Original Day of the Dead Script
The DVD for Day of the Dead featured an extra little something: the original first draft of the screenplay. The released movie version was a lot different from George A. Romero's original idea. The movie takes place primarily between a group of military people and scientists in an underground bunker on a secluded island, that part wasn't maintained, but it all plays out very differently. This is from the little booklet that came with the DVD (along with the original screenplay on Disc 2):
For those of you out there who have been fortunate enough to read Romero's original screenplay for DAY OF THE DEAD, you know that many things changed between that draft and what ended up on screen. Due to budgetary constraints, and the artistic need to keep the film without an R rating, the screenplay was revised to accomodate these restrictions. Originally, the film did not take place completely underground but featured numerous above-ground zombie battles, elements of H.G. Wells' The Island of Dr. Moreau, scientists training zombies to fight other zombies, and so on and so on. You should read the script if you ever have a chance, it makes for quite a fascinating comparison to the revised version that the director ended up using.
Some of the concepts and ideas got played out in the finished theatrical movie, and other ideas eventually got worked into Land of the Dead. But Day of the Dead as originally envisioned is an amazing story and really needs to be made as it was supposed to be. The movie script is addictive to read and seeing a zombie-on-zombie war would be amazing on the big screen. I highly recommend everyone read the screenplay and decide for yourself. Perhaps if enough people clamor for the story as Romero originally intended it, someone somewhere will allow it to be made in all of its glory. Check out the script, and if you like it you should totally get the DVD to show commercial support for Day of the Dead and it receiving the proper treatment it so desperately deserves.
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Xombie – Dead on Arrival
Xombie - Dead on Arrival
Year: 2009
Type of Zombie: Slow with some "variants"
Phase of Infection: Zombie Wasteland
Primary Location: On the road
Zombie Characteristics:
- Normally:
- Slow moving
- Basic motor functions
- Variant:
- Reasoning and logic abilities
- Strength and agility
- Both:
- Must destroy the brain
- Animals can become zombies
Xombie started out as a web video series gaining a cult following by James Farr (an ex-police officer turned writer … but we won't hold the cop job against him since he does at least like zombies). It has since released comic books and a DVD collection of the webisodes. See the following trailer for the DVD:
Xombie is an evolution of zombiism where some dead are able to rationalize, talk, and move about with surprising agility and grace known as "variants". Definitely not a zombie story for you purists out there. In the lineage of Blade and other self-loathing creatures of the night, we have Dirge. A zombie with a consciousness, he hunts out other zombies and dispatches them with the aid of his shovel and zombie dog, Cerberus. The story within the first couple of chapters actually does attempt to explain the zombie outbreak as well as how it's possible some of them can retain higher cognitive abilities.
As the story starts, a young girl, Zoe, wanders into a graveyard following the sounds of Mozart. She finds (SURPRISE!) a graveyard full of zombies! Then our anti-hero appears: Dirge. He saves the little girl and decides to take her to the nearest human settlement which is guarded by robots. On the way they run into Nephthys, a former Egyptian sacrifice and museum piece that lives in a natural history museum with her pet zombie dinosaur. I won't go into much more detail to leave a bit of mystery to story, but there are definite unrevealed secrets hinted at on the DVD that would likely be explored in future extensions of the story.
Done in a clearly Flash-based visual style, Xombie doesn't impress compared to non-web videos, but as far as Flash animations go Xombie is one of the most visually interesting animations created. Some animation artifacts exist, particularly when Dirge is talking and lips purse around his normally exposed teeth. As usual with Flash animations and cheap cartoons in general, there are lots of reused characters and objects which do give some scenes a feeling of repetition and break the 4th wall, but it's standard fare for web animations and doesn't detract from the overall story.
Presented over 10 chapters, "Xombie - Dead on Arrival" covers 50 minutes of the story. My only complaint with this set-up is the constant "To Be Continued" messages followed immediately by the next part of the story every several minutes. They probably could have cut those out. The chapter headers were fine, just don't need to know that it's going to be immediately continued until the credits are about to roll at the end, and the story is left open for continuation and expansion.
The first 6 parts (Chapter 5 is in 2 parts) are available on Xombie's website, and the story continues in comic book form. Dreamworks is in talks to create a live-action movie adaptation of the series, so stay tuned for that.
Recommendation: Interesting story, worth seeing.
Pros:
- Original storyline brings freshness to the genre
- Zombie dinosaur!
Cons:
- Flash animation a bit crude at times
- Zombie purists may not appreciate "variants" deviation from established mythos
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Zombie Headhunter
The Undeath has a series of designs available for purchase on Cafe Press through Urban Gibbon. This here is the official logo for the Zombie Headhunters; the elite group of zombie hunters that gets sick pleasure from killing the already dead. The emblem is composed of a crossed longbow and samurai sword, which are the preferred weapons of the Zombie Headhunters, with a shield and a skull with a mortal head-wound. Vive la vida!
After the zombie hordes have destroyed most of mankind, a select few will be discontent with hiding and waiting to die. The Zombie Headhunters will be born when the will of the living will start to fight back and reclaim the world.
The symbols of the Zombie Headhunter are the sword and the bow. These are silent, sustainable, and deadly weapons that can be the difference between life and death to the properly trained Headhunter.
This design features a faded, grunge design of a skull with a head wound atop a shield. Behind the shield, crossing, are a longbow and a samurai sword. View Products
Purchasing items through the store is a great way to support this website. More importantly, zombies are awesome and more people should raise zombie awareness through apparel.
Dawn of the Dead
In 2004, a remake was released for one of the most highly regarded zombie movies of all time, Dawn of the Dead. Instead of simply remaking the movie, it ended up re-envisioning the zombiverse that George A. Romero had crafted almost 3 decades earlier. Following is the movie and the rest of the review.
Dawn of the Dead
Year: 2004
Type of Zombie: Fast
Phase of Infection: Initial Outbreak
Primary Location: Shopping Mall
Zombie Characteristics:
- Able to run
- Transmittable infection
- Basic motor functions
- Must destroy the brain
Memorable Quote: "What's the news?" "Bad."
Zack Snyder takes on George A. Romero's classic Dawn of the Dead. Held up by many zombie aficionados as the penultimate zombie flick, Snyder used his opportunity to redefine the genre that Romero created. Whereas Romero create a zombie myth around the ideas the zombies are reanimated corpses and should move as such in addition to everyone who dies will rise from the dead, Snyder treated his zombies with a bit more energy and pizazz. Taking a page from 28 Days Later and its non-Zombies filled with "rage", Snyder showed his zombies able to run, snarl, and included the updated idea that only those bitten or otherwise exposed to zombie juice would become a zombie themselves.
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Spaced – Art
Before crossing the cultural pond, Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, and Nick Frost created a show for Channel Four called "Spaced" that was jam packed with pop culture references for the post Gen X crowd. The third episode titled "Art" begins with a Resident Evil homage that ended up becoming the inspiration for a little movie called Shaun of the Dead.
Did you notice the Evil Dead II poster in the background? The rest of the episode is pretty good, though not zombie related. The entire two season run of the show is awesome and available on Hulu and DVD. The commentary tracks on the DVD make purchase totally worthwhile.
This is a screenshot from Shaun of the Dead. Notice the zombie in the yellow hat? That's actually a character from "Spaced" named Tyres, who's a bike messenger with ADD that's way into techno. Awesome little inside joke in Shaun. Other actors and characters from "Spaced" appeared in Shaun in cameo roles. Watching "Spaced" will open a whole slew of inside jokes and references that you may have missed before.
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Causes of Zombiism
We've talked about types of zombies, but what about causes? What reasons have been postulated by the great contemporary minds to explain zombiism? Are any of them realistic? Let's explore some of the more popular zombie creation myths from viruses to toxic gas, some examples of the movies they appeared in, and what it means to have zombies from that cause.
