They walk among us

Profiteers, instigators, war mongers, zealots, creatively bankrupt and conspicuous consumers jostle for space among the living dead

In this publicity photo released by Paramount Pictures, the infected scale the Israeli walls in "World War Z," from Paramount Pictures and Skydance Productions in association with Hemisphere Media Capital and GK Films. (AP Photo/Paramount Pictures, Jaap Buitendijk)

With George A Romero passing away recently, we have lost a man who author Max Brooks describes as “the thinker’s zombie creator”. Romero’s seminal Night of the Living Dead put zombies on the map, as they shuffled and snuffled to big box-office bucks. The film, which will turn 50 next year, follows a group of people hiding in a farmhouse from reanimated corpses seeking to eat them. While the greedy ghouls are not referred to as zombies, Night of the Living Dead gave rise to the zombie sub-genre of horror movies. Many auteurs, including John Carpenter and Edgar Wright, have named Romero as their zombie guru.

Romero followed up Night of the Living Dead with Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead (1985), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007) and Survival of the Dead (2009). There were also remakes including 1990s’ Night of the Living Dead , Dawn of the Dead (2004) and Day of the Dead (2008).

FILE - In this Sept. 9, 2009, file photo, director George Romero arrives for the screening of the film "Survival Of The Dead" at the 66th edition of the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy. Romero, whose classic "Night of the Living Dead" and other horror films turned zombie movies into social commentaries and who saw his flesh-devouring undead spawn countless imitators, remakes and homages, has died. He was 77. Romero died Sunday, July 16, 2017, following a battle with lung cancer, said his family in a statement provided by his manager Chris Roe. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)

Like humour, horror can be used as social commentary. Things that are taboo or our deepest, primeval fears are given expression in horror films. Romero was a past master in using undead hoards to make sharp statements on society.

Night of the Living Dead spoke of the end of the swinging 60s and the social tensions therein. Dawn of the Dead had survivors holed up in a mall, with the grisly ghouls milling about, prompting one of the characters to say maybe this was an important place for them. It is a damning indictment on mindless consumerism. The deeply-unsettling Day of the Dead looks at the military-medical combine and the loss of faith in the system.

Somewhere along the way, those who followed Romero, focussed on the gore, with the nuanced commentary getting drowned out in a splatter fest. This was not as bad as zombies swapping their underground lairs for the mainstream. Suddenly, the world was full of them — from video games to costume parties, from fund-raisers to dolls and comics, the undead were everywhere.

FILE - In this image released by AMC, zombies appear in a scene from the second season of the AMC original series, "The Walking Dead," in Senoia, Ga. The series’ fourth season premieres on Oct. 13. Crews have been filming the new episodes in Georgia, but they keep locations of future episodes closely-guarded secrets until the shows air. In Grantville, Ga., the town’s ruins were featured prominently last season. In nearby Senoia, many scenes are filmed in the historic downtown area, transforming into the fictional town of Woodbury for the show. (AP Photo/AMC, Gene Page) NO SALES

 

As Romero said in an interview to The Hollywood Reporter , “The remake of Dawn of the Dead made money. I think pretty big money. Then Zombieland made money, and then all of a sudden, along comes Brad Pitt and he spends $400 million to do World War Z . I thought the film was not at all representative of what the book was. My films, I’ve tried to put a message into them. I’m using this platform to be able to show my feelings of what I think.”

Brooks is one of those who have kept Romero’s flag flying. His The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z use zombies to comment on the state of the world. That he draws chillingly-accurate parallels while telling a gripping tale is a huge bonus. The Zombie Survival Guide (2003), for instance, is illustrated, indexed and full of succinct advice such as, “They feel no fear, why should you?” and “Use your head, cut off theirs.” Brooks’ zombies, like those in Night of the Living Dead , shamble along and are rather dumb, unlike the vicious runners in movies these days.

World War Z (2006), which followed The Zombie Survival Guide , is described as “An oral history of the zombie war,” where a UN worker records survivor accounts from around the globe — from snowy Tibet to Chile, India to Australia, apart from the length and breadth of America. The book, with its varied voices, from helicopter pilots to doctors, army grunts to submarine commanders, dog handlers to privileged entertainers, policy makers, profiteers and the church, makes for gripping reading. The book also bears practically no resemblance to the film, except for a few sentences spoken by the Israeli intelligence officer.

The movie starred Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former UN investigator going across the globe, not to record the voices of survivors, but because he is a movie star, to find a cure to the zombie apocalypse. The zombies move superfast and one turns into a zombie in 12 seconds after being bitten. While the book didn’t have a cure, Lane finds a chink in Mother Nature’s serial killer armour.