Film of zombis

The films of zombis are a category of films of horror which are characterized by the presence of Zombi S, human corpses ressuscities via a magic, religious practice even scientific. One also compares to this kind of the films which introduce private enemies of their understanding and behaving in fact like animals (example: 28 Days later ) or of the puppets (example: the Invasion of the profaners of burials ). Sometimes reduced in slavery ( Vaudou of Jacques Tourneur), generally wandering randomly in the search of preys ( Zombie of George A. Romero), these zombis trains more dangereous enemies because of their number and their immortality that by their intelligence or their capacities. They constitute a cinematographic Genre today exploited by many realizers.

History

Historically, the first film of the kind was White Zombie (Victor Halperin, 1932), film in which the zombis are beings under the influence of a lord malefic, corresponding to their definition in mythology Vaudou. It will be necessary to await Vaudou realized by Jacques Tourneur in 1943 so that the zombis have a clean mobility, although they remain beings mûs only by their primary education instincts.

The film marking a revival of the kind is without any doubt the Night of death-alive the ( Night off the Living Dead , George A. Romero, 1968); however very badly accommodated by criticism at its exit: indeed, the film is violent, pessimistic, it comprises even scenes of cannibalism. It shocks puritan America which hardly leaves thirty years of cinematographic censure imposed by the Code Hays.

The film entitled the Night of death-alive the is followed of Zombie ( Dawn off the Dead in original version, 1978), of the Jour of death-alive the ( Day off the Dead , 1985) then finally of Territoire of dead the ( Land off the Dead , 2005), films with which the scenario writer George A. Romero fixes the rules of the kind that the majority of its successors respect, sour social criticism in less.

Other realizers will encase the step with George Romero, like Lucio Fulci ( the Hell of the zombies , Zombi 2 , 1979) and daN O' Bannon ( the Return of death-alive the , The Return off the Living Dead , 1985), as well as others more or less popular.

One of the recurring quotations of films of zombis is: “When there is no more place in hell, deaths come on the Earth” (“When there is No more room in Hell, the dead walk the Earth”). This quotation is probably inspired by the Epopee of Gilgamesh (seventh tablettemauvaise translation of English by Governed B. -->):

I will go in the lower world and I will break its carry!
I will place those of from top to bottom!
the doors will remain open and deaths will leave,
They will eat any food,
Then deaths will exceed alive of the number!

It is also and especially a counterpart of the main character of the Zombie of George A. Romero.

The zombis form part of the monsters " today; classiques" the imaginary one; their retro side made icons of the pop culture of them

One can note that with 28 Days later ( 28 Days Later , Danny Boyle, 2002) and the Army of dead the ( Dawn off the Dead , Zack Snyder, 2004) the films of zombis underwent a modernization tending towards the acceleration of the scenes of action, since in these two films the zombis have new qualities: a speed, a more developed intelligence and a spirit marked by the human life (especially present in Resident Evil) Rules suitable for the kind The films of zombis thus quickly were essential rules; one could believe that these rules confer a certain rigidity on the kind, and they would not be false, for example from the point of view of the Scénario, which remains the same one always more or less. But these are the same rules which, paradoxically, also provide him all its freedom: the film of zombis being really attached to any the great kinds (thriller, ventures, horror, comedy…), that gives him the right to pervert all the rules which are associated for them. No the Happy end ing, not of clear scission well/badly, not of heroic character, not of obliged lovesong… Moreover, coincidence is astonishing: the Code Hays, kind of parking code of conduct of morals in the films produced by Hollywood from between two wars was abandoned in 1967. And the Night of death-alive the , the stone founder of film of zombis, was carried out in… 1967, just before the Motion Picture Association off America does not set up its new code, more permissive. America left thirty long years of cinema during which morals had always triumphed at the end over films, no hero had never been “of color” and during which the best way of filming a scene of sex was to film a train entering a tunnel. When one knows the true nature of the rules imposed by the Hays code on the Hollywoodien cinema, one can think the reaction of the American public at the exit of the Night of death-alive the , film containing of the scenes of Cannibalisme or Parricide.

Rules of film of zombis

Once again, the rules of film of zombis are not only made like constraints, but rather of the reference marks for the spectator. Because apart from these some rules, the realizer can be authorized all and anything.

a zombi is a dead human being then life income. It is pushed by its primary education instinct: hunger. It is not capable any more of any intelligent thought, it does not have anything any more human if it is not appearance (and still…). (It should be noted that Danny Boyle made exception with " 28 Days later ". The zombis are not deaths but the alive ones not contaminated by a kind of " rage". A virus released by ecologists who wanted to save monkeys being used as guinea-pig with this " mal".)
the “zombism” is contagious: in general, a bite is enough to transmit it, either immediately, or in the hours which follow. There is no possible cure and no matter who can be contaminated, this is why one fears very quickly a world and total propagation, a kind of day of the last judgment.
the starting event which starts the epidemic is anecdotic, most of the time it really is not even explained.
the zombis move very slowly, in an almost ridiculous way, except notable for the Army of dead the (2004) and 28 Days later which truly gave again a breath with the kind while making run the zombis. It will be noted that in the Return of death-alive the the zombis also run, but it is more one parodic effect which a pure scenaristic intention.
the films of zombis, and a general way the Films of horror, are high films colors. One finds there of all: Horror, Suspense, Humor, Romanticism and Tragic . It is certainly this patchwork of various kinds which makes films of zombis also not very credible to the first access; a little like films Bollywood in fact…
In a film zombis, the word " zombi" is never marked (except Brain Dead ).

