Simon Pegg view, runners vs shamblers

[ryansson]

Apologies if this has been posted before but just read this article and think it explains wonderfully why, for me at least, shamblers are the definitive zombie.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/nov/04/television-simon-pegg-dead-set

[Yojimbo]

Thank you ryanson for the link to a well written article.

[bassman]

Couldn't agree more!

This quote had me laughing. I've compared Snyder's speedsters to raptors since day one...

"the second they emit furious velociraptor screeches (as opposed to the correct mournful moans of longing),"

[Cody]

Peggs gotta good head on his shoulders

[ryansson]

Peggs gotta good head on his shoulders

Certainly has, was very impressed by that article, wish I'd have thought of it myself :)

[Craig]

Great article, really affirms what the slow zombie and zombie genre in general is all about.

I just hope we get a good shambler movie soon... maybe in the form of World War Z, if it's good no doubt it has potential to be popular in the mainstream too.

[MinionZombie]

Pegg - what a legend - it has to be said.

This is exactly the sort of thing I've been banging on about since 28 Days Later came out (they're NOT zombies!) and then when Yawn04 came out (110 reasons in 110 minutes why it's sh*t), and I too thought Dead Set was superb stuff ... ... but ... ... the running zombies, gah! :(

As I've said many times before - anything running at you is scary, especially if it's screaming a scream the human vocal chord is incapable of achieving ... but in so-doing, all the subtlety, the meaning, the creeping dread and the sudden realisation that you're totally f*cked when you never saw it coming, is all lost as soon as the dead become track stars.

I truly believe there is more skill in creating a shambling zombie film, because you have to figure out how your people will become victims, how the dead can catch on in the populace...I've said it before, but I'll say it again - I'm gonna be starting my zombie epic script soon (once I can shake off the crushing malaise I always face prior to hammering the keyboard), and it WILL contain shamblers.

I think he summed it up well when he said that death is a disability to the zombies, not a super power.

I maintain that a zombie should act like a drunk toddler, capable of movement and even menace, but far from capable of complex body control - such as running.

[Bub666]

Great article,Simon Pegg is dead on about zombies in that article.

[Doc]

I personally, would like to see a zed film where you start with runners(not to the extend of Dawn '04 though) that maybe move fast for two weeks to a month or so. Then maybe as time goes on the first wave zombies begin to slow down. So by the time they slow down their numbers make up for their physical limitations. Err....Well thats how I think of it.:shifty:

[blind2d]

Yeah, Minion! You took the words right out of my mouth, and then some!

[ryansson]

I personally, would like to see a zed film where you start with runners(not to the extend of Dawn '04 though) that maybe move fast for two weeks to a month or so. Then maybe as time goes on the first wave zombies begin to slow down. So by the time they slow down their numbers make up for their physical limitations. Err....Well thats how I think of it.:shifty:

Personally I would like to see a seperation, the shamblers earning the title of true classic zombie and the runners being not dead but rabid/posessed. I think as the article mentions there is good reason for the zed to shamble, it sets it apart from the vamp or the werewolf in a most effective way

[DawnGirl27]

Yeah, Minion! You took the words right out of my mouth, and then some!

(In Cameron's voice from Ferris Bueller's Day Off) "MZ, you're my hero..." :p

And the article was a great one. Very well-written.

[Bunker65]

Great article, thanks for sharing it ryan :cool:. I would also echo what others have said regarding MZ's post, spot on & I agree 100% !!

[AcesandEights]

Flying zombies ftw!

[DjfunkmasterG]

Good article, but Even Pegg admits himself having the debate is pointless because of reality and the zombie apocalypse. This is one mans opinion on how he feels zombies should exist, but just because Romero gave us one thing doesn't mean that should be the entire standard.

I like running zombies, they depict a larger threat, that shamblers no longer represent. Although I use both styles in my films.

[MinionZombie]

Flying zombies ftw!
:lol: Roflcopters. :D

I still think shamblers are totally capable of posing the same, or indeed more, threat in movies today. It doesn't make sense that just because time moves on, things should be always faster - faster internet connections make sense - but why does a classic movie monster (although not as classic as say Frankenstein or The Wolf Man) have to go yomping about like a track star?

It can work - like in Dead Set or Deadlands (and I'm not just saying that, the scenes I've seen of DL2 are great), but I completely stand by the GAR invented modern zombie, and like Pegg says, or similar to it anyway, it's like making the Wolf Man fly, or Vampires have luminous skin and not obsessed with getting their end away.

I do also stick by my statement that I think it takes more skill, or at least more though, to make a good shambling zed movie - because as I've previously said, anything running at you with loud-ass vocal chords going nineteen-to-the-dozen is scary, but often (*cough* Yawn04 *ahem*) there's absolutely piss-all to back it up.

The creeping sense of dread, the dropping of your guard, mankind as their own worst enemy due to fear, unreliablity, duplicitousness etc.

It's like in Dead Rising, you can deal with a handful of the blighters, but you'll sooner or later find yourself with a pistol absolutely surrounded by the buggers - and that's when you panic - you start seeing them all lunging mercilessly for you from all directions and you fire wildly in a panic and then you're completely effed-in-the-ay.

...

