The Zombie Effect...

[MissJacksonCA]

So I just watched the Trigger Effect and while the viewers rated it at 2 out of 5 stars I give it a 4. And how this ties into zombies is... Zombie films tend to show people who are first encountering zombies or who are living in a world now inhabited by a horde of zombies... perhaps they should make a film where people are encountering the problems that occur once zombies begin to spread out...

for instance... the power going out (it would after all only be a matter of time) and well that means no atms, no computers, no means of lighting your surroundings or home, no alarms, no way of recharging anything through an outlet, no way to buy gas from the station. And if you can't watch TV or hear the radio then you aren't aware of why the power is out. What if the spread of zombies hasn't reached your suburban neighborhood and you're just dealing with what you think is a brief power outage

And of course the phone lines would be down soon as well which may or may not include cellular phone towers and wireless networks...Water and Sewage would be cut off...

So perhaps the film could center around people who are dealing with two things... zombies and the effects the zombies are having on the world around them? What d'ya think?

So far the only film that has reasonably dealt with this is 28 Days later (to my knowledge that is) but even then they still had power they just didn't have water or phones. Dawn of the Dead (the orig) slightly touched on this with the looting but they still essentially had the basics it seems.

I just think it would be a base for a much more tense situation... you have people who are freaked out about the cutoff of resources and not knowing why... you have zombies graudally invading the surrounding areas... you have a limited source of gas for your car, food on which to survive, riots are beginning, no way to contact family, friends or emergency services, there's going to be people attempting to take advantage by looting. And then the people in the neighborhood who still have emergency generators from the new millenium and who have stores of food and supplies then make themselves a target for theives and for other people to want to stay there and be safe or be in a well stocked home.

Any other ideas?

Ooop forgot a brief thing...
While I realize that during some of the dead movies they discuss the things like not being able to get gas or how the trigger effect prevented them from being able to do something or get something they didn't actually show anyone struggling to get what they need to get where they plan to go or just to survive at home... at least I dont feel they showed it or enough of it

[zombieslayer]

So I just watched the Trigger Effect and while the viewers rated it at 2 out of 5 stars I give it a 4. And how this ties into zombies is... Zombie films tend to show people who are first encountering zombies or who are living in a world now inhabited by a horde of zombies... perhaps they should make a film where people are encountering the problems that occur once zombies begin to spread out...

for instance... the power going out (it would after all only be a matter of time) and well that means no atms, no computers, no means of lighting your surroundings or home, no alarms, no way of recharging anything through an outlet, no way to buy gas from the station. And if you can't watch TV or hear the radio then you aren't aware of why the power is out. What if the spread of zombies hasn't reached your suburban neighborhood and you're just dealing with what you think is a brief power outage

And of course the phone lines would be down soon as well which may or may not include cellular phone towers and wireless networks...Water and Sewage would be cut off...

So perhaps the film could center around people who are dealing with two things... zombies and the effects the zombies are having on the world around them? What d'ya think?

So far the only film that has reasonably dealt with this is 28 Days later (to my knowledge that is) but even then they still had power they just didn't have water or phones. Dawn of the Dead (the orig) slightly touched on this with the looting but they still essentially had the basics it seems.

I just think it would be a base for a much more tense situation... you have people who are freaked out about the cutoff of resources and not knowing why... you have zombies graudally invading the surrounding areas... you have a limited source of gas for your car, food on which to survive, riots are beginning, no way to contact family, friends or emergency services, there's going to be people attempting to take advantage by looting. And then the people in the neighborhood who still have emergency generators from the new millenium and who have stores of food and supplies then make themselves a target for theives and for other people to want to stay there and be safe or be in a well stocked home.

Any other ideas?

Ooop forgot a brief thing...
While I realize that during some of the dead movies they discuss the things like not being able to get gas or how the trigger effect prevented them from being able to do something or get something they didn't actually show anyone struggling to get what they need to get where they plan to go or just to survive at home... at least I dont feel they showed it or enough of it
that sounds good. you should write it as a story and send it in to put it on the fiction page.