Recurring scenes

There exist typical scenes which one can find in several films of zombis:

One of the characters commits suicide after being bitten, not to become “one of them”;
the characters fall to court from ammunition;
One of the characters is bitten by a zombi but is not solved to acknowledge it with his/her companions. A little later it changes and attacks them by surprise;
One of the protagonists is made bite, but nobody is solved to cut down it, all more or less hoping to find a remedy for the evil. Of course, that Ci does not exist, and the former fellow-member becomes a zombi;
Often, the former fellow-member become zombi bites human more the " vachard" , namely that who betrayed his fellow-members, or who collaborates the least possible;
the scene of evisceration is traditional films of zombis. One of the characters being made étriper and to eat its intestines by a horde of walkers before becoming one of them, all that under the glance of his/her impotent companions. One of the most famous scenes remaining that of the evisceration of the insane soldier of Day off the dead .

Distribution of space

It is something which is striking: one can divide the space occupied by the characters of a film of zombis into three concentric zones. Let us enumerate here, outside towards the interior:

the zone H , for “Hope” (hope): it is the goal to reach for the characters, the security zone. Once the protagonists will have reached it, all will be well. It in general represents the civilized world, still not contaminated by the plague. Example: the outside of the Hive (Hive) in Resident Evil .
the zone C , for “Crowded” (encumbered): the problem, it is that to reach the zone H, the sympathetic zone, it is necessary to pass by the zone C, the zone not sympathetic and who grouille of zombis. Example: the street, outside, in the Army of dead the . The characters try to cross it by truck, with the success which one knows. It is besides what makes the zombis dangerous: they move per packages of one hundred. At the beginning of film the zone C densément is relatively little densément populated and it fills little by little, until it overflows on…
the zone S , for “Safe” (sure): it is a zone which the characters try to preserve at all prices, it is oppressed on all sides by the zone C, which has an annoying tendency to test phagocyter. Example: the house in which occurs most of the action in the Night of death-alive the and Evil Dead , or the tower of the " territory of the morts". The zombis try to pass through its walls, pass the arms inside while the characters make an effort towards and against all to barricade it. When a zombi manages to penetrate this zone, it is the drama. And that frequently arrives since it is in general enough to be slightly made bite to transform itself into zombi.

Characters

The characters of films of zombis are not built same manner as the characters of traditional action films. Very often, the character of a film character definite compared to one is lived, a past, or a profession. The characters of films of zombis do not have past, or very little. One does not know large-thing of them, of their public life and private. Their profession is seldom important. Barbara, the heroin of the Night of death-alive the , does not say anything on her past. Shaun, in Shaun off the Dead (Edgar Wright, 2005) is salesman of electric household appliances, but its acts are absolutely not justified by its profession, this one is used only for us to depict it like somebody who with the practice to be dominated, a loser, a large naze. Exception, which one can say that it confirms the rule, is the role of the police officer in the Army of dead the . In this case, the police officer represents the small island of civilization, order and reason to which the characters can stick. The policeman an essential character in films of zombis.

the rules of film of zombi , are also related to social criticism, even raw or menacing:

1- Quickly, a group is formed and isolated against this aggression immanente or remanent from the thing zombi which it does not include/understand, except one of between-them, at least.

2- This insulation creates a social microcosm, that the realizer exploits with force of these convictions political or different, knowing that the characters or roles, are recurring:

- the authority is the sheriff, the soldier or the watchman (of the supermarket); it are engoncés in a role precisely antimilitarist, because their pious vows of order no matter what costs some, never acted in the direction of the survival of the group.

- the weakness always choît: maybe with " the village idiot " (reduced mentally) or the expectant mother (fragile physically), which will not die of continuation, because each time one endangers them, this one is multiplied by ten by the emphatie of the spectator, one deals with scenaristic string here.

- the knowledge of the situation, remains the load of the hero who becomes it only with semi-course; before it is not very eloquent and in withdrawal, then becomes the keystone of the system of survival.

- the representative of the ethnic minority, being able this to confuse with the preceding profile, starts from a low socioprofessional situation, towards the recognition of the group for his human or technical qualities.

- the couard of the group is in general a representative of the political apparatus: mayor, fortunate man, guru of sect, which loses the control of the others, by cowardice or hit and run offense, often covered of a mortal failure.

knowing that:

- when several ethnic minorities are present, - on the American model the latinos dies of its machism, the Asian one of its proselytism, only the former slave " noir" repurchase its social position by the gift of oneself, or the demonstration of a patriotism than exacerbated more.

- the expectant mother, is a protective enclosure, because it carries the life, the continuity and the possible humanity of a survival, but it is also the fault, by obnubilation of the group to its regard, or the cowardice of his/her companion, who then will die of his perfidy.

3- The mechanism remain traditional:

- the treaties die only after their discharges, to check in Asian films of zombis…

- the zombis return us to our original animality, the hunger justifies T it the means?

- how to make if the hostile ground becomes the world, to survive, aspire to, or embrigader, to perhaps remain the same one, and even?! such are the remarks…

4- Zombis are they potential patients or unhealthy carriers?

it bitten, is this becomes corrosive a fatalistic sign, or the need for regressed, specific to any age in the life of each one?

- is the hyperphagie a disease which one looks after, or the last of the plagues that god inflicts to us?

- the zombi, not necrophagous, is the last barrier before virtual of ours lupus hidden? -->

Bonds

External bonds

the testimony of a film critic at the time of the exit of the Night of death-alive the : in English
Complete records of Krinein magazine on deaths alive with the cinema: * Set of themes page on Zombies on Psychovision.net

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