A couple of months back, I watched the 1962 flick, Night of the Living Dead. Of course, the movie was in black and white. It centered around a small, Alabama town overrun by brain-eating zombies. During one scene, a black man is barricaded with a white couple in a house. An odd thing happened. Unlike in today's movies, the black man was the last to die.

A few weeks ago, I caught Resident Evil: Apocalypse. One thing for sure, Mila Jovanvich grew up good. I remembered her from the Fifth Element. Often in zombie movies, there's always one person balsy enough to kill them all. Another recurring theme is a radiation or contamination that gives the zombies life. You have gore, oodles and oodles of gore with three, common themes. That's not enough to keep my interest.

Just recently, USA showed 28 Days. Mikei Phifer and Ving Rhames starred as two people protecting the remnants of town "overrun by zombies". Towns or cities overrunn by zombies is a third common theme. Nothing said "great storyline" better overcoming "dead" creatures in overwhelming numbers. Killing off the undead produced volumes of blood and guts. Quentin Tarantino's Dawn of the Dead was a particularly grotesque feature.

Probably due to the gratituous violence and "ho-hum" themes, zombie movies are appealing to millions of fans. Worldwide, box office sales tell that. The movies, House of the Dead, Resident Evil and Area 51 became popular video games. Hollywood's attraction with the undead has drawn audiences to theaters. Those audiences have purchased video games in relation to the film. With box-office success and video game notoriety, Hollywood's getting their money from both ends.

Learn more about this author, Marcus Brooks.
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