Whats your Favorite type of Zombie movie?

[paranoid101]

Watched a few zombie movies this past week and its got me Wondering, whats your favourite type of zombie movie?

Is it set at the start of the outbreak, watching the world fall apart and seeing how can I say heroes of the film trying to survive the beginning of the infection, Like Night of the Living Dead, Return of the Living, Dawn of the dead 2004 etc

Or is it set after the outbreak when everything has gone to shit and the heroes this time are surviving in the ruins, maybe having to fight other survivors or with themselves, like Day of the Dead, Dawn 78 (this film maybe could be class as an outbreak film still) and the 3rd and 4th Resident Evil films.

So guys which is your favourite?

[bassman]

A little bit of both, actually. I guess if I had to choose it would be the Aftermath. Most of my favorites fall in that category.

While I also enjoy watching as the world falls apart from the start, there's something special about being dropped into the aftermath with no bearings as to what went down. Take the opening to Day for example. The abandoned city that swells with the dead once Miguel makes his presence known? Now that's great stuff. The aftermath just seems like a much more hopeless scenario. Say what you will about Land, but I LOVED the opening aftermath credits. When the camera pans down from the 'EATS' sign and you see the dead wondering around as if they've been "living" that way for a long period of time. A great aftermath start to a film. Too bad the rest of the film didn't hold up as well.

Another great example is The Walking Dead. That's a scenario we don't get to see played out too often. Experience the aftermath with the main character. It's one thing to start a movie like Day and experience the world as an audience member, but when you're also experiencing it for the first time with the protagonist it takes it to a whole other level. True, TWD went back and showed parts of the outbreak, but the pilot episode as you explore the world with Rick was just phenomenal.

[glazedoverdead]

I totally agree with Bassman. I love both scenarios equally. I love how we start in the middle of the chaos in Day, but I really did enjoy the Hell out of the chaotic and rather explosive beginning in Dawn '04. I'm torn between which I love more...too hard to choose. I suppose it really depends on the movie in question. I think if its really well done, it doesn't matter as much to me where they start out... As long as the zombies rise up and take over the Earth!!!!

[blind2d]

I would have to go with... oatmeal.
"Oatmeal, are you crazy?!" - Pinkamena Diane Pie
Seriously though, I kind of like the whole after-the-whole-world's-gone-to-hell thing that some movies pull off really well.
The chaos of an outbreak just doesn't really get my motor running. Dawn did it well, but other than that (the original, of course), I don't know...
Maybe I should watch some Mad Max movies...

[rongravy]

I'm going with the aftermath, with flashbacks to the initial outbreak from time to time...

[Zombie Snack]

Either one, as long as the movie is suspensful or frightning or somewhat believable, and not just silly cartoonish crap.

[Trin]

My favorite is Day which is an aftermath movie.
But Land was an aftermath movie and it's pretty so-so.
Night was an outbreak movie and I loved Night.
What is Dawn '78? Kinda between outbreak and aftermath...
Dawn '04 is outbreak for sure and I loved the start but hated it from midpoint on.
Diary was an outbreak movie, which weighs heavily against outbreak movies.
But Survival was an aftermath movie, sorta, which really brings down aftermath movies.

28 Days Later - outbreak... liked the beginning, hated the end
28 Weeks Later - outbreak on top of aftermath... really liked the beginning, really hated the end
Yes, I know... neither 28 Days or Weeks is *really* a zombie movie, sorta maybe kinda

I Am Legend is aftermath with flash-backs of outbreak, but it's a so-so movie. The early parts of the movie were pretty darned good though. Same with Omega Man. Again, not zombies, I know.

Here's a very crucial point for me... the best aftermath movies (predominantly GAR movies) are sequels to outbreak movies. That's kinda cheating. The movie gets to immerse immediately into aftermath without giving up the backstory, or trying to shoehorn it in via flashbacks, etc. I really don't think Dawn '78, Day and Land would be as good without the events of the previous movies setting the stage.