As for the 'point' in the argument that Pegg mentioned, I'm sure he means it as in there's far more pressing matters to be concerned about out there, nevermind a movie monster that doesn't really exist in reality, which if you thought that way all things in movies would be totally pointless when compared to reality ... but in turn, that's not the point.

As for other interpretations, it can work (Dead Set, Deadlands ... as I've already mentioned in this very post), or you can have a flick like 28 Days Later which feels like a zed flick - but it's actually not. It takes the iconography and thematic elements of such a movie, and puts them elsewhere in a new context, changing certain things.

Part of the purpose, also, in movie monsters is following the established rules within reasonable boundaries ... Yawn04 just pinched the idea of the (living) rage-infected people from 28 Days Later and hammered it into a sh*t script aimed at The Hills viewing dimwits.

That's my assertion anyway, so nevermind the traditional come backs and "pffts" and so forth ... I've rambled on long enough.

Also - cheers for the big-ups from my fellow forum members. :)

[bassman]

It's like in Dead Rising, you can deal with a handful of the blighters, but you'll sooner or later find yourself with a pistol absolutely surrounded by the buggers - and that's when you panic - you start seeing them all lunging mercilessly for you from all directions and you fire wildly in a panic and then you're completely effed-in-the-ay.


That's a very good point, man. I've seen several people that like runners usually say something along the lines of "oh it can't be scary to new audiences if they're not running" or "it wouldn't be successful if the dead didn't run". So then what about Dead Rising? That game did very well for itself, made lots of fans, and didn't have runners/raptors.

Interesting point, MZ.:)

[AcesandEights]

I still think shamblers are totally capable of posing the same, or indeed more, threat in movies today.

I just hope World War Z does get made and that, rumors to the contrary aside, they stick with shamblers!

[blind2d]

Amen!

[MinionZombie]

I just hope World War Z does get made and that, rumors to the contrary aside, they stick with shamblers!
Aye, I really do hope they go shamblers - as in the book - rather than feckin' track stars. :rolleyes: :annoyed:

As for "ugh, shamblers wouldn't work these days", what a load of cock-sh*t - Dead Rising pwned the sales charts, GAR's flicks are still successful, and his previous flicks are still held in the highest regard, and they're an indie fan favourite.

I think Hollywood is too lazy to put the effort in, let alone the brain power, if you excuse the pun.

[Craig]

Definitely agree about how it takes more thought and better ideas/writing to make a slow zombie film/book/game. I was contemplating a short zombie Flash movie, I really want to have shamblers but I'm finding it hard to come up with a way to get the ending I want (all the characters die) and still have slow zombies.
I think it shows better skill to overcome the challenge of having such a slow monster, rather than just making them fast and instantly dangerous. Having apocalypticly large numbers of slow zombies is another thing that gives them such impact in my opinion.

I have to say it appears GAR had problems with the zombies and continuity. For example in Day, it's my favourite GAR movie but the zombies manage to overrun the compound unrealistically fast at the end.

[ryansson]

Surely that proves the point though, security breached the dead that have congrugated outside the fences swarm into the facility and all hell ensues, even though the zeds are slow their shear numbers seals the fate of the living even with their guns

[MinionZombie]

Surely that proves the point though, security breached the dead that have congrugated outside the fences swarm into the facility and all hell ensues, even though the zeds are slow their shear numbers seals the fate of the living even with their guns
And other factors:

* Attacking from more than one direction - bring up the front and the rear.

* Human panic and time wasting.

Rhodes and co screw each other over, they're panicking and firing wildly, they skittering around all over the place...as for Sarah and co, they got a sh*t deal initially but they had a plan (albeit a dangerous one, but it was never gonna be easy getting out), and they stick to it and keep moving and just get the f*ck out of dodge - they survive by keeping their heads screwed on, Rhodes and co all get slaughtered by not working together, by panicking and by wasting valuable time.

All the while the zeds are making steady, unrelenting walking progress - which makes the deaths more tragic (rather than just cannon fodder, or a cheap scare), you could have gotten out if you'd kept your head, but you didn't and you're screwed - just like in Dead Rising.

If you stay aware of your surroundings, and those surrounding you, you'll do alright - but it'll be far from safe. If you don't pay attention, or you just go barging in like a bull in a china shop, you're effed in the ay promptly.

[Thorn]

All the while the zeds are making steady, unrelenting walking progress - which makes the deaths more tragic (rather than just cannon fodder, or a cheap scare), you could have gotten out if you'd kept your head, but you didn't and you're screwed - just like in Dead Rising.


Wow excellent point, and I never looked at it from that perspective.

[Doc]

And other factors:

* Attacking from more than one direction - bring up the front and the rear.

* Human panic and time wasting.

Rhodes and co screw each other over, they're panicking and firing wildly, they skittering around all over the place..., Rhodes and co all get slaughtered by not working together, by panicking and by wasting valuable time.


I always though Rhode's men were in shock or something since, in the beginning Rhodes was always "MY MEN" this and "MY MEN" that and saying how much stuff they been through and maybe they thought he was truly on their side but, when sh*t hit the fan(Always want to use this line:D) they saw their Leader ws nothing but, a hypocrite as he drove on his little golf cart to safety leaving everyone else in the dust.:)