where have all the shamblers gone?

[octo7]

:confused: i am tired of fast zombies. speeding them up is a great way for an uninspired director to make them seem more threatening. I guess it comes hand in hand with the complete lack of atmosphere in modern horror films.

[Philly_SWAT]

:confused: i am tired of fast zombies. speeding them up is a great way for an uninspired director to make them seem more threatening. I guess it comes hand in hand with the complete lack of atmosphere in modern horror films.

I thought this was gonna be song lyrics when I clicked on this! :)

I prefer slow zombies myself, however, I'm not sure you can make a blanket statement that it is "uninspired directing". With a quality story, fast moving zombies could make quite an enjoyable movie. A good example of this would be the 'remake' of Dawn of the Dead. While I didnt like that they used that title, the movie itself I found very enjoyable. While not in the GAR vein, and therefore for me personally not as good, I still liked it very much.

[JDFP]

:confused: i am tired of fast zombies. speeding them up is a great way for an uninspired director to make them seem more threatening. I guess it comes hand in hand with the complete lack of atmosphere in modern horror films.

I could name about five really good horror flicks made in the last ten years. Why have atmosphere when you can have scantily clad gals running around? Why have character development when you can have groovy CGI effects? Why have dialogue when you can throw in one cliche after another? Wow, I just named every film Michael Bay has ever done as well as the vast majority of supposed "horror" movies made in the last 20 years.

Anyway, I digress... the answer, to me, just seems to be that as we have had to dumb down tests and ACT's and college exams over the years because people just aren't as intelligent as they used to be (not all mind you, but for the most part people just seem to be increasingly stupid), so have director's had to dumb down their scripts and film-making. It's not enough to show a living dead person any more in a horde of ghouls attacking. Now we have to show that ghoul sprinting after the scantily clad girl with CGI blood pussing from its mouth and making really inhuman sounds from its mouth. Realistic? God no, but the mindless minions eat it up more than: "Eh, it's just a dead ghoul walking around. What's scary about that?"

Why worry about film-making when you can make big BOOMS!

If this is the wave of the future, I'll stick with the classics. Keep the rest for yourself. Okay, well, maybe I wouldn't mind an occasional scantily clad gal...

j.p.

[Mike70]

"dead set" is the best of the fast zombie ilk. it crushes yawn and leaves it bloody in its wake.

but yeah, i prefer shamblers.

[octo7]

I thought this was gonna be song lyrics when I clicked on this! :)

I prefer slow zombies myself, however, I'm not sure you can make a blanket statement that it is "uninspired directing". With a quality story, fast moving zombies could make quite an enjoyable movie. A good example of this would be the 'remake' of Dawn of the Dead. While I didn't like that they used that title, the movie itself I found very enjoyable. While not in the GAR vein, and therefore for me personally not as good, I still liked it very much.
I thought the remake of Dawn was OK for what it was although it was disappointing that the first five minutes of the movie was by far the best. It wasn't much of a zombie movie though, not a single intestine or feeding scene in sight.



I could name about five really good horror flicks made in the last ten years. Why have atmosphere when you can have scantily clad gals running around? Why have character development when you can have groovy CGI effects? Why have dialogue when you can throw in one cliche after another? Wow, I just named every film Michael Bay has ever done as well as the vast majority of supposed "horror" movies made in the last 20 years.

Anyway, I digress... the answer, to me, just seems to be that as we have had to dumb down tests and ACT's and college exams over the years because people just aren't as intelligent as they used to be (not all mind you, but for the most part people just seem to be increasingly stupid), so have director's had to dumb down their scripts and film-making. It's not enough to show a living dead person any more in a horde of ghouls attacking. Now we have to show that ghoul sprinting after the scantily clad girl with CGI blood pussing from its mouth and making really inhuman sounds from its mouth. Realistic? God no, but the mindless minions eat it up more than: "Eh, it's just a dead ghoul walking around. What's scary about that?"

