I'm not being flippant -- it's a serious question! (xpost thank u Dan)
Not to go all meta-Capt. Rhodes/Day Of The Dead here, but they're fuckin' dead! Your options for "mythology" are pretty limited, to "How does one become a zombie?", "Can it be cured?", "How quickly do they move?", "Can they think?" and "How do you kill them?"
― Tub Girl Time Machine (Phil D.), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:35 (thirteen years ago) link
Well, like I noted above, "World War Z" and I suppose "Land of the Dead" are the only two zombies stories I can think of that take place well after an outbreak. It'd be interesting to see a zombie movie about rebuilding/starting over. But I guess the dramatic narative might be too difficult to suss out.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:40 (thirteen years ago) link
i dont want any fuckin clever twilight-style twists on what a zombie is tbh
― candid gamera (s1ocki), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:40 (thirteen years ago) link
"clever"
― That is the stench of tyranny (VegemiteGrrrl), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:41 (thirteen years ago) link
ya ha
― candid gamera (s1ocki), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:41 (thirteen years ago) link
"clever" = "mormon"
― That is the stench of tyranny (VegemiteGrrrl), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:42 (thirteen years ago) link
How about zombies that start out slow, shambling monsters that eat flesh, but if they go too long without eating any their zombie metabolisms rev up, making them move faster and jerkier until they explode, infecting any living animal their effluvia touches? If they catch and eat something, it sates their systems and they cycle back down into slow shamblers.
― lol tea partiers and their fat fingers (HI DERE), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:42 (thirteen years ago) link
dunno about significant additions, but i would really like to see someone make a smart, gory zombie-plague movie that doesn't just use "it's a zombie movie ffs!" as a justification for whatever ridiculous shit the genre seems to demand. don't know that i've seen one yet. 28 days later came closest, but seemed to want to operate outside the genre in a way that bothered me.
suppose you could expand the mythology at this point by dropping all the bullshit pseudo-medical justification and going back to the supernatural.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:42 (thirteen years ago) link
Zombies are reanimated spirits trapped in their decaying bodies who cannot be freed until they devour their loved ones.
― lol tea partiers and their fat fingers (HI DERE), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:44 (thirteen years ago) link
I posted a list of recent films that have done something interesting with or expanded on the zombie apocalypse shtick, there's a lot of room to do interesting stuff if you don't slavishly limit yourself to the ground everyone else has thoroughly shambled over
les revanants - what if everybody who was dead came back to life, and they didn't want to eat us?
pontypool - language is a virus from outer space
deadgirl - two teenage boys find female zombie chained in basement of abandoned building, bad decisions ensue
the signal - a variation on the crazies-type apocalypse movie, but is way funnier and scarier than your average zombie flick because you don't know what to expect next
the end of the line - ditto
― the american car is a bus and a car for all americans (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:44 (thirteen years ago) link
hi dere's 1st idea is good. or start fast when fresh, devolve into slow shamblers over time or without blood. really nail down the mechanisms of infection (if you wanna keep on with the bullshit pseudo-medical angle).
edit: god, and that second suggestion! someone should make that fucking movie.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:45 (thirteen years ago) link
most of these films I listed are not as "accomplished" as the walking dead, but they are also not as bland
― the american car is a bus and a car for all americans (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:46 (thirteen years ago) link
There was an online comic strip that did a weird twist on zombies where they were technically still alive but not able to regenerate their bodily systems (pulmonary, cardiovascular, muscular, etc) without consuming working live tissue; the smart ones had to eat a lot of brains to remain smart.
― lol tea partiers and their fat fingers (HI DERE), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:47 (thirteen years ago) link
you are very adept at producing scenarios for movies that you'd never ever watch
― the american car is a bus and a car for all americans (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:49 (thirteen years ago) link
pontypool is great! really nice twist on the mythology. was impressed but repulsed by deadgirl. accomplished, but i didn't enjoy it much.
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:50 (thirteen years ago) link
I'd read the novelization, though.
― lol tea partiers and their fat fingers (HI DERE), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:50 (thirteen years ago) link
(also I'm much more likely to watch a zombie flick than a slasher flick)
― lol tea partiers and their fat fingers (HI DERE), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:54 (thirteen years ago) link
i used to think living in a zombie run world would be kinda cool, until i had a nightmare about it and realised it would be the most awful terrifying shit ever.
― F-Unit (Ste), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:54 (thirteen years ago) link
I was serious about zombies dancing in formation fwiw
― That is the stench of tyranny (VegemiteGrrrl), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:55 (thirteen years ago) link
I am amused by the idea of a zombie version of Twilight! I should write it up so I can start making piles of money like Stephenie Meyer.
― romoing my damn eyes (Nicole), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:57 (thirteen years ago) link
they're not actually gory they're just sparkly
― candid gamera (s1ocki), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:57 (thirteen years ago) link
i liked this show but it's definitely just going by the numbers at this point and it seems that they're just content to have a zombie television series. i'm looking forward to potential expansion beyond the influences of the show and i hope it doesn't doesn't descend into utterly lame plot devices.
― omar little, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 18:58 (thirteen years ago) link
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/Jackson_popcorn.gif
― the american car is a bus and a car for all americans (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:00 (thirteen years ago) link
"at this point" = 1 episode!
― Tub Girl Time Machine (Phil D.), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:00 (thirteen years ago) link
I am amused by the idea of a zombie version of Twilight!
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/38/Boyfriend
― Tub Girl Time Machine (Phil D.), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:01 (thirteen years ago) link
it was a looooooooooong episode
― the american car is a bus and a car for all americans (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:05 (thirteen years ago) link
well i mean at this point i don't see any real signs of trying to attempt anything really different, but at the same time i'm not really complaining.
― omar little, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:07 (thirteen years ago) link
have come to the depressing conclusion that most horror fans don't want anything really different
― naked human hands and a foam rubber head (contenderizer), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:32 (thirteen years ago) link
this kinda reminds me of shakey mo on the literary fiction thread - something can be interesting and different without having some crazy, genre-exploding formal element. not that 'the walking dead' is an example of this.
― bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:35 (thirteen years ago) link
something can be interesting and different without having some crazy, genre-exploding formal element.
I'm not all "every zombie movie must be CRAZY and FREE", just think the walking dead fails on both of yr points
― the american car is a bus and a car for all americans (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:44 (thirteen years ago) link
xpost Because the hospital zombies were all locked in the DO NOT DEAD INSIDE room.
― That is the stench of tyranny (VegemiteGrrrl)
That is a very interesting name for a room
― lol tea partiers and their fat fingers (HI DERE)
You don't have a DO NOT DEAD INSIDE room? Where on earth do you entertain visiting friends? Honestly!
― I see what this is (Local Garda), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:48 (thirteen years ago) link
man, you miss one fucking word...
― That is the stench of tyranny (VegemiteGrrrl), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:54 (thirteen years ago) link
DO NOT FUCKING DEAD INSIDE
every implication I can think of for inflection of this sentence is terrifying
― lol tea partiers and their fat fingers (HI DERE), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 19:59 (thirteen years ago) link
http://www.jimbeeer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/fido-dvd-art.jpg
Is this a deconstruction?
― No Good, Scrunty-Looking, Narf Herder (Gukbe), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:04 (thirteen years ago) link
haha sorry I wasn't mocking the missing a word, I just wanted to make that joke...
― I see what this is (Local Garda), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:06 (thirteen years ago) link
DO NOT FUCKING DEAD INSIDE BERSERKER!
http://content7.flixster.com/question/53/96/65/5396657_std.jpg
― Tub Girl Time Machine (Phil D.), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:07 (thirteen years ago) link
i thought you were making fun of the fact that if you read the words in rows instead of columns, it said something like DON'T DEAD ENTER INSIDE
xp
― bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:11 (thirteen years ago) link
if this show was more awesome it would have paused while the hero tried to parse that phrase until finally getting it
― omar little, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:12 (thirteen years ago) link
"don't be dead, enter inside?"
― omar little, Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:13 (thirteen years ago) link
I don't die if I go in here
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y176/edwardiii/walking9.jpg
― the american car is a bus and a car for all americans (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:13 (thirteen years ago) link
I did read it across at first and was all, huh? DON'T DEAD OPEN INSIDE
― That is the stench of tyranny (VegemiteGrrrl), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:35 (thirteen years ago) link
CAFETERIA for extra lulz
― Tub Girl Time Machine (Phil D.), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:37 (thirteen years ago) link
I thought the zombies had written the sign as a lure, like those coyote-written signs to lure the road runnerFREE FUD HEER
― That is the stench of tyranny (VegemiteGrrrl), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:37 (thirteen years ago) link
lol
― the american car is a bus and a car for all americans (Edward III), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:39 (thirteen years ago) link
ya hah
― candid gamera (s1ocki), Tuesday, 2 November 2010 20:41 (thirteen years ago) link
haven't watched this series but I think the comic is just a rehashed zombie story. it brings nothing new to the table.
― dan138zig (Durrr Durrr Durrrrrr), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 03:39 (thirteen years ago) link
after reading enough about this series, the "new thing" seems to be a zombie story that continues. Kirkman said his reason for starting this was his disappointment in not being able to see what happens next. i'm totally fine with this approach, actually this is kind of what i want. a very classic zombie story that just keeps unrolling beyond what we typically see.
the pilot wasn't at all boring to me. this is actually very much what i wanted. a zombie story with a lot of quiet and discovery.
― circa1916, Wednesday, 3 November 2010 04:27 (thirteen years ago) link
a very classic zombie story that just keeps unrolling beyond what we typically see.
otm!
I'm glad these are some OG Ramero-style zombies who just sort of amble haphazardly w/o being able to run. Zombies already have strength in numbers - giving them hyperkinetic musculature on top of that was just sorta unfair imo.
― so imagen what we can do with the rest of our brain...right buddy's?? (Pillbox), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 04:45 (thirteen years ago) link
*Romero
― so imagen what we can do with the rest of our brain...right buddy's?? (Pillbox), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 04:46 (thirteen years ago) link
Rambero
― That is the stench of tyranny (VegemiteGrrrl), Wednesday, 3 November 2010 04:48 (thirteen years ago) link