Ever since George Romero came up with the ideal formula in the genre defining brilliantly executed “Night Of the Living Dead”, countless filmmakers have mined this milieu creating a never ending parade of films so entertaining it seems like the zombie the movie will never die. Properly crafted, the zombie flick works on so many levels, like the Western or a Film Noir it’s become a genre of its own. On its most basic level the paradoxes are astoundingly profound. The concept of a group of characters you are sympathetic towards fighting for their life, struggling not to be eaten by the dead who are eternally alive (sort of) can be seen as a metaphor for the struggle of life itself. Then there are the obvious comparisons between the zombies and today’s society and the existential questions it provokes about how our own lives can seem empty and no better than the average day in a zombie’s life. Day in and day out we drag our bodies to thankless jobs and are rewarded by the mind numbing static that passes for entertainment these days. The overplayed joke of the zombie shoppers dragging their bloodied limbs and staggering through the shopping malls of Romero’s “Dawn Of The Dead”, while an endless loop of “attention shoppers, today’s special is now available….” makes for hilarious imagery but is so close to reality that it makes a rational cultural statement. I also like the beginning of “Shaun Of the Dead” where it shows peoples lives seem relatively the same even before they become flesh eating zombies. Someone should do a film about vegetarian zombies who tear the heads off the Whole Foods cashiers to get at the tubs of tofu and scarf down handfuls of frozen vegi burgers.

It’s also wonderful how these images of decaying corpses grasping for a piece of warm human flesh can be both disgustingly horrific and absolutely hysterical at the same time. If the director gets the balance right using a bit of visual overkill, the hapless marauding zombies can be a great vehicle for hours and hours of good old fashioned hilarious slapstick fun. And it’s not like they’re goofing on the disabled or anything in bad taste. Yes, the zombie is the perfect target for this type of humor. I laughed so hard during “Shaun of the Dead” that I had tears coming down my face. Romero’s original “Night Of the Living Dead” was intensely frightening but some of the scenes became absurdly humorous. I always got a kick out of seeing the diversity of the local zombie community trudging through the woods to dismember and consume the inhabitants huddled up in the small house. You would see a butcher, a deli counterman and I loved that old woman zombie stiffly walking while still sweeping the floor with a broom. That film also had the compulsory aspect of poking fun at authority figures and exemplifying our distrust for the government. I loved the cheesy news reporter “beat em, burn em, shoot em in the head.” Corporate greed and environmental neglect are also big on the zombie circuit.
Also there are usually the sociological/psychological aspects to these films about how we as a society react to these devastating apocalyptic scenarios. One film that explored this, the excellent “28 Days Later” I’ll file under great zombie movies that were not so big on laughs. How many times can the same basic storyline be retold?

Well, here’s one more which brings me to the hilariously perfect, Robert Rodriquez contribution to Grindhouse, the brilliant “Planet Terror”. As far as I’m concerned the movie covered all the bases. The hard to follow specifics of the plot seems secondary to the non stop action, clever dialog and stupendous casting. A piece of great artistic cinema this was not. But if you “get it” you catch the feeling Rodriquez totally nailed what he was going for. Getting the right look and feel in this well crafted homage to the art form known as the cheesy exploitation or grindhouse flick.The trailers were also killer, especially Eli Roth’s “Thanksgiving”. What fucking great voiceovers. I think they could do a whole movie featuring just these types of fake trailers and have a hit.

Tarantino’s flick was by far the weaker portion of the show. Curt Russell was as usual in fine form but the famed gritty dialogue Tarantino is famous for in my opinion fell flat and couldn’t carry the film. Forced and self conscious the tough talking chicks banter did not seem realistic and just didn’t flow like it did in his groundbreaking “Pulp Fiction”. Samuel Jackson saying “Motherfucker” every two seconds seemed much more realistic. Quinton needs to listen more to how tough chicks really talk. Motherfucker!