Why worry about film-making when you can make big BOOMS!

If this is the wave of the future, I'll stick with the classics. Keep the rest for yourself. Okay, well, maybe I wouldn't mind an occasional scantily clad gal...

j.p.
I don't think its that people are less intelligent, they are just more brainwashed by the advent of mass media and have less free-will and personal choice, its like how Japan has been for the last two decades. I have a feeling that will come to an end soon as the world is getting more fucked up again, its all cyclical. i hope so anyway. Harsh economic times and times of war make for better movies, that's always been the way.

Although i admit the above statement is hopelessly optimistic : (

---------- Post added at 11:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:49 PM ----------


"dead set" is the best of the fast zombie ilk. it crushes yawn and leaves it bloody in its wake.

but yeah, i prefer shamblers.

so its good? i was tempted to buy it the other day but it was about 25 yoyos.

[Mike70]

I

so its good? i was tempted to buy it the other day but it was about 25 yoyos.

it's way better than good. it's totally fantastic.

[Andy]

I don't think its that people are less intelligent, they are just more brainwashed by the advent of mass media and have less free-will and personal choice, its like how Japan has been for the last two decades.

Your talking about the land thats produced some of the best horror movies in the last couple of decades there, right?

[octo7]

Your talking about the land thats produced some of the best horror movies in the last couple of decades there, right?
Yeah. movies largely ignored by the Japanese public. Takeshi Kitano and Takeshi Miike are two examples of Japanese directors who are loved in the west and ignored (Miike) and treated as a joke (Kitano) in their homeland.

---------- Post added at 12:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:09 AM ----------

Actually add Hideo Nakata to that list too, he was fired by the Writer of the Ring novels because "he is not a horror director"

[SRP76]

The shamblers all starved to death because they couldn't beat the runners to the food.

[MoonSylver]

"dead set" is the best of the fast zombie ilk. it crushes yawn and leaves it bloody in its wake.

but yeah, i prefer shamblers.

Boom goes the dynamite. Ya beat me to it. I'll second that. I kept saying that (even though I'm not a fan of them), a movie with runners COULD be good if done correctly, & when I saw Dead Set one of my first thoughts was "this is it".

[blind2d]

Machine Girl, Meatball Machine, Battle Royale, Stacy... Japan ftw.
Oh, and shamblers are the only proper zeds. "Infected" people aren't scary, they're all around you! You know that song, "Everybody has AIDS".
Anyhow... Ringu kicks butt, and so does Romero.

[sandrock74]

The shamblers all starved to death because they couldn't beat the runners to the food.

HA!

Best post I've read all week :lol:

[Danny]

Boom goes the dynamite.

thanks to family guy that turn of phrase makes me shudder now :lol:

[AcesandEights]

I really don't mind runners per se, though I actually do prefer shamblers. My problem is the lack of diversity; you can bet I'd like runners even more if they weren't all over the place.

Some people will tell you that runners are indicative of the general down turn in quality of horror movies and I wouldn't completely disagree, though it would be an oversimplified statement.

One thing is clear--World War Z (if it gets made) better be slow zombies!

[ProfessorChaos]

world war z + runners = instant fail

i honestly think i'd walk out of the theater if that happens....that is, if wwz ever gets made....:|

[Mike70]

I thought this was gonna be song lyrics when I clicked on this! :)



all my undead life, i never slowed for anything
rip 'em up, eat the hearts and never try to sing
now i'm wondering if i've gone wrong,
will this decomposition last for long?

won't you tell me,

where have all the shamblers gone?

anyone have a set of assless pants?

[kortick]

why eddie van halen doesnt look like a shambler?


http://eppsnet.com/images/capt.ny10703090648.people_van_halen_ny107.jpg

[Trin]

Shamblers aren't scary anymore. That's the long and short of it. Why?

