where have all the shamblers gone?

[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?

[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.