I think it's interesting to note that a lot of movies imho have great openings and bad middles and endings. 28 Days, 28 Weeks, I Am Legend, Dawn '04, Diary, Survival... that's a smattering of both outbreak and aftermath.

I'm not voting.

[Legion2213]

Tough call...there are elements of both that I just love...watching the world fall apart rocks my socks, but so does watching folk survive in the PZ aftermath.

[Andy]

Im interested by the aftermath and think theres alot of potential there, but ive yet to see a zombie movie get it right (apart from day) so i would have to say outbreak as there are so many better outbreak movies out there.. i like my zombie movies dark, moody and gory. Putting humour or OTT CGI zombie kills in there, ala zombieland, resident evil or romeros latest entries, really gets under my skin and turns me straight off to a movie too.

[Trin]

This will probably get me banned, but I think Land is one of the best aftermath movies out there. It shows us a broad swath of the world both inside and outside the protected area, as well as gives us detailed info on how the people have managed to survive. That was one aspect of Land I loved - you really get to dig into the setting and situation.

From the perspective of showing life in the aftermath I think Land is better than Day. Day does a good job of portraying their situation in the very brief time we see the outside world, and in the few bits of dialogue they have about their situation, but ultimately Day isn't about showing us how they survive the aftermath. Most of what we know about the situation on the outside comes from what we saw in Night and Dawn.

[AcesandEights]

Both have such merits and pitfalls that I don't think I'll vote.

That said, quality of story and execution is king, for me.

[Andy]

This will probably get me banned, but I think Land is one of the best aftermath movies out there. It shows us a broad swath of the world both inside and outside the protected area, as well as gives us detailed info on how the people have managed to survive. That was one aspect of Land I loved - you really get to dig into the setting and situation.

From the perspective of showing life in the aftermath I think Land is better than Day. Day does a good job of portraying their situation in the very brief time we see the outside world, and in the few bits of dialogue they have about their situation, but ultimately Day isn't about showing us how they survive the aftermath. Most of what we know about the situation on the outside comes from what we saw in Night and Dawn.

How exactly are they surviving in land? by somehow magically clearing out and fencing off and entire city? by building a super tank and keeping it stocked up and fueled up years after an outbreak?.. maybe its becuase we only ever see about 30 zombies out in the wilderness..

Do not get me started my friend lol do not get me started..

[MikePizzoff]

I, too, love both scenarios, but I'd have to lean toward the aftermath. I love seeing society after it's collapsed, and how the world is in disrepair. I frequent abandoned structures because I love seeing what stuff turns into after human disregard.

[BillyRay]

I, too, love both scenarios, but I'd have to lean toward the aftermath. I love seeing society after it's collapsed, and how the world is in disrepair. I frequent abandoned structures because I love seeing what stuff turns into after human disregard.

With the current popularity of the Zombie genre, I'm surprised Detroit isn't the new Hollywood! :D

[glazedoverdead]

Totally agree on that point. I do love the way the cities and towns appear in the aftermath. I too frequent abandoned buildings and the like because it does give you that eerie feeling of what it would be like to be wondering around the ghost towns after a zombie apocolypse. Rubble, discarded belongings, trash, emptiness...The world would indeed be such a different place. And too true Billy Ray! That is an ideal city for some serious zombie apocolypse filming.

[Gryphon]

Totally agree on that point. I do love the way the cities and towns appear in the aftermath. I too frequent abandoned buildings and the like because it does give you that eerie feeling of what it would be like to be wondering around the ghost towns after a zombie apocolypse. Rubble, discarded belongings, trash, emptiness...The world would indeed be such a different place. And too true Billy Ray! That is an ideal city for some serious zombie apocolypse filming.

