Important Information concerning the Vampire/Zombie Apocalypse
I first became aware of the important work being done by Dr. Hugo Pecos and the FVZA in an article on filmthreat.com in which he debunks the idea of zombie's learning to use tools and weapons (as seen in the latest Romero outing). I strongly suggest that you make your way to the FVZA website, and learn all you can about the extermination and avoidance of the various species of undead. Also, stock up on chainsaws and sledgehammers.
5 Comments:
Blame Bub the Zombie (Day of the Dead) for the utilization of tools, rather than Big Daddy in Land of the Dead.
Indeed. Although it seems to me that Romero has had the idea since the original version of Dawn of the Dead (the hunter zombie that swaps rifles with the guy escaping at the end of the movie. A pretty nice piece of forshadowing, if you ask me)
I actually loved the whole Big Daddy thing (just for the record, I loved Bub, too), but I did find myself wondering--how DID he get so smart? With Bub, you can chalk it all up to training and vestigal memory. But Big Daddy exhibits some pretty sophisticated behaviours; besides tool and weapon use and utilizing fire, he also shows that he is capable of empathy (for other zombies) and experimentation (walking into the water), not to mention the ability and desire to teach (trying to get his undead brethren to stop looking at the fireworks, showing the cheerleader how to aim the machine gun--man, I loved that cheerleader!)
Bear in mind, I'm not criticizing; I thought Big D was one of the most successful elements of the film. I like the idea of full-fledged zombie characters (as I said, I'm a big Bub fan). All that said, though, I still feel like there's an act missing somewhere in there. The act where we see the pre-zombie Big Daddy die a gentle death by natural causes (less body and brain trauma at death=a smarter zombie), just for instance.
In the end, its less the smarts and more the empathy that I wonder about. On one hand, it seems like a no-brainer; Romero zombies have always seemed to have a sort of low-grade psychic link to one another, which would make it make sense that they would, literally, feel one another's pain. And Bub seems pretty anguished when his mad doctor buddy gets fragged. But, again, with Bub, its all about training and imprinting and being given food. With Big Daddy, I want to know more.
"what's that?"
"Chainsaw gun."
"What's it do?"
"Shoots chainsaws."
"Does it work?"
"Well, we're kinda fucked if it don't..."
My sentiments exactly, Lubow.
The disease that makes people zombies.
Post a Comment
<< Home