# Zombie movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2003, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243 "2003-01-08T03:37:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/41 "2003-01-09T21:45:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wang-Ka \* > \*\*Huh? _Dawn Of The Dead_ didn’t pick up ten years after the events of NOTLD. It picked up the MORNING AFTER the events of NOTLD! > > It was MADE ten years after NOTLD, that’s all. > > I did feel that _Dawn Of The Dead_ was something of a disappointment, though.\*\* Disappointment? I thought it was great. Just a different type of movie, that’s all. And I think it picked up actually a few days later. > [@](#): > > \*\*Take the original NOTLD, for example – not ONLY do we have the horror factor of zombies trying to eat our heroes… but we have the growing realization that our heroes cannot and will not work together to survive… that this microcosmic society of survivors, trapped in a house and under siege… is going to FALL, because they can’t get their shit together long enough to cooperate! > > Now THAT’S horror! > > The second film worked the same way. After our heroes seal the shopping mall and clean out the living dead and basically conquer this bastion of American consumerism… what then? They have fun shopping for furniture, cooking fancy meals in the restaurants, playing in the arcade… ice skating… looting the bank… um… and … um… now what? We’re bored. What’s there to do? What about civilization? What… do … we do with the rest of our lives? > > Interestingly enough, ROTLD worked the same way AGAIN. We have a band of teens and adults trapped in a mortuary and a medical supply warehouse, surrounded by a rapidly growing legion of the living dead. Meanwhile, two of our heroes are in fact DEAD, and they DON’T KNOW IT YET! And the solution imposed by the government at the end of the movie works both as internal horror, external horror… and wonderful black comedy.\*\* In fact, Day of the Dead followed a similar plotline. The humans had successfully sealed themselves off from the zombies, even using them at need for experiments. But their downfall was their own infighting. Think Romero was trying to say something? Rumor has it he’s going to make a fourth one. I really hope so. And you’re both a little off: Dawn of the Dead is somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-5 weeks after Night of the Living Dead. The guy on TV who was arguing that all the dead bodies had to be exterminated said : > [@](#): > > YOU HAVE NOT LISTENED…YOU HAVE NOT LISTENED…FOR THE LAST THREE WEEKS…WHAT DOES IT TAKE…WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO MAKE PEOPLE SEE? ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/42 "2003-01-09T22:54:36Z")
I defer you to the immortal classic [**Bloodsucking Freaks**](http://us.imdb.com/Title?0077247), aka **The Heritage of Caligula** , aka **The Heritage of Caligula: An Orgy of Sick Minds** , aka **The House of the Screaming Virgins** , aka **The Incredible Torture Show** , aka **Sardu, Master of the Screaming Virgins**. 🙂 To know Ralphus the demented dwarf is to love Ralphus the demented dwarf. Also, as an interesting side note, the three main actors all died not long after its release: Master Sardu: Stabbed to death. Natasha D’Natalie: Accidentally shot on a hunting trip. Ralphus: Herart attack. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/43 "2003-01-09T23:16:26Z")
As we seem to have lots of zombie scholars on the boards today, let me acks y’all a qwerstion: Where did the “zombies eat brains” cliche’ come from? IIRC, in \* Night of the Living Dead \* the zombies are just cannibals. But now any time you see a zombie he wants to eat your brains. What gives? And, anybody ever see \* I Was a Zombie for the FBI\* ? ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2003, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/44 "2003-01-09T23:49:08Z")
I think the image of zombies specifically eating human brains comes from _Return of the Living Dead_. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/45 "2003-01-10T00:51:39Z")
Ralphus is dead? I’ve seen a variety of horrible porn films with him in them since I saw that movie. I suppose he could have made them BEFORE he made “Bloodsucking Freaks”, though. Although BF isn’t really a zombie movie… And I never heard of any zombie movie where they wanted brains to eat until ROTLD. ROTLD was rated R, whereas NOTLD and DOTD were never actually rated… so, naturally, ROTLD got the major national distribution in all the theatre chains, and is the most widely seen of the three films. ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/46 "2003-01-10T08:24:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wang-Ka \* > \*\*Huh? _Dawn Of The Dead_ didn’t pick up ten years after the events of NOTLD. It picked up the MORNING AFTER the events of NOTLD! > > It was MADE ten years after NOTLD, that’s all. \*\* Uh, okay. NOTLD is set in 1968, the year it was made. Everything about the film----fashions, trappings, etc.-----reflect the year 1968. Dawn Of The Dead is set in 1978. Everything about the film, fashions, trappings, etc, reflect the year 1978. I challenge you to find one aspect of this film that suggests it’s supposed to be in 1968. And please don’t mention the black-and-white TV the protagonists watch, because I remember cheap b/w TV’s being common up to the early 80’s. Furthermore, it’s clearly stated in DAWN that the zombie plague has been going on “for two weeks”. Watch the beginning scene in the TV station and listen…\*two weeks, \*, not “the MORNING AFTER”. I’ll find the exact time on the DVD where that line occurs if you like. “This has been the situation for two weeks!” And if that isn’t enough, read a interview or two with Romero, where he NEVER refers to Dawn as a sequel but more of a “update” of the original idea. ---
