Realism in zombie films?

[Bunsher]

Instead of a zombie film having its own stylized 'world' like Dawn of the Dead, in which everything is in a very manic and comic-book-esque style, or a film that feels like a film in the respect that it follows generic conventions that seperate it from reality, but zombie films that are realistic and portray a realistic and accurate portrayal of our world, and what would happen if zombies occured. I'd say both Night and Day were realistic examples, and more recently, Shaun of the Dead, which took the completely normal and real lifestyles of two modern Brits and threw them in the zombie mix.

[fulci fan]

Alot of the bites in zombie movies aren't realistic. Even though they look awesome in movies, bites don't look that spectacular in real life. Also, zombies in movies that supposedly have been around a while isn't too realistic. Bodies rot pretty quick and I don't think that zombies would be able to move after a month let alone a year or so. Another thing that I don't see in zombie movies is the characters being affected by killing zombies. Sometimes it is addressed but rarely.

[Legion2213]

Another thing that I don't see in zombie movies is the characters being affected by killing zombies. Sometimes it is addressed but rarely. The first scene of "Night 1990" really nails the reaction to killing zombies for me...the first time I saw this movie I just *knew* that Tony Todd was going to be the definitive Ben (for me anyways). I think Fran looking at that baseball player in "Dawn" (as they prepare to masacre the mall zombies) is also one of those moments.

[Trin]

Peter and Roger in the apartments. And all the SWAT guys. Even Wooley. Revulsion, nausea, freaked out, broken down. They all did a great job of showing reactions to the situation.

[clanglee]

I'm gonna have have to say that Shaun of the Dead was most definitely not a realistic movie. Fun. . . but come on. . . .

[darth los]

I think Miguel in day did a god job at being totally freaked out by the situation he found himself in. I gather that's how most would have behaved. It was a good change of pace from characters just dealing with it and becoming instant sharpshooters.

[Zombie Snack]

In a long term apocolyptic situation I think everyone would be filthy, dirty, nasty from a lack of clean clothes and running water and the chance for your nightly bubble bath..hair would be greasy and mangy and lice would be all in there hair, minor scrapes and cuts and such would get infected and full of puss and after a month or two you wouldnt hardly be able to tell a human from a zed. I havent really seen alot of that in the zombie movies, it's amazing how most of them still have all the nice comforts of home at their fingertips even weeks/months/years after the outbreak....amazing.

[hadrian0117]

In a long term apocolyptic situation I think everyone would be filthy, dirty, nasty from a lack of clean clothes and running water and the chance for your nightly bubble bath..hair would be greasy and mangy and lice would be all in there hair... Lori Cardille mentioned this on the commentary for Day. She thought everyone, including her character, should've locked alot worse for wear to the extent they'd be missing teeth. Romero disagreed. It's not just a problem with zombie films. Look at period piece; even filthy medieval peasants will have perfect teeth and the women will have hairless legs & underarms (& in more recent films the men will have hairless chests). Most filmmakers simply don't want to go that far in "uglifying" their casts(especially leading actresses). ... Also, zombies in movies that supposedly have been around a while isn't too realistic. Bodies rot pretty quick... On the flip side some films go way overboard on makeup for fresh zombies. A zombie that just revived and was dead less than an hour isn't going to look much different that a living person (aside from any injuries). The Dawn remake was guilty of this. Night '90 had some of the best zombie makeup I've ever seen (it helped that most of the zombies were only a few hours old).

[CooperWasRight]

Lori Cardille mentioned this on the commentary for Day. She thought everyone, including her character, should've locked alot worse for wear to the extent they'd be missing teeth. Romero disagreed. It's not just a problem with zombie films. Look at period piece; even filthy medieval peasants will have perfect teeth and the women will have hairless legs & underarms (& in more recent films the men will have hairless chests). Most filmmakers simply don't want to go that far in "uglifying" their casts(especially leading actresses). On the flip side some films go way overboard on makeup for fresh zombies. A zombie that just revived and was dead less than an hour isn't going to look much different that a living person (aside from any injuries). The Dawn remake was guilty of this. Night '90 had some of the best zombie makeup I've ever seen (it helped that most of the zombies were only a few hours old). Im gonna have to side with George on this one...The were in a facility with running water... There is no reason to believe they would let themselves go to shit. On your 2nd point Roger had been going over a number of days... From professional and personal experience I can tell you someone going from disease that causes the body to shut down it really does not take mach for someone to look awful... Take a look at stage IV cancer victims and you begin to see its no stretch at all.

