Simon Pegg on Zombies
Simon Pegg (of Shaun of the Dead and Spaced fame) has a little something to say about zombies. Okay, he has a LOT to say about zombies. In particular, why he believes “fast zombies” are a cheat, and why a certain 80s pop star is to blame. In what is ostensibly a review of the British mini-series Dead Set (which finished airing on October 31st), he talks about the history of zombies in movies, where George Romero originally got his inspiration, and how the Dead Set series measures up to what has come before. It’s a well-written and thoughtful essay/review from somebody who is clearly a diehard fan of the genre.
“If you’re careful, if you keep your wits about you, you can stave [zombies] off, even outstrip them — much as we strive to outstrip death. Drink less, cut out red meat, exercise, practice safe sex; these are our shotguns, our cricket bats, our farmhouses, our shopping malls. However, none of these things fully insulates us from the creeping dread that something so witless, so elemental may yet catch us unawares — the drunk driver, the cancer sleeping in the double helix, the legless ghoul dragging itself through the darkness towards our ankles.”
No word yet about when we here in the States will get to see Dead Set for ourselves.