Zombies.

They're cool as hell (all of my scientific objections to them even surviving, let alone existing aside), but the more I think about it, it's a one-trick pony. I mean really, how much zombie media can we have? It's always the same story: zombie outbreak occurs, survivors struggle to...well, survive. The military struggles to maintain control but eventually become villainous. A band of survivors run around, kill some zombies here and there, tear-jerkingly decide to kill a survivor who's infected whilst their relatives object...and eventually they find a faint (or definite) hope of survival.

I hate to say it, but zombie media is starting to look more and more like romantic comedies, in the fact that they're cut & paste. The story is always the same with a few edits possibly here and there. Seems like all you do is just make up characters to put in there.

I mean really, how can you shake up the genre? Your options are pretty limited when 90% of the world is either dead or undead.

Yeah, they do all seem to have a very similar formula. To be honest I don't really know how it can be jazzed up.

Maybe something more akin to World War Z where, rather then focusing on a particular group of survivors, it focuses on the bigger picture and follows lots of peoples stories?

Or maybe get aliens in there? Astroid crashes into earth and releases parasites (Or a good old fashioned virus) that turn you into zombies before the alien overlords come down to harvest you for food and use you as slave labour or something. You could just mix it up with a bit of sci-fi mumbo jumbo.

Basically, move away from the classic 'small group of suvivors banding together' scenario and turn it into something bigger.

Well there is a reason zombies have changed slightly over the years. We've never done a good job at explaining exactly how something as retarded as a zombie who have no real tactical prowess can somehow take over entire cities, or like the mini series The Walking Dead... the world. I mean one group of people with sticks, stones and a few shotguns, well you know what happen to the zombies in scenes like that. I mean for how many zombie movies are out there, it's pretty hard to have a new movie give an excuse for human stupidity at getting their rumps kicked by zombies because EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW HOW TO FIGHT ZOMBIES NOW! lol

Originally Posted by Lumina

Well there is a reason zombies have changed slightly over the years. We've never done a good job at explaining exactly how something as retarded as a zombie who have no real tactical prowess can somehow take over entire cities, or like the mini series The Walking Dead... the world. I mean one group of people with sticks, stones and a few shotguns, well you know what happen to the zombies in scenes like that. I mean for how many zombie movies are out there, it's pretty hard to have a new movie give an excuse for human stupidity at getting their rumps kicked by zombies because EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW HOW TO FIGHT ZOMBIES NOW! lol

That's another good point. Every man and his dog knows what to do in a zombie outbreak. That's why I reckon it would be better to have it break out in an unexpected way (Like I said alien parasites or something) or have it when humanity is vulnerable e.g. World War 3 is going on, some new kind of biological weapon is released creating zombies or something akin to the infected off 28 days and while people are too busy fighting each other the zombies overwhelm. Or go one step further- nuclear apocalypse has occurred after World War 3 and somehow there is zombies thrown into the mix.

Just a few ideas anyway.

The movie Nazi Zombies 4!!! Sorry you're alien world war thing just made me think of a weird movie I can not remember the title but Nazi zombies rise from a lake. xD

Oh yes you have to say the title like they do for the Resident Evil games.. hehe

Have you read World War Z? I'm in the middle of it and it feels pretty fresh. It's more focus on the actual outbreak and not only just the aftermath.

Well, that's the case for all the fantastical beings nowadays. Zombies, vampires, aliens....it's all been done so much before that there's not really much more you can do with them.


Time to insert a new creature into horror movie lexicon.

Originally Posted by therussian

Well, that's the case for all the fantastical beings nowadays. Zombies, vampires, aliens....it's all been done so much before that there's not really much more you can do with them.

I'd agree with all of them bar aliens. An alien could look like or act like absolutely anything. If there is aliens out there, the chances are they are completely incomprehensible to us, and as the universe is an infinite place there is infinite possibilities for aliens. The only thing holding us back is our imaginations.

I agree with the others though.

However much zombies have been used in movies, the formula sure does work damn well in Left 4 Dead.

Originally Posted by black-dragon

However much zombies have been used in movies, the formula sure does work damn well in Left 4 Dead.

Pfft, the only zombie game I will ever buy will be a sandbox free roam zombie game kinda like Zombieland but in video game form. Or maybe a better Resident Evil Break Out game, or Resident Evil 1-3 remakes, ie like they did for Resident Evil 1 on the gamecube, uber up the graphics, and cutscenes, release it making the game look almost 100% brand new, release all 3 as a Resident Evil Special Classic Edition or something. hehe

Lets surpass Zombies and make soemthing new.
Or, make a good something of an old something.
For example, how about someone puts the time, money and effort into making a good Lovecraft film?
I'm waiting for my epic!

