21 September 2006
Plan 9 from Outer Space - Original Trailer
Get ready kids!
Pastor Z will be showing Edward D. Wood Jr's classic flop Plan 9 from Outer Space along with a classic Popeye cartoon for the October 2006 SHOCKTOBERFEST episode of Pastor Z's Very Low Budget Horror Cam.
Stay tuned!
05 September 2006
Night of the Living Dead
They're coming to get you Barbara...
What is it about the undead that causes such fear and revulsion in us, the nondead?
Death all by itself is difficult for most of us. When we lose someone close to us, we experience a permanent loss (at least in this temporary plane of existence). We experience pain and we express grief. But we no more expect our deceased loved-ones to get up and walk out of the room than we expect our household pets to hold an intelligent conversation with us. Dead is dead, right?
Not always...
GHOSTS
Probably the most ancient documented interaction between the living and the undead would be what we commonly call ghosts --- still-living spirits now separated from their once-living bodies. Ghosts can be scary or they can be comforting - it all depends on who they are in relationship to you and why they're haunting you. Our fear of ghosts is rooted in distrust - it's largely a fear of the unknown. Is that really Aunt Gertrude, or is it a demon in disguise? What powers might a ghost have that we don't have? How do you stop something without a physical body? While most ghosts are harmless, there are still reasons to be afraid; or at least be cautious when dealing with them.
VAMPIRES
Belief in vampires is possibly as ancient as belief in ghosts. Vampires traditionally have been far more feared than romanticized. The vampires of legend were evil men and women who made a deal with the devil or in some other way cheated death, always at the cost of others. Whether they be blood-drinkers, psychic vampires or other life-suckers, vampires are users. They use the living to get what they want. We're just cattle to them - livestock waiting to be slaughtered. Yes, we fear the vampire's power and allegiance with whatever dark powers awakened them from death to an almost eternal life; but we also fear their selfish, unethical and existentialist intent to harm us in order to further their own plans.
REVENANTS
Revenants have also played a role in ancient folklore. Revenants are the bodies of the recently dead, reanimated by their own souls (ghosts or spirits) to wreak vengeance upon their enemies. In general, one only need to fear a revenant if you did that person wrong while they were alive. Revenants are similar to zombies, but not quite the same. I'll get into that a little more below, but simply put - revenants tend to rise from the dead to accomplish their mission and once they feel vindicated, they return back to their much-desired eternal rest.
MUMMIES
Fear of Mummies as we know it is relatively modern (early 20th Century thanks to Bram Stoker). Mummies are similar to revenants, as they're usually also on a mission of revenge; but the time-span between when they're buried and when they rise again to life is so much greater that instead of encountering a freshly dead or somewhat rotting corpse we find ourselves face to face with a crunchy, dried-out, wrinkeled pruin of a once-human body leaving a powdery trail of dead skin wherever it roams. Much of our fear of mummies comes from their appearance. Mummies are UGLY, but generally harmless unless you've crossed them or you're the one who distubed their tomb. Like revenants, most mummies achieve their purpose and return back to their eternal rest.
And now the topic we've all been waiting for... ZOMBIES!
ZOMBIES
Why do zombies scare us? Well, for one thing, you can't talk sense with a zombie. You might be able to convince a ghost, a vampire, a revanant or even a mummy to leave you or your loved-ones alone, but forget about getting anywhere with a zombie. At best, you might be able to train it like a family pet (like Bub in Day of the Dead or Ed in Shaun of the Dead), but forget trying to reason with a zombie.
I already addressed this in my blog on Carnival of Souls, but the single-most important difference I see between zombies and all the other undead is that ghosts, vampires, revanants and mummies all have souls (or in the case of ghosts - ARE souls) and zombies do not.* Your soul is WHO you are. Without your soul, even if your brain still functions well enough to have some memory of your past life, you're NOT the same person you were when you were alive (that is - a complete human consisting of soul, mind and body). Simply put, your soul is your personality - whether in or out of the body.
Two good movies on this subject are Wes Craven's Chiller (well, for a Wes Craven film, it's really not that good, but it does a good job of handling the topic) and Robin Campillo's Les Revanants (American title They Came Back).
Chiller is about a man cryogenically frozen at death and accidentally reanimated 10 years later. His body is in good health and his memory fairly intact, but the more people interact with him the more they realize he has no heart, no soul and no conscience. In fact, not only is he without ethics or morals; he is actually EVIL in the Biblical sense of being completely self-centered and careless as to whom he harms to reach his selfish goals.
The French movie Les Revanants begins with a mass exodus of the dead from the graveyards back to the cities in which they once lived. Unlike typical zombies or traditional revanants, their bodies are not decaying and they have no dirt or any other obvious sign that they just crawled out of their graves. This movie isn't scary for the same reason that Night of the Living Dead is scary (more on that below) --- in fact, it's not even scary. It's more of a creepy rilm, along the lines of Carnival of Souls. The undead in Les Revanants have vague memories of who they are and really don't present a physical danger to anyone (no cannabalism here) but they are clearly out of place in a society which has already grieved their deaths and moved on with life. Eventually they part from the living in an ending I'll allow you to see for yourselves.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
But on to our featured film for September 2006. There's so much I'd like to say about NotLD, but won't for sake of brevity.
The main thing I want to point out about NotLD is how it served as the template for every single zombie movie which followed it.
Zombie movies before NotLD were usually about Hatian voodoo zombies. Hatian zombies were either truly undead raised back to life with voodoo sorcery or living people who essentially had received a chemical lobotomy through the administration of powerful, mind-altering drugs. The primary purpose of a voodoo zombie is to serve it's diabolical master in achieving his evil goals. A modern, real-life example would be Jeffrey Dahmer's attempt to lobotomize living men and boys to become his zombie-like sex slaves.
Similar but not quite the same as voodoo zombies are dead (or sometimes even living) bodies which have been possessed by another spirit or being, again to accomplish its evil plans (like that farmer-guy in Men in Black).
None of these are the same as George Romero-styled zombies.
Romero's zombies were clearly inspired by Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend. In spite of Matheson referring to his creatures as vampires, the undead in his novel are the obvious template** for Romero's zombies which themselves became the template for all succeeding zombie films.
But even though Night of the Living Dead was obviously inspired by I Am Legend and it's first movie adaption The Last Man on Earth (starring Vincent Price) - NotLD took us places the book and movie never approached.
In both I Am Legend and The Last Man on Earth, the protaganist is more annoyed by the undead than fearful of them. Sure, the vampire/zombies are dangerous; but they're more like wild animals, killing the living to survive.
In Night of the Living Dead, however, the heroes are faced with creatures motivated only by their mindless hunger for human flesh. And Romero's zombies are not content with human blood; but gorge themselves on skin, muscle, internal organs, intestines and brains --- which Romero makes us watch in close-up detail. It is, quite simply, revolting! But we DO watch, unable to turn away from the carnage - fascinated by the unimaginable scenes played out before our very eyes. Personally, for me this was a large part of why this movie has become inextricably lodged in my brain. Filmed in grainy black n' white, it is reminiscent of all the other b-movie horror classics which preceded it --- but unexpectedly crosses the line with its graphic portrayal of cannibalistic violence and gore. Although technically they're not cannibals since they're no longer really human...
WHY DO WE FEAR CREATURES WITHOUT SOULS*?
Restating the above: Vampires have souls which they've sold and eventually will have to surrender to the greater Evil which owns them. Ghosts are souls and operate for good or evil based on their own personal morals and ethics. Mummies and revanants are dead bodies resurrected by their own spirits for a specific purpose or mission - usually to gain revenge against their enemies.
But zombies...
Zombies are soul-less monsters, evil not by intent but by an incorrigible absence of good. They're not evil-doers in the traditional sense because they don't personally choose to do evil. They are, however, a nearly unstoppable and ever-growing threat. Zombies could care less about vengeance. They have no agenda. They are not the slaves of an intelligent and cunning master. They're simply hungry for you and me, and given enough time they will find us and they will eat us...and the cycle will continue.
Be afraid, be very afraid - because they're coming to get you...too!***
What is it about the undead that causes such fear and revulsion in us, the nondead?
Death all by itself is difficult for most of us. When we lose someone close to us, we experience a permanent loss (at least in this temporary plane of existence). We experience pain and we express grief. But we no more expect our deceased loved-ones to get up and walk out of the room than we expect our household pets to hold an intelligent conversation with us. Dead is dead, right?
Not always...
GHOSTS
Probably the most ancient documented interaction between the living and the undead would be what we commonly call ghosts --- still-living spirits now separated from their once-living bodies. Ghosts can be scary or they can be comforting - it all depends on who they are in relationship to you and why they're haunting you. Our fear of ghosts is rooted in distrust - it's largely a fear of the unknown. Is that really Aunt Gertrude, or is it a demon in disguise? What powers might a ghost have that we don't have? How do you stop something without a physical body? While most ghosts are harmless, there are still reasons to be afraid; or at least be cautious when dealing with them.
VAMPIRES
Belief in vampires is possibly as ancient as belief in ghosts. Vampires traditionally have been far more feared than romanticized. The vampires of legend were evil men and women who made a deal with the devil or in some other way cheated death, always at the cost of others. Whether they be blood-drinkers, psychic vampires or other life-suckers, vampires are users. They use the living to get what they want. We're just cattle to them - livestock waiting to be slaughtered. Yes, we fear the vampire's power and allegiance with whatever dark powers awakened them from death to an almost eternal life; but we also fear their selfish, unethical and existentialist intent to harm us in order to further their own plans.
REVENANTS
Revenants have also played a role in ancient folklore. Revenants are the bodies of the recently dead, reanimated by their own souls (ghosts or spirits) to wreak vengeance upon their enemies. In general, one only need to fear a revenant if you did that person wrong while they were alive. Revenants are similar to zombies, but not quite the same. I'll get into that a little more below, but simply put - revenants tend to rise from the dead to accomplish their mission and once they feel vindicated, they return back to their much-desired eternal rest.
MUMMIES
Fear of Mummies as we know it is relatively modern (early 20th Century thanks to Bram Stoker). Mummies are similar to revenants, as they're usually also on a mission of revenge; but the time-span between when they're buried and when they rise again to life is so much greater that instead of encountering a freshly dead or somewhat rotting corpse we find ourselves face to face with a crunchy, dried-out, wrinkeled pruin of a once-human body leaving a powdery trail of dead skin wherever it roams. Much of our fear of mummies comes from their appearance. Mummies are UGLY, but generally harmless unless you've crossed them or you're the one who distubed their tomb. Like revenants, most mummies achieve their purpose and return back to their eternal rest.
And now the topic we've all been waiting for... ZOMBIES!
ZOMBIES
Why do zombies scare us? Well, for one thing, you can't talk sense with a zombie. You might be able to convince a ghost, a vampire, a revanant or even a mummy to leave you or your loved-ones alone, but forget about getting anywhere with a zombie. At best, you might be able to train it like a family pet (like Bub in Day of the Dead or Ed in Shaun of the Dead), but forget trying to reason with a zombie.
I already addressed this in my blog on Carnival of Souls, but the single-most important difference I see between zombies and all the other undead is that ghosts, vampires, revanants and mummies all have souls (or in the case of ghosts - ARE souls) and zombies do not.* Your soul is WHO you are. Without your soul, even if your brain still functions well enough to have some memory of your past life, you're NOT the same person you were when you were alive (that is - a complete human consisting of soul, mind and body). Simply put, your soul is your personality - whether in or out of the body.
Two good movies on this subject are Wes Craven's Chiller (well, for a Wes Craven film, it's really not that good, but it does a good job of handling the topic) and Robin Campillo's Les Revanants (American title They Came Back).
Chiller is about a man cryogenically frozen at death and accidentally reanimated 10 years later. His body is in good health and his memory fairly intact, but the more people interact with him the more they realize he has no heart, no soul and no conscience. In fact, not only is he without ethics or morals; he is actually EVIL in the Biblical sense of being completely self-centered and careless as to whom he harms to reach his selfish goals.
The French movie Les Revanants begins with a mass exodus of the dead from the graveyards back to the cities in which they once lived. Unlike typical zombies or traditional revanants, their bodies are not decaying and they have no dirt or any other obvious sign that they just crawled out of their graves. This movie isn't scary for the same reason that Night of the Living Dead is scary (more on that below) --- in fact, it's not even scary. It's more of a creepy rilm, along the lines of Carnival of Souls. The undead in Les Revanants have vague memories of who they are and really don't present a physical danger to anyone (no cannabalism here) but they are clearly out of place in a society which has already grieved their deaths and moved on with life. Eventually they part from the living in an ending I'll allow you to see for yourselves.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
But on to our featured film for September 2006. There's so much I'd like to say about NotLD, but won't for sake of brevity.
The main thing I want to point out about NotLD is how it served as the template for every single zombie movie which followed it.
Zombie movies before NotLD were usually about Hatian voodoo zombies. Hatian zombies were either truly undead raised back to life with voodoo sorcery or living people who essentially had received a chemical lobotomy through the administration of powerful, mind-altering drugs. The primary purpose of a voodoo zombie is to serve it's diabolical master in achieving his evil goals. A modern, real-life example would be Jeffrey Dahmer's attempt to lobotomize living men and boys to become his zombie-like sex slaves.
Similar but not quite the same as voodoo zombies are dead (or sometimes even living) bodies which have been possessed by another spirit or being, again to accomplish its evil plans (like that farmer-guy in Men in Black).
None of these are the same as George Romero-styled zombies.
Romero's zombies were clearly inspired by Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend. In spite of Matheson referring to his creatures as vampires, the undead in his novel are the obvious template** for Romero's zombies which themselves became the template for all succeeding zombie films.
But even though Night of the Living Dead was obviously inspired by I Am Legend and it's first movie adaption The Last Man on Earth (starring Vincent Price) - NotLD took us places the book and movie never approached.
In both I Am Legend and The Last Man on Earth, the protaganist is more annoyed by the undead than fearful of them. Sure, the vampire/zombies are dangerous; but they're more like wild animals, killing the living to survive.
In Night of the Living Dead, however, the heroes are faced with creatures motivated only by their mindless hunger for human flesh. And Romero's zombies are not content with human blood; but gorge themselves on skin, muscle, internal organs, intestines and brains --- which Romero makes us watch in close-up detail. It is, quite simply, revolting! But we DO watch, unable to turn away from the carnage - fascinated by the unimaginable scenes played out before our very eyes. Personally, for me this was a large part of why this movie has become inextricably lodged in my brain. Filmed in grainy black n' white, it is reminiscent of all the other b-movie horror classics which preceded it --- but unexpectedly crosses the line with its graphic portrayal of cannibalistic violence and gore. Although technically they're not cannibals since they're no longer really human...
WHY DO WE FEAR CREATURES WITHOUT SOULS*?
Restating the above: Vampires have souls which they've sold and eventually will have to surrender to the greater Evil which owns them. Ghosts are souls and operate for good or evil based on their own personal morals and ethics. Mummies and revanants are dead bodies resurrected by their own spirits for a specific purpose or mission - usually to gain revenge against their enemies.
But zombies...
Zombies are soul-less monsters, evil not by intent but by an incorrigible absence of good. They're not evil-doers in the traditional sense because they don't personally choose to do evil. They are, however, a nearly unstoppable and ever-growing threat. Zombies could care less about vengeance. They have no agenda. They are not the slaves of an intelligent and cunning master. They're simply hungry for you and me, and given enough time they will find us and they will eat us...and the cycle will continue.
Be afraid, be very afraid - because they're coming to get you...too!***
- Pastor Z, 14.September.2006
As a courtesy, here are links to movies and books referenced on my September 2006 horror cam:- Night of the Living Dead in 30 Seconds
- I am Legend
- The Zombie Survival Guide
- When the Zombies Take Over, How Long Till the Electricity Fails?
*Like my comments on CoS, I'm using the word soul interchangeably with spirit in this blog.
**This isn't simply my opinion. George Romero has publicly stated his film was greatly inspired by I Am Legend and the first movie adaptation The Last Man on Earth.
***That last line was written tongue-firmly-planted-in-cheek. NotLD presents us with a hell on earth - but I don't believe our story ends with physical deaths. Even if the dead were to rise up and eat the living, I still believe in a life after death where there will be no more fear, no more sickness, no more pain and no more death --- and the Lord Himself will wipe the tears away from our eyes.
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