This essay was for my last essay project for English 101. For this essay, we had to write about cause and effect. My cause/effect was how George Romero's Night of the Living Dead would have an efect on every zombie movie that followed.
The Persevering Zombie and its Evolution
“They’re coming to get you, Barbara…Look, here comes one now!” (Romero). Staggering through the cemetery, the gaunt figure lurches towards the siblings, attacks them and kills the brother as the sister, terrified, runs away, ending up at an old white farmhouse. This opening scene from the film Night of the Living Dead set in motion the meteoric rise of one of the most frightening creatures found in humankind’s nightmares – the zombie. George A. Romero’s 1968 film would introduce a new style of zombie and this new ideal would spawn countless films, books, and paraphernalia; all based off Romero’s vision of a staggering, rotting, brain-hungering reanimated corpse.
Before Night of the Living Dead would change the rules of zombie existence forever, America’s experience with zombies was of the traditional voodoo-created zombi of Haiti; a zombi was a corpse that had been reanimated through a vodou ritual into a mindless creature capable only of doing what was commanded by its bokor (master). These creatures were not dead, only people that had been drugged and later revived from their drug-induced coma. They were used as slaves for whatever deeds their bokor commanded them (Priester). This traditional zombi was introduced into American culture in the early 1900s when U.S. soldiers began to spread tales of voodoo after returning from occupation in Haiti (Kay).
America’s first media exposure to the Haitian zombi was in the 1929 novel The Magic Island. The Magic Island, by William Seabrook, told of rituals and religions of Haiti (Kay). Not long after the publication of Seabrook’s book, Hollywood jumped in with a film – White Zombie. White Zombie, directed by the Halperin brothers, starred Bela Lugosi, of Dracula fame, as an evil bokor that transforms a main character’s love interest into a zombie. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s, the zombie plodded along its traditional path through Hollywood, with films such as: Revolt of the Zombies (1936), The Walking Dead (1936), and I Walked with a Zombie (1943) (Kay). In the 1940s, the first zombie comedy was introduced, failed miserably, and led to a decline. During the 1950s and 1960s, the zombie myth began to evolve: the radioactive, atomic, alien-controlled zombie. These zombies no longer relied on voodoo; anything from an alien invasion to radioactivity led to zombiefication. Films of this era included: Creature with the Atom Brain (1955) and Ed Woods’ Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959) – considered the worst movie ever made (Kay). Everything changed in 1968 with George Romero.
A group of friends, backed by investors, took approximately $100,000.00 and changed the view on zombies forever. George A. Romero, with John Russo, filmed Night of the Living Dead in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in black and white and cast with unknowns. The movie transformed zombies from mindless puppets to flesh-eating terrors, although Romero never referred to them as zombies – he “drafted his own mythology of the undead,” (Onstead), and combined them with ghouls, a legendary creature that robbed graves and ate human flesh. Gruesome special effects only added to the film’s realism: the movie used actual blood, guts and bones from a local butcher shop (Howell). The difference between Romero’s zombies and past zombies was more than just a craving for flesh and an unsteady gate; his movies strived to provide social commentary within the entertainment. Night of the Living Dead was a reflection on the Vietnam War, civil rights, and humanity in general. This combination of commentary and horror had not been attempted before; now filmmakers of the following decades would often provide a deeper context within horror movies. The portrayal of the resurrected dead as an almost unstoppable horde terrified audiences more than anything they had ever seen before – children cried in their seats, woman ran from the theater, and people threw popcorn (Leavy) and the film quickly became infamous. As Night of the Living Dead grew in popularity, it became a constantly played film at movie theaters and drive-ins, bearing a large responsibility for the craze of the midnight movie (Kay).
During the 1970s, most zombie movies still used a more traditional zombie, although Night of the Living Dead’s influence began to spread, with filmmakers adding elements influenced by the film. While many of the zombies of the 1970s were not flesh-eaters, most committed acts of murder/torture. Return of the Blind Dead (1973) would be on of the the first Romero-influenced films, providing a commentary on the Spanish political system. Death Dream (1974) would also provide commentary about the Vietnam War. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978) would blow past the boundaries that Night of the Living Dead had only edged past. Dawn of the Dead had even more extravagant effects and gore and continued Romero’s social commentary, this time about consumerism. The influence of Romero’s movies largely impacted Italian filmmakers, like Lucio Fulci. Fulci, showing an extreme influence from the Dead movies, created Zombie(1979), an unofficial Italian sequel to Dawn of the Dead. Fulci would continue to make his Romero-inspired zombie movies well into the 1980s (Kay).
