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, and then attacks, killing the brother as the sister flees terrified, ending up at a gently decaying 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 our nightmares – the zombie. George A. Romero’s 1968 film would introduce a new style of zombie. This new ideal would spawn countless films, books, and paraphernalia, all based off Romero’s singular vision of a staggering, rotting, entrail-hungering reanimated corpse.

Before Night of the Living Dead would change the rules of zombie existence forever, America’s experience with zombies was mainly through the traditional voodoo-created zombi of Haiti; this zombi was a corpse that had been reanimated through a voodoo 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 the 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 zombi.

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, Zombies on Broadway, was introduced and failed miserably, leading to a decline of zombie films. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the zombie myth began to evolve into a 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 by many the worst movie ever made (Kay). The 1986 film Night of the Creeps is an homage to these types of zombie movies.

Everything changed in 1968 with George A. Romero. A group of friends, backed by investors, took approximately $100,000 and changed how we would view zombies forever. Romero, with John Russo, filmed Night of the Living Dead in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania area, in black and white and cast with unknowns. The movie transformed zombies from mindless puppets serving their bokor 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 movie provided 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 social commentary and horror had not been attempted much 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), written and directed by Amando de Ossorio, was one of the the first Romero-influenced films, providing a commentary on the Spanish political system. Death Dream (1974), directed by Bob Clark, provided 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, Umberto Lenzi, and Bruno Mattei. Fulci, showing an extreme influence from the Dead movies, created Zombi 2 (1979), an unofficial Italian sequel to Dawn of the Dead, which opens with a zombie inhabitated boat drifting into New York. Fulci would continue to make his Romero-inspired zombie movies well into the 1980s.

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 throughout the world. As the home video world expanded, so did filmmakers’ ability to make cheap movies with smaller budgets. The majority of zombie movies now produced were all of the Romero-style zombie, with the exception of the film Dead & Buried (1981), directed by Gary Sherman. 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 provided 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 later became a cult classic. The zombie began to spread into other media, and became 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), directed by Wes Craven. 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 and did justice to the original. Two other notables of the 90s were Dead Alive (1992), a New Zealand horror/comedy directed by Peter Jackson, and Cemetery Man (1994), a horror/comedy directed by Michael Soavi sometimes considered the last of Italian zombie cinema. Zombies made the crossover to children’s movies with Scooby Doo on Zombie Island (1998) featuring ‘live’ zombies. Zombies continued their expansion in to other media during the 90s. In 1993, the video game Zombies Ate My Neighbors was released, followed by House of the Dead(1997) and Resident Evil (1996) (Kay). Resident Evil spawned multiple sequels, DVDs continued to grow in popularity, and the zombies started a slow but steady 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 began in 2002, with five sequels by the year 2016. However, Dawn of the Dead’s 2004 remake, directed by Zack Snyder, was far removed from its original’s vision and style. Also in 2004, Shaun of the Dead was released, satirizing modern life similar to Dawn of the Dead (1978) with a lot more comedy mixed in with its horror. 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). Canada's horror/comedy 2006’s Fido, directed by Andrew Currie, would emulate the lead zombie from Day of the Dead, Bub. In 2009, Zombieland, directed by Ruben Fleischer and starring Woody Harrelson, skyrocketed the zombie into popular culture. The zombies’ popularity was growing so quickly that it could no longer be contained in just film and video games.

Outside the film industry, zombies were spreading like a highly contagious plague into popular novels, such as Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and Brian Keene’s excellent series: The Rising and City of the Dead. Comics had The Walking Dead, now a long-running 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. Horror conventions, zombie walks, anniversary festivals and more are all part of the widespread zombie infection. In Evans City, Pennsylvania - home to the cemetery from the original Night of the Living Dead - The Living Dead Museum welcomes visitors to discover the history of the zombie and twice yearly they hold The Living Dead Weekend conventions, once Evans City and once in the Monroeville Mall where Dawn of the Dead was filmed Like zombies so much you want to take them with you everywhere? There’s an app for that!

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 still stands, wobbling, as the terrifying face of horror. (Parker) The reasons for the reversal are somewhat unclear; after all, vampires are charming, elegant immortals that many want to become while zombies are decaying, walking corpses that everyone wants to avoid. But 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 these reasons or 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 likely have eventually faded out and vanished forever without him.

Resources

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