[Philly_SWAT]

I have to disagree with a couple of your premises.

the power going out (it would after all only be a matter of time)

And of course the phone lines would be down soon as well
People have said the same things before, and I have disagreed before. Just because they is a zombie epidemic, it does not follow that power and phone would automatically be down. We have not seen in any movie zombies attacking power stations and/or power lines or poles. Nuclear power plants would be likely to contiunue operating for some time (remember Peter in Dawn.."Power's still on in this area...could be nuclear). I am no expert on power plants, but even coal producing plants would continue working until they ran out of current power stores. Maybe someone here is a power expert, but once a coal plant is "full" of coal, how long will this provide power in the area? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? I dont know. Wind and solar power would also not be affected. Also, a couple of years ago when the 5 hurricanes came through my State, power being off was a very common thing, due to lines being down. The phones still worked however. Cordless phone, which need power, did not work, but a regular phone still operated, which was a life saver at the time.

[MissJacksonCA]

After the 9/11 attacks various news programs then pointed out slack security at various nuclear power plants and stated that the terrorists should attack those because the security there is so bad its like many of them dont take any precautions at all. Having lived near a NC power plant in California I can second that... there's minimal security... I figure once a zombie outbreak occurs and people catch onto it there's going to be no one manning their posts at power plants and the like. I dont even imagine hospitals will continue to be open or police stations. While I have no idea what measures utility companies, and hospitals, and police stations will plan to take once crap hits the fan I can only speculate. Thus the purpose of exploring that idea by means of this post.

When I lived in Canada for a year it freaked me out because the power went off after a tremendous wind storm and it was off for nearly a week and a half. The phone lines were also down and my satellite stopped working as well. The town only had about 5 RCMP and about 5 forrestry officers. Word of mouth was the only means to know when power would be back on and being as its a seasonal 'village' there was no one to ask unless I ventured into town which I couldn't do because of the downed power lines and trees covering roads. At the time I didn't have a cell phone but few townies did either. It was truly a scary time especially for a young lady living alone in a place that annually gets robbed by a biker gang. I didn't know what happened.

Whats also cool is the 'rolling blackouts' we used to have in Cali from the severe lack of power a few years back. When you're expecting a rolling blackout is the cause for why you have no power for a bit you're not imagining the worst is actually happening all over and that its not just you.

I work from personal experiences I can only imagine thing that may happen. I feel zombie movies said things like 'must be nuclear' in order to explain why they had the power they used and needed for the movie to take place. I mean they had to watch the guys debating on tv right?

I know major places like hospitals and power plants have emergency generators and so does Disneyland and 6 flags... possibly enough generators to help power other areas and cities but when zombies strike will anyone be able to make that happen?

Where I live now the power goes out during any large rain storm and there's a lot of wind storms too. The phone lines here haven't gone out yet but my phone line is so old it only works half the time lol.

[Philly_SWAT]

It is indeed true that power, and sometimes phone service, goes down during storms. But those storms do not happen everyday, and not everywhere. If during a zombie epedemic their was a sever storn that knocked lines out, service would not be restored in that area, but all areas of the country not affected would still have power/phones.

If the power stations were indeed un-manned, as is likely, then the zombies would have no reason to go there. Even if there was minimal security things in place, even just a closed door would suffice. Doubtful that zombies would even try to open the door, without the scent of warm, human flesh in there.

[MissJacksonCA]

There may be people there however once zombies wander in (the San Clemente plant is right on the ocean and virtually open to anyone walking along the highway) they'll attack people or perhaps a car accident will leave someone to drive right into the plant. I just have a hard time imagining the power will remain on and there's so many contingencies I imagine that would turn it off. I need to find an employee of a power company..

hmmm...

[Mutineer]

There may be people there however once zombies wander in (the San Clemente plant is right on the ocean and virtually open to anyone walking along the highway) they'll attack people or perhaps a car accident will leave someone to drive right into the plant. I just have a hard time imagining the power will remain on and there's so many contingencies I imagine that would turn it off. I need to find an employee of a power company..

hmmm...

San Onofre isn't that accessible.

-

But one could call any number of municipalities and simply ask (say you're writing a zombie movie)

[MissJacksonCA]

Its right next to a campground too I mean anyone with a ATV could easily infiltrate its missing walls lol... its craaaaaazy I had to move away from there I went all paranoid

I can't really imagine calling a power company to discuss this because i'm writing a zombie movie i'd prolly end up on a list the government has of people to watch out for which I may or may not already be on due to using constant key words in phone calls and emails like President Bush, NC power plants, power outage, terrorist, paranoid... hhehe