**Author:** ![Vanyel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@Vanyel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vanyel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/47 "2003-01-10T08:32:58Z")
How about **The Incredibly Strange Creatures that Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies**? Or **Zombie Nightmare**? Actually, I can’t say I’ve seen either of these two in an uncut version, just the MST3K version. Therefore, they’re my favorites, because they’re the only ones I’ve seen of the genre. ---
**Author:** ![Keith\_Berry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/22d042/32.png) [@Keith\_Berry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keith_Berry)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/48 "2003-01-10T08:34:15Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by NailBunny \* > \*\*Now, for the person who said **Dellamorte Dellamore** was not technically a zombie film because the plot did not revolve around zombies, how do you figure that? > > SPOILERS!!! > > The plot is that of a man who is the caretaker of a cemetary where the dead come back to life as “Returners”; I always felt that the love story and the murderous rampages came in second to that idea (the love story fell into that first plot because she dies and comes back as a Returner, and the murderous rampages also fall under that plot because he starts shooting people in the head to avoid them ever returning in the first place). \*\* Funny, I always thought the zombies came in second to the love story and the murderous rampages. Hence, I don’t consider it a “zombie” film, any more than a film with a murder scene can be generalized as a “slasher” film. Just my opinion though. ---
**Author:** ![k61](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@k61](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k61)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/49 "2003-01-10T11:39:02Z")
> [@](#): > > I defer you to the immortal classic Bloodsucking Freaks now you’re talking! one of my fave gore movies of all time and still totally banned in the UK (but easy to obtain online!)… > [@](#): > > Also, as an interesting side note, the three main actors all died not long after its release: > Master Sardu: Stabbed to death. > Natasha D’Natalie: Accidentally shot on a hunting trip. > Ralphus: Herart attack lol! ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/50 "2003-01-10T13:18:24Z")
See, I agree with **Nailbunny** that **Dellamorte Dellamore** is indeed a zombie movie. I mean, if you’re going to break it down so much, you could just say it’s a movie about self discovery…the zombies represent bits of his past he can’t give up, his impotence, his constantly falling for the same woman, all represent his inability to move on from previous heart break; his murder spree an attempt to change who he is; and the finale, his realization that he’s trapped and can’t escape the life he’s created for himself. Of course that’s just all over annalysing in a completely sophomoric way to help point out that, well, the zombies are the big key here. They pervade every aspect of this guy’s life (his home, his lifestyle, his love life, and his rebellion). He’s the last line of defence against this horrible evil, and that’s his focus in life. Without the zombies, none of the other stuff would have happened and there’d be no movie. Plus, it’s in the “Zombie” section at I Luv Video. So there, nyaa! ---
**Author:** ![yawndave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/43a26b/32.png) [@yawndave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawndave)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/51 "2003-01-10T18:34:59Z")
As a kid, I remember seeing "The Mad Ghoul’ on a rainy Saturday afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/52 "2003-01-10T19:22:42Z")
I recently saw ‘Return of the Living Dead’, and really liked it. Very cheesey, lots of gratuitous nudity and horrible acting. ‘Return of the Living Dead 3’ is an interesting idea for a zombie movie, but the acting and special effects were hideous. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Cool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecb155/32.png) [@Joe\_Cool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Cool)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243/53 "2003-01-16T22:40:49Z")
I just wanted to say I watched “The Dead Hate The Living” last night, and didn’t like it. It was ok, but nothing new or interesting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/zombie-movies/147243.md?page=2)