of destroying the part of a person's brain where the willpower is, and then he could create the final version of zombies in the film. The mindless killing machines who obeyed his orders, and also felt pain whenever he did... Mastermind zombies can also explode their chests on command and their intestines can be used as lassos and drag people to their doom. Mentioned before is the zombie serum, a strange re-animator which causes any creature who hasn't had their brain destroyed to come back to life although if they are reanimated six minutes after death they will come back with only the most base instincts, the instinct to kill and feed.

Survival Lessons:

• Wear clothes that don't easily rip. Especially pants.
• Destroy the head, don't just cut it off.
• Head isn't always fun.
• Mocking zombies doesn't kill them.
• Don't leave your strange roommate alone with your dead cat.
• Pencils snap really easily and disrupt scientists.
• The personality dies roughly 6 minutes after the brain.

Warnings: The R rated version is rated that for good reason. Not all people look good naked. Just saying.

 

In the end this movie is very raunchy and as a film maker there are too many things wrong with it to even list. That aside, not a bad mood. Entertaining and definitely shows how anyone who keeps their wits about them has a good chance to survive. Also shows the dangers of playing with things best left in the hands of God.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Should have woke up before the alarm...

Don't be like this guy. He made a large number of mistakes in his choosing of sleeping location. First, only one exit, poor choice. Second, the door was not barricaded. Third, how did the zombie get that close without him waking up? Obviously no noise traps and a heavy sleeper. Forth, he relied on the alarm to wake him up instead of waking up naturally from noise or at a certain time. When waking up naturally many people find they will wake up when something new enters their sleeping area. Partners will get used to each other but if a friend (or enemy) enters the room, even silently it will wake the person.

All of this ties into my last post about being well rested and sleeping safe.

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Interview with Zombie film maker

The first film I reviewed as training material was the indie flick, Day Zero, by Mathew and Marshall Khalil. Well I managed to have interview with one of the brothers and ask him a few questions about the film. Note that this does contain information about the film so if you are going to whine about spoilers don't read it until after you've watched it. So here for you is Mathew Khalil, zombie film maker!


ZLC: What inspired you to write this script?
Mathew: Our inspiration for writing the script was our need for a zombie television series. Day Zero was supposed to be a pilot but was later turned into a movie after we found out that The Walking Dead was coming out.

ZLC: Where did the idea for the infection by breath come from?
Mathew: We loved in 28 Days Later how the infected vomited blood onto people and then they became infected. We tried to come up with something that was a unique way to become infected and the "smog" breath is what we had come up with.

ZLC: How does the smog infection actually work?
Mathew: The Virus is supposed to be airborne. After the comet hit earth a gas was released, turning people into zombies. Anyone who gets the virus from that point on can spread the virus through a traditional bite or through their ability to expel smog breath.

ZLC: At one point zombies ring a doorbell... explain please?
Mathew: The zombies ringing the door bell wasn't intended to be so literal. It was supposed to be the lumbering zombies bumping into the doorbell. Unfortunately because of time restraints we didn't have time to film that.

ZLC: There is also a point when a zombie pulls a victim from one room to another, to what end?
Mathew: I love the idea of people being dragged away by their attacker and finished off somewhere else. But the primary reason would be that the mom character was killed in the living room, and if the main character saw her on the living room floor when he came home, then he wouldn't have a reason to go to the back of the house to witness the baby being eaten.

ZLC: In your mythology obviously the infection spread quite quickly, just how much of Edmonton's population was turned in the first day and night in which the movie takes place?
Mathew: It's really unclear just how much of Edmonton had been affected but definitely a significant amount.

ZLC: Will we be seeing a sequel?
Mathew: Hmmm, a sequel? Only time will tell I guess.

ZLC: Favorite zombie film and why?
Mathew: I love all zombie films but I'd have to say "Night of The Living Dead" in color. They finally did it right and haven't quite done it as well since. Nothing beats a slow zombie, and besides, Tony Todd is the star. And he's hard as f**k.

ZLC: You've created a couple of indie films. Why zombies for this movie?
Mathew: To be completely honest, we thought that it would only be about twenty minutes or so after editing, but obviously that wasn't the case. It was kind of an accidental feature film.

ZLC: Are you a true believer?
Mathew: Do I believe in zombies? Well not really, but I do have a zombie survival kit packed and ready. Just in Case.

Top right: Mathew. Top left: Marshall. Bottom: Me!

Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Deadites

Now follow survivors,

Deadites are not zombies. Let's go into more detail, deadites can be a form of zombie. Zombies are a human body being controlled by a highly infectious curse. Some deadites possess human corpses and turn them into zombies but even this is a magical, demonic possession not the result of a virus.

Deadites are demons. They possess human (or other living/once living) entities and control them. Deadites are also capible of a number of strange powers and transfirmations. Deadites can infect the body in any number of demonic, foul ways. The most horrific of which is the first possession in Evil Dead. A deadite is closer to a vampire then to a zombie.

To call a deadite a zombie is like to call an oven a chicken. Just because a deadite can create a zombie does not mean it is a zombie just as an oven is only one of many ways to cook a chicken.

The primary example of deadites is Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series. However deadites can be found in a number of films, -often under the name of zombie.- One such film is the short, "Jesus Saves" by Edmonton film makers Beyond the Darkness and Switchblade Cheeta.

It can be easy for the untrained eye to not see the difference in popular culture between a deadite and a zombie but I will list some of the differences here for you:

           Zombies                                                                 Deadites
           -Are only killed by a destroying the brain.        -Can be killed by massive
                                                                                               damage from a hero.
           -Do not think.                                                         -Think of very evil things.
           -Spread through infection.                                   -Spread through possesion
                                                                                               (battle of willpower.)
           -Can not speak.                                                      -Never shut up.
           -Have no emotions.                                                -Hate all living things.
           -Have no fear.                                                         -Are afraid of charismatic people
                                                                                                  and chainsaws.

As you can see the differences between zombies and deadites are quite important. Esspecially when asking the all important question for any monster hunter, "How do I kill it?" Zombies are fairly easy to kill one-on-one by destroying the brain. Deadites on the other hand are very hard to give final death to: it requires dealing massive amounts of damage to the deadites' possessed body such as with a chainsaw, shotgun or explosive and having the conviction and willpower to force the creature to stay dead. These however are still not enough to cause final death, the deadite must be mystically destroyed as well, this normally involves reading a passage from the Necronomicon or another Book of the Dead but can be done in other mystical means as well.

I hope that clears much of the confusion betweenthese two types of monsters, one of which is a very real threat and the other simply a tool for entertainment.

Be aware, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

In the distance...

The family that slays together, stays together.
Stay vigilant, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in film: Dead Snow

"Ein! Zwei! Die!"

Film: Dead Snow

Directed by Tommy Wirkola

Written by Tommy Wirkola and Stig Henriksen

Produced by Euforia Film, Barentsfilm As, and Miho Film

Story: The group of collage students go up to a cabin in the woods (sound familiar? The film does pay homeage to the classics which take place in similar settings.) Only to find a treasure chest full of Nazi gold! A crazed old man warns them of Nazi Zombies that guard the area and that they should leave. Of course paying the old man no heed the young adults go about their partying ways until all hell suddenly breaks loose and bloody battle comences.

Zombies: The zombies in this film are a mystical/secentific secret weapon made by those crazy Nazis during the war. They are fast, can fight to some extent and follow a leader. Let's talk about the leader first, he is a Nazi commander and his sole purpose is to protect this gold it would seem. The other zombies seem to have just enough intelligence to do what he wants them to (without orders being issued.) Which I suppose makes some sort of sense since these are some sort of mystical zombies. All in all these aren't your typical zombies but they are relatively dumb, they are bad at fighting, and they transfer the infection through bites which when not under orders from the commander seems to be their only goal (that is a little back to normal.) The zombies are also not killed by blows to the head, they are killed in basically any way that would kill a human. Oddly however all of these things that clearly make them not true zombies can be over looked (to some degree) in this film, maybe because they are Nazis, maybe because the film rests in that middle ground between poor-indy film and blockbuster, who knows, I should but I don't.

Survival Lessons:

• Don't set up a tent in an area you know has zombies in it,  in fact don't stay in an area you warn others to leave because of zombies.
• Don't let zombies get near your nads.
• Don't steal.
• Esspecially don't steal 50 year old treasure chests of Nazi gold.
• Mandatory military service does come in handy for preparing the average person.
• Your vehicle can always be a weapon.
• If you can't aim, don't throw Molotov Cocktails.
• Girls suck at fighting zombies (apparently.)

Warnings: Parts of this movie get absurd and a little disturbing in the name of "humor."