The 1980s saw the first peak in the zombie culture; more zombie movies were produced in the 1980s than any previous period (Kay). The zombie, already popular in America and Italy, began its spread into Japan. As the home video world expanded, so did filmmakers’ ability to make cheap movies without big budgets. The majority of zombie movies now produced were all of the Romero-style zombie, with the exception of the film Dead & Buried (1981). Cannibal Apocalypse (1980) was another film with a commentary on the Vietnam war; it also introduced the first chemically-based zombie virus. Lucio Fulci continued to churn out zombie films such as City of the Living Dead (1980), The Beyond (1981), and House by the Cemetery (1981). Bruno Mattei, director of Hell of the Living Dead (1980), readily admitted that his film was heavily inspired by the works of Romero. Bloodeaters (1980) used commentary on secret government agencies as its subtext, along with a Romero-influenced ending. Romero would also return to the zombie genre twice in the 80s: first with his sequel Day of the Dead (1985) and the EC comics anthology Creepshow (1982). Day of the Dead would provide the typical commentary, specifically ridiculing the government. John Russo’s unofficial sequel to Night of the Living Dead, Return of the Living Dead (1985), a standout of the decade, was also one of the first zombie comedies that would later become popular. The zombie began to spread to other media as the star of the music video for Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
As the 1990s rolled in, the zombie was on his way out. Slasher movies were seeing a rise in popularity, due to Scream (1996). With some exceptions, there were no worthwhile entries in the zombie genre. The remake of Night of the Living Dead (1990), directed by Tom Savini, allowed the film to spread to viewers that avoided black and white. Two other notables of the 90s were Dead Alive (1992), an English horror/comedy, and Dellamorte Dellamore (1994), horror/comedy with a social commentary and last of Italian zombie cinema. Zombies made the crossover to children’s movies with Scooby Doo on Zombie Island (1998) featuring ‘live’ zombies. Zombies broke spread to other media in the 90s. In 1993, the videogame Zombies Ate My Neighbors was released, followed by House of the Dead (1997) and Resident Evil (1996) (Kay). Resident Evil spawned sequels, DVDs grew in popularity, and the zombies started a slow rise out of their graves again.
The zombie was making a comeback into film in the 2000s. The first major zombie film of the millennium was 28 Days Later (2002); director Danny Boyle admitted that it had been heavily inspired by Romero, as the themes of his movie echoed Romero’s (Priester). 28 Weeks Later (2007) would follow in the same fashion with its grim outlook and commentary. The Resident Evil film series was beginning, with three sequels by the year 2010. However, Dawn of the Dead’s 2004 remake was far removed from its original’s vision and style. Also in 2004, Shaun of the Dead would be released, satirizing modern life similar to Dawn of the Dead (1978) with horror/comedy. George Romero returned and pushed zombies forward with Land of the Dead (2005), satirizing the post-9/11 political climate, followed by Diary of the Dead (2008) and Survival of the Dead (2010). 2006’s Fido would emulate the lead zombie from Day of the Dead, Bub. In 2009, Zombieland, starring Woody Harrelson, skyrocketed the zombie into popular culture. The zombies’ popularity was growing so much that it could no longer be contained in just film and videogames.
Outside the film industry, zombies were spreading into popular novels, such as Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and Brian Keene’s trilogy: The Rising, City of the Dead, and Dead Sea. Comics had The Walking Dead, now a television series on AMC, and Marvel Zombies. Colleges around the country included zombies and Romero films in the syllabi of their classes. Zombies even have their own awareness month – May (Truitt). Horror conventions, zombie walks, anniversary festivals, are all part of the widespread zombie infection (Ansberry). Like zombies so much you want to take them with you everywhere? There’s an app for that (Truitt)!
The popularity of the zombie has now surpassed the former undead rulers of the horror scene – the vampire. Even with the vampire saturation in current culture, with Twilight, True Blood, and Vampire Diaries, the zombie now stands, wobbling, as the head of horror. (Parker) The reasons for this are somewhat unclear. Vampires are charming, elegant immortals that many want to be; zombies are decaying, walking corpses that no one wants to be. However, the zombie perseveres. Is it because the zombie symbolizes much of the world – consumerism, fear of contagion, disease, unknown, or the end of times? It is hard to say if it is any of all of these reasons, but, “when one speaks of zombie movies today, one is really speaking of movies that are either made or directly influenced by one man, director George A. Romero” (Paffenroth). In fact, the zombie in any form would have eventually faded out and vanished forever without him.
Works Cited
Ansberry, Clare. "Elderly Zombies Win the Undying Loyalty of their Fans - Cast of Night of the Living Dead Recall the Gory Days." Wall Street Journal: A.1. ProQuest. (Sep 27 2010). Web. 7 Feb. 2012 .
Howell, Peter. “The Beyond’s zombies have long, gory family history. Night of the Living Dead blazed spooky trail with meat shop leftovers.” The Toronto Star. (June 17, 1998). LexisNexis Academic. 7 Feb 2012.
Kay, Glenn and Stuart Gordon. Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide. (2008). EBSCO Host. 7 Feb 2012.
Leavy, Jane. “Grave New World; Filmmaker George Romero Hits ‘Dead’ Center With His Zombies.” The Washington Post. (June 30, 1985). LexisNexis Academic. Web. 7 Feb 2012
Onstead, Katrina. “Horror Auteur Is Unfinished With the Undead.” The New York Times. (February 10, 2008). Lexis Nexis Academic. Web. 7 Feb 2012.
Paffenroth, Kim. Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero’s Visions of Hell on Earth. (2006). EBSCO Host. Web. 7 Feb 2012.
Parker, James. "Our Zombies, Ourselves." The Atlantic Monthly 2011: 32-3. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 7 Feb. 2012 .
Priester, Paul E. "Night of the Living Subconscious Conflict: The Psychological Relevance of the Zombie Horror Film." PsycCRITIQUES 50.6 (2005). ProQuest. Web. 7 Feb. 2012.
Romero, George, dir. Night of the Living Dead. 1968. Film.
Truitt, Brian. "George A. Romero’s legacy refuses to die; His inarticulate zombies say a lot about our society." USA TODAY. (June 7, 2010 ). LexisNexis Academic. Web. 7 Feb 2012.
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