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Zombie-tastic

I watched the re-make of Dawn of the Dead this week. Well, almost all of it; I had to fast forward through the zombie pregnant woman scene. That was just too much for me, but otherwise, I handled it fine. In fact, I really enjoyed it. I thought the direction was excellent (especially the opening ten minutes) and the script was tight and funny. Yes, it ticked all the usual genre boxes, but hell, I don’t mind. That’s another blog post anyway.

I’ve seen woefully few zombie movies, mostly because I avoid horror movies at all costs. I’m wondering if I am finally old enough (approaching mid-thirties for heaven’s sake) to watch them.

They linger with me, for days, sometimes years afterwards, that’s the trouble. And I spent far too many nights as a child (and adolescent, and ok, yes, an adult) with the Fear, caused by some snippet or other that scared the hell out of me. I saw the end of Carrie when I was far, far too young, about five years old or so, and it scarred me. That sounds like a grand statement, but honestly, I couldn’t see a hand stretching upwards (like the one that comes out of the grave in the film) without feeling a flash of terror. I even changed the way I dressed every day, pushing my hands through sleeves with closed fists, so I would see a hand silhouetted on the wall.

There was an unfortunate skirmish with Salem’s Lot and The Fog, both before the age of ten (I think) that almost killed me with fright. What is it about my family and Stephen King?

I had this terrible talent for lurking silently in doorways. That same skill made me terrified of nuclear war (though I think that was very common in the 80’s anyway) due to seeing graphic documentaries not designed for children. One in particular stays with me, in which the manner a human being dies was described depending on how far away from the blast they are. From “instantly vaporised” to having one’s hair burnt away, eyes boiled etc. I had nightmares for weeks.

No wonder I write such dark short stories

But anyway, back to zombies. One of my favourite films is 28 Days Later, and that was the scariest I could manage for a long time. So, so good. I especially love the early sequence of him wondering through post-apocalyptic London. Funnily enough, the title for my novel “20 Years Later” was originally only a placeholder in homage to the film (there are no zombies in my book, I hasten to add). Somehow it stuck.

I wasn’t brave enough to watch another one until I saw “I am Legend” with my Dad last year. I’m ashamed to say I squealed and leapt across the sofa to bury myself under his arm at one point. It was very, very embarrassing. That film made me nervous, but I handled it. Soon after I watched The Omega Man, which had all the staples of living as the last human on Earth that I like, but one of the best things about it was discovering the source of some the wonderful quote samples on my much loved “White Zombie” album. Does he have the mark? Cracking!

Then “The Walking Dead” came along. I heard good things, and I love the zombie apocalypse sub-genre, so I recorded it. And I am so glad I did. It was fantastic. Which led me to recording Dawn of the Dead, thus completing the list so far. The only stupid thing I did was watch the first half just before setting out across black Somerset hills to pick my husband up from the airport. Really stupid. I watched the end at lunchtime, with a cup of tea. And a teddy bear. But don’t tell anyone about the teddy, ok?

So, now that I am big and brave enough to watch zombie films, which would you recommend and why?