First, from a practical angle. The very movies that we love have educated us enough to no longer fear shambles. Most people scoff at the idea that a shambling zombie is a threat. Or even a group of them.

Second, from a fear angle. We've become desensitized to the idea of these things as horrific creatures. Our family and friends? Who cares - shoot them in the head. We all know it has to be done.

To continue to evoke fear from audiences the movies had to change the basic nature of zombies. Dawn remake did that with sprinting zombies. You aren't afraid of a zombie shuffling toward you? What if it sprinted toward you? Land did it with intellect.

Personally, I don't think shambling vs. running is the key point here. I think that the movies with runners have shifted from a creepy, psychological scare to a physical, intensity scare. By and large movies like 28 Days/Weeks and I Am Legend are action movies, not horror movies. They bank on adrenalin rushes rather than soul scarring situations. These movies barely take a second to reflect on the horror. The fact that it's runners is just a symptom of the problem.

What I think would be a great evolution for the genre would be to have a zombie who remembers enough of its life and keeps enough of its humanity to be seen by regular humans as still their friend or loved one. But give them the insatiable need to feed on humans. How bad would it mess you up to see someone's wife or child coming at them, bloody and scarred, crying, and saying, "I'm so sorry. I can't stop myself. I just HAVE to... get to you..." Have that person slowly lose their humanity as the afliction consumes them. It wouldn't matter if they were runners or shamblers in that case.

Yeah...

[octo7]

shamblers are scarier because they seem more dead. that is all.

oh and i think people misunderstood my comment about japan, i was refering to public opinion being swayed by mass-media, not the quality of japanese films.

---------- Post added at 07:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:36 PM ----------

Ok i also need to add this now:

The whole concept of zombies being both slow and weak as individuals but dangerous as a large group has some deep significance on several levels.

[bassman]

You don't see shamblers much anymore because MTV has trained the kiddies to think that a film isn't good if it's not constant action. Nobody wants to think anymore. It's okay to turn off the noggin and watch a no brainer every now and again, but kids these days just don't want to think anymore.

The zombies were never the real threat, anyway. And they really shouldn't be.

Besides.....walking dead things I can believe in. Running dead things? Not so much....

[octo7]

You don't see shamblers much anymore because MTV has trained the kiddies to think that a film isn't good if it's not constant action. Nobody wants to think anymore. It's okay to turn off the noggin and watch a no brainer every now and again, but kids these days just don't want to think anymore.

The zombies were never the real threat, anyway. And they really shouldn't be.

Besides.....walking dead things I can believe in. Running dead things? Not so much....
agreed.

[rightwing401]

The fact that most zombie movies now a days don't use shamblers sucks. But the makers would have to understand the feel of what slow moving corpses would entail.

Would one or two of them slowly shuffling towards you be considered scary? Not very likely.

But, you take those same shamblers, add about fifty or a hundred more, then have them lurching towards some poor sob trapped in a room or at the end of an alley, who clearly doesn't have nearly enough ammo to shoot their way out, and you've got a masterpiece in the making. Because the audience could sit there on edge as they watch the dude blasts away one walker after another, yet more keep pressing in regardless of loss or fear of death, feeling the growing doom as they slowly get closer and closer, and the character's desperation growing from their impending death. And just before those teeth and gnarled hands touch them, the character, with tears in their eyes and their body trembling from absolute fright, uses the last bullet on themselves (or if you wanted to be really sadistic have the gun click empty just as they reach the character). If someone does that, I could pretty much guarantee you that many of these action craving kiddies would damn well learn to be afraid of the shamblers.

The scene in Day of the Dead where Steel's trapped in the room and the zombies are pouring in is hands down one of my favorite horror movie moments. To see this big burly man gun down four or five of the shamblers with ease, but then breaks down as more and more pour through the door at him, forcing him to take his own life before being eaten alive. Now that scene made me feel for the character's hopeless situation.

The slow, methodical feeling of dread is what makes the shamblers so damn scary.