Why are Zombies Popular?

The Walking Dead returns for its fourth season Sunday night, meaning zombies will once again crawl from their graves for our weekly entertainment. However, it’s hard to say that the living dead are returning — from video games such as The Last of Us to Brad Pitt’s summer blockbuster World War Z, zombies have been a fixture in pop culture for years. Despite the numerous groans from those protesting “another zombie movie,” the zombie media invasion shows very few signs of stopping.

But where did this cultural obsession with these rotting flesh-eaters come from?

Unlike vampires — which entered popular consciousness primarily through literary works such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula — zombies lack one singular origin in our modern culture. The living dead have existed in many cultures throughout the world in a variety of forms. One of the oldest surviving works of literature, the Sumerian poem The Epic of Gilgamesh, includes a goddess cursing the dead to rise and eat the living. However, there are many differences among these concepts of the undead, and there was no real zombie genre until the 20th century.

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Canadian Zombie Film ‘Bunks’ Zombified Disney XD

TORONTO, Oct. 7, 2013 /CNW Telbec/ – Disney XD braces itself for an unforgettable supernatural ex-fear-ience with the world premiere of the first-ever Disney XD Canadian original movie, Bunks. Debuting Sunday, October 27 at 8 p.m. ET, the action-packed, zombie comedy – or zom-edy – follows Dylan and Dane O’Reilly, troublemaking brothers who accidentally unleash a curse on their camp that brings every campfire story to life. Filmed in Winnipeg, Manitoba and Kenora, Ontario, Bunks is a not-so-typical coming of age story about brotherhood, leadership and the great outdoors.

Brothers Dylan (Dylan Schmid) and Dane (Aidan Shipley) are always getting into trouble, so when their parents decide to send them to military camp for the summer, they devise a plan to sneak into Camp Bushwhack, an idyllic island camp. Posing as camp counsellors, the brothers fumble through quintessential camping activities, leading a rag-tag cabin of 11-year-olds through canoe trips, dodgeball disasters and more. But, the real trouble begins when the mischievous pair accidentally awaken a curse that brings campfire stories to life and sets a massive zombie outbreak into motion. Now, instead of just faking it, Dylan and Dane must learn what it really means to be leaders, and team up with their campers to save Camp Bushwhack.

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Palm Beach County Man’s Determination on Zombie Films

— Gary Davis is under no illusions. He knows his zombie movies are bad.

Well, it’s not that they’re bad per se, but Davis, one of Palm Beach County‘s most well-known filmmakers (you can count them on your hand), is a movie man with little more than a camera, a lot of friends and a wooded backyard that makes a nice film set.

Despite the sparse resources, his latest TV series, “2057 Return to Zombie Island,” will premier at 4 p.m. Sept. 28 as paid programming on the CW in West Palm Beach, and he has screened his films in local theaters with red carpets and fanfare.

“I want to be known as the king of Z movies,” said Davis, 59, at his home among dense pines and trashed vehicles consumed by foliage. “Not B movies. Z movies.”

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Zombie Movie Month Coming Through

Last night, I watched a zombie movie. Tonight, I’m watching a zombie movie. Tomorrow night, and for the next 28 nights, I will be watching a zombie movie. This is not normal. Not for me. Not for anybody. But it’s what I’ve done every year for the past five years, and what I will do every year for the foreseeable future. Why? Because zombie movie marathon month, that’s why.

Okay, I know that’s not really a reason. How does “Because zombie movies are awesome!” sound? About the same, right? The truth is, there’s no deep, meaningful reason that I do this to myself every year beyond the fact that I did it once, I really enjoyed it, and I decided to make it a tradition. For me, being the slightly obsessive weirdo that I am, once you call it “tradition,” you don’t really have any choice — it’s just what you do.

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Zombie Parade on Massachusetts Streets

Peppy cheerleaders, elaborate floats, eager college students and bloody zombies marched down Massachusetts Street Thursday night as the Kansas University homecoming parade and the seventh annual Lawrence Zombie Walk brought a unique mix of Jayhawk and Lawrence pride to downtown.

While the KU marching band was kicking off the parade with the Jayhawk fight song at 6 p.m., more than 1,000 zombies of all ages were dancing to eerie Halloween music in South Park, preparing for their own sidewalk parade at 7 p.m. The homecoming parade’s theme was “Jayhawks around the world,” but as the evening went on, the underworld came out, as well.

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Preview to ‘Walking Dead’ Webisodes

“The Walking Dead” returns in less than two weeks, and AMC is ramping up viewer appetite with webisodes and a new trailer.

The fourth season of the hit zombie survival series is to debut Oct. 13, but fans who can’t wait for the gory showdown to begin can check out this year’s three-webisode series, titled “The Oath” and directed by “Walking Dead” executive producer and makeup wizard Greg Nicotero. Nicotero also directed the webisodes preceding Seasons 2 and 3.

This year’s webisodes, set in other parts of “The Walking Dead” world, tell short stories about survivors Karina (Ashley Bell) and Paul (Wyatt Russell) as they desperately seek medical aid after a zombie attack. They eventually find a doctor (Ellen Greene), whose motives may be questionable.

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John Landis Discusses Zombie Popularity

It’s no secret that the biggest trend in horror movies over the last several years, even extending into TV and video games, is the zombie phenomenon. From “Shaun of the Dead” and “Zombieland” to “The Walking Dead” and even the “Left 4 Dead” game series, it’s hard to open your eyes without being catching a peek at something zombie-related. Director John Landis, the man behind the legendary horror movie “An American Werewolf in London,” has a theory about it.

While appearing at Universal Studios Orlando to debut his “An American Werewolf in London” maze as part of the annual Halloween Horror Nights, Landis shared his opinion on the rise of the the genre’s popularity. “All horror films are metaphors, so what is a zombie exactly?” he wonders. “They always talk about the zombie apocalypse, it’s a disease. Nobody talks about voodoo anymore, it’s all radiation or from the government.”

 

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