Six Classic Monster Images Hollywood Gets Dead Wrong, Part Five

Zombies

These hordes of the undead have enjoyed a twist and turn here and there in both movies and fiction, but the formula has remained relatively the same: the walking dead come back to life craving the flesh of the living without fear, emotion, or regret.

Sure, some movies have zombies reclaim some cognizance (a la Fido and Return of the Living Dead III), but by and large they are the legions of reanimated corpses unstoppable except by severe head trauma via bullet, axe, bat, or spike-shooting gun thingy (Land of the Dead).

Historically, however, zombies are strikingly dissimilar. In the realm of voodoo, zombies are resurrected much as slaves or servants of the person who brought them back. I suppose the slave-master could order his zombie to go around moaning "Braaaaaaains," but more likely has him mowing the lawn or doing the dishes.

In other, similarly old traditions, zombies are more like that creepy vomiting girl from The Sixth Sense - come back to life to seek vengeance for crimes committed against them in life, like starring in The OC.

The desire for brains in particular is a recent trend for pop-culture zombies as is the resurrection of the long-dead, which - in zombie lore - is a no-go: only the recent dead may rise again.

Historically, zombies may also simply be humans without a soul, an image revamped in the popular book series His Dark Materials as a person whose daemon is severed.

DVD: "Quarantine" infectious

If you've read some of my other reviews, you'll know I'm a zombie fan, so just take that slight bias into consideration when reading my opinion about new-to-DVD Quarantine. Of course, I might be more critical of zombie flicks, however, since I know when to raise the flag on the parts that violate zombie lore for ill.

And Quarantine does violate some zombie lore...but for good, in my opinion, not for ill. Sometimes it's cringe-worthy to watch a zombie movie where the heroes move as slowly as the zombies. But they films must keep having someone getting bit or else how does it spread? This often tends toward unrealistically clumsy, slow, or careless heroes, who are kicking zombie tail one minute, and then letting a crawling zombie bite their ankle the next.

In Quarantine, the action is contained, as is the infection. You know this at the film's beginning, and it does nothing to take away from it, but rather connects you to the characters without worrying about if and when the infection spreads, the worldwide social effects, and other facets of zombie lore often either glazed over or handled poorly (it is hard to glean a billion extras willing to amble along in heavy makeup, I'm sure).

Before you run off and snag the DVD - zombie fan or not - there are a couple of things to consider:

1. The camera work is choppy, moves a lot, and may cause dizziness is some. This is nothing new. Think Cops. Think Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project. If the camera work in those films doesn't bother you, then you'll be fine. If you like that style (as I do) then you'll find that Quarantine adds to this sub-genre rather well, with innovative scenes in total darkness, real in-your-face moments, etc.

The cameraman really is present for the whole thing, and he's given life and feelings and emotions. For some, this type of film brings out the raw talent of actors where for others, it's just a lot of whining and shaky cameras.

2. Just because I said it goes against zombie lore for good doesn't mean there aren't some "come on!" moments. The incubation time seems to vary completely, as does zombie speed and strength.

Many zombie flicks now fall just as much into the action genre as they do horror, but Quarantine is horror first, and it's very refreshing to see. While I like movies such as Resident Evil and Doomsday, these are action flicks who happen to have zombies, not horror. Quarantine brings the scary, disturbing element back to the zombie genre in a unique, palpable way that I think Romero's Diary of the Dead tries but falls short of achieving.

Again, this is not for the kiddies, nor the squeamish, but I think that a mature teen who loves the genre could appreciate it without being exposed to excessive gore or sexual situations.