As a young man, I was a bit different.
No, really! See, I wasn't one of those kids that simply had to see the allegedly 'illegal' copy of Evil Dead II that Paul had. Nor was I the sort of kid who used to try to get one of the older kids to get a copy of Bad Taste from the video shop. Gruesome horror was never really my thing. Indeed 'horror' - in it's current teens-in-peril style is about the bottom of my cinematic radar.
However, I have began to develop a rather curious interest in zombies and the classic zombie flicks. I'll be very specific here - what fascinates me about them is not the zombies, but rather the portrayal of the degeneration of humanity when faced with the living dead. So in the remake of Dawn of the Dead comes on, I'm there to see the man refuse to accept that his pregnant girlfriend is a zombie. To me that denial and inability to handle the terrible facts before you is true horror because it is something that can have resonance in real life. You can easily put yourself in that situation and wonder how you would react. I simply cannot do that when 'generic skinny blonde#3' decides she just HAS to go into the cellar without a torch at the dead of night....
So, when Ian recommended 'World War Z' on fandomlife.net it was naturally going to be high on my reading list. It is, apparently, high on a number of other peoples reading lists too because getting my hands on a copy of the bloody thing has been a nightmare. The wait, however, has been more than worth it.
The premise of the book is that it is an oral history of a world wide conflict between humanity and zombies, written as a series of interviews with the survivors. It is an amazingly gripping read for a fictional non-fiction book. I've read about half of it and some of it has chilled me to the bone. One of the passages that had particular resonance was the flight of the refugees from the west coast of the US and the subsequent traffic gridlock. It told of people literally trapped in their cars, only able to sit and watch as the zombies ate their way up the traffic jam. Horrible - especially as I was in a traffic jam at the time!!!
The book has been rammed with those moments when you can, almost involuntarily, put yourself into the place of the people and wonder - what would I do? how would I react? would I be one of the people that would be saved? would I be zombie fodder? The answers are NEVER pleasant.
This I consider to be true horror and this book is truly horrific. I recommend it wholeheartedly.
Neil
11 comments:
Given this newly revealed love of the zombie genre and your love of comic books, have you never picked up The Walking Dead? It's exactly the type of 'human horror with zombies in the background' that you describe. Sadly, I've just sold all mine or I'd've lent you them.
Ben
Have you got to the bit about the people who travelled north yet? Because the zombies freeze in the cold?
That's a good segment as well.
The other bit I always remember is the Chinese Submarine crew who chose to do a runner and try and live on their own.
Ian.
Yeah, I have got to the 'Americans go North, can't camp, starve and eat each other' bit.
I was a bit disappointed by the UK 'entry' - very stereotypical. The japanese one was excellent.
Neil
English entry?
Cor-blimey guvner, what 'ave we here? Walking zombies? God save the queen and rule britannia!
:-)
Anyway, I just ordered the books off Amazon (they where doing a good discount off Zombie Survival Guide as well, so I picked that up too) based on the good reviews that both Ian and Neil have given it.
It's being made into a movie apparently as well... cool!
David
I actually can't remember the British bit, so that's probably telling :)
The British Bit was about the Welsh reactivating their castles and surviving the siege, and then the Queen refusing to go behind the safe zone lines because she had to be among the people like the Queen Mum did.
Neil
Sounds interesting.
I am reading Perdido Street Station at the moment but I would be interested in borrowing it when you are done.
andrew
Hmm...
Lets see.
Zombie Army is ravenously combing Britan in search of huamn flesh (& BRAIIIIINS)
We British, because of our punative laws which stop us from weilding anything larger than a pen-knife, have made a society of (generally) peaceful people who are (mostly) without weapons.
Hmm...
Safety? I think a castle wins quite well actually. A castle (take Alnwick for example) is filled with historical sharp edged stuff to get, and Castles, by and large, where designed to be able to hold off seiges of massed infantry pretty easily.
With modern building techniques and the right incentive (i.e. Zombies chomping at ya ankles) I could see why a Castle would be a good choice for a fortified position.
And lets be honest, in the UK, what *real* fortified positions do we have? None really.
Nope, Castles in the face of a Zombie Attack make good sense to me.
Hey, heres an idea, a World War Z RPG. Live the Nightmare!
An epic story driven rpg of survival in the modern world!
I've never been that interested in All Flesh Must Be Eaten - but I was momentarily interested after ready World War Z. Only momentarily.
Still, you don't need the game obviously.
As fort he British thing, I'm not sure it's the castles thing that seemed a bit twee - that does make sense. It was more the Queen going all heroic.
Ian.
Perdido St. Station is another cracking book (although I couldn't get into the sequel too well).
Your logic regarding the castles and the swords etc. is almost word for word what is represented in the book, Dave.
And yes, AFMBE did spring to mind with me as well, but in the end I don't think any RPG representation of WWZ could work without it degenerating into comedy. It really is the hard end of horror.
Neil
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