Zombie University
Zombies aren't necessarily restricted to basic instinct, but sometimes are able to use some higher levels of thought and reasoning. Sometimes old memories can be accessed, old behaviors can resurface, or remnants of who the zombie was in life start to come out. These events can happen naturally over time as the zombies settle into the rut of every day life that they were in before and no longer notice the difference between before and after the outbreak; or they can happen through conditioned responses from the still-living. Technology can be developed to help the undead control their ungodly urges. In other words, being dead doesn't mean your life is over.
Let's take a look at some MENSA zombies, the top 2% cream of the crop.
Creating a Zombie Plan: Conclusion – Put It Together
« Creating a Zombie Plan: Step 4 - Well, Now What?
Have you been through all the lessons on constructing your Zombie Plan? If so, this part will help you pull all the pieces together and create a usable Zombie Plan that will help get you through an undead outbreak. Previous sections have covered the types of zombies you're likely to encounter, where you should be heading to, how you should be defending yourself, and what long-term plans you should be considering. Now, how does all this come together to create a Zombie Plan?
Put your hand down, that was rhetorical.
Single File – Zombies Ate My Neighbors
This is an unofficial music video for Single File's awesome zombie-themed song "Zombies Ate My Neighbors". There is no official music video for the song, but there do exist several fan made ones. Here is the best one on YouTube by Goat Studios. The clever part is the entire video mimics the characters, power-ups, and stages in the '90s SNES game of the same name. Seriously, if you've ever played the SNES game, this video totally kicks ass.
Great video to a rockin' song. And here are the lyrics to "Zombies Ate My Neighbors":
So call the neighbor kids,
with trashcan lids and buckets on their heads
I'm telling you, we're gonna need a little help tonightSo hey man check this out
Downtown's a riot and something's spreading through the crowd
Try channel 9, I'm pretty sure they're headed straight for this part of town
I can't be certain, but I swear I hear them just outside
There's no way that this is real, so count me in!So grab something sharp,
find some cover,
kill the lights and nail the backdoor shut
This isn't funny any more
Oh no, this means warDon't take this the wrong way,
I'd much rather choke and die
than sit alone and fall without a fightSo call the neighbor kids,
with trashcan lids and buckets on their heads
I'm telling you, we're gonna need a little help tonightSo call the neighbor kids,
with trashcan lids and buckets on their heads
'Cause I'm telling you, we're gonna need a little help tonightThere she was, glaring
through olive eyes and chalk white skin.
I want you to know
that I won't be holding back tonight.
She stole my heart
I'll being taking hers with a lawn dart now.
But look at the bright side
It's not like she had one there from the startSomething tells me, it's gonna be a long night
So grab something sharp,
find some cover,
kill the lights and nail the backdoor shut
This isn't funny any more
Oh no, this means war
And something tells me, it's gonna be a long nightSo call the neighbor kids,
with trashcan lids and buckets on their heads
I'm telling you, we're gonna need a little help tonight
[x3]
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Simpsons – Treehouse of Horror XX
"The Simpsons" in its 21st season has for the second time addressed zombies in their Treehouse of Horror Halloween specials. The first time the Simpsons had to face the army of the undead was in the "Treehouse of Horror III" episode in the fourth season. That zombie story started as a Pet Cemetery allusion that then morphed to Return of the Living Dead. This past Sunday's episode of the Simpsons, which featured a Treehouse episode that aired before Halloween for a change, the Simpsons face down undead cannibals again 17 years later in a story that starts as a 28 Days Later homage and then mixed in a little Children of Men for good measure.
Note regarding episode availability from Hulu:
We are able to post five trailing episodes from the current season of The Simpsons.
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- Original Day of the Dead Script
- Xombie - Dead on Arrival
- Zombie Headhunter
- Dawn of the Dead
- Spaced - Art
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