Zombies? You haven't seen zombies...
Other than Newt Gingrich and Dick Army rising from the grave of corrupted / indicted politicians, the last really scary zombies to be seen were the ones Wade Davis found in Haiti, researching what they were and how they were created, as he described in The Serpent and the Rainbow -- and the real terror there was the Tonton Macoute -- Papa Doc Duvalier's murder squads, not the stumbling, shambling drain-dead pathetics "resurrected" from their dose of fugu, buried alive and, after an appropriate period of hideous terror in the grave, dug up with the caveat that disobedience will put that person right back underground -- still conscious.
And of course, 1968's Night of the Living Dead -- it was a new view, something previously unseen in its unrelenting attitude.
But now, The Walking Dead , a bullshit over-the-top ghastly graphic "STRETCH-IT-OUT-FOR MAXIMUM-INCOME" series, (already renewed for a second season) is claiming hereditary rights to the Zombie mystique but it doesn't come close -- kind of like the answer to Dan Quayle's clueless reference to himself being akin to JFK. In this case, the answer is: "I've seen Dead Set in 2008 and believe me, you ain't no Dead Set." ('The Walking Dead is a living -- or non-living -- example of the famous Brit diss of our entertainments that said: "Americans always want their tragedies to have happy endings.")
It's a poor second in credibility and intensity to the 2008 English Dead Set a wonderful example of "Tell the story in 5 episodes and move on. Leave while the viewers are still trembling. "
Dead Set is now being re-shown occasionally on IFC and continually available under their listing in ON Demand.
No comas, no band of survivors -- just some people who wake up and find out it's "Here we are in the Zombie World." And the ability to understand it's time to drop all the bullshit minutiae of life and TV celebrity is rare (it takes place on a reality show with people having no information from or access to the outside world.)
The zombies are fast fast fast and scary scary scary unrelenting and savage, eating the dead while those few living are still trying to figure out what happened to their TV stardom, and not having to go all the way to ghastly images to make their point. Unlike The Walking Dead (or Lost for that matter), they didn't stretch it out for every last penny until even the fans said: "Fuck it. Let's watch something else."
Check it out and you'll see. If you don't have IFC on Demand, buy a copy it. (Amazon.com has it on Region 2 DVD -- PAL/UK and Non-Region NTSC. Other outlets may also have copies for sale.)
And of course, 1968's Night of the Living Dead -- it was a new view, something previously unseen in its unrelenting attitude.
But now, The Walking Dead , a bullshit over-the-top ghastly graphic "STRETCH-IT-OUT-FOR MAXIMUM-INCOME" series, (already renewed for a second season) is claiming hereditary rights to the Zombie mystique but it doesn't come close -- kind of like the answer to Dan Quayle's clueless reference to himself being akin to JFK. In this case, the answer is: "I've seen Dead Set in 2008 and believe me, you ain't no Dead Set." ('The Walking Dead is a living -- or non-living -- example of the famous Brit diss of our entertainments that said: "Americans always want their tragedies to have happy endings.")
It's a poor second in credibility and intensity to the 2008 English Dead Set a wonderful example of "Tell the story in 5 episodes and move on. Leave while the viewers are still trembling. "
Dead Set is now being re-shown occasionally on IFC and continually available under their listing in ON Demand.
No comas, no band of survivors -- just some people who wake up and find out it's "Here we are in the Zombie World." And the ability to understand it's time to drop all the bullshit minutiae of life and TV celebrity is rare (it takes place on a reality show with people having no information from or access to the outside world.)
The zombies are fast fast fast and scary scary scary unrelenting and savage, eating the dead while those few living are still trying to figure out what happened to their TV stardom, and not having to go all the way to ghastly images to make their point. Unlike The Walking Dead (or Lost for that matter), they didn't stretch it out for every last penny until even the fans said: "Fuck it. Let's watch something else."
Check it out and you'll see. If you don't have IFC on Demand, buy a copy it. (Amazon.com has it on Region 2 DVD -- PAL/UK and Non-Region NTSC. Other outlets may also have copies for sale.)
posted by Saintperle at
4:23 PM
