Something that has always bothered me with zombie apocalypse movies

[Sammich]

In just about every zombie movie there is a mysterious disappearance of 99% of the population. For example, in Dawn 2004, the movie takes place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The greater Milwaukee area has an estimated population of over 2 million, but within just a few days everything is deserted. The freeways would be completely turned into giant parking lots with thousands of people stranded. As seen in New Orleans, mass evacuations didn't happen, so forget even attempting this during a national scale event. So the question is: Where did all of the people go? Was it the rapture? Did they all get turned into zombies?

[AcesandEights]

I think it's a combination of several factors including people running to the hills, bunkering down, getting killed/incapacitated/infected, populations moving towards & congregating in designated emergency areas or running to the hospitals and places of authority, thus usually leading to them being moved to another more secure site or, more likely, dieing. Of course, there's also the practical consideration that shooting a scene that is abandoned in some cases is easier to shoot than using extras, body dummies etc. Plus, an abandoned, empty feel, at least in some respects, is what people expect of an end of the world or apocalyptic scenario (after the mass death and gnashing of teeth crests and recedes). It's the eerie set piece that is then punctuated by action, shock or fright. On the matter of roadways, I just got done reading a book by a regional author about a zombie apocalypse that starts in my own backyard, and she made a point of noting most of the major roadways stayed open and clear because it was a very slow onset. There were people bunkering down, getting off the streets, and, in some cases, evacuating, but the highways didn't fair too badly as military and governmental efforts, that culminated in marshal law, were imposed to keep them as clear as possible.

[Christopher Jon]

For example, in Dawn 2004, the movie takes place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The greater Milwaukee area has an estimated population of over 2 million, but within just a few days everything is deserted. Take a walk down your block, how many people do you see? That's probably how many zombies you'd see. Where you find a lot of people, you'd find a lot of zombies. Other parts of the city would be nearly deserted because not a lot of people are there to begin with. As for DOTD 2004, the mall looked like a zombie block party. It was shoulder to shoulder zombie. Aside from the brief news bits at the beginning, the only other time we see any of the city is at the end when they are driving to the dock and they did encounter a fair amount of resistance along the way. I'm not sure where you get everything was deserted from. Also, due to the low intelligence of zombies, many of them would simply be trapped or stuck someplace. Bitten wife goes home, turns, attacks family, zombie family all trapped in the house together type situations. As seen in New Orleans, mass evacuations didn't happen, so forget even attempting this during a national scale event. They didn't? I was a first responder after Katrina and New Orleans was a ghost town.

[Philly_SWAT]

. On the matter of roadways, I just got done reading a book by a regional author about a zombie apocalypse that starts in my own backyard, and she made a point of noting most of the major roadways stayed open and clear because it was a very slow onset. There were people bunkering down, getting off the streets, and, in some cases, evacuating, but the highways didn't fair too badly as military and governmental efforts, that culminated in marshal law, were imposed to keep them as clear as possible. Good points. As far as the roads, THAT is the problem I always had with an post apocaypse type movie, and that is all the abandoned cars on the roads. I could see a lack of people...I mean, what are they supposed to do, hang out in the streets playing hacky sac as the zeds move around them? Of course some are dead, and most are hiding trying to stay alive. But like you said, with a reasonably slow build, not everyone would hit the highways at the same time. So there wouldnt be any more big jams than normal. And plus, if you knew your life was in danger, and you saw a hoard closing in on your traffic jam, would you just stay in your car and die, get out of the protection of your car and run, or would you AT LEAST TRY to go around the other cars? I mean, I would be on the shoulder, in the median, close to the tree line, whereever, in an effort to get the fuck out of there!! I dont think I would be worried about a traffic citation at that time. You never see the cars way off the road...they are always right in the normal traffic lanes.

[SymphonicX]

I agree - there's always a blank period in these movies where the real carnage is more assumed than witnessed - dawn04 is probably the least forgivable, as its to my knowledge the only one of these movies that starts inside a city at the beginning of an outbreak - Night starts in the country, so the carnage is assumed, then of course Dawn and Day take place after the initial carnage anyway....28 Days main plot and title device is clearly after the fact....so you never really see how a whole city is reduced from a thriving population down to 5 people and 2 douchebags...!

[Eyebiter]

Trying to show that time period in a live action film would be prohibitively expensive. Will be interesting to see how it is portrayed in the World War Z movie.

[ThomasNorth]

I've debated this point in stories / books I've written. I think it really would depend on the nature of the violence, how quickly it broke out, etc. The closest real world examples would be riots / war zones. When violence breaks out fairly quickly in a given area, I think people tend to stay where they are, out of sight and out of mind. If they do flee, it tends to be in a trickle. People don't want to draw attention to themselves, and definitely don't want to get stuck in a traffic jam with violence going on around them. So I think if violence is going on on the streets where you are, you're going to try to hunker down, stay hidden, and hope it passses. Where I could see streets getting jammed and a "mass exodus" of people would be in cases where the spread of the violence / zombie outbreak / virus follows a predictable pattern -- i.e. it spreads east to west, north to south, etc -- when people know it's coming, and believe that they have a place to flee to.

[Danny]

its a combination of 'extras need large scale coordination above the common horror flicks stature' and making the protagonists seem isolated even in an urban enviroment. Its plot point one of any horror movie, get em isolated. cant do that in a mall n an urban area unless you get rid of everyone else just for the sake of it.

[rgc2005]

Speaking of Katrina. Most federal contingency plans provide for evacuation of a region or city-sized population for short periods of time like 30 days or less relying on vouchers and the kindness of receiving location population. In the aftermath of the resulting crime waves, destruction and fraud the "Refugees of New Orleans" caused in Dallas, Atlanta and Louisville the second time around they were all herded and kept contained in refugee camps. There was very little kindness or mercy shown since once they spread out they did not go back if they had a chance. This is not of course talked about or very well known since it is not politically correct but the new plans are to contain the refugees and send them back ASAP.

[Wyldwraith]

I don't necessarily believe the "Look around you. Everywhere you currently see people there'd be approximately that # of zombies there" reasoning holds water, for a few reasons. 1)The Sheer # of previously bitten and now turned zombies stuck in structures that would insulate them from the prey-stimulus that might motivate them to say, break a window and tumble out to come after a human. In houses sure they could get out, but what about the people who say, made a break from their office building for the parking garage, got bitten en route and then retreated back to said office building. Sure, the Infection would spread throughout the people in the building as they were bitten and subsequently turned, but once you have 28 ex-survivor zombies barricaded in the 12th floor conference room, barring against-the-odds idiocy why would you expect those zombies to ever get out? Multiply by the # of multi-story buildings and structures requiring a bit of doing to navigate your way out of and I believe a large % of the bitten-and-now-turned would be stuck in said structures. 2) Zombie victims rendered largely immobile when preyed upon while alive. C'mon now. ONE human-sized bite in the wrong place on a leg and that leg is (at least mostly) out of commission. Rare when there are only a few zombies, but if you ever reach the roaming hordes-level of proliferation anyone cornered is going to end up like Rick's horse. Ie: A Crusty rust-colored stain on the cement. Really, what are the chances that if a dozen zombies drag a person down that there will be enough structurally sound body to reanimate and go in search of prey? It seems like an in-built limiting factor that would invariably make (at least Romero-esque) zombies victims of their own success. More there are, less meat each attack leaves to reanimate = @ X-threshold zombie #'s would quickly plateau. Just a couple reasons, but something to ponder at least.