Obsessed With Film

Tom tells us his TOP TEN ZOMBIES!

Though the walking dead may have joined the ranks of classic movie monsters, they don’t, let’s be honest, hold much in the way of personality. They lack the charm of the vampire, the pathos of Frankenstein or the strung out craziness of the slasher movie killer. They are lumbering, inarticulate and, well, a bit lifeless.

Yet occasionally a zombie comes along that rises above the marauding ranks. Here we acknowledge 10 of our favourites to celebrate the Region 2 release of George A. Romero’s latest effort DIARY OF THE DEAD on DVD.

10. Graveyard Zombie

…as seen in Night of the Living Dead (1968)

This was the one that changed everything. While previously zombies had belonged to Haitian voodoo, George A. Romero transported this undead ghoul right into the heartland of America. With sunken eyes and a death-white face, it lumbers across the graveyard and savagely attacks a brother and sister visiting their father’s grave. His eyes lust for human flesh and after smashing the brother’s skull relentlessly pursues the girl into the bitter night. In the pitch darkness there are more like him – but he was the first.

9. Morgue Zombie

…as seen in The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue (1974)

Fresh from an autopsy, this accident victim is justifiably peeved when an experimental pesticide resurrects him from the dead. In nothing but a pair of briefs and a bandaged skull, he feasts hungrily upon the hospital night attendants. Astonishingly, the film predates Dawn of the Dead by three years and Gianetto De Rossi’s groundbreaking special effects set the template for the kind of baroque grue that became synonymous with Romero/Savini. The stitched up autopsy scar running down Morgue Zombie’s chest is a particularly sick highlight.

8. Ed

…as seen in Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Shaun’s life is looking up. He’s survived an undead uprising, moved in with his beautiful girlfriend and got his best friend to play videogames with whenever he wants. Ok, so his best friend Ed may be a festering zombie who he keeps chained up in the garden shed, but so what? Ed’s about as active as he ever was and seems perfectly happy to stay where he is and work on getting that top score. And after all, best friends are for life…and sometimes beyond.

7. Andy

…as seen in Dead of Night (1974)

Sometimes a mother’s love can be a terrible thing. Shot down in Vietnam, Andy should be coming home in a body bag. But when his mum prays for him to return in one piece, her blue-eyed-boy hitches a ride back from the other side. With only a diet of human blood holding off decomposition, this dead soldier brings bloody hell to the American town that sent him to war. “I died for you,” he tells the town doctor. “Why shouldn’t you return the favour?”

6. Michael Jackson

…as seen in Thriller (1983)

Not nearly a fierce as the other dead things on our list, but who doesn’t remember Michael Jackson’s all-singing, all-dancing zombie from this iconic 80s music video? In his red suit and white socks, Jacko leads a horde of ghouls in an undead dance that terrifies his timid girlfriend. Directed by American Werewolf in London’s John Landis and with make up effects from the legendary Rick Baker. Zombie’s had never before been so funky.

5. Carrefour

…as seen in I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

In the West Indian town of St Sebastian, Carrefour is the guardian of the voodoo temple. We first see him in torch light, surrounded by the sugar cane. His vacant white eyes bulge from his dark face, his black body is stripped – he must be 12 foot tall. Carrefour is a zombie of old, an undead slave resurrected to do the will of the living. He inhabits a world of sacrificed animals, of superstition and tribal rites. It’s a world left behind by Romero, but one that still has to power to terrify.

4. Scuba Zombie

…as seen in Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979)

Scuba diving, though fun, can be dangerous. There’s your oxygen to worry about and whole assortment of deadly fish lurking down their below the waves. When Susan strips off and goes for a dive, she is terrified to find the waters shark infested. Even worse, there’s a dead man walking down there. Perhaps lured on by the challenge, the zombie goes for the shark, and gets in some good bites before his arm is bitten off. An amazing and off-the-wall sequence that they just don’t shoot nowadays.

3. Plaid Boy

…as seen in George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978)

You could have a whole top ten just based on zombies from this film. There’s the screwdriver zombie, the nurse, the nun, the one on the escalator, the Harre Krishna, the list goes on. But Plaid Boy is perhaps the most iconic. After all, he’s the one they put on the poster. His plaid shirt is bloodstained and the right side of his bald head is blackened and torn. He appears for only seconds but remains in the mind long after the film has finished.

2. Jack

…as seen in An American Werewolf in London (1981)

When he’s torn apart by a werewolf, Jack must remain in limbo, neither alive nor dead, until the last remaining beast is killed. That beast just happens to be Jack’s best friend David. Jack spends his time trying to convince his buddy to kill himself, meanwhile struggling with the fact that is flesh is slowly rotting from his grey bones. Yet as zombies go, Jack is relatively chatty. “You ever talk to a corpse?” he asks David. “It’s boring.” I can imagine.

1. Bub

…as seen in George A. Romero’s Day of the Dead (1985)

If there was ever any doubt that by this point Romero cared more for his zombies than the human survivors – meet Bub. Chained to a wall in an underground lab, Bub is the pet project of Dr Logan. He remembers stuff: like what a razors for and how to shoot a gun. With puppy-like eyes he watches for approval from Logan, and when his “master” is executed by the unhinged soldiers, escapes to extract bloody revenge. With Tom Savini’s masterful make-up effects and Romero’s willingness to subvert his creations, Bub became one of the most sympathetic and best loved members of the walking dead. Bub, we salute you.

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4 Comments »

Where’s Fido? :)

Comment by Cinexcellence | June 30, 2008
I’d be torn between Bub, the one on the table who spills his guts and Dr Tongue from Day Of The Dead, and I’d probably put the hare krishna from Dawn in there. I’d also put either the little girl or the husband from the beginning of the Dawn remake in there but my #1 would probably be the melting zombie from Return Of The Living Dead, with a notable mention of Mindy Clarke from ROTD3 (who knew the undead could be so sexy :S)

Comment by aphexbr | July 1, 2008
Great article! I agree about Bub being number one (bless him). Does anyone else agree with me that they styled him as a referential tribute to Marlon Brando’s character Terry Malloy from On the Waterfront in terms of his mannerisms and outfit?

I’d also add Tom Latham (played by actor Nicky Henson) from the 1973 supernatural biker B-movie Psychomania. The Living Dead biker gang kick arse. They may not be guresome and gory, but does it get any cooler than some hairy juvenile delinquents dabbling in the occult and attaining indestructable immortality on two wheels?

Comment by James Clayton | July 3, 2008
I’d add the squirming worms zombie from Zombi 2. Ok, there’s not much make-up from the neck down but the eye socket with the worms is excellent.
The guy that played Bub deserved an Oscar for that performance in Day of the Dead.

Comment by wayfarer | October 1, 2008