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Courting the undead: Assessing the appeal of zombie movies

A tale of blood, flesh and walking corpses; What's so appealing about zombie movies?

For some years now I have had a strong love for a good zombie movie, zombie movies must be my favorite sort of horror film in fact. There is just something strangely satisfying about watching a film in which the undead prey on the unsuspecting land of the living.

I would say my love for zombie movies first emerged some years back now when I first saw George A. Romero's fantastic 'Dawn Of The Dead'. The film had me gripped from start to finish, and although it did not scare me in any sense; it was one of the most captivating movies I had ever been a witness to. I found it greatly appealing that the zombies seemingly had an inbuilt urge to occupy a shopping mall; their consumerist needs still apparent even once dead. I think what appealed to me the most however when first watching this zombie film was perhaps the fact that it defies what we know to be true to see those that are meant to be dead wandering the earth. It makes compelling viewing as we begin to envisage what it would perhaps be like if zombies really did occupy the earth. This for me was the initial appeal of the zombie movie.

Since my initiation as a follower of the zombie movie, I have watched many a film of this sort. Some have disappointed, whilst others have too captivated and compelled me. When 'Dawn Of The Dead' was given a face-lift in 2004 and issued a re-make, I was disappointed that they'd chosen to re-make a film I already felt to be close to perfect. I thought they would perhaps ruin my favorite zombie movie of all time, however having watched it this movie too intrigued me and had me glued to the screen. Not as good as the original but nonetheless not a bad movie; present day zombie movies were still proving to impress, something I thought they would perhaps not continue to do after my disappointment with the British zombie movie '28 Days Later'. George A. Romero shocked me however in 2005 when he too came out with a zombie movie that I myself couldn't see the appeal of. For me, 'Land Of The Dead' just wasn't a good film and it would seem then from these disappointing titles that zombie movies had lost their pizazz. This of course is not true, and it has to be taken as a given in any genre of cinema that whilst there will be good films, there will also be a fair share of bad ones regardless of subject matter.

Zombie movies will of course not be to everyone's taste, however Edgar Wright's


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