[Zombie Snack]

[/COLOR] Lori Cardille mentioned this on the commentary for Day. She thought everyone, including her character, should've locked alot worse for wear to the extent they'd be missing teeth. Romero disagreed. It's not just a problem with zombie films. Look at period piece; even filthy medieval peasants will have perfect teeth and the women will have hairless legs & underarms (& in more recent films the men will have hairless chests). Most filmmakers simply don't want to go that far in "uglifying" their casts(especially leading actresses). On the flip side some films go way overboard on makeup for fresh zombies. A zombie that just revived and was dead less than an hour isn't going to look much different that a living person (aside from any injuries). The Dawn remake was guilty of this. Night '90 had some of the best zombie makeup I've ever seen (it helped that most of the zombies were only a few hours old). I was thinking about things that previousily were very minor situations, easily taken care of that would be total hardships in an apocolyptic zombie outbreak, like a bad toothache or absessed tooth, I thought about the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks, when he was alone on the island and his tooth was hurting him, how he dealt with that...damn..ouch...they had old Tom looking pretty rough on that Island, It looked like he had been a cast away for 3 years..I think I read where he lost over 30 lbs to film those scenes, to give a more realistic look to his character...but in some of these zombie movies where civilization has crumbled and fallen these people still have plenty of meat on the bones...and pretty pearly whites with no cavities...amazing!! ---------- Post added at 08:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:43 PM ---------- Im gonna have to side with George on this one...The were in a facility with running water... There is no reason to believe they would let themselves go to shit. On your 2nd point Roger had been going over a number of days... From professional and personal experience I can tell you someone going from disease that causes the body to shut down it really does not take mach for someone to look awful... Take a look at stage IV cancer victims and you begin to see its no stretch at all. How was the water still running in Day..I believe Mcdermot said in case you havent heard the power is off on the mainland and all the shopping malls are closed..they had been up and down the coast 100 miles in each directions and found no sign of NO ONE....so who was working at the water dept.??? who was repairing broken water lines, who was keeping the septic sewer systems flushing.. I admit it would really really be cool to be one of the last known people alive in a zombie world and still be able to walk over to the water fountain and get ya a cool drink of water..LOL..

[Rancid Carcass]

I'm gonna have have to say that Shaun of the Dead was most definitely not a realistic movie. Fun. . . but come on. . . . Actually, that is almost exactly how we'd deal with a zombie apocalypse on this side of the pond.

[CooperWasRight]

[/COLOR] I was thinking about things that previousily were very minor situations, easily taken care of that would be total hardships in an apocolyptic zombie outbreak, like a bad toothache or absessed tooth, I thought about the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks, when he was alone on the island and his tooth was hurting him, how he dealt with that...damn..ouch...they had old Tom looking pretty rough on that Island, It looked like he had been a cast away for 3 years..I think I read where he lost over 30 lbs to film those scenes, to give a more realistic look to his character...but in some of these zombie movies where civilization has crumbled and fallen these people still have plenty of meat on the bones...and pretty pearly whites with no cavities...amazing!! ---------- Post added at 08:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:43 PM ---------- How was the water still running in Day..I believe Mcdermot said in case you havent heard the power is off on the mainland and all the shopping malls are closed..they had been up and down the coast 100 miles in each directions and found no sign of NO ONE....so who was working at the water dept.??? who was repairing broken water lines, who was keeping the septic sewer systems flushing.. I admit it would really really be cool to be one of the last known people alive in a zombie world and still be able to walk over to the water fountain and get ya a cool drink of water..LOL.. Well they were in a military emergency bunker of some sort. They are generally set up for fallout/war so they have there own water system.

[MaximusIncredulous]

Stinky zeds would be covered in insects from head to toe, regardless of how much they moved. As we see in Day, zeds seem to slow down and reside in dark places when lacking food which would encourage further feeding by insects.

[Legion2213]

Actually, if they were edible, the Zeds may only be a problem for a few weeks...before they'd all been totally consumed...insects are always on the scoff.

[Trin]

...it would really really be cool to be one of the last known people alive in a zombie world and still be able to walk over to the water fountain and get ya a cool drink of water..LOL.. The water fountain in Day was still working. Sarah got a cool drink of water from it on camera.