Romero zombie question

[Scottie]

Hello all,

I have a pressing question that I cannot fully answer. A friend of mine needs to put together a quiz on zombies, and she needs to clarify some things that deal with the time around George Romero's zombies:

1. What sets George Romero's zombie movies apart from the zombie movies before them? I'm talking about Night of the Living Dead (1968). Is there a new breed of zombies he introduces to the world with this movie, or does it have to do with a new style of filmmaking?

2. What did zombies typically do before Romero's films? Were they flesh eaters, or is this another Romero original? Were they as gory and bloody as Romero's films?

3. How did zombies come into existence before Romero? Was it radiation, a vodoo curse, the undead, or a virus?

4. Finally, the big one, why did Romero zombies become so popular? It's true that zombie movies did exist before his, but it wasn't until his time that they became a part of our popular culture. Why is this?

Thanks to everyone. I feel this is an important question in zombie lore. All and any help will be appreciated.

-Scott

[Menard]

Now it would take quite a movie buff to fully answer your questions with validity. I am not such a person, but I will give some input as far as I know it to be the case.

Romero's Night of the Living Dead put the cannibalistic zombie on the map. I do not know right off if it was the first to feature cannibalistic zombies, but it was probably the most graphic film to feature such.

The zombie film since Romero has struck quite a nerve with a similar crowd as the one which has always been fascinated with vampire films. Somehow people become almost rabid about certain taboo subjects, such as cannibalism, whether they want to admit it or not.

Before Romero's NOTLD, zombies were often the minions of an evil mind, such as those in White Zombie. In that film, they were at the control of Murder Lengendre using his knowledge of Voodoo and a suggestion of a drug which initiated the state.

Other films, such as The Zombies of Mora Tau, also put the zombies at the control of an individual, or individuals, for their own gain or purpose of revenge.

Even within vampire films we see a central figure responsible for the events which have transpired.

Romero's zombies, aside from being cannibalistic, were not at the control of anybody, as directly posited within the film; although the social implications of a representation of control of the masses could certainly be analyzed within the context of the film. At the time of NOTLD, the late 60's, hedonistic ideologies were on the rise, and a film like NOTLD touched on the element of the individual against much stonger and single-minded masses.

Romero's biggest contributors to his film's rise in popularity were also his biggest copiers. Many European filmmakers picked up on the zombie film and begam their own versions which, directly and indirectly, contibuted again to the popularity of Romero's NOTLD. Romero's own Dawn of the Dead was copied even more and contributed to the further popularity of both films.

What some may have considered a mistake, from a financial perspective, on the part of Romero and Russo, was letting the film fall into public domain (around 1983?). This became quite a brilliant stroke as the availability of the film on the newly popular VHS and Beta formats skyrocketed the popularity of NOTLD and some of Romero's other films, not withstanding the even further popularity of Dawn of the Dead and other zombie movies which were making a killing (no pun intended) at the time in runs and reruns at drive-ins and theatres.

These are just a few thoughts. I certainly do not have a direct answers to all of your questions.

[Dunners]

Methinks Menard covered everything.

Zombies prior were nothing but mindless slaves of some mastermind, Romeros were mindless mobs that would tear someone apart as oppossed to strangling them or capturing them and bring them back to their master

As for how they became, it was very heavily implied in NOTLD 68 that it was foreign radiation(No, not chinese radiation, but radiation from outer space) that somehow re-animated the dead.

one doing so the dead carry some kind of infectious parasite or plague. the plague carrying dead was and still is quite a revolutionary idea.

[Ash]

Romero pokes fun at the American consumer culture.
Like he did in Dawn of the Dead.
I don't believe any other director did that before him.

[Mofo Rising]

Menard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Now it would take quite a movie buff to fully
> answer your questions with validity. I am not such
> a person, but I will give some input as far as I
> know it to be the case.
>

Which is why you proceeded to answer the question with an in-depth analysis and a thorough knowledge of b-movies.  Don't sell yourself short, flaunt your movie knowledge!  (Okay, you may want to keep your knowledge of zombie movies to yourself in some social situations.  Okay, make that most social situations.)

There's a pretty neat documentary called The American Nightmare which examines horror movies of the 1960's and 70's, as well as their social context.  They talk to most of the horror movie directors of the time, and it has music by Godspeed You Black Emperor.  I recommend checking it out.

[Menard]

Mofo Rising Wrote:

>(Okay, you may want to keep your knowledge of zombie movies to yourself in some social situations. Okay, make that most social situations.)



Hmmm...that might explain my lack of social situations. (:


Is it my imagination, or did the 'quote' button disappear?

[dean]

Menard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is it my imagination, or did the 'quote' button
> disappear?

Nope it's still around.  Or you could just go 'old school' and cut and paste [but why bother really]

As for American Nightmare, I just got myself a copy on dvd, but have yet to watch it: it looks interesting though.

And Menard's analysis sounds pretty good.

Here's some somewhat interesting articles/short pieces on Romero and his zombies.  I'm not sure if some will work though [I needed to log into uni to get access to some, so they may not work]

Great Romero and NOTLD Article (just what you want I think)


Interesting Dawn of the Dead [2004] Review which talks about Romero's original version as well and compares the two.

