Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide - Softcover

Kay, Glenn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1556527705 ISBN 13: 9781556527708

Verlag: Chicago Review Press, 2008

Inhaltsangabe

Zombie Movies is an essential purchase for all those who love (or fear) horror cinema’s most popular and terrifying creation. This thorough and authoritative yet uproarious guide

• reviews and rates nearly 300 zombie films—from Bela Lugosi’s White Zombie (1932) to George A. Romero’s Diary of the Dead (2008) • traces the evolution of the zombie over the decades, from voodoo slave to brain-eating undead to raging infected • lays out what makes a zombie a zombie, as opposed to a ghost, ghoul, vampire, mummy, pod person, rabid sicko, or Frankenstein’s monster • includes a detailed and chilling journal from the filming of Land of the Dead • lists the oddest and most gruesome things ever seen in undead cinema • covers not only mainstream American movies but also small independent productions, Spanish and Italian exploitation pictures, and bizarre offerings from Japan and Hong Kong • provides a detailed rundown of the 25 greatest zombie films ever made • features in-depth interviews with actors, directors, makeup effects wizards, and other zombie experts For serious fans and casual moviegoers alike, Zombie Movies will provide plenty of informative and entertaining brain food.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Glenn Kay studied film at Ryerson University and has reviewed films in print and on TV in Canada. He is the coauthor of Disaster Movies and has also worked in the entertainment industry as a voice-over artist.

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Zombie Movies

The Ultimate Guide

By Glenn Kay

Chicago Review Press Incorporated

Copyright © 2012 Glenn Kay
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-55652-770-8

Contents

Foreword by Alejandro Brugués, 
Acknowledgments, 
Introduction, 
1 Origins, 
2 The 1930s: The Zombie Film's Beginnings, 
3 The 1940s: Laughing at the Zombies ... and an Early End?, 
4 The 1950s: The Drive-In, the Atom Bomb, and the Radioactive Zombie, 
5 The 1960s: The Weird, Wild Psychedelic Era and the Reinvention of the Zombie, 
6 The 1970s: Spanish Zombies, Satire, and Blaxploitation, 
7 The 1980s: Italy Reigns and the Horror Boom Explodes ... and Fizzles, 
8 The 1990s: The End of the Zombie — and a Resurrection in Video Games and on DVD, 
9 The 2000s: Viral Infections, the Fast-Moving Zombie, and a Renaissance in Undead Cinema, 
10 The 2010s: The Zombies Hit Prime Time, 
11 The Greatest Zombie Films Ever Made, 
Appendix: Zombieless Zombie Movies, 
Bibliography, 
Index of Film Titles, 
Index of Directors, 

CHAPTER 1

Origins

What is a zombie film? How do you know if you're watching one? It's not as simple a question as it might at first seem, because what constitutes a zombie has changed over the years and continues to evolve. Recent films such as 28 Days Later(2002) and Dawn of the Dead (2004) have broadened the definition beyond the walking dead to include still-living characters infected with an incurable disease that extinguishes their personalities and turns them into bloodthirsty killers. Even the classic conception of the zombie, as a corpse that rises from the grave to feed on the flesh of the living — or at the very least slaughter them — became the standard only after the release of the classic 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead.

The zombie's beginnings can be traced back much further still, to the beautiful but troubled country of Haiti. A Caribbean paradise filled with fruit and fertile soil for farming, Haiti was introduced to the European world by the Spanish, who declared the land theirs (much to the chagrin of locals) and named it Santo Domingo. Sometime later the French took control. They were noted for shipping slaves directly from Africa to work on their plantations. Conditions and the treatment of slaves were sickeningly poor, with landowners opting to maximize profits by working them to death, literally. However, these slaves brought with them their own religious customs, which they continued to develop and expand on in their new home country. Of particular note was their practice of vodou.

Belief in vodou helped support the enslaved people in their struggle, the vodou gods protecting them from their so-called owners. As common spiritual beliefs grew among slaves, a society arose. Dances, animal sacrifices, and the beating of drums became a part of the culture. Within the community, leaders and experts gained influence, further honing the use of ritual chants, poisons, and potion making.

Through the use of these potions and rituals, a vodou priest, or bokor, was believed to be able to invoke supernatural powers. One such power was the ability to reanimate a dead human body. The resulting creature was known as a zombi, and it was characterized by slow mannerisms, low intelligence, and a lack of willpower or a soul. (In reality, zombis weren't really dead people at all, simply persons who had been drugged and who then arose from a comatose state.) Often, zombis were believed to be under the control of the person who had caused them to rise from the grave.

In 1791 slaves in the northern part of the country reportedly invoked vodou to seize control of an even greater prize — their own destinies. In a massive uprising led by Haitian general Toussaint L'Ouverture, they violently rebelled against the wealthy French plantation owners. A famous local legend has it that the unrest was preceded by a vodou ceremony at Bois Caïman that united the participants against the government's continued proslavery stance. Their forces clashed with colonial armies sent to quash the unrest; the slaves were victorious. The French administration announced that it would finally abolish slavery in Haiti.

In 1802, however, Napoleon Bonaparte sent more military forces into the colony, a clear attempt by the French to reestablish slavery. While his soldiers initially made inroads, Haitian nationalists fought back and met with victory once again. By 1804 the country had won its independence from France and become the Republic of Haiti, the first black republic in history. The success of the slave revolution inspired similar rebellions in such nations as the United States and Brazil. But Haiti's troubles were far from over.

Leaders came and went during the next hundred years, and over time the country sank deeper into depression, debt, and chaos. Many leaders were assassinated, and five presidents violently rose and fell between 1910 and 1915. The last, Gen. Vilbrun Guillaume Sam, had perhaps the most tragic impact. His political opponent, Rosalvo Bobo, criticized the leader's dealings with the U.S. government and began to influence others within Guillaume Sam's administration. The fearful president began executing potential threats to his power, even going so far as to have 167 political prisoners killed. When word spread, Haitian citizens revolted, turning into an unruly mob. Gen. Guillaume Sam was taken from his palace and publicly torn to pieces, which were scattered and put on triumphant display.

This gruesome scene may have led to the birth of the zombie movie, since the death of Guillaume Sam brought Haiti into the American consciousness. The U.S. government was concerned about Bobo's unfriendly stance toward the United States and frightened by the distant possibility that German forces could easily invade the unstable nation (World War I had begun a year earlier), so in 1915 the U.S. occupation of Haiti began.

The occupiers found a situation far more complicated than initially anticipated, and their presence did little to calm it. While U.S. forces were responsible for overseeing construction of roads and telephone cables, medical care, and educational programs, their treatment of the locals bred deep bitterness. Naturally, the citizens resented being occupied. The Americans, in turn, exhibited racist attitudes toward black and mixed-race Haitians, and many of the well-educated locals were treated with disdain. Most horrific of all, U.S. forces declared it a public duty for each and every Haitian to be subject to unpaid labor on a chain gang, enforced by armed guards who were permitted to shoot anyone who refused to participate. For Haitians this was little better than the slavery their revolutionary forces had fought to terminate more than one hundred years previous.

Nationalist sentiment erupted once again in guerrilla warfare and bloodshed. A major uprising in 1918 was extinguished by the U.S. Marines, who in the process killed over two thousand revolutionaries. Yet another tragic event occurred in 1929, when U.S. Marines opened fire on more than ten Haitian demonstrators, killing them. U.S. forces finally pulled out of the country in 1934. (Ironically, during their stay the U.S. military had trained locals in warfare. It wasn't long before future leaders would decide to extend their terms of office and enforce their positions with military might.)

During their stay in Haiti, many U.S. soldiers and their families had been disturbed not only by...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Chicago Review Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2008
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1556527705
• ISBN 13: 9781556527708
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 342
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar