#handling the undead movie review

[tinyreviews]

Tiny Review: Handling The Dead 2024. Super dull.

It feels like a thin cross between Skinnamarink and Manchester By The Sea. Definitely not a zombie movie. Nor horror. Nor a drama.  

Very niche. No story at all. Just an unresolved premise.

Handling the Undead is a 2024 Norwegian horror mystery film, directed by Thea Hvistendahl from a screenplay by Hvistendahl and John Ajvide Lindqvist, based upon the novel of the same name by Lindqvist. It stars Renate Reinsve, Bjørn Sundquist, Bente Børsum, Anders Danielsen Lie, Bahar Pars and Inesa Dauksta.

[fearsmagazine]

HANDLING THE UNDEAD - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: NEON

SYNOPSIS: In the sweltering heat of a summer in Oslo, the deceased unexpectedly awaken, plunging three families into disarray as their beloved departed ones return. Questions arise about their identities and intentions. One family grapples with the resurrection of their mother, a sudden revival before they had the chance to grieve her tragic passing in a car accident. On the same day she buries her soulmate, an elderly woman is reunited with the love of her life. In a desperate attempt to alleviate his daughter’s depression, a grandfather rescues his grandchild from the clutches of the grave.

REVIEW: John Ajvide Lindqvist's literary career took off with the publication of his debut novel, "Let the Right One In," in Sweden in 2004. This acclaimed work was later adapted into a film with the same title, released in 2008. In 2010, an American remake of the film was produced, followed by an American television series that premiered on Showtime in 2022.

John Ajvide Lindqvist's second novel, "Handling the Undead," was released in 2005, followed by a short story collection in 2006 entitled "Let the Old Dreams Die." One of the tales in this collection was set in the same universe as “Let the Right One In” and one in “Handling the Undead.”

As a fervent admirer of the film "Let the Right One In," I was immediately drawn to the novel when an English translation became available. When I learned that English translations of "Handling the Undead" and "Let the Old Dreams Die" were released in the United Kingdom, I promptly acquired my personal editions.

As someone who grew up on the George Romero zombie canon and its subsequent impact on the genre, I found John Ajvide Lindqvist's take on the subject to be both engaging and refreshing. The narrative was primarily driven by the experiences of various families and the government's response to the unfolding crisis. He crafted a new contemporary metaphor in relation to what the undead represent to social structures and family dynamics.

The film's narrative is significantly less substantive from the novel, focusing more on the reactions of three families to the reanimation of their deceased loved ones. The cause of the undead rising is altered, and much of the dialogue and character development is simplified. The first 8 ½ minutes of the film features no spoken dialogue, except for musical lyrics, and little throughout the entirety of the film. A key element of the novel is the silent return of the dead to specific locations, presented in various states of decay. The film briefly explores the living coming to terms with the undead, their actions and little else. While the novel's events span several weeks, the film portrays them as occurring over a couple of days. Having read the novel, I noticed significant omissions in the adaptation that diminished its impact. Certain changes made to the storyline were a disservice to the novel and, consequently, weakened the film's overall effect. By the end of the film, the living characters appear as lifeless as the undead.

The film primarily relies on ambience created by masterful cinematography, sound design, and score. It employs a dark, cold visual style with a limited color palette. Tight framing dominates, except for a few wide shots that showcase the cemetery and hospital after the undead arrive. The film features few costume changes, which contributes to its lack of sense of passing time. The score is sparingly used and is often integrated with the sound design. I found the makeup design for the undead particularly impressive, as it achieves a realistic and organic look. The editing instills energy into the film, maintaining viewer engagement throughout its 97-minute runtime.

The cast was remarkable, conveying emotions primarily through facial expressions and body language due to limited dialogue. Bahar Pars, a talented actress, delivers a memorable scene toward the film's end, leaving a lasting impact with its intensity. Dennis Østby Ruud, a promising young actor, shines in his performance, as do the actresses portraying the elderly couple. Despite the limited material provided, the entire cast showcased their abilities admirably.

In her feature film debut, HANDLING THE UNDEAD, director Thea Hvistendahl presents a meditative exploration of grief and loss, capturing the impossible desire to turn the past into the present. The film immerses us in a profound sense of sorrow right from the start, and by the end, leaves a lingering feeling of hopelessness. While the film attempts to convey the emotional weight of the story, it falls short in comparison to John Ajvide Lindqvist's original novel. The film lacks depth in terms of character development and emotional range, making it difficult to fully appreciate the author's achievements in the novel. Despite its limitations, the film may still pique your curiosity, leading you to seek out Lindqvist's compelling and complex novel.

CAST: Renate Reinsve, Anders Danielsen Lie, Bjørn Sundquis, Bente Børsum, Bahar Pars, Dennis Østby Ruud, & Inesa Dauksta. CREW: Director/Screenplay - Thea Hvistendahl; Screenplay - John Ajvide Lindqvist; Based on the novel of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist; Producers - Kristin Emblem & Guri Neby; Cinematographer - Pål Ulvik Rokseth; Score - Peter Raeburn; Editors - Trude Lirhus & Thomas Grotmol; Production Designer - Linda Janson; Costume Designer - Bente Ulvik; Sound Designers - Bent Holm, Andreas Franck, & Nils Viken; Make-up Effect Designer - Morten Jacobsen; VFX Supervisor - Otto Thorbjørnsen; SFX - Fiksern / Christopher Munthe. OFFICIAL: neonrated.com/films/handling-the-undead FACEBOOK: N.A. TWITTER: N.A. TRAILER: https://youtu.be/GFP8HtM8JTo?si=AO4gfwWZGXCjhQd- RELEASE DATE: Exclusively IFC Center NY May 31st & select cities June 7th, 2024.

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay), or 👎 (Dislike)

Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

[kacic1]

A todos, boa noite! E hoje a noite é de arrepiar.

Hoje convido vocês a visitarem Os Filmes do Kacic, para conferir minha nova crítica sobre este intrigante horror estrelado por Renate Reinsve (A Pior Pessoa do Mundo), um dos destaques do Festival de Sundance deste ano, que discorre de maneira única sobre a temática dos zumbis. Imperdível para os fãs do gênero!

Crítica: DESCANSE EM PAZ (HANDLING THE UNDEAD) | 2024

[fleshengine]

So I watched Handling the Undead with my roomy and huh. I have no idea how to talk about it. It’s billed as a horror mystery film but it just isn’t. It’s not horrific. There’s horror elements, but that’s so not the focus. If I had to pin down something about it I’d say it’s a rumination on death, loss, and grief and there's zombies. I imagine it'd hit harder for someone who's had family members or people they care about die. I haven't, closest I've got is my mom flatlining on the table and then coming back when I practically a baby, and my grandad in the hospital just a few months ago. As it stands, it still hits hard and I nearly cried a couple times. So it's in the same vein of "zombie movie that makes you cry" as Cargo.

Overall, 9/10 the lighting, cinematography, acting and writing were all near perfect. There were a couple minor details that seemed sub par to me, but like… the movie is good.

[anhed-nia]

IN A VIOLENT NATURE

This weekend I managed to catch two movies that are uh, you know, modern deconstructions of old horror tropes, and I found that I liked the cheaper, dirtier, less obviously "classy" one a lot more. Thea Hvistendahl's adaptation of John Ajvide Lindqvist's (LET THE RIGHT ONE IN) novel Handling the Undead leans hard on grief, trauma, and family drama in a story set during a zombie plague; unfortunately the zombie subgenre has been rife with grief, trauma, and family drama since around 1968, and as Hvistendahl's movie seems rather unintrigued with its own outlandish premise, the whole thing feels like a foregone conclusion at best, and a gimmick at worst. (This movie is only just out but I'm bracing myself for the reviews that will call it a fresh and sophisticated take on a lowbrow stereotype, and I am begging the world to stop saying that "elevated horror" is a new and novel phenomena, it is certainly neither of those things. Ahem) Meanwhile Chris Nash, a Canadian FX guy, has made his feature debut using a very gimmicky-sounding premise: IN A VIOLENT NATURE is a FRIDAY THE 13TH clone that follows the perspective of the marauding slasher instead of the final girl and her unfortunate friends. What could easily be a one-note, one trick pony is instead an unusual and oddly beguiling daydream that, in spite of its aesthetic focus, manages to make the primitive films it riffs on feel more plausible than usual.

IN A VIOLENT NATURE concerns "Johnny", a familiar-sounding "slow kid" who was killed during a cruel prank and who now stalks the forest as a vengeful zombie. (It has always felt awkward to call Jason Voorhees a zombie, maybe because "zombie" implies something anonymous and impersonal, but for the sake of conversation...) When a gaggle of horny, drug-doing campers witlessly steal Johnny's beloved mother's sweater locket, he tears them apart one by one in search of the precious artifact. We watch over Johnny's hulking shoulders as he plods from one victim to the next, and the effect is often mesmerizing. The film's lack of a musical score seems like a perverse gesture at first, but it's wiser than it may initially appear. The purpose of slasher movie music is usually to convey unto the viewer the hero's or victims' feelings of terror. FRIDAY THE 13TH is the worst day of Alice's life, and the music tells you this--but the protagonist of IN A VIOLENT NATURE is the killer, and for him it's just Tuesday. It would be too much to say that the film is exactly sympathetic to Johnny, but the naturalistic presentation of his misadventure creates a far different emotional atmosphere than what the viewer is accustomed to.

What's really unusual about this film is not just that it is shot from the reverse angle--identifying us with the killer's experience in an amusing realization of exactly what Mary Whitehouse and Roger Ebert were afraid of--but that it otherwise sticks to the traditional slasher movie tropes so faithfully. One finds no pompous "elevated horror" ambitions here, only the familiar narrative cliches, "bad acting", and absurdly elaborate kills. And this is all a good thing! If the filmmaker had decided to just defy all of the usual expectations...well, let's just say that the approach of "doing the opposite" creates its own kind of predictability, and at worst it can become pointlessly contrary and contemptuous of the material to which a movie is supposedly paying homage. Instead of trying to prove that he is better than his roots, Chris Nash honors the high artificiality of the prototypical slasher film while at the same time injecting it with a disarming naturalness. The result is often fascinating.

With all that said, don't expect perfection. The experiment here is ultimately very simple, and though the film is not long it does tend to overstay its welcome, particularly when it breaks its own rules and follows the final girl's perspective just to get the story across the finish line. However, IN A VIOLENT NATURE is so playful and earnest that it's hard not to like--proving once again that being interesting is often better than being great.

[vampireclown82]

check out my newest blog entry containing reviews of In a Violent Nature, The Watchers, and Handling the Undead, plus ratings only for 3 other movies and 1 TV series...

#blogger #ilikemoobies #filmreviews #filmratings #inaviolentnature #shudder #thewatchers #ishananightshyamalan #mnightshyamalan #amshine #handlingtheundead #johnajvidelindqvist #enjoy #ornot

[dunwichhoarder]

Book Review: Island of the Dead

Brian Keene knows a few things about zombies, and this novel didn’t disappoint. It’s like if Robert E. Howard had a George Romero movie marathon and decided to drop Conan the Cimmerian on an island filled with hordes of giant insects and ravenous undead. It’s a quick and fun sword-and-sorcery adventure.

The main character, Einar, is a badass straight out of the pulps. He's strong and grim, but with just enough humor to keep him from being a Terminator.

I wish the book had been longer because I want more time in this world. Thankfully, he seems to be planning a sequel.

As a bonus, it will annoy a certain breed of asshole who likes to complain about “woke” this and “woke” that in storytelling. Really? You can handle the idea of reanimated corpses feasting on the living but queer representation hurts your brain?

[moviesglam]

‘Handling the Undead’ Review: This Emotional Zombie Horror Movie Isn’t as Unique as It Thinks | Sundance 2024

[ecsundance]

Back in Florida, having had time to thaw out from our time in Utah, it is time to recollect on my 2024 Sundance experience. This was my second Sundance but it was my first time being able to go in person since the 2022 Sundance was virtual. While that was an unique experience with the virtual spaceship and karaoke, it was a much different experience being there in real life with face to face interactions with other festival attendees. In Michael Newland’s book Indie: An American Film Culture he says “The discourse of independent cinema moves through various institutional channels to form a set of common conceptual frames shared among filmmakers and support personnel, distributors and marketers, cultural gatekeepers such as film festival programmers, tastemakers including journalists and scholars, and many ordinary filmgoers. This makes a community of the different persons and groups for whom indie is a meaningful concept; they form this community around their investment in ideas of what indie is and is not.” I think this best describes how it feels to be at Sundance. Everyone there has either already seen what you have or is about to. This allows you to connect with different people in the lines with you or on the same shuttle. In my review of Sundance from 2022, I talked about how virtual screenings are here to say and that if Sundance couldn’t accept that, they would be left behind. I am glad to say that they heed my warnings because while they did promote in  person screenings by not having certain films be available, they still offered online screenings for many films and all of the shorts.

Justin’s Sundance Screenings:

Feature Films:

Freaky Tales

A Different Man

Kidnapping Inc.

I Saw the TV Glow

Ponyboi

Love Me

Little Death

A New Kind of Wilderness

As We Speak

Handling the Undead

The Greatest Night in Pop

Short Films:

Lea Tupu’anga / Mother Tongue

Merman

Pasture Prime

The Lost Season

Thirstygirl

Indie Episodic/New Frontier Projects:

Lolla: The Story of Lollapalooza

Eno

Talks:

Mental Health in Film: Using Narrative Film to Impact Mental Health in Underserved Communities

Feature Films:

My favorite film from all of Sundance was Exhibiting Forgiveness which I saw online since I wasn’t able to get in person tickets. This film really impacted me in the way that it dealt with generational trauma in a black family which is a topic that I am very interested in exploring with my own films. My least favorite film from the festival was Handling the Undead because it seemed like it was supposed to be a horror film because it was about the undead but there was little to no action and it just felt so anticlimactic due to its slow pace. Another film that I watched was Freaky Tales which had a lot of traction due to its star-studded cast and I liked the way that the film seemed to take inspiration from Quentin Tarantino’s film Kill Bill despite not really liking the ways that they tried linking the stories together. A Different Man was interesting because it talked about type casting and exploitation but I felt that it failed to do what it was supposed to. Kidnapping Inc was one of my top five films that I saw at Sundance because while it did have many jokes and funny dialogue it didn’t take away from the real world problems of kidnappings in Haiti. I had high hopes for I Saw the The TV Glow since it was associated with the production company A24 but it let me down in the fact that it felt like it couldn’t choose between Thriller or Fantasy so it just felt sort of lackluster in both genres. Ponyboi was interesting in its focus on intersex people and Love Me intrigued me in the way that it used different mediums to get its message across but also in the story that I felt was similar to the Disney Pixar movie Wall-E. I felt that Little Death was unique in its own way in that it portrayed the characters and how they changed physically or emotionally based on what they were talking about or dealing with. A New Kind of Wilderness was a film that really pulled at my heartstrings in the way the story was told, the film was edited, and the shots were filmed making for a very emotional piece. As We Speak was my favorite documentary without a doubt due to its incorporation of narrative aspects in it that created for a really interesting and engaging story. The Greatest Night in Pop was a good documentary and I liked the backstory about a song that I grew up listening to but for me personally I didn’t like it because it didn’t really have any conflicts in it.

Short Films:

Mother Tongue was probably my most anticipated and I am glad to say that it did not disappoint me due to its great dialogue writing and story. Pasture Prime and Thirstygirl both had really interesting stories that I could enjoy but The Lost Season did not keep my attention at all and I am sad to admit that I fell asleep through it. Merman was in between for me because while I did think the subject was interesting I personally didn’t relate to it and I think that’s part of the reason why I didn’t like it as much as the others.

Episodic/New Frontier/ Talks:

Lolla was the only episodic that I watched and I felt so disconnected from it that I fell asleep during it (to be fair it was late at night) and we left before the second episode. Eno was really good and I found it interesting in how each showing of the film would be different due to the use of ai changing the editing of it everytime. The mental health talk that I attended was really insightful and helped me to curate my voice for my short films.

-Justin Hollis

[dans-den]

Hey what's going on guys, Dan here! Today I'll be giving a review on the movie, Morbuis starring Jared Leto

WARNING: This contains spoilers about the film, you have been warned.

Straight off the bat (pun intended), I think the concept for the film could have worked and sounded like a great idea on paper. Unfortunately, the execution of the film was just not on the mark here. I would consider this the Eternals of the Sony-verse movies and what do I mean by that? I mean this film is pretty generic and predictable. The Eternals was basically just running off the same MCU formula only the most bare bone elements. Morbius followed the same formula much like Venom only more bare bones.

The cast I felt was an A-team cast, you had Jared Leto, Matt Smith, Tyrese Gibson, Jared Harris, Adria Arjona and so much acting talent on this movie. Yet, the characters hardly show any emotion to the scenes. It's like they were robotic and the only ones who put effort into their roles were Jared Leto, Al Madrigal (who plays one of the detectives, Rodriguez) and maybe Matt Smith. I've seen each one of these guys act in different movies and they can all act but this movie here just seemed as lifeless and void of all emotion much like the actual undead. I feel especially bad for Jared Leto because he's a great actor but for some reason these comic book superhero movies are just his kryptonite man. His performance as the Joker from the 2016 Suicide Squad movie was already considered his worse performance, but this could possibly be a close second in the Morbius movie. It may not even be superhero movies that he has trouble with, if you've seen the Snyder Cut of the Justice League, you'll see that he's playing the Joker again but his performance there is 10x better than the Suicide Squad movie. So this makes me believe that if given to the right director and crew, he can put on a great and memorable performance. That is not the case here however, Daniel Espinosa really fucked up what could had been a potentially great movie and I don't know why he was trusted with this film. I saw his other works and it looks like to me that this was not the right man for the task, Sony should have brought in someone like Matt Reeves or Zack Snyder to handle this film rather than someone who seems like they've never touched a comic book.

Now let me get to the actual film, the film itself was admittedly pretty alright. I wouldn't consider it great or god awful, it's more like somewhere in the middle to just about average, like generically average. The plot of the movie was like someone mixing the plots of The Hulk and Dracula Untold into one and this was the result of this Frankenstein experiment. It was as generic and bare-bone to the point where I knew what they were gonna say and what was gonna happen before they even did or said it. Like at the beginning they ask Morbius in Costa Rica "you need a Doctor?" and his response is "I am a Doctor." or when he says "I need to drink....." and it was like Dora the explora I responded with "Blood." and he said "Blood.". There was also the scene were Dr Martine was suppose to die, but she ends up becoming a vampire herself in the end of the movie and I knew they wouldn't kill her off. The writing here was just as generic and dare I say as lazy as it could be. My last complaint about the Plot is that it feels so rushed, there's a scene where the doctor played by Jared Harris who takes care of Matt Smith's character Loxias (Milo is his nickname in the film) is killed by Loxias and when Morbius arrives, the doctor immediately dies but in most half baked way, like he just mutters his last lines.

The editing was another thing poorly done in this movie, this was The Hulk levels of poor editing in the scenes because it would have the characters talking to one another but with another scene of them doing something else like experiments and lab work. There were also the boat scene where Morbius experiments on himself and he becomes the Vampire creature he is and start slaughtering the crew while Dr. Martine is unconscious and I actually thought that scene was entertaining and savage to watch but I had this suspicious feeling that it was suppose to be more gruesome. There are scenes of Morbius slashing their throats with his claws and you can see that these guys are choking on their own blood, but they never show them bleeding or really coughing it up or the cut marks since the guy is covering it. This makes me think this movie was suppose to be more gory and brutal like it was suppose to be a rated R film but they decided against that last minute and changed it into a more PG-13 film which would explain those scenes being the way they are. If this was the case, then they should have kept it R rated, I would have liked to have seen a gorier version of this film. I think they had this issue with Venom as well but it was more well done than how it was done in Morbius.

On to the special effects and CGI used, I think the special effects were my favorite part of the film but even those are done questionably at times. Like the fight scenes are pretty cool at times but they do it like its the Matrix, most of it is in Slow-Mo or done fast af that if you blink you miss it. There was also the times where Morbius and Loxias would show their vampire faces and it would look like that scary snapchat filter from mid 2010's that Obama used in that parody video years back. Then there was the scenes with the swarm of bats Morbius used to fight Loxias in the final battle where the bats were controlled by him, that reminded me of Dracula Untold and it was pretty cool I always like that concept of Vampires to control bats to your whim. My favorite scenes are where he uses his bat sonar abilities and his eyes would go hazy and the echo location waves would pop up and remove all sounds around him. That's another ability of Vampires I always thought was pretty cool.

Overall, I think the movie was alright but it just wasn't as good as everyone was hoping. It seemed rushed and the sad part is they could have done a better job with it because this was originally slated for 2020 but the Pandemic pushed it back to 2022 and they could have used that time to improve the movie but they didn't go that route and they squandered this movies potential. I also want to confirm there are two post credit scenes so stick around for those if you're gonna watch it.

Rating this film, I would give it:

5/10

That may sound a bit high considering all I had to say but again, this film is not really awful, it's just generic and the concept was great but the execution fell short. I would not recommend buying the 10, 12 or 14 dollar ticket to see this movie I don't think it's worth that price of admission. If you have a rewards program like my date did to see this film for free or cheaper than I'd recommend that instead. If not, then wait for the film to come out of Redbox in a few months so you can rent it for 1.99.

That's all I have to say, see ya!

[brokehorrorfan]

Book Review: The Living Dead by George A. Romero & Daniel Kraus

Prior to his death in 2017, filmmaker George A. Romero - best known for single-handedly inventing the zombie genre as we know it with his 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead - was writing a novel titled The Living Dead. After his passing, Romero’s estate collaborated with author Daniel Kraus to complete it. Although perhaps not the most obvious choice, Kraus is no stranger to the genre nor working with its masters (having previously co-authored two books with Guillermo del Toro, including the novelization of The Shape of Water), and he more than rises to the challenge.

The Living Dead finds Romero returning to the initial zombie outbreak, a subject he previously explored twice in his films; first in Night of the Living Dead, then again in Diary of the Dead. The sprawling, 656-page tome is split into three acts: The Birth of Death, from patient zero through the eventful first weeks of the dead rising; The Life of Death, an overview of the decade that followed; and The Death of Death, which picks up 15 years after the outbreak.

Akin to Stephen King's The Stand, the novel digs into the minutia of an assortment of characters' backstories to the point where the reader feels as if they truly know them, then hops around between their journeys until many of them intersect. The first act is familiar to anyone who's ever seen a zombie movie, but in the capable hands of Romero and Kraus, it's never dull. The middle section is kept brief; a smart choice since Romero's films cover that stage of the outbreak so adroitly. The final act is the most engrossing, as it traverses new territory previously unexplored in Romero's oeuvre.

The cast of characters include Etta Hoffman, an aloof census bureau statistician who notices that abnormality that sets the story in motion; Luis Acocella, San Diego’s assistant medical examiner who is the first to witness the dead rise; Greer Morgan, a teenage girl living in a trailer park; Chuck Chaplin, an anchor for a major cable news network; and Karl Nishimura, a master helmsman on his final voyage aboard a nuclear submarine.

A few short passages are told from the zombies' perspective, offering insight into the hunger driving their every move and suggesting something of a hive mind mentality. Carrying on Romero's tradition of largely avoiding the word "zombie," the ghouls are often referred to as They/Them. There is no indication as to what started the plague, but the book furthers concepts that Romero touched on in his films, including the undead becoming increasingly intelligent and interesting developments involving other species.

Romero's acerbic social commentary is present from the first page, where the authors note a political divide regarding a government agency's adoption of a standardized font with the word "Arabic" in its name. The vibrant characters are diverse in race, age, and socioeconomic status, allowing Romero and Kraus to show the impact of xenophobia, racism, and other forms of bigotry. The book also touches on society's over-reliance on technology, news outlets valuing ratings over truth, and even a fictitious actor exposing himself to women.

But The Living Dead's most timely aspect is the outbreak itself. It's downright chilling to read the story after witnessing firsthand how poorly the United States has handled an actual pandemic. In classic Romero fashion, the greatest threat to survival is not the zombies but fellow humans. Most notable is a boorish demagogue that reads as an allegory for Donald Trump, and he's the most vile Romero villain since Day of the Dead's Captain Rhodes. (The president in the book is only referred to in passing and never by name, giving it a more timeless feel than if it were to be set under the current administration.)

While budgetary restraints often limited how much of the apocalypse Romero could show in his films, the written form allows the visionary to explore the collapse of humankind in full. Filled with as much carnage as a classic zombie film, The Living Dead's gore will make the likes of Tom Savini and Greg Nicotero proud. Despite the macabre subject matter, however, there is a lyricism to the writing. Through Romero and Kraus' detailed prose, the reader is able to see the movie play in their mind.

The Living Dead boasts Romero's most poignant ending since Night of the Living Dead - although it was written by Kraus. It's made even more powerful by the note from Kraus that concludes the book. The thoughtful afterword details the coauthor's two-year deep-dive into the novel, including collaborating with Romero posthumously via the intermittent uncovering of his old writings, most of which were never widely released. Left with seemingly insurmountable shoes to fill, Kraus delivers a fitting swan song for the Godfather of the Dead.

The Living Dead will be published in hardcover, e-book, and audiobook on August 4 via Tor Books.

[alex-jaywagon]

Pirates of the Caribbean essay – representation, genre

For this essay I will be analysing the Disney franchise Pirates of the Caribbean with how the representation of women is portrayed in a modern/ more openminded world and how the genre of pirates re-in surged due to these films. The Pirates of the Caribbean first originated as a ride of the same name in Disneyland in 1967 with inspirations from the 1952 film The Crimson Pirate. This ride later became inspiration for a film that becomes a box office success Pirates of the Caribbean the Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) which has spanned 4 more very successful films and a multitude of games.  Representation is the depiction of a thing, person or idea and can be from any source like written, spoken or performed. This can be used to create a realistic depiction or can be adapted to create more of an abstract or perverse depiction. Genre is a style or category of art, music or literature that involves a particular set of characteristics.

(Pirates of the Caribbean Poster, Disney)

The representation of women within the world of Pirates of the Caribbean is complicated as the films are aimed to appeal to everyone and carry on the progressive ways but to also reinforce the integrity and social contexts of the era and world of pirates. The ride although loved by many has had lots of adjustments made to it by toning it down and reducing the extreme inappropriateness/ sexualization towards women. The era of piracy was a very misogynistic time where women were not valued much at all with many being represented in media and films of pirates as working in brothels along with other representations of women such as them bringing bad luck on a ship and accusations of witchcraft. In the first 3 films most, women were either servants or harlots, so the focus and representation for women is one of the main characters, Elizabeth Swann the governor’s daughter a very strong and emotional women. These films also include the character Tia Dalma (Calypso) the goddess of the sea who is also represented as a strong and emotional character with both being very much in love.

The small number of female characters in the films has them be regularly objectified and made out to be inferior to the men but all the films have both sides of it with the men being sexist and misogynistic to the women being flirty and manipulative to get what they want.

Elizabeth Swann is very much a strong independent woman who goes against her ‘duty’ of being a high-class lady and lives a dangerous fun life which she has wanted by being very interested and knowledgeable of pirates. Although she is very independent and capable her character is also very much infatuated with Will Turner and is a big part of her motivations and journey. In Pirates of the Caribbean At Worlds End (2007) Elizabeth ends up becoming the king of the brethren, which is the highest title for all the pirates, and this really represents the character of Elizabeth as she has a very strong leadership role and handles pressure with ease but the journey on getting to that point was very much a male dominated one.

(Keira Knightley, At Worlds End)

Calypso is a very mysterious character in the films who is very strong and independent living alone, but her characters story is very much another way of making man seem superior as she was the almighty goddess of the sea when she fell in love and was betrayed by the one, she loves, and man captured her and bound her with little to no power.

The film Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger Tides (2011) which is heavily inspired by a novel of the same name by Tim Powers in 1987 has a leading role of Angelica the daughter of Blackbeard who is a very skilled pirate with great sword fighting skills and a master of disguise and deception. As every female role in Pirates of the Caribbean she is fuelled by love and it is a big part of her as a character, she is sown as being tough but also caring she not only had a previously had a relationship with Captain Jack Sparrow but is hellbent on finding the fountain of use and is trying to save/redeem her father’s soul.

Lastly, the newest Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) has a leading female role which is different from all the other films and instead of being a fearsome fighter/pirate it is Carina Smyth the abandoned daughter of Captain Barbossa and is very smart being an astronomer and horologist. This leading female role is the one who is sexualized the most out of all the films and is directly objectified and made to seem inferior to men, this is done by making lots of remarks laughing at her and not taking her seriously because she is a woman. There is lots of crude jokes and sexism throughout the film and this approach really made the audience dislike the film with lots of negative reviews and most of them about the sexism in the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgeu5rhoxxY

(Dead Men Tell No Tales trailer, YouTube)

The Pirates of the Caribbean reignited the pirate genre as the last pirate film that was released was not successful called Cutthroat Island (1995). The pirate genre before was very much made to appeal towards men but Pirates of the Caribbean appeals to all genders with a one of the main characters being a female as well. The Curse of The Black Pearl was a very good combination of different genres to make the masterpiece that it is with the action, romance, adventure, comedy, and fantasy it could be argued that it can also be supernatural ass it deals with curses and the undead whilst making scenes scary but with all that they mix it forms the perfect concoction for an amazing movie. Another genre which Pirates of The Caribbean fits perfectly into is Swashbuckler. A Swashbuckler film is a subgenre of action which primarily includes sword fighting and adventurous heroic characters, the main characteristic of a Swashbuckler is to be well trained with a sword and to have a very straight code of honour. This element is not entirely applicable to Pirates of The Caribbean or Captain Jack Sparrow as they go by the “pirate code” which the characters go against all the time and sometimes only care about themselves.

(Johnny Depp, At Worlds End)

 The reason I chose to have the case study be Pirates of the Caribbean was because I loved the films when I was growing up due to the amazing characters, the adventures, the spectacular battle/ action scenes and the lore with the mythical creatures. I had lots of figures, toys and games which I would play with constantly and even the outfit of Captain Jack Sparrow as he seemed cool when I was young because he did whatever he wanted without a care, everything always worked out and he was a very witty comical guy. As I grew up and watched the movies again, I could appreciate the complex emotional side of the storytelling and the action scenes still look spectacular. Though Analysing Pirates of the Caribbean and the representation of women within it I was shocked to discover how bad it was with the ride and the films but what shocked me the most was how it seemed to go in a step backwards with Dead Men Tell No Tales with lots of sexism directly pushed out for ‘comedy’. This has made me really think about how far women have come and the change in way they are perceived and represented in tv and film but there are still films being made which are not socially acceptable now how they were and that it is not right.

 In conclusion The Pirates of The Caribbean (excluding Dead Men Tell No Tales) has done a good job on maintaining the integrity of the pirate genre and era whilst also representing the main women as strong independent women for the modernisation of the older genre to appeal to current audiences. This being said there is still a large amount of sexism in the films but the representation of the women are that of positives not showing any generic old stereotypes of what women should do.

[pixelsbichoice]

Ranking Choices series by how Gay they are

A review no one asked for but an important one nonetheless

EDIT: Updated for latest books 6/29/19

The Freshman - While Zack, Kaitlyn, Becca, and Zig make this a sweet Gay Squad, the book has prominent bi-erasure if you date a man and forces you to deal with toxic Het Drama for multiple books that leaves you begging for the sweet release of diamond death to never come - 4/10 Gay but at what cost

The Crown and the Flame - Kenna is a bisexual Queen, but the fact that they don't give Dom a male li until awkwardly at the very end is tragic - 5/10 Could be gayer

Most Wanted - Look Sam is a Lesbian Icon(tm) but the narrative pushes for Sam and Dave - 3/10 Pretty Het

Rules of Engagement - Forces the MC to be with a man, doesn't give Party Twin a female li until the third book, and older brother's het drama is insufferable - 2/10 Some gay but too much straight to try

Endless Summer - MC can be a guy or a girl. Pretty gay, but the female lis are not treated as well as the male ones, also there are a lot of straight couples and the fact that Pirate Queen Yvonne ends up with a man? Tragic(tm) - 5/10 gay but could be gayer

LoveHacks - Points for the bi black man and the lesbians, but the first book paywalls its only female li to shit, only has the MC date men, and has Brooke end up with a man instead of Seerena - 3/10 Gay but too Het to handle

The Haunting of Braidwood Manor - Nothing but love a respect for my lesbian ghost girlfriend, but you have to pay to stay together (but it is only 17 diamonds and that is a bargain these days) - 8/10 Lots of lesbian love but at a cost

The Royal Romance - Largely forced to spend time with a man, has only one female li even though Olivia is literally right there, and has Penelope get with Kiara's brother even though Kiara is literally right there - 3/10 Very Het

Hero - MC can be a guy or a girl. Kenji is a BIcon but it takes a while to meet the only female li, also the Poppy and Dax het drama is too much - 6/10 Decently gay and has potential

High School Story - MC can be a guy or a girl. Besides the fact that we have to deal with the Het Tragedy that are Brian, Max, Kara, the dumb Autumn love triangle, and what the ever loving fuck is that set up your Dad with Emma's Mom nonsense, these books give a lot of LGBT+ rep - 7/10 Gen Z is the Gayest Gen

It Lives in the Woods - MC can be a guy or a girl. Gay Icon right here, we stan our Trans King(tm) King Kang, Ava and Stacy are female li legends, Lily is our beautiful Lesbian Queen, nothing like the raw gay energy of swinging a barbed wire bat at the undead - 15/10 GAY ICON

Home for the Holidays - One female LI, but at what cost? Can't play as a guy and forced to have dated one (1) man. Don't even get me started on Nick Peralta - 1/10 Literally ever Het Hallmark Christmas movie ever so RUN

Red Carpet Diaries - It feels like it should be pretty gay between the BIcon that is Seth, the Lesbian Legend that is Teja, and the absolute QUEEN that is Victoria, but man does it throw that all away to be SUPER FREAKING STRAIGHT between Matt and Hunt and paywalling the fuck out of Victoria - 3/10 RIP Gay potential

Perfect Match - MC can be a guy or a girl. Can choose to have your perfect match be a guy or a girl. A beautiful array of lis to choose from and they can all be yours because PB said Polyamory Rights! Even though there is some Het stuff with Nadia and Steve, it is actually tolerable. The President can also be a black lesbian and that's the America I want to live in - 10/10 Living my best gay thot life

Bloodbound - Even love interests whom? Sure you get two wonderful female love interests, Lily and the ultimate BI QUEEN Kamilah, but forget ever hanging out with them. This is the JAX AND ADRIAN SHOW ONLY BABEEE - 4/10 Not even a cheap Priya scene can help, PB said fuck wlw

Veil of Secrets - MC can be a guy or a girl. Ms. Harlenay is a Lesbian icon. Kate is a true BI disaster and the fact that we can only get with her romantically at the end of the book is the Biggest Tragedy of Choices - 6/10 It's fun and gay until you die alone bc you don't have enough diamonds

America's Most Eligible - MC can be a guy or a girl. You can thot it up and kiss so many people, Mackenzie is the only female li you can hang out with most of the time and there was one weird scene where Adam and Derek were super "no homo"??? - 6/10 Gay potential but oof the Het

Desire & Decorum - Only one female li, but she is Amazing. Mr. Chambers gay ass is the real MVP. God bless our non-homophobic gay ally of a dad (rip). But still this book got a lot of Het nonsense bc of the time period - 4/10 Press F to pay respect to our gay ancestors

Across The Void - MC can be a guy or a girl. Even number of lis with even screen time and your siblings can be gay too if they weren't so annoying and stealing your screen time - 7/10 Gay but it's hard to read

Big Sky Country - MC can be a guy or a girl. If you are a wlw, there is a lot of Het nonsense and it is hard to be with the female lis. If you are a mlm, ooh boy is this book Really Gay. Like literally every guy wants your city dick. Still there is some Het stuff - 6/10 Average; Life is what you Gay it

High School Story: Class Act - MC can be a guy or a girl. You can choose the gender of the li you are forced to have a crush on so that is nice. If you play as a guy your twin can be a Lesbian Icon and Erin can like girls but if you play as a girl it's like super het. Don't even get me started on Natalie and Clint - 6/10 Gay but oof

It Lives Beneath - MC can be a guy or a girl. Great even bunch of lis and our gay little brother is the most wholesome thing - 8/10 Good gay content minus you know all the Gore and Death

The Elementalists - MC can be a guy or a girl. Let’s hear it for Ace rep! Except the imbalance of li scenes and how Beckett is constantly forced onto you continues to put this book on thin ice, especially with the lack of flirting options for wlw - 5/10 Gay but lesbian struggles

A Courtesan of Rome -  Forced to kiss men. Female characters treated like shit. Sabina stans deserved better. But Gay brother can get his happy gay romance. Caesar/Cleopatra/MC threesome said bi rights. Parents are the biggest gay allies. The biggest disappointment is the untapped potential - 3.5/10 RIP to anyone who hoped to romance Cleopatra

The Heist: Monaco - MC can be a guy or a girl. Allows you to choose gender of one your lis. Has the potential to have 3 female lis who are all iconic. But makes you pay for not 1 but 2 women crew members so having an all women crew is a struggle - 8/10 Let's go Lesbians!

Update:

Ride or Die: A Bad Boy Romance - Everyone thinks you and Logan are dating even if you haven’t romanced him in the slightest. Gay rep in minor characters but at what cost. - 3/10 We been knew of the het nonsense since we saw the tagline

Open Heart - MC can be a guy or a girl. If you are guy this book is great. Seriously Dr. ER always down for the BJ (sorry homophobes he BI!✨). If you are woman, HAHAHAHa. Only one female li who is forced to hate you for a few chapters. Seriously Sienna and Aurora and Kyra are right freaking there just give the wlw something!!! - 4/10 Gay but could do so much better

Passport to Romance - MC can be a guy or a girl. Even number of love interests except for the fact that one of the female li has a boyfriend for 75 percent of the book. Still this book is dreadfully boring or annoying which is sad because Sumire and Ahmed are wonderful. - 7/10 Gay but forgettable

Wishful Thinking - Story has MC spend most time with the two male lis, but MC, Anna, and Ellen working together to take down corrupt politicians ala Charlie’s Angels is awesome! The fact that you can sleep with Ellen coming out of nowhere like a dark horse? Amazing! - 5/10 Gay potential

Nightbound - MC can be a guy or a girl. Even number of love interests, but recent changes make it obvious the book wants you to lean towards Nik. Barely any scenes with Vera or Katherine. There is a gay fae and rock troll love story but you have to pay for it -  4/10 A fun supernatural story PB is forcing to be the next great het romance

Platinum - Can choose for your two main love interests Avery and Raleigh to be male or female which means you are not forced to romance men unless you want to! The women are so pretty it hurts. Get to kiss beautiful women for freeeee. Shoutout to non-binary audience. Every song is bop that fills me with gay pride. Only major downfall is you can’t choose to play as a guy. - 9/10 Move over Hayley Kiyoko there is a new Lesbian pop star in town

And Sunkissed is still up in the air while The Royal Heir is on the thinnest of fucking ices.

[goblins-riddles-or-frocks]

Moffat Dracula Review

Plot Summary For People Who Don’t Want To Watch It:

Dracula corners Jonathan, Mina, and Sister Agatha Van Helsing in a secluded convent in Budapest following Jonathan’s escape from his castle. The castle sequence itself is explained in flashback as Jonathan recounts his experience, leading up to the realization that he himself had died during his stay there. 

Realizing he’s now become some form of undead creature, he attempts to kill himself via a stake but is unsuccessful. Despairing at this, he invites Dracula inside the convent in exchange for a true death.  Agatha and Mina are able to stay safe within a circle of sacramental bread but everyone else is massacred. 

When Mina sees Dracula disguised as Jonathan approaching them, she invites him inside the circle. He of course reveals his identity immediately after. Agatha bargains her own life for Mina’s, so Dracula allows the other girl to go free.

Some time later, Dracula sets sail for England aboard the Demeter, a Russian ship with a strangely high number of wealthy passengers and a bluebeard’s cabin no one is allowed to enter. He quickly picks off the passengers one by one, meanwhile himself leading the effort to find the murderer onboard. 

This culminates in the remaining passengers finally searching the ship— and the mysterious cabin which is revealed to have been hiding a sickly Sister Agatha inside. She explains that Dracula is a vampire and together with the passengers they attempt to kill him by setting him on fire. But it is unsuccessful. Agatha urges everyone to escape on lifeboats because she intends to blow up the ship with her and Dracula in it before it is able to reach England. 

Dracula does not die but remains dormant under water. He reaches Whitby roughly 100 years later and is immediately captured by the Jonathan Harker foundation, lead by Agatha’s descendant Dr Zoe Van Helsing. He leaves captivity fairly quickly however with the help of Frank Renfield— a lawyer he hired over skype. 

Zoe is revealed to be dying of cancer. Dracula offers her his blood to heal her but it doesn’t seem to work. It instead gives her a bond to communicate with her dead ancestor Agatha, which gives her more insight about the vampire. 

Meanwhile, Dracula begins preying on Lucy Westenra, a young socialite. Despite leading a seemingly perfect life, she is wholly apathetic and disgruntled with her situation. She allows him to feed on her in exchange for the high a vampire’s bite can give her. He attempts to turn her into a vampire but she’s burned horribly once she’s cremated following her funeral.

Her death leads Zoe and Jack Seward to where Dracula has been staying. During their confrontation however Lucy returns, and after learning about her appearance, begs Jack to kill her, which he does. 

Zoe asks Jack to leave so she may speak to Dracula alone. She surmises that all of Dracula’s weaknesses are actually ineffective. The only thing he fears is death, and humanity’s willingness to die, She then... resolves to sit down and die right there. But at the last moment Dracula drinks her cancerous blood which should in turn kill him... they make out while dying... The end?

If that sounds like it makes no sense, it’s because it doesn’t. 

Final Thoughts:

The plot was nonsensical and the pacing was very poor and completely unstructured. The story itself bore little to no resemblance to Dracula at all, to the point where I wonder why they even bothered to keep the names. 

Most of the characters were new, and the few that were ported over from the Stoker novel had hardly anything in common with their original versions, Dracula included. 

Jonathan was the most in character of the bunch, if he was fairly more genre savvy while stuck in Dracula’s castle. Mina’s characterization seemed to be confined to a single flirtatious letter, an endless well of trust for Jonathan, and constant sobbing. She was more of a liability than anything else. 

Agatha served the role of a genderbent Van Helsing, though her manner was entirely lifted from the Coppola film. This could’ve been very cool if they hadn’t randomly made her a nun without actually committing to it at all. She was not really portrayed as having any actual lived experience as a nun in the victorian era. And faith as a concept was only touched on for her to dismiss— hilariously casually given her position.  

I think the actress’s performance was fairly decent, and she def grew on me in the second episode when she’s not actually in a convent to constantly remind us how dissonant of a nun she is. But it would’ve been nice if they would’ve either committed to actually making her a nun, (a legit vampire hunting nun could be so cool!) or just abandoning the concept altogether. Because the way it was presented just felt like window dressing. 

Also I’m not normally averse to shipping Van Helsing/Dracula but having to genderbend one of the two just to do it is like... hm. Also the weird tension they had going on was very badly executed in general. 

Speaking of Dracula, he had to be the weakest part of the show. He was written in the smuggest, most infuriating way possible. And it might have worked with another actor but this dude just did not have any gravitas or stage presence whatsoever. And it certainly was not helped by the fact that his costuming and makeup were so fucking lackluster. 

Despite being the linchpin of the story, he had no goals nor any particular drive. He was just out there doing Stuff for Reasons and none of them were compelling. It seemed like he was just killing to kill and the writing was not good enough to actually carry any of the vague themes about how he’s looking for new brides (why?) how he’s searching for a The Perfect Fruit (what???) or anything at all really. He had no depth whatsoever beneath his stupid quips and self-satisfied demeanor. 

There was an interesting implication that he needed to choose who he drinks carefully in order to maintain his own personality/sanity/sentience and that without blood he’d… apparently just become like any of the zombies we saw in the show. And that is such a cool concept! But it was not really  explored, nor was it written all that well. Even though it could’ve been (and I think was maybe intended to be???) an excellent source of existential dread! 

But yes, in general there was hardly any depth to this show. They played almost every possible card they could for shock value, and included many unnecessary and frankly underwhelming esoteric concepts that went nowhere. There was so much gore and random effects. We had zombies, vampire infants, and Dracula legit wearing people’s skins. The lore didn’t make any sense either, apparently people just… being unable to die despite their body’s so called death is a common occurrence? It wasn’t clear whether Dracula even had much control over who he changes and whether or not they become proper vampires. The entire thing just seemed poorly thought out. 

There were a lot of easter eggs and references to previous Dracula adaptations (and even some unrelated vampire media). I definitely noticed nods to the Hammer Horror movies and the Lugosi film, which was fun. The biggest noticeable influence however would have to be the 1992 Coppola movie. I have never seen a show try so hard to be another movie lmao. They even went so far as to make a spiritual successor to the film’s main theme that’s about as close as you could probably get without actually licensing the music. 

However, while the Coppola film at least had skill with regards to the costuming and cinematography to carry its aesthetic, this show simply did not. The costumes, the makeup, and the special effects were all lackluster. The set was nice enough but was not shot in a way to really leave much of an impression. 

The first episode was abysmal— mainly due to Dracula’s awful performance (those disgusting fungus covered fake nails, that age makeup, that ACCENT) and the entire awkward af scene where he terrorizes a convent of nuns while naked and covered in blood. But it was at least so bad it was funny.

The second episode was the most tedious to me because it was less offensively awful so I couldn’t even enjoy the badness. There was definitely a sharp uptick of quality whenever Dracula was offscreen for any notable amount of time though. The passengers were rather boring but I liked the crewmen. And Agatha honestly killed it for the latter half. 

The last episode was by far the worst and yet the most entertaining because they just stopped trying at that point. 

Renfield was amazing and an absolute delight every time he was on screen. Dracula found him over skype for God’s sake, how can that not be fantastic? He actually utters the words “Dracula has rights,” and his argument somehow actually fucking works.  

And even Dracula himself was far less insufferable with the shift in dynamics. By being forced to cope with the modern world, he could no longer act like such a smarmy, self-assured know it all. Seeing him freak the fuck out at the sight of helicopters was genuinely fun. 

Lucy’s handling was misogynistic af though. It was bafflingly, needlessly awful. And the way she was vilified at the very end was appalling. They almost had an interesting deconstruction wrt her utter malaise for her life, and the implication that she actually resents her beauty. But then of course she gets burned alive, and then is treated horribly for it by the protagonists. 

Even though it’s clear she has no idea what’s happened to her body, Zoe doesn’t even bother to explain it to her. She just makes her take a selfie of all things so she can see what she really looks like. It didn’t seem like the show had a shred of sympathy for her, because “oh, clearly she was a narcissistic bitch and she deserved what she got” or something like that?? 

The utter indifference everyone has to her death is baffling. It was an afterthought, that seemed like its only purpose for existing was yet again just shock value. The scene, after her death, immediately shifting the focus back to whatever weird personal rivalry that borders on sexual tension  Agatha/Zoe and Dracula have going on.  

But all in all, this adaptation had me baffled, frustrated, and cringing through most of it. It was unintentionally funny quite often and I honestly enjoyed it, but for all the wrong reasons. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to melt their fucking brain.

[tlbodine]

Essential Zombie Media

A thing that’s come up over and over again in early reviews for River of Souls is the sentiment that it’s not-like-other-zombie-stories. And that was certainly my intention. But you don’t get to make a good deconstruction without a healthy knowledge and appreciation of the genre you’re twisting around. 

So here is a list of what I would consider essential zombie media -- whether you want to write a story that plays it straight with the tropes, or one that twists everything around, or you just want something new to watch/read. 

Your own suggestions and ideas are more than welcome in the comments! Please reblog with your own favorite zombie book/movie/TV show/comic, I’d love to discover some I haven’t seen. 

The Origins

The generally agreed-upon first zombie movie is White Zombie (1932), starring Bela Lugosi, but I think it’s safe to skip it on account of both obscurity and some troubling racism. The Haitian-Voodoo zombi mythos and tradition is something best kept separate from our modern ideas of the walking dead. 

Instead, start your journey with George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968), which starts codifying the tropes that persist well into modern media (including, like most modern stories, never using the word ‘zombie’). 

Then compare and contrast with the Richard Matheson novel I Am Legend (1954), which is ostensibly about vampires but I think basically invented the modern zombie genre -- from the post-apocalyptic setting to the spread of undeath by way of disease vectors. 

Follow that up with Dawn of the Dead (1978), where George Romero revisits his Living Dead universe with the help of Dario Argento (if you’re interested, there’s a 2004 remake that’s decent, but unnecessary). And then, just to wrap up the trilogy, skip on ahead to Day of the Dead (1985). 

For extra credit, play the videogame Dead Rising (2006), which draws liberally from Dawn of the Dead and also allows you to beat zombies to death with literally anything you can find in a shopping mall (I can’t speak for the sequels as I’ve never played them). Dead Rising is far from the only game franchise to use zombies (more on that in a bit), but it pays homage directly to the genre in a way that many others don’t. 

The Zombie Renaissance

For a long while, zombies sort of fell out of fashion. Oh, there were some decent takes on the concept, like Re-Animator (1985) and Dead Alive (1992) but by and large zombies in the 1980s and 90s were played for laughs. 

But then they made a great big comeback, stronger maybe than they had ever been before. What happened?

Well, for one, they stayed close to the public conscience thanks to video games. Games and zombies are a perfect fit. Their shambling movement and slow, stupid behavior makes them a great choice for imperfect AI programming. They’re people-shaped, which makes them easy to animate, but they can be gross and deformed and scary, which makes them fun for your art team. And since they’re inhuman and dead, you can kill them in any way you’d like without feeling bad about it. 

Which is probably why zombies have been part-and-parcel of the gaming world since Entombed (1982) was released on the Atari. Doom (1993) was wildly popular, and just a few years later we’d start the Resident Evil franchise, which became both hugely influential as games and films. And lest we forget, Blizzard was giving us undead in Warcraft by the early 2000s, rising to greater prominence by World of Warcraft in its heydey (especially Wrath of the Lich King).  

But I’d argue that the number one single most important ingredient in the horror revival was Danny Boyle’s 2002 film 28 Days Later. 

28 Days Later was huge because it breathed fresh life (pun intended) into a genre that had gone stale. The monsters in 28 Days Later aren’t the walking dead at all -- they’re just people infected with a virus similar to rabies that makes them deadly (compare and contrast with The Crazies, both the 1973 original and 2010 remake, which deals with a similar concept. 

But thanks to being an excellent film with some wonderfully creepy-gross effects, 28 Days Later reignited fearful imaginations. It also introduced the world to the idea of fast zombies as an alternative to the usual shambling monsters. 

A couple years later, zombie content exploded. Aside from the Dawn of the Dead remake in 2004, and some Resident Evil and Doom film interpretations, we got Shaun of the Dead (2004), which is both hilarious and an exceptional zombie film. 

There’s also 28 Weeks Later (2007), a sequel to 28 Days (there is much debate as to which is better, I’m in the Days camp) and Planet Terror (2007), a personal favorite and one of the two films in the special Grindhouse double-feature. I’d also like to shout out Pontypool (2009) and, of course, the horror-comedy Zombieland (2009). 

ZOMBIE MANIA 

Probably nothing has been as influential in drawing zombie discourse into the public as AMC’s hit TV show The Walking Dead (2010), drawing on the graphic novel series of the same name. With a level of gore and violence rarely seen on network TV, a cast of memorable characters and an anyone-can-die narrative, it ignited a zombie fervor greater than anything we’d ever seen. 

The Walking Dead overlapped with a cultural apocalypse zeitgeist. Doomsday prepping started to go mainstream, and people started to plan their own personal zombie apocalypse survival plan. Hell, the CDC adopted zombie apocalypse language as a way to talk about real-world applications of survival knowledge. Zombies and survivalism now go hand-in-hand, for better or worse. 

No discussion of a zombie apocalypse is complete without Max Brooks’ World War Z (2007), which bears little resemblance to the film that shares its name. We should also make a shout-out for his more comedic companion volume, The Zombie Survival Guide (2003), which laid a foundation for what followed. 

For extra credit, play the TellTale Games: The Walking Dead (2012) and compare/contrast with the TV show and graphic novel. Then compare that with Train to Busan (2016), a Korean film that plays some tropes straight while turning others on their heads (it’s also one of my favorite films on this list). 

SYMPATHETIC ZOMBIES 

While the zombie apocalypse narrative took root and captured the imaginations of many, others started to look at things from a different angle. 

What if, they asked, the zombies were the heroes rather than the villains? 

John Ajvide Lindqvist, who you might know for the vampire story Let the Right One In, was ahead of his time with this on: Handling the Undead (2004) is a book that’s simultaneously heartbreaking and deeply unsettling in its portrayal of the dead returning to life and what that might mean to those they’d left behind. Compare and contrast that with the TV show Les Revenants (2004), which deals with a similar premise (there was an American remake, but I can’t speak for it as I didn’t watch it - seriously, just watch the subtitles and enjoy the French show). 

But not every zombie-protagonist story was so heart-wrenching. Look at Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies (2010), and the film adaptation. There’s also Breathers! A Zombie’s Lament by S.G. Browne that is both hilarious and scathing. 

Follow those up with Diana Rowland’s My Life as a White Trash Zombie (2012) and the comic book/TV show iZombie (2015), both of which feature pale-haired, witty female medical examiners with a taste for brains. 

And finally, a shout-out to The Santa-Clarita Diet (2016), a hilariously dark and over-the-top gross show featuring Drew Barrymore as a zombie trying to get her life back together.

[comicsnsuch]

Wildstorm Halloween Trilogy of Terror! (1997)

This review is going to be about the Wildstorm Halloween Trilogy of Terror published in 1997 by Image Comics, and just read moments ago by me, in March 2020.  

I picked this one up after finding a Sleeper Season One TPB (by Brubaker and Phillips) in my collection and reminiscing about how good Wildstorm was at one point. So I went online, looked up some Wildstorm comics, opened a tab with this one and thought to myself “I’ve been known to enjoy Gen 13 from time to time and this cover looks cool, let’s roll the dice!”

Spoiler Alert! Nothing as cool as the scene depicted on the cover happens in the book, and the Lovecraftian monster lurking behind our heroes never appears.  

In case you never knew or forgot, Wildstorm was the branch of Image Comics that Jim Lee was in charge of and responsible for all the titles he created and oversaw like WildC.A.Ts (later just Wildcats), Gen 13, Stormwatch (later the Authority) and Deathblow. Also Wetworks apparently, which was created by Whilce Portacio, another of the original Image Comics founders. 

This special has three different stories by three different creative teams. Each story shares a common thread, the villain of each story is a man called Crandall or Camatoz, a “bat god zombie abomination”, that Crandall resurrects in the first story.

The  the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz, in case you were wondering

The first story of the trilogy contained in this issue stars Team 7, an elite military strikeforce whose members go on to be major players in the Wildstorm universe including Michael Cray (Deathblow), Cole Cash (Grifter), John Lynch (Gen 13), Alex Fairchild (father of Gen 13’s Caitlin Fairchild), Jackson Dane (Wetworks) etc.  This story takes place in the past and sees Team 7 covertly travelling into Mexico to put down a rebel uprising calling itself the Nueva Mayapan.  Crandall is working with this group but only to further his own goal, resurrecting the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz. Which he does, but is swiftly defeated by Team 7.  

This story was written by Christopher Golden with art by Ed Benes. The story felt a bit disjointed due to the narration, dialogue and art not quite syncing up. 

For example Team 7 defeats the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz using explosives to cause a cave in burying the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz, but we never see the explosives planted! The dialogue is on par with a cheesy action movie and the narration is too weighty and self serious causing issues with the tone of the story.

       Look at how well drawn that bandoleer of bullets is! Go Benes go!

Like a lot of Image Comics from this era there's no shortage of cool pictures, but they often come at the cost of the story and the more meat and potatoes panels telling important beats of the story.

The middle story in the trilogy stars Gen 13 and takes place in the present, of 1997. 

For what it’s worth this is the only story that takes place on Halloween, 1997. 

The Gen 13 kids dress up and take part in Halloween festivities while the other stories simply contain horror elements, like vampires and the undead. So those bring the “Terror” element from the title, while this one brings the “Halloween”. 

Not to worry, this one also has the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz, everyone’s favorite new character from this issue, for a few panels.

 Plus Grunge transmutes himself into blood, so there’s that. 

                                               Here’s that

This story opens on John Lynch and Alex Fairchild, both formerly of Team 7 and making appearances in the previous story, scaring some trick or treaters visiting the Gen 13 house. It also provides my favorite panel from this entry:

                                             Kudos Mr. Odagawa!

The Gen 13 kids have received an invite to a nightclub for a Halloween party. Bobby (Burnout) is nice enough to let us know the regulars of this club file their teeth into fangs.  I’m sure this outing is going to go fine. 

Turns out I was wrong, Caitlin (Fairchild) and Bobby are kidnapped by the club owners and are going to be used as a sacrifice to summon the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz! Crandall is nowhere to be found in this installment. Using their powers (and teamwork) the other members of Gen 13 are able to rescue Fairchild and Burnout. After the kids return home Lynch and Fairchild, Sr, find are shocked to find a flyer for the evening’s festivities that basically spells out the whole event was to try to resurrect “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz.

This story flows nicely from the first, letting us know the horror of the “bat god zombie abomination”, Camatoz, is still a problem for the Wildstorm U, but in hindsight other than having Gen 13 in the issue to boost sales, this story adds nothing to the trilogy of terror. Which as you know, years later got me to pick up this issue. Good job Wildstorm marketing team!

Ryan Odagawa handles the art for this chapter and draws it in a J. Scott Campbell light manner. Writer Peter Gutierrez does a good job of aping the style and tone of the regular Gen 13 series, lots of slang that someone probably used on MTV once and a loose Scooby Doo-ish plot that shows off the Gen 13 kids doing trendy things and being moody. 

Not bad, but not an essential entry in this trilogy of terror.

The final entry stars Wetworks and is written by Tom Sniegoski and Chris Warner and it’s the best one of the three. It feels like a direct sequel to the first story, with similar elements, making the second entry feel disposable.

This story also takes place in the present of 1997, abandoning the advancement of time element that happened between the last two stories. So no cool Wildstorm of the future story here, unfortunately.

We find the Wetworks team travelling to the arctic to stop Crandall, the dude working with the Nueva Mayapan in the first story, now working with the Vampire Nation (something I imagine readers would be more familiar with if they were reading the Wetworks title at the time) to prevent him from destroying a virus that can kill the undead. 

There’s a quick flashback in the opening panels of this story of an ancient viking warrior perishing in battle. This is important because when Dane, from Team 7  again in the first story, fights Crandall he gets knocked into a cave or something and finds this warrior’s axe. The spirit of the warrior possesses Dane and causes his golden symbiote to grow a beard and don a viking helmet. 

              Does it get any better than this? Don’t let me know if does!

Wetworks takes care of the Vampire Nation and Dane defeats Crandall. No idea what happens to the virus they came to protect or the bat god zombie abomination, Camatoz that was part of the connective tissue for the first two stories because it’s not even mentioned here.

Chris Warner’s artwork was a pleasure to read and his storytelling was the best out of the three artists working on this issue. Yes, some of the dialogue was cheesy action movie, but the fact that the art was so on point helped to elevate this entry above the rest. And to the credit of Tom Sniegoski, he keeps the cool coming giving Warner no shortage of cool stuff to draw and moves the plot along briskly. 

So we’ve reached the end. What’s the verdict? “You sure wrote a lot about a twenty plus year old comic.”  Well, besides that. Should you seek out your own copy of this book? No, probably not. If you’ve got some money to spare and want to read something that will leave no impact on you, you could do worse. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the best, 1 being the worst, this is 4.5.

Until next time!