Crackle Blog

October is ZombieFest here at Crackle: an entire month celebrating the eating of flesh. We have created a destination on the site where you can find everything Crackle has to offer featuring the army of the undead. You will find clips from the upcoming release, Zombieland, 16 full-length zombie classics and our very own zombie comedy web series starring Napolean Dynamite's Jon Heder, Woke Up Dead. I have never been more proud to work here.

Anyone here in the Crackle offices can tell you: I love zombie movies. The original Dawn of the Dead is in my top-10 favorites of all time, and even the worst zombie film (Oasis of the Living Dead: I’m probably looking at you) can make me crack a smile. I mean, as boring as Oasis is, it has Nazi Zombies! That makes it more interesting than half the summer movies this year.

When I was asked to write this blog for ZombieFest, I started to wonder what it was exactly about zombie movies that appealed to me so much. I enjoy horror movies, but I wouldn’t call myself a “Slasher Fan” or an “Italian Horror Fan” (to name a few). It’s only zombie films that I completely flip over and I’m hardly alone in this. Why is that?

After some thought, I realized that zombie films tend to be better written than most horror films, with more interesting characters and clever survival situations. I don’t think that’s a coincidence, instead it's just a factor of the world that zombie films take place in. See, the real threat isn’t the zombie outside; it’s the healthy person next to you, and the realities of human nature in survival situations.

Part of the new breed of Zombies. Opening Friday, catch Zombieland clips here on Crackle.

On the surface level zombie films are exactly the same as all horror films: you're being chased by something that wants to kill you, and that’s, you know, scary. What’s even more terrifying in zombie films is the collapse of society around the characters. The police are in as much danger as you are, and no one is going to bother with the court system if a conflict arises. So the real terror is that even if you manage to escape from the zombies that are (slowly) chasing after you, you still have to deal with the regular folks around you, who are no longer held in check by laws or fear of imprisonment.

What happens when your group of 5 survivors comes across a helicopter that only seats 4? Or when your group starts to run low on food? Suddenly you’re back in the jungle, it’s survival of the fittest, and the healthy guy standing next to you is really a bigger threat than the zombies lumbering behind you. And maybe worst of all, what type of person are you when it’s genuinely life or death?  How badly do you want that 4^th helicopter seat, and what are you willing to do to get it? The best zombie films take these factors into account, and are as much about the conflicts between survivors as they are about escaping flesh eaters.

Dawn of the Dead spends half the film with the four main characters “safe” in a shopping mall, with only occasional cuts to the zombies outside (to remind you they’re there). In the end (spoiler) it’s a group of roving bikers, embracing the chaos of a lawless society and causing as much damage as they can, that forces the survivors to move on. Day of the Dead similarly puts a group of scientists and soldiers in a “safe” underground zombie research facility, and the story is actually about the shift of power from the scientists (who ran the facility) to the soldiers (who realize they have the guns). I think it’s the gradual collapse of society that really appeals to me, that moment when a character realizes, “the only reason I’m not killing you is because society’s laws prevent it. And right now society isn’t looking...”. That really scares me. THAT is why I love zombie movies.

I also want to single out Romero’s films for going one step further -- they use the backdrop of a zombie plague to analyze the societal problems of the times. Dawn uses the setting of a mall to comment on the greed and "happiness through consumerism" of the '80s, both by humorously showing zombies walking around the mall (like the mindless shoppers), and by showing that materialism is not the solution to all life’s problems. Having "gotten everything they’ve ever wanted" in the mall, the main characters find their lives still empty and meaningless. Similarly, Day comments on the military buildup of the Reagan years, and Land of the Dead mirrors the Bush (Jr.) administration with the wealthy elite walling themselves off from the "common people". There’s a good dig in Land at the tactics of distraction used by the last presidential administration. The "wealthy elite" use fireworks to befuddle the zombies (think televised warfare used to distract from problems at home). Yes, I’m pretty sure George Romero is a Democrat.

Debuting next Monday on Crackle, the Crackle Original zombie show, Woke Up Dead.

Over the last few years, we’ve had something of a "Zombie Renaissance". 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, Dawn of the Dead (2004), Land of the Dead and more, all very entertaining films. But I'm distressed at the modern push towards fast-moving zombies. I know that sometimes the slow shambling of old-school zombies can elicit a chuckle, but as soon as zombies can run, suddenly the focus becomes more on their immediate threat and less on the larger effect on society.  28 Days Later is a great zombie film, and it definitely deals with the collapse of society (with healthy characters being as dangerous as the infected), but the emphasis has shifted towards the shocks and horrors of a more standard monster movie. I’m not going to complain too loudly since the number of genuinely good zombie films has probably doubled in the last decade.

Two quick things before I sign off.

First, if you’ve never seen the Italian film Zombi 2 (1979), do yourself a favor and check it out. All I’m going to say is, there's an underwater fight between a zombie and a real shark, plus one of the most horrific moments in film history (you’ll know it when you see it... no pun intended).

Classic zombie-esque hijinx in Carnival of Souls.

Second, check out Carnival of Souls, playing right now here as part of ZombieFest here on Crackle. Not a traditional zombie movie, but it is a genuinely creepy '60s horror film, and every view it gets will help convince the powers-that-be that we need more classic films on Crackle. I personally believe you good people would rather watch His Girl Friday than Double Team, even if it is in dreaded BLACK & WHITE, so help fight the good fight and get Carnival onto the Crackle "Top Movies" list on the bottom of the home page!

P.S. – Michael Bay is the Antichrist. Nothing to do with zombies... I’m just saying.

Robby - Crackle, Director of Development