Poll: Ugh, zombies

Frezzato

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Oct 17, 2012
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NihilSinLulz said:
For those sick of zombies, I think you'll just need to expand beyond the mainstream stuff. Some very creative stuff has been done with zombies, its just most of it has been in the indie sphere.

Some of my favourite examples:

Pontypool - a small budget Canadian horror film that takes place entirely in a radio station. The zombies here are of the philosophical nature. Knowledge of semiotics may be required.

Deadgirl - A very uncomfortable film that questions how far a person will go if there arn't any foreseeable consequences. Think of the Steubenville case, only with some zombies.

The Signal - a mysterious signal appears randomly on all media devices that does something to people. Probably my favourite as its so mysterious but theres plenty of clues for the attentive viewer.

Planet Terror - more mainstream than the rest of these films, but still loads of fun. Its made by Rodriguesz (dude who did Machete). Tons of brainless fun!

Splinter - more of a traditional zombie film, but its has a more RE feel to it what with a crazy super fungus being involved.
Excellent list! I've never seen The Signal though. Thankfully it's on Amazon Prime, which I should enjoy before cancelling this year, I guess. I'll gladly second your recommendations for Pontypool and Deadgirl, although Deadgirl is, as you said, [sub]kind of rapey.[/sub]

Some 'also ran' nominations from me would be Contracted (2013), although it's probably not worth sitting through an entire movie's worth of stupidity from the lead character.

Open Grave (2013), starring the lead actor from District 9, and finally The Crazies (remake). Again, these aren't full fledged suggestions by me, they're merely topic-related movies that should be watched only as a backup plan. Oh, and for a sci-fi twist, I guess you couldn't go wrong with Pandorum, which is kind of like:
The Descent, but in space.
 

Poetic Nova

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Jan 24, 2012
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NihilSinLulz said:
For those sick of zombies, I think you'll just need to expand beyond the mainstream stuff. Some very creative stuff has been done with zombies, its just most of it has been in the indie sphere.

Some of my favourite examples:

Pontypool - a small budget Canadian horror film that takes place entirely in a radio station. The zombies here are of the philosophical nature. Knowledge of semiotics may be required.

Deadgirl - A very uncomfortable film that questions how far a person will go if there arn't any foreseeable consequences. Think of the Steubenville case, only with some zombies.

The Signal - a mysterious signal appears randomly on all media devices that does something to people. Probably my favourite as its so mysterious but theres plenty of clues for the attentive viewer.

Planet Terror - more mainstream than the rest of these films, but still loads of fun. Its made by Rodriguesz (dude who did Machete). Tons of brainless fun!

Splinter - more of a traditional zombie film, but its has a more RE feel to it what with a crazy super fungus being involved.
While i'm tired of zombies and stuff myself I will look up these movies, thank you for the list, kind sir/madam.
 

NihilSinLulz

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May 28, 2013
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FizzyIzze said:
NihilSinLulz said:
For those sick of zombies, I think you'll just need to expand beyond the mainstream stuff. Some very creative stuff has been done with zombies, its just most of it has been in the indie sphere.

Some of my favourite examples:

Pontypool - a small budget Canadian horror film that takes place entirely in a radio station. The zombies here are of the philosophical nature. Knowledge of semiotics may be required.

Deadgirl - A very uncomfortable film that questions how far a person will go if there arn't any foreseeable consequences. Think of the Steubenville case, only with some zombies.

The Signal - a mysterious signal appears randomly on all media devices that does something to people. Probably my favourite as its so mysterious but theres plenty of clues for the attentive viewer.

Planet Terror - more mainstream than the rest of these films, but still loads of fun. Its made by Rodriguesz (dude who did Machete). Tons of brainless fun!

Splinter - more of a traditional zombie film, but its has a more RE feel to it what with a crazy super fungus being involved.
Excellent list! I've never seen The Signal though. Thankfully it's on Amazon Prime, which I should enjoy before cancelling this year, I guess. I'll gladly second your recommendations for Pontypool and Deadgirl, although Deadgirl is, as you said, [sub]kind of rapey.[/sub]

Some 'also ran' nominations from me would be Contracted (2013), although it's probably not worth sitting through an entire movie's worth of stupidity from the lead character.

