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.
I love that he’s put so much thought into the subject. Adore him.
I’m totally with Pegg. Once you make them quick and responsive, they stop being a zombie and become an entirely different kind of animal.
I don’t see what the problem is with fast zombies. In fact the slow zombie concept never made sense to me.
Dead Set rocked.
The idea of a human being dying, coming back to life, and having mobility issues never made sense to you? Because I always assumed that issues like rigor mortis went a long way toward explaining that, not to mention the brain and/or reflex deterioration caused by dying. Personally, I’m not a purist, and I’m fine with people wanting to play around with the genre and make zombies fast, but to say slow zombies “never made sense” is kind of stretching the point. That’s like saying vampires craving blood or werewolves howling at the moon never made sense.