The Zombie Philosophy

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Night of the Living Dead Credit: Image Ten

Night of the Living Dead

Romero's original is probably still the most striking and influential, especially due to its low-budget simplicity. Romero had a few thousand bucks, a couple of trucks and a group of friends who believed in his vision. The zombie makeup, for the most part, was achieved by smearing oatmeal all over the actors' faces (as future Dead makeup artist Tom Savini was a photographer in Vietnam at the time). Romero didn't necessarily have an agenda, political or otherwise, in making this film. But he was able to sneak in a kicker at the end that's worth mentioning.

As the sun rises (indeed, the Dawn of the Dead), we see several groups of self-recruited zombie hunters. Filled with anger, fear and bloodlust, they stalk through the woods, shooting every zombie they come across. One group stumbles upon the house where most of the action has taken place. Our lead character, a black man, still alive, appears in the window. The zombie hunters mistake him for one of the undead and kill him.

Is this a last-minute commentary on Romero's part about the racial violence that was rampant in America in the 1960s? Would the zombie hunters not have mistaken the man for a zombie if he were white? Perhaps. The '60s were a mess, and Romero probably had a few things to say about the state of the world while making his little monster movie, even in the middle of Nowhere, Pennsylvania.

Dawn of the Dead Credit: Laurel Group

Dawn of the Dead

Romero's sense of humor really took center stage in this one. There's nothing very subtle about his commentary on the essence of American consumerism in Dawn of the Dead. We're treated to a very funny sequence in which we see several zombies wandering aimlessly through the mall, swaying and lurching almost in time with the droning mall music. Why did they end up in the mall in the first place? A character offers a theory early on, suggesting that the mall was a big part of their everyday lives when they were alive, and were therefore drawn back by instinct. Not very subtle, no, but interesting if you consider the time when Dawn was made.

The mall culture wasn't a huge part of America in the late 1970s. It was just emerging as a phenomenon, especially in suburban areas like the one where the film takes place. In this respect, Romero acted as somewhat of a prophet in regards to what was just around the corner in America: the shopping mall craze. The zombies, therefore, serve as stand-ins for American consumers. The zombies instinctively and ravenously consume, and we as members of a capitalist society instinctively, and ravenously, consume. True, it's not the strongest point to make if indeed the film had some sort of social and political agenda in mind, but if nothing else, it's a pretty damn good joke.

Day of the Dead Credit: UFDC

Day of the Dead

This one finds a group of survivors, mostly made up of military men and scientists, hiding out in an underground bunker. The military men are portrayed as fascist thugs, with the scientists being oppressed and forced to conduct their research under strict limitations. There are those who say that the film is Romero's take on Reagan-era politics and U.S. tensions with the Soviet Union. Some say it also served as a prelude to the disaster at Chernobyl. Legitimate observations, certainly, but we believe the film succeeds on a much more personal level.

The scientists have been experimenting on one of the undead, whom they've named Bud. Their goal is to learn how to tame, control and humanize the zombies as much as possible. Bud has learned to respond to certain commands and communicate with the simplest of words. He has also come to experience fractured memories of his past as a human. By becoming more humanized, however, Bud also eventually learns how to use more advanced methods of violence.

Credit: 28 Days Later

28 Days Later

Danny Boyle's film probably has the most blatant "message" in it, due mostly to screenwriter Alex Garland, whose novel The Beach (which Boyle also directed as a film) wasn't exactly subtle in its depiction of paradise-gone-wrong. 28 Days Later starts off as a rather focused and personal story of a small group of survivors who have instinctively become a surrogate family, learning that the most important thing in surviving such a nightmare is to have each other. Who would've thought that Boyle needed to end the world to show that he was such a softie?

The film's third act, however, takes an even more sinister turn, introducing an evil and horror more powerful than those infected with the rage virus. Yes, the evil lies within us, the supposedly intelligent and humanistic un-infected, as illustrated by Christopher Eccleston's rogue military outfit. Visions of the New World, in which the army boys are now the Super-Humans, plague what could be a relatively safe and comfortable living environment for the civilian survivors. This God complex leads to insanity, and, of course, forces our hero Jim to take matters into his own hands to such violent extremes that we eventually can't tell him apart from the infected.

This is actually the most disappointing aspect of the film, and the whole section feels a bit rushed, as if Boyle and Garland realized they only had about a half-hour left to actually have some sort of "message" for their film. The resulting Lord of the Flies angle is an easy way out, certainly, but perhaps an unavoidable aspect of such a film. It was inevitable that the humans would be portrayed as the true horror - isn't that often the point of most horror films?

And thus concludes Zombie Philosophy 101. The most important thing to keep in mind with all these ideas is that they are in no way essential to your understanding and enjoyment of the films. They are fun, entertaining, exciting horror films first and foremost. We've pointed out the thematic elements only as something to keep in mind as you watch the movies and perhaps form your own theories of what the filmmakers were possibly trying to convey. They're "smart" films, yes, but not too smart to forget to have some fun.