VIVE LES ZOMBIS!

I love Zombie movies. Any film that has reanimated, flesh eating corpses walking around preying on the living is fine by me. Of course the really good zombie movies have some social commentary, and the real horror is often how the survivors of the zombie apocalypse treat each other, with the zombie antics paling in comparison.

Of course the master of this genre is definitely George A Romero, and I am really jazzed because I just picked up his latest film, Diary Of The Dead on DVD, which is an attempt to rejig his Zombie franchise for the YouTube generation. So when the house is still and everyone else is sleeping I am going to scare my self senseless watching this. I'll probably post a review at some point this weekend.

To me the most frightening and compelling aspect of this genre is the way that the Zombies represent how the loss of individuality and free will is itself a form of death, even though we still walk around. This was illustrated most brilliantly in Romero's Dawn Of The Dead, which critiqued mindless consumerism through images of countless Zombies wandering aimlessly in a suburban shopping mall. I often have this image in my mind when I see hoards of people standing in line for bargains on boxing day.

I have a similar experience when I commute to work, and I see thousands of shiny metal cars driven by Zombies, talking on cell phones, drinking their coffee, always looking forward. I assume that if I avoid eye contact with them they won't realize that I am not one of them and hope that they won't come after me. I often listen to audio books in my car to stimulate my higher brain functions and remind myself that I am still alive myself.

Now please excuse me while I fight through the Zombie hoard on my way to work this morning. If I don't make it back, yet somehow you see me later on with a vacant stare, wandering aimlessly around a Best Buy, please proceed with caution!