An article on the distribution of Night of the Living Dead:  This one also talks about the Race issue in NOTLD and other interesting facts

Terror and Everyday Life: Haven't read it through properly but it looks like a promising discussion of horror movies.  There is a section [apparently] on Romero, but I haven't found it yet.

Eating 'Dawn' in the Dark: Zombie desire and commodified identity in George A. Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead'



If there is trouble with the links, let me know [I could maybe copy them into Word, or something and email it to you.]  But the best one for what you seem to be after is the first one.


*** I just rechecked the links and the last three you need to be logged in/password.  I'll leave them up just in case someone can use them/look up the titles and find it on their own, I just thought I should mention it...

[Menard]

Thanks for pointing that out. After looking around, I finally noticed the 'Quote This Message' option, just in quite a different location. I'll get used to it, eventually. (:

[Mr_Vindictive]

Scottie Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hello all,
>
> I have a pressing question that I cannot fully
> answer. A friend of mine needs to put together a
> quiz on zombies, and she needs to clarify some
> things that deal with the time around George
> Romero's zombies:
>
> 1. What sets George Romero's zombie movies apart
> from the zombie movies before them? I'm talking
> about Night of the Living Dead (1968). Is there a
> new breed of zombies he introduces to the world
> with this movie, or does it have to do with a new
> style of filmmaking?

Romero did introduce a whole new breed of zombie.  Actually if you watch NOTLD closely, you'll see (or hear rather) that none of the characters ever use the word "zombie".  To Romero, the creatures were just "ghouls" and he never really thought of them as being zombies until well after the film was released.  


> 2. What did zombies typically do before Romero's
> films? Were they flesh eaters, or is this another
> Romero original? Were they as gory and bloody as
> Romero's films?


As others have said, zombies before Romero were pretty much just mindless slaves.  They were at the will of their creator, and did their master's bidding.  I rather like Romero's dead more than the traditional zombie.

Traditional zombies weren't really flesh eaters.  They were killers, to be sure, but not in the same way that Romero invisioned.  If you watch some of the older zombie films, you'll notice that they really liked to strangle people.  I can't even begin to explain how many B&W zombie films I've seen where the zombie strangles his prey.  Keep in mind though that the Romero changed his own "zombie rules" a bit after NOTLD.  In the original, the zombies/ghouls were not just flesh eaters.  There are scenes of them eating bugs off of trees and such.  I think they just wanted to eat something that was alive, not just human flesh.

Romero's NOTLD really did something for cinema, and it's never been the same since.  It was violent.  I mean, really really violent, especially considering the era in which it was made.  Earlier zombie films had no/little blood in them, but Romero wanted to make something darker, sicker.  Cinema has been better for it.


> 3. How did zombies come into existence before
> Romero? Was it radiation, a vodoo curse, the
> undead, or a virus?

Before Romero, most zombie films had the creatures being created via Voodoo or some other type of magic.  The radiation/contamination cause of reanimation (I rhymed!) didn't show up until the 60s with the environmental concerns and such.


> 4. Finally, the big one, why did Romero zombies
> become so popular? It's true that zombie movies
> did exist before his, but it wasn't until his time
> that they became a part of our popular culture.
> Why is this?

Why did they become so popular?  Well, the traditional zombies usually were reanimated in a jungle or on an island.  They were usually someone from a tribe that has been brought back from the dead to terrorize the "white people".  Romero's zombies hit the viewer hard because the undead were us.  It wasn't someone we didn't know that was trying to eat us, it was our own family members, our friends, co-workers.  Romero's zombies were people you'd see every day.  Just imagine how frightening NOTLD must have been to the audience at the time.  They'd never seen anything like it.  Just imagine the reaction the audience must have had when Johnny shows up at the farm, trying to eat Barbara towards the end of NOTLD.  It was like nothing that had ever existed before it, and because of that, it has become a huge part of pop culture.  

> Thanks to everyone. I feel this is an important
> question in zombie lore. All and any help will be
> appreciated.
>
> -Scott



If you can't tell, I'm a huge fan of Romero's films and actually did a couple of papers about the guy in college.  I hope I answered your questions, and if you have any more then feel free to post them.

[odinn7]

"Just imagine the reaction the audience must have had when Johnny shows up at the farm, trying to eat Barbara towards the end of NOTLD."

Oh great, thanks alot. Now you've ruined it for me.


*edit- corected mi stoopid speling misteaks*

[Mr_Vindictive]

Odinn,

Trust me.  If you haven't seen NOTLD by now, then you shouldn't be on this board.

;)

[odinn7]

I suppose you'll now tell me that the guy dies at the end too...and not at the hands of the zombies. Geez, I was gonna watch that tonight but now I have no need to since you've ruined it for me.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Actually Odinn, you are incorrect about the ending.

Ben wakes up at the end of the film, and it was all a dream.  In the bed beside him is Barbara his wife.  In walks Tom and Judy, their children.  They go outside, and are greeted by sunshine.  They take a walk, then they have a picnick in a park full of beautiful dasies.


Roll credits.

[odinn7]

Wow, that's way different than I had expected. Perhaps I will watch it anyway. I hope it's not too scary for me.

[Mofo Rising]

Menard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Is it my imagination, or did the 'quote' button
> disappear?

No, it's under the message but not near the box where you type in your response.  My question: What happened to the "help" button?