In the end this movie is entertaining and to be fair it was 2AM when I watched it and I had been doing special effects for four hours. So I am taking this into account when passing judgement. I have a few issues with the movie and it does not deserve all the fame it is getting in the zombie world. Everything is exactly what you would expect from a medium budget movie, so I wouldn't say it was bad or good. It was basically right in the middle of the road. It had some great moments, like two guys running into a horde of zombies and slaughtering them two at a time; or a blue-eyed handsome Norweign man fighting zombies regardless of his wounds and bravely sewing up the bites on his neck. But it also had its awful moments, like very obvious special effects during a few fights, poor humor and a predicable story. I will give them props however for choosing to do a story set in winter in the mountains: it offers a lot of challenges as a film maker but also means very few chances to have girls strip down and get the "sex appeal" so many films -regardless of budget- try to rely on without realizing every other film has done the same thing and no matter what the internet or real life will always do it better.

Stay frosty, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate, Mike D.

Zombies in film: Resident Evil

“Survive the horror.”

Film: Resident Evil

Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson

Written by Paul W. S. Anderson

Produced by Constantin Film Produktion, Davis-Films, Impact Pictures and New Legacy

Story: Adding to the mythology of this long running video game series, Resident Evil follows the story of Alias. A super soldier actually never named in the movie. The story of Alias and RE is very long and twisted and if you want to go into it quite a deep dive. But the story of them ovie is fairly simple. A team of Umbrella Soldiers go into a secret Umbrella building called the Hive to find out what went wrong. What went wrong is everyone turned into zombies. Alias is the soldier who was supposed to protect the mansion which serves as the entrance to the Hive. She is taken in with the team along with another man and a second man is found on the way in. These two men turn out to be part of Alias discovering her involvment in the project and trying to bring down Umbrella. Zombies, zombie dogs and Lickers (though the movie calls them Hunters) make for a very entertaining and undead filled flick.

Zombies: The zombies in this film come in three varities, much like the games the virus creates mutated versions of itself, resulting in the "Hunter" called a "Licker" in the games. This creature has an incredibly long and powerful tongue, along with huge claws that can rip through metal. The creature changes and grows as it consumes fresh DNA. Then there are zombie dogs, which some argue are possible and some argue are not. And of course normal zombies. These zombies are fairly inconsistent for being in one film. Some times they go straight for the survivors, sometimes they disapear with no explaination. The most realistic thing about them is the amount. Where there is any more then one or two zombies there are scores of zombies. And then surprise! If you look deeper into the Wesker Reports Alias' past (and future) is revealed in an interesting way.

Survival Lessons:

• If all hope seems lost, take a step back. Literally.
• Never give up on someone left for dead.
• If you warn someone that you will shoot them, and they keep coming, and you shoot them, and they keep coming, shoot them in the head, a lot.
• Shutting off the power is not always the best idea.
• You're never safe.
• If there is a cure and you're infected, it's probably too late anyway.
• If you haven't been infected there is always hope.
• Never trust corporations.
• Don't turn your back on an opening door.

Warnings: The sequels are very disapointing.

In the end this movie is an excellent addition to the zombie world. The T-virus is the perfect example of any number of real viruses being change into a bio-weapon by a corporation. It shows a fairly good course of events in which even the most elite soldiers can fall. In adition to all of this it is a fairly entertaining movie as well.

Until next time, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate,

Mike D.

Thy will be...

Sarah is the only survivor left in the conclusion to the short films.

Stay vigilent, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate,
Mike D.

Zombies in film: Undead

“Crazy has come to town for a visit.”

Film: Undead

Directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig

Written by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig

Produced by Spierigfilm

Story: In a small town in Australia there is a fisherman everyone says is crazy because he believes aliens are coming to turn us all into zombies. When the zombies come this fisherman is a prime example of how being prepared pays off even if everyone else thinks you’re a nut job. A small group of survivors try to find their way through acid rain, alien barriers and hordes of the undead until a surprise ending shows things are never what they seem and an even more surprise ending shows that the threat is never over.

Zombies: The zombies in this movie have a few problems with them. First off limbs continue to move and attack even if severed from the body and, in turn, the head. The realism of the movie is somewhat lost on the zombies who spring back to their feet like a rake being stepped on (never mind energy drinks being able to kill a zombie.) These strange events make it hard to pry fact from fiction in this film.