Open Grave (2013), starring the lead actor from District 9, and finally The Crazies (remake). Again, these aren't full fledged suggestions by me, they're merely topic-related movies that should be watched only as a backup plan. Oh, and for a sci-fi twist, I guess you couldn't go wrong with Pandorum, which is kind of like:
The Descent, but in space.
Can't believe I forgot about The Crazies. That was a fun film.

If anyone is interested, I could add some lesser known lit. and comics that do some interesting stuff with zombies ^_^

PS. I forgot to add Stake Land to my initial list. Man was that movie good. Though the monsters are technically vampires, they behave a lot like running zombies. So imagine Zombieland, but without the humour, add a crazy cult, and the monsters are fucking terrifying.

You are welcome.
 

ninjaRiv

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Aug 25, 2010
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Dirty Slackjaws!!!

Problem is, zombies can still be done well, it's just a lot harder for that to shine through. Eric Powell is still doing well with Goon, for example. But the zombies only play a small role in that book...

It's the same with vampires, though; it wont go away for a while, I don't think. Maybe when everyone decides to pick another creature? I don't think werewolves ever really got enough spotlight...

I still like zombies well enough, though. I think the the craze has died down a bit. But I'm not that into the classic creatures, anymore; I like my horror monsters to be a little more new, or at least not overly familiar. Vampires, zombies, etc haven't been that great in a long time. They were at their best way way back when they seemed like a more credible threat. New monsters, based on new fears is the way to go, imo.
 
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Zombies have over-saturated the media a bit too much for these past few years, which really makes it harder to find and actually appreciate zombie fiction that is well done.

I have recently come across a manga called I Am a Hero, which provides a great alternate interpretation of your standard zombie story. As with other good zombie media, it is done best when directly mirroring the current issues of society while adding diseased, psychotic, cannibals: a formula that worked well for the original Night of the Living Dead (which was a metaphor for slowly approaching Cold War destruction) and 28 Days (which was a metaphor for violent and random terrorism). The manga has a rather slow opening and an annoying amount of character obliviousness towards situations at times, yet it all works out in the end. I Am a Hero is closer to Welcome to the NHK than High School of the Dead, so less fanservice and more weirdness. Of course if you hated NHK than you will probably not be able to stand this at all.
 

Shoggoth2588

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Aug 31, 2009
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My problem with zombies is how we're getting the same two flavors of zombies; slow walking hoard or, fast moving hoard. There have been variations where no, it's not a zombie hoard they have Rage Virus or; no, those aren't zombies they're infected by mind-altering mushrooms...but they're all the same kind of zombies. They're always caused by a virus or something similar but when was the last zombie game that ends with you saving humanity by killing the Lich who controls them? Or the game that ends with the main character about to be eaten when suddenly the hoard stops approaching and start asking why everyone keeps trying to kill them?
 

Frezzato

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NihilSinLulz said:
Can't believe I forgot about The Crazies. That was a fun film.

If anyone is interested, I could add some lesser known lit. and comics that do some interesting stuff with zombies ^_^

PS. I forgot to add Stake Land to my initial list. Man was that movie good. Though the monsters are technically vampires, they behave a lot like running zombies. So imagine Zombieland, but without the humour, add a crazy cult, and the monsters are fucking terrifying.

You are welcome.
Stake Land! That's a movie I can recommend to hardcore viewers. There are moments in that movie that had me thinking "No, surely they wouldn't show that," but they did. I bought the Blu-ray, sight unseen, based solely on the director's previous film, Mulberry Street. I can't recommend Mulberry Street, but it was impressive at how it cost so little, plus the plot was similar to Rec, only it came out a year earlier.

The thing about zombies is that only now has the technology caught up with developer imagination. I mean, ten years ago there was a building in GTA San Andreas, in downtown Los Santos, that was called like "Zombietech" or something. I was expecting a zombie outbreak but it never happened. Incidentally, was there a zombie mode in GTA5?