What he said exactly. Aftermath, all the way :)

[MikePizzoff]

Totally agree on that point. I do love the way the cities and towns appear in the aftermath. I too frequent abandoned buildings and the like because it does give you that eerie feeling of what it would be like to be wondering around the ghost towns after a zombie apocolypse. Rubble, discarded belongings, trash, emptiness...The world would indeed be such a different place. And too true Billy Ray! That is an ideal city for some serious zombie apocolypse filming.

There's a few of us explorers on these forums. We should start posting pics/experiences in the Gen Discussion!

[AcesandEights]

There's a few of us explorers on these forums. We should start posting pics/experiences in the Gen Discussion!

Yeah, I've seen a few people mention it before. I hope you guys do post some pics and discussion, as I'm always interested in the abandoned and the weird nooks & crannies of the world.

[glazedoverdead]

That is a fantastic idea! We could even talk to Neil about maybe having a thread or a forum purely dedicated to these types of photographs maybe? I'm not sure if enough people are interested in that, but maybe something to it? We can surely atleast post some pics on this thread to share. Sounds pretty interesting to see some diffrent locations around the globe where folks on here may travel and see how the different shots of abandoned buildings, deserted streets, etc. turn out. I travel entirely too much and I'm now thinking I may have a totally new hobby brewing up in this. Not just exploring, but exploring every new town I go to and spending the weekends finding these types of sites and taking some awesome photos? Might be fun.

-- -------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:13 PM ----------

Oh dang! Sorry Mike, I now see that you mentioned posting these in Gen Discussion. Didn't mean to step on yours toes.

[Trin]

How exactly are they surviving in land? by somehow magically clearing out and fencing off and entire city? by building a super tank and keeping it stocked up and fueled up years after an outbreak?.. maybe its becuase we only ever see about 30 zombies out in the wilderness..

Do not get me started my friend lol do not get me started..
Oh, I am soooo gonna get you started! Prepare for lift-off! :p

I have some pretty serious plausibility issues with Land, but ultimately I think the setup is possible. If Kaufman and cronies secured a small section of the city very early on and weathered the initial outbreak then they could've reasonably expanded slowly and methodically to encompass what we saw. Once they had an area secured and a means of attaining supplies it was just a matter of time before the surrounding area is sparse with zombies. After 3 years of driving in and out and destroying whatever zombies wandered too close to the fences... yeah... I can see it being pretty barren. I can also see their fuel supply holding out for 3 years since it was clear that the general populace wasn't getting any of it.

This is really exactly what people have contended that the Dawn crew should've done around the mall, albeit with significantly less time and manpower, so why is it so hard to imagine it was successful at Fiddler's Green?

Or maybe they were just pretending to survive. Isn't that what we're doing? Pretending to survive? ;)

[rongravy]

There's a few of us explorers on these forums. We should start posting pics/experiences in the Gen Discussion!
Besides, you never know who might be inspired to actually shoot in your location pictured, if it can be gotten to by them or they live near. Or if they wanna hang out and just get baked in the same spot...

[bassman]

There's a few of us explorers on these forums. We should start posting pics/experiences in the Gen Discussion!

We had a small thread on the subject a few years back. I remember really enjoying looking at all the pics and videos posted. I remember you posted a video of a propane tank with some sort of fungus that freaked me out. :lol:

Found it - http://forum.homepageofthedead.com/showthread.php?14013-Creepy-Urban-Adventures&highlight=urban+spelunking

[Andy]

Oh, I am soooo gonna get you started! Prepare for lift-off! :p

I have some pretty serious plausibility issues with Land, but ultimately I think the setup is possible. If Kaufman and cronies secured a small section of the city very early on and weathered the initial outbreak then they could've reasonably expanded slowly and methodically to encompass what we saw. Once they had an area secured and a means of attaining supplies it was just a matter of time before the surrounding area is sparse with zombies. After 3 years of driving in and out and destroying whatever zombies wandered too close to the fences... yeah... I can see it being pretty barren. I can also see their fuel supply holding out for 3 years since it was clear that the general populace wasn't getting any of it.