Survival Lessons:

• Three shotguns are better than one.
• Five shotguns are better than three.
• You can never have enough guns.
• Grabbing a new gun is sometimes faster than reloading, reload when it’s safe to do so.
• Don’t kill everything that looks like a threat.
• Don’t climb infinitely tall, spiky walls.
• Panic rooms won’t save you.
• Never let your guard down.

Warnings: It is hard to find the truth in this film through the entertainment.

This is an extremely enjoyable piece of film and covers a wide range of events and possibilities. Including aliens, acid rain, where zombies come from and most importantly that looks can be deceiving. Not everything that looks like trouble is but in the same vein most things that look safe probably aren’t. The film also proves that you will never kick yourself for having more handguns then your average western movie but even if you are the best it only takes a moment’s weakness for you to fall.

Stay vigilent, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate,

Mike D.

Zombies in film: Edge of Darkness

"So many zombies to kill. So little time."

Film: Edge of Darkness

Directed by Blaine Cade and Jason Horton

Written by Blaine Cade and Jason Horton

Produced by Zapruter Productions

Story: ... well... you see... it's an anthology... sort of... this movie sucked. There are three stories going on. One about the anti-christ, one about vampires and one about a computer that sucks the life energy out of things. I tried to put some sort of reasoning to this, such as hidden messages about living computers, narrateing each other's lives, things that live off destroying life, it didn't work. Upon reading up on the writer he has admitted the story failed. So if you are looking for any reasoning behind this film just stop it. Nothing ever gets explained or makes sense and there is no set rules to the universe these three stories take place in. The one good thing I can say about this movie is the character attempting to go about their daily lives as if nothing had changed. For many people this will be the only way to coop but it will not help you survive. Priorities must change and daily events must always play second fiddle to safety and zombie removal.


Zombies: The only thing that brings these stories together (besides the narrator having his own completely unrelated story) is there are zombies outside. Now the zombies are... good... they are slow, dumb, killed by destryoing the head. But don't actually play a very important role in the film besides being a deterant to going outside. They don't appear to pose any sort of threat as long as you are inside a building and don't have the anti-christ drawing them to your location.


Survival Lessons:

• Don't do gardening.
• Set traps but always know where your traps are so you and fellow survivors don't get caught.
• If your partner is simply a drain on resources and keepign you an unsafe location: lose him.

Warnings: This movie doesn't make sense. You've been warned!

In the end this movie looked good and had potential but turned out to be an experiment and a waste of time. Do yourself a favor and read Walking Dead instead.

Until next time, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate,
Mike D.

Morale and interaction

Hello follow survivors, this post will cover a number of topics regarding morale so strap in and put your thinking caps on.

First we start by mentioning games, which serve a number of purposes after the fall. The number one reason for games is to occupy your mind. The long term effects of boredom can be devastating.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bored--find-something-to-live-for

This article is one of many that can be found  describing the effects of boredom. The most interesting thing mentioned here is this, "This heightened appreciation of self and immediate surroundings also lies at the heart of mindfulness." Now when could one be bored during the zombie apocalypse one might think. After all you will appreciate your surroundings a lot more. But boredom also has to do with growing tired of repetitive tasks, lack of entertainment and a number of other things which will still effect a person even when the undead have taken the world.

In an ideal situation you will be bored a lot. If you’ve done your job and are in a safe location your contact with the undead should be at a minimum leaving a lot of time in your hands. There are many ways to use this time. Here are a few: Building/setting/checking traps, Farming/gardening, Caring for animals, Prepping food, Searching for supplies, Training/practicing, Exercise.

These are just a few of the ways to pass the time and they should all be done regularly but you will still manage to find time in which your mind needs to refresh. These tasks are quite mundane and after doing them for even a short period anyone will begin to grow tired of them. One way to refresh the mind can be in the form of talking with other survivors but that brings about its own problems. Social interaction in the post-apocalypse can be strange and foreign. After all many of the things we talk about everyday will seem very minor compared to the daily fight for your life. You will also find that you are forced to be with people by circumstance who you may never have interacted with in our world.

But these are not as large of obstacles as you may think. You can still talk about the past as you would talk about it now. The main difference is to be aware that it is in fact the past and your new life doesn’t have to be horrible but may seem as such when compared to the past. For this reason I would still suggest staying away from the topic unless all survivors involved are fully settled and accepting of the new life they lead.

Some things to think about your new life are: no longer having to pay insurance, no more bosses or managers, not having to pay for anything really, learning new things like the barter system, fewer hate crimes, new social order, no traffic laws, never having to pay for parking. The list of things better about the apocalypse are almost numberless though they appear small. It will be in this time that the people who can appreciate the small things in life will serve a better chance of making it in the long run. It is so easy to lose hope in our world as it is, once most of the world is dead hope and happiness will be hard to find but rest assured it is there! Being able to find the joy in the small things will help you stay in high spirits which is one of the most important parts of surviving any battle, any military mind, sports fan, soldier or player can tell you that most of the battle is in the mind, if morale is low chances of winning drop to zero but if morale is high every movement and task seems easier. This fact is so true it even affects our relationships and chances of success when dating or doing daily tasks like laundry and cooking: which will still exist after the fall.

So as long as people are able to live in the current world and not lose hope then talking about the past can be both therapeutic and entertaining. Another caution though is to let go of judgments passed on past lives. It is good to know a person’s skill set from before but their “social rank” no longer applies. A homeless person will have a completely different skill set then a lawyer and it will not matter how much money either one has after the fall. Each person must be judged solely on their merits. Not on how much of the idea of money they possess.

To understand this, understand that money is only an idea. Money is the idea that the whole world agrees how much wealth a person has. If the whole world decides that money is no longer worth anything then those people who are rich and powerful suddenly lose all status. In the end knowledge and training, skills and materials will become what is truly of worth and value: money will be an idea without a purpose or meaning therefore no longer giving those who have it power.

The more people to talk with the more there will be to talk about and more opinions to bounce ideas off of and topics to talk about. This however can also be a downfall of many groups. So many opinions and especially too many leaders in a group will lead to group separations or worse, groups staying together and eventually destroy themselves. Never be afraid to split ways with the people you are with. This will in fact increase your chances of survival as you will have multiple groups with good relations too each other and you can potentially  get help from if you are ever in need and manage to find them. Smaller groups are also easier to hide from hordes or belligerent raiders.

As you discover these other survivors who you never would have known otherwise you will be able to share completely different viewpoints and experiences. Don’t be afraid of this. Learn to accept each person’s opinion as valid and every idea as a possibility. But also beware of people who will try to use you and give nothing back or who lack moral fiber. In the final days any person will be welcome from the loneliness but every person becomes a potential enemy just as much as a potential ally.

If you yourself are a leader you should find people who will follow you and have skills you can use examples might include: soldiers, firefighters, sports players, construction workers, mechanics, handy men, Scout leaders, cooks, drivers, hospital staff, university teachers, technicians, entertainers.

If you are a follower you will need to search for a leader who will keep you alive. You are likely to find leaders among the following groups: police, criminals, hospital staff, writers. Leaders are hard to find, they can be found in any group as any person can be a strong leader, they are often the people who in the real world stick up for themselves and the people around them. They are the people who rock the boat OR make the boat run smoothly. Leader are not the type of people you want following you but they can make very valuable allies and if you are not a leader or an extremely talented survival expert, your best chances of survival are finding a leader to join with and having skills that leader can use.

Being alone is another option but requires a great deal of skill, combat ability and luck. Everyone will have to spend times alone and in these times the weak will die and the true survivors will be left to fight on. But the time alone can be minimized by finding a good leader or being a good leader.

Having people around also offers the ability to play more complex games. As I mentioned, games can be a valuable asset in fighting off morale, fear and in being prepared. There are many zombie games available which keep the player in the mindset of surviving and thriving in a world covered by undead. Obviously these games are not completely representative of the true apocalypse but they can offer suggestions, ideas and allows the players to play test scenarios which may come up in the real world.

Films are also a good source of preparation. The opportunity to watch films may not come up often as time passes after the fall, nor should time be wasted in front of a television BUT nothing will boost morale quicker than a movie night after a long time away from them. And many zombie movies offer different view points on the undead. Views which you can either confirm or deny based on your real life experiences. A film may also provide ideas or tips on defending against the undead or destroying the undead. It may bring up things you never thought to ask yourself about. This is especially important before the apocalypse, to be prepared for as many potential situations as possible. It is not yet known how the virus spreads except via liquid transfer with an infected. Thus the many outbreaks around the world are unexplained as to how they first come about. Many films offer suggestions on how the virus transfers besides direct contact and thus provide ideas of things to avoid or protect yourself against.

I hope this article helped with suggestions about morale and its importance. Also giving some brief insight into interaction with other survivors.

Until next time, may the infection never reach you, and those close to you have the resolve to do what is needed should you be so unfortunate,
Mike D.