Also, in Far Cry Instincts (I never played the PC original), they really used creatures well. The story totally went in a direction I wasn't expecting. That was an excellent game.
 

AustinN

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Dec 31, 2013
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http://www.toplessrobot.com/2013/07/9_reasons_the_zombie_fad_must_die.php

Read this article, and you'll understand how I feel about zombies.
 
Jan 18, 2012
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Maybe the reason people like them so much is because they see it as the one apocalypse scenario they have a chance of surviving. You don't see many people with a plan for when the Daleks invade or when Skynet becomes self aware because they'd be fighting an intelligent enemy and they'd get slaughtered.
 

Tiger King

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Ten Foot Bunny said:
So V/H/S is not only one of my favorite horror movies, it's one of my favorite movies ever. Everything about it is brilliant and original, and the monsters (if you can call them that) were among the best of all time.

So why, oh why was the sequel nothing more than a cheap, lazy, easy-way-out zombie film?! I was so bored that I could barely sit through it. Mind you, that was my second attempt at watching the movie; the first time I tried to watch it, I fell asleep. They cashed in on a craze and ruined a promising franchise.

When will this zombie crap end? It's tiring when so many "horror-themed" media fall back on this now-comfortable formula. Zombie crawls, zombie video games, zombie movies, zombie TV shows... how much more can the entertainment industry milk out of this idiocy?

In my opinion, there hasn't been a truly frightening (if not a bit cheesy) zombie since Tarman from the first Return of the Living Dead in 1985. I saw it when it first came out (I was eight years old) and it scared the shit out of me. See for yourself:


What are your thoughts about zombies? Have you had enough of them, on-the-fence, don't care, still a fan? I'd love to know.
vhs is possibly the best horror film I have seen in the past ten years. its very bold and brave (unlike Hollywood flicks)
not seen the second version though, is it that bad?!
 

AustinN

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carlsberg export said:
Ten Foot Bunny said:
So V/H/S is not only one of my favorite horror movies, it's one of my favorite movies ever. Everything about it is brilliant and original, and the monsters (if you can call them that) were among the best of all time.

So why, oh why was the sequel nothing more than a cheap, lazy, easy-way-out zombie film?! I was so bored that I could barely sit through it. Mind you, that was my second attempt at watching the movie; the first time I tried to watch it, I fell asleep. They cashed in on a craze and ruined a promising franchise.

When will this zombie crap end? It's tiring when so many "horror-themed" media fall back on this now-comfortable formula. Zombie crawls, zombie video games, zombie movies, zombie TV shows... how much more can the entertainment industry milk out of this idiocy?

In my opinion, there hasn't been a truly frightening (if not a bit cheesy) zombie since Tarman from the first Return of the Living Dead in 1985. I saw it when it first came out (I was eight years old) and it scared the shit out of me. See for yourself:


What are your thoughts about zombies? Have you had enough of them, on-the-fence, don't care, still a fan? I'd love to know.
vhs is possibly the best horror film I have seen in the past ten years. its very bold and brave (unlike Hollywood flicks)
not seen the second version though, is it that bad?!
I can't say I agree. VHS 2 had some good stories, and I think the zombie one was only the second out of five. I actually liked it, because it was a different kind of story about zombies than you usually get. It's filmed entirely from the perspective of the zombie, and you get to see a zombie learn how to be a zombie. Like finding out that wallets don't taste good, but human flesh does.
 

vioray

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Mar 23, 2011
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zombies are incredibly overused but are still very occasionally used well enough to still be entertaining

also V/H/S is a great movie, especially the bit with the "I like you" girl
 

The White Hunter

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Oct 19, 2011
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Vault101 said:
I'm not sick of zombies because I never liked them in the first place

I can't say their explosion in popularity helped though, I just find it as a doomsday scenario...unbelievable..or more to the point how a military can get overrun by mindless meat bags...I guess the viral element is key but still
How many zombies does it take to stop an Apache Longbow?

More than there could ever be because it fucking flies :p

Yeah I find zombie apocalypse to be very unbelievable, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy media involving them (L4D is fun on a bun, but Payday 2 is a vastly superior game), but they aren't scary and nor are they believable.