Today we continue our examination of Great Moments in Zombie History with your curator @Zombologist. right about now you might be asking yourself what qualifies Zombologist for that title? How does one get a PHD in Zombology?
In college, I majored in Micro-Biology and Anthropology. On one of my excursions into the heart of the South American rainforests, I discovered an indigenous group of people who swore to me they were experiencing a series of attacks from seemingly reanimated individuals. When I went out into the woods to track them, I found myself surrounded. From reading books and watching movies, I had a fairly good sense of the way a zombie acts and smells. The next three years held some of the most unpleasent yet informative moments of my life. Living amongst them, acclimating to their habits and learning to hunt with them as a horde changed my life.
So if you still don’t believe I’m qualified to mark these momentous occasions of Undead History, I challenge you to go live three years amongst the Zeds and see what you write about.
Resident Evil (1996)
The very first time I can remember feeling the isolation and tension that comes with the zombie apocalypse was Resident Evil for the PSX (RIP gray god). Everyone remembers the dog through the window, but what about the footsteps of the zombies off screen slowly approaching, the chewing sounds of the zombies in the crawlspace munching on a dead man.
4 itchy tasty
House of the Dead (1996)
How many quarters did you lose trying to lead Rogan and G through the mansion? How many paths did you take? The depth of House of the Dead made this game stand out amongst great light gun games like Time Crisis and the Virtua Cop series. House of the Dead gave players a sense of tension from the world closing in around you. No matter where you pointed your gun, you were being assaulted by creatures of all shapes and sizes.
Anyone finish it in one quarter?
28 Days Later (2002)
Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later pushed the zombie convention and twisted the viral trend popularized by games like Resident Evil. We left the corporate oppressive sheep zombie and became something more. The Rage Zombie, or the infected, represented the collective anger of a generation. The feelings of oppression transcended into even more violent fits, parts of this movie are cringe inducing. Plus we learn a valuable lesson about love, and in the end isn’t that what’s most important?
Milla Jovovich
In March of 2002 I discovered that zombies can be sexy. When I saw Resident Evil, I was genuinely scared, but Milla Jovovich was there to make it all ok. Finally zombies had found a sex symbol. Even if you felt the third Resident Evil film was lacking, who isn’t willing to watch Milla slaughter some more zombies! 2010 will bring us Afterlife, so follow @MillaJovovich on Twitter for great updates from the set.
I'd want her to kill me off, wouldn't you?
Our final installment of my personal catalog of zombie history will wrap us up with some great takes on the literature produced from the Zombie phenomenon. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s exciting conclusion.