This is really exactly what people have contended that the Dawn crew should've done around the mall, albeit with significantly less time and manpower, so why is it so hard to imagine it was successful at Fiddler's Green?

Or maybe they were just pretending to survive. Isn't that what we're doing? Pretending to survive? ;)

How are they supposed to section off even a small section of the city? Youve seen the start of day, the atlanta scenes in TWD.. you know how many zombies there would be in a city, kaufman would need a fucking army! and keep his men stocked up, your seriously telling me they found enough supplies, enough food, fuel, ammo, medical supplies, recreational supplies to keep moral up and to keep them going and fighting off not hundreds, not even thousands but hundreds of thousands maybe a million zombies and forage for all this? to sustain enough people to fight off hundreds of thousands of zombies, raiders, to forage for supplies and to build defenses? he would have needed thousands of people from the start and your telling me none of his them once thought.. fuck this, we're off to the country side where theres less danger.. the mad max wannabe figured it out 3 years down the line when the city was fully operational!

On the matter of fuel, keeping something the size and assumed weight of dead reckoning fueled up? that thing must get about half a mile to the gallon on a good day.. your telling me with no new suplies coming in, they have managed to keep this monstrosity fueled for years? do they have a fucking oil rig in the river behind the city too?

You will never convince me there is anything remotely redeemable about land, its a ridiculously badly written plot, has unbelievable stupid characters, a far fetched setup, to say zombies are supposed to outnumber humans by 500,000 to 1 in day, then see land which is set after day where humans once again outnumber zombies by about 100 to 1.. there is absolutly nothing at all to like about that movie, i would rather sit through a marathon of night 30th anniversary, cannibal confederates and return of the living dead 4. i can see something in those movies, even the slightest smallest glimpse of something.. but land has absolutly nothing.. to me, its the single movie that signaled the downfall of a legend, its the beginning of romeros senile era and above all else, its trashy nonsense B movie that should never have seen the light of day.

[blind2d]

*hugs Andy*
But at least there's skateboarding in it.

[SRP76]

My favorite? The type where people get bitten/eaten, and heads get shot.

...

Alright, I go with Outbreak. UNLESS IT'S A SEQUEL. If it's original, and you jump right in at Aftermath, people might not know what's going on. Starting at the start is good for newbies.

[Trin]

How are they supposed to section off even a small section of the city? Youve seen the start of day, the atlanta scenes in TWD.. you know how many zombies there would be in a city, kaufman would need a fucking army!
Yeah, I still think it's plausible. We saw 4 people in Dawn secure an overrun mall and protect it for months during the outbreak. Kaufman had it easy by comparison. We know from Slack that the city had never fallen, which means that Kaufman established his secure area before the zombies got control. All he had to do was establish borders and protect them. And we know he had an army... we saw both military and private security forces. Given his ruthless nature, and the lack of conscience of those who worked for him, it's entirely possible that he maintained his safe zone by ordering the troops to shoot on sight anyone who approached, living or dead, right from the start.


On the matter of fuel, ... your telling me with no new suplies coming in, they have managed to keep this monstrosity fueled for years?They had a couple dozen vehicles which were not even used daily. Any regional fuel depot would have enough on hand to satisfy that need for years.


You will never convince me there is anything remotely redeemable about land
I agree with that. Not that there isn't anything redeemable about Land. I agree that you will never be convinced of it. :)

I still dislike Land. It's a really bad movie. And I agree that it should never have been made in its current form. But it's not all bad. I think that as a portrayal of the aftermath Land's got lots of good things going for it. I love the atmosphere. I love how the abandoned areas outside the city are portrayed. I love how the zombies are depicted (prior to their epiphany of course). I liked the setup as it relates to the scavengers and the city setup. I still think the first 15 minutes of Land stand up against any of the other Dead movies.