The Rise of the Undead

Abstract

Zomvies have become a major part of modern film, most people enjoy a good zombie movie because they get to experience the excitement of it without literally experience the horror of an actual apocalypse. George Romero's 1968 masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead was the modern film portrayal of zombies. Zombies were never seen before, the idea of a human losing their mind and eating other humans was a shock to the first viewers, and on top of that no one survived. This idea was completely new and unexpected to viewers at the time. Since then zombies have become quite normal. The age of zombies is upon us. Hundreds of zombie movies have been produced and distributed in the past forty years since the release of Night of the Living Dead, and many changes have been made to the way zombies are portrayed. Big Hollywood aren’t the only ones cranking out zombie movies left and right, many television shows star zombies, like AMC’s The Walking Dead, along with many indie films. Coombs article: Unraveling the undead focuses on those B and C rated zombie movies, like Zombieland, Zombie High and Zombie Honeymoon, just to name a few. This essay will outline not only the recent obsession of zombies in movies, but it will also identify and explain the evolution of zombies. From the slow walking, somewhat normal looking zombies seen in Night of the Living Dead, to the sprinting, decaying zombies we see today in films like World War Z and Cockneys vs Zombies.