Actually, I've got an idea for a Zombie film: One that shows exactly why an outbreak wouldn't work:
The Worlds Militaries quarentine their respective areas, destroy the zombie menace and then we watch as any left overs slowly decompose over the coming months.
Sure, wouldn't be much to it, but it'd be new.

Originally Posted by Lumina

Pfft, the only zombie game I will ever buy will be a sandbox free roam zombie game kinda like Zombieland but in video game form. Or maybe a better Resident Evil Break Out game, or Resident Evil 1-3 remakes, ie like they did for Resident Evil 1 on the gamecube, uber up the graphics, and cutscenes, release it making the game look almost 100% brand new, release all 3 as a Resident Evil Special Classic Edition or something. hehe

Come on man! Slow zombies should stay in the 90s Though a remake of RE1 for PC would be awesome.

Originally Posted by black-dragon

Come on man! Slow zombies should stay in the 90s Though a remake of RE1 for PC would be awesome.

I think they should remake them all and then re-release Resident Evil 4 for 360/PS3 and a better PC version, since PS3s dropped their backwords compatability, if my 60gb poops in an unfixable way I will have to go back to my aging PS2 to play it, PC version was awful i was told... for RE 4 I mean. RE5 is not worth my time playing, I went back and tried 4 for a while again and just realised how bad 5 really was.

Originally Posted by Lumina

I think they should remake them all and then re-release Resident Evil 4 for 360/PS3 and a better PC version, since PS3s dropped their backwords compatability, if my 60gb poops in an unfixable way I will have to go back to my aging PS2 to play it, PC version was awful i was told... for RE 4 I mean. RE5 is not worth my time playing, I went back and tried 4 for a while again and just realised how bad 5 really was.

I was actually quite disappointed with RE4. It starts off well, but it gets too silly and outrageous after a while. Not to mention that this 'Eastern European town' speaks Spanish

RE1 really was/is the gem of the series. The tension/horror element was present from start to finish. Unfortunately, as time goes on, the series seems to get worse. I think the storylines reached an all-time low when they introduced some crazy cross-dressing guy and his mutant-bug sister... I'm not going to hold my breath for the next installment. Bottom line is that capcom should've stuck with survival-horror instead of slowly edging toward an action game with zombies.

Here's what I'd like to see: an RE movie based heavily on the mansion incident and events leading up to it, including the human experimentation. Maybe they could do something centered on the abduction of the Trevor family? The RE movies should've been thrillers/horror, not action

im tired of zombies. i hope they change the name to zombries so i can be addicted again.

Well, they usually deal with the aftermath of a zombie apocalypse. Why not focus on the initial outbreak? I Am Legend sort of focused on it, but I want to see a long drawn out battle where there's greater attention given from the perspective of the government on controlling an outbreak, not a small group of survivors struggling not to be eaten. Throw in some tough moral dilemmas and you've made a relatively unique zombie movie.

What's happening with zombies is what happens with any popular genre of things, just like vampires. The entertainment industry will run an idea into the group until they don't make anymore money from it (and they find the next fad).

I don't think you quite understand the concept of a zombie film. The zombies are part of the story, but they are not essential to it - we could easily replace them with mutant killer ants. These films are simply about how people survive and cooperate with each other during and after a massive disaster. The zombies are just there to act as obstacles to provide tension and provoke new reactions in the characters - develop them in other words. It's no different to any other film plot.

And for those who say people in films should know how to fight zombies because of the plethora of films dealing with it: zombies have been said many times to not exist in these fictional universes.

Still.. Zombie-scenarios with obious logical flaws annoy me. Like how the infection managed to take over the world in a few months when it only can spread via slowly walking people biting other people. Not to mention how the suvivors never seem to be military, who by all acounts suld be the last to get run over.

Originally Posted by Eirmar

Still.. Zombie-scenarios with obious logical flaws annoy me. Like how the infection managed to take over the world in a few months when it only can spread via slowly walking people biting other people. Not to mention how the suvivors never seem to be military, who by all acounts suld be the last to get run over.

Or running. Or via blood contact a la 28 Days Later.

@ Darth

Isn't there meant to be a Mountains of Madness adaptation in the works?