(2 of 2) Essay #43 You’re The Inspiration 11 “Shoot For The Head Part 4”

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

What am I supposed to say about Shaun of the Dead?
This movie is one of the best Zombie movies ever made. For that matter it is one of the best comedies ever made AND maybe one of the best movies ever.
If you’ve never seen it shame on you.

Synopsis

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is an electronics shop employee with no direction in life. His younger colleagues show him no respect, he has a difficult relationship with his stepfather, Phillip (Bill Nighy), and a tense one with his housemate, Pete (Peter Serafinowicz), because of Ed (Nick Frost), Shaun's other housemate and crude, unemployed best friend. Furthermore, Shaun's girlfriend, Liz (Kate Ashfield), dislikes their social life, as they primarily spend every evening at the Winchester, Shaun and Ed's favorite pub; they never do anything alone together; Shaun always brings Ed, causing Liz to always bring her flatmates, David (Dylan Moran) and Dianne (Lucy Davis).
After a miserable day at work, Shaun meets an old friend, Yvonne (Jessica Hynes), who asks what he and Liz are doing for their anniversary; having forgotten to book a table at Liz's favorite restaurant, Shaun suggests the Winchester, leading Liz to break up with him. Shaun drowns his sorrows with Ed at the Winchester. They return home late and spin electro records, only to be interrupted by an enraged Pete, who is suffering a headache after being attacked and bitten by "some crackheads." Pete confronts Shaun on his flaws, telling him to sort his life out.

The next morning, an overnight zombie apocalypse has overwhelmed the town, but Shaun is too busy dealing with his problems and hangover to notice. He and Ed discover a zombie woman in their back yard, but assume she is just drunk, until she survives being impaled on a pipe. A fat zombie man also makes his way into the garden. Shaun and Ed flee inside, and learn from a news report the only way to kill a zombie is "by removing the head or destroying the brain". First fighting back with random objects and Shaun's records, Shaun and Ed arm themselves with a cricket bat and a shovel after breaking into their own locked shed. They kill the two zombies in the yard and by a process of elimination decide the safest place to wait out the crisis is the Winchester.

Shaun discovers a now zombified Pete in the shower, so he and Ed escape in Pete's car. They find Shaun's mother, Barbara (Penelope Wilton) and Phillip - who has been bitten - and switch cars after Ed deliberately crashes Pete's car in order to drive Phillip's Jaguar. They head over to Liz, Dianne, and David's flat and collect them. Before they make it to the Winchester, Phillip dies of his bite, after making peace with Shaun. Abandoning the car as Phillip zombifies, they set off on foot, bumping into Yvonne and her group of survivors. Imitating the zombies, they sneak over to the pub; however, Ed and Shaun get into an argument that alerts the zombies. David smashes the window while Shaun leads the zombies away. The five take refuge in the pub, and Shaun joins them after losing the zombies.

Several hours later, zombies converge on the pub. Shaun discovers the Winchester rifle above the bar is functional and they use it to fend off the zombies. Barbara reveals she was bitten along the way and dies, becomes a zombie, and after David antagonizes the situation, resulting in a Mexican standoff, the heart broken Shaun is forced to shoot Barbara. David is disemboweled and dismembered by the zombies after he attempts to shoot Shaun with the empty rifle; causing a frantic Dianne to unbolt the door to rescue him, disappearing into the crowd of zombies. Ed prepares a Molotov cocktail to fend them off, but Pete arrives and bites him. He manages to get over the bar and Shaun uses the cocktail to set fire to the bar, accidentally setting off the remaining rifle ammunition. They escape into the cellar, in which they contemplate suicide, but discover a service hatch to ground level. Shaun and Liz escape through the hatch as Ed stays behind with the rifle. Back on the street, as Shaun and Liz prepare to fight the zombies, the British Army arrives and guns down the remaining zombies, rescuing them. Yvonne, who has also survived, shows up and tells Shaun and Liz to follow her. They approach the safety of the trucks, reconciled.

Six months after the outbreak, the uninfected have returned to daily life, while the leftover zombies, retaining their instincts, are used as cheap labor and entertainment. Liz has moved in with Shaun, and Shaun is keeping Ed, now a zombie, tethered in the shed while playing video games.

Zombi 2 (1979)

Another Italian entry to the zombie genre this one is an unofficial companion movie to Dawn of the Dead (1979). In Europe Dawn is known as Zombi. I have a love/hate relationship with this one.
On one hand it has some seriously iconic zombie moments. The zombie vs. shark battle, which for what it’s worth I still think the shark should have won, the army of zombies marching down the George Washington Bridge, and of course the infamous eye impalement scene.
Considering my phobias that last one bothers me.
But that is all outweighed by some of the dumbest people in the history of zombie films. Seriously our ‘heroes’ all deserve to die.
But it’s a fun movie and every zombie fan, especially those of you who love the gore, should see it.

Synopsis

What appears to be an abandoned yacht drifts into New York Harbor. As two Harbor Patrol officers investigate, a huge, decomposing, flesh-hungry ghoul attacks the officers, biting one in the neck. The remaining officer shoots the hulking zombie and it topples overboard. The body of the deceased officer is deposited in the morgue.

Anne Bowles (Tisa Farrow) is questioned by the police because the boat belonged to her father (Ugo Bologna). All she knows is that her father left for a tropical island to work on some research. Reporter Peter West (Ian McCulloch) is assigned by his news editor (director Lucio Fulci in a cameo) to report on the mysterious boat and there he meets Anne. While on the boat, Anne and Peter discover a note from her father explaining he is on the island of Matool (Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands) suffering from a strange disease. They decide to continue to investigate together. Upon their arrival in the tropics, they enlist the aid of a seafaring couple, Bryan Curt (Al Cliver aka Pier Luigi Conti) and Susan Barrett (Auretta Gay), to assist them in finding the island.

Matool is a cursed place where the dead have risen to attack the living. Dr. David Menard (Richard Johnson), a resident on the island and physician at the local mission, is investigating its secrets. His contemptuous, high-strung wife Paola (Olga Karlatos) wants to leave the island in fear of the increasing zombie attacks, but Dr. Menard insists on continuing his research.

The group is nearing the island when Susan decides to go for a dive. Anne and Peter look on as she brazenly goes into the water topless. While in the water, Susan encounters a shark, which tries to attack her, but she manages to hide among the coral reefs. She immediately surfaces and begs for help as the shark prepares to attack her. Bryan gets a gun and shoots the shark, but the shark hits the boat, causing them to lose control. Susan dives under again and tries to escape, and the shark narrowly misses her in its attack. As she is hiding in a coral reef, however, a zombie attacks her, but she manages to avoid the creature by slashing its water-bloated face with a piece of coral. The shark then turns and attacks the zombie, which proceeds to tear a chunk out of the shark; the two creatures battle until the shark mangles and severs the zombie's arm, after which the shark swims away, while the zombie seemingly gives up and heads in the opposite direction.

Susan manages to get on the boat as Anne, Peter and Bryan help her. She explains what she saw to them. Meanwhile, Dr. Menard and his nurse (Stefania D'Amario) continue to study the zombies. Some of them are newly bitten, some are in the zombiefication stage and some are already decomposing. Menard's local assistant Lucas (Dakar) appears at the door, says that the zombies are attacking everyone on the island, and asks how to kill the zombies.

Night falls and Menard's wife, Paola, takes a shower. The camera shows a zombie spying on her from outside the house. Paola gets out of the shower and sees the zombie. The zombie comes in and tries to open the door just as Paola is trying to close it. She manages to close the door and holds it shut with her body. The zombie's hands break through the door and grab her hair. In possibly the most famous scene from the movie, Paola's eye is pierced by a large splintered piece of wood and she is then killed off-camera.
The boat finally arrives at the dock. Back at the hospital the nurse wakes Dr. Menard from a deep sleep. She tells him that Matthias (Franco Fantasia) has died because of the infection. Dr. Menard waits for his friend's body to reanimate, then shoots him in the head. As Lucas is digging the graves of Matthias and the others that have died from the contagion, he sees a flare gun fire. He follows it and discovers the crew from the boat. Dr. Menard tells Anne about her father and when the contagion started. As they arrive, Lucas says that something happened to Fritz (Leo Gavero). He tells the group to go to his mansion, where Paola is located. He approaches Fritz and he says that he has been bitten.

The group arrive at the mansion where they discover the horribly mutilated corpse of Paola being hungrily devoured by zombies. A swarm of zombies attack them but they escape. They get in the jeep but lose control and drive off the road. Peter's knee is badly hurt. The group traverse through the jungle. Peter takes a rest and Anne examines his wound. Susan and Bryan explore their surroundings, and Bryan finds an old helmet. It appears that the group have stumbled onto a Spanish cemetery. Anne and Peter are lying on the ground and proceed to have an ill-timed love session when a zombie grabs her hair and another zombie grabs Peter's foot. Bryan hears Anne's scream; he leaves Susan to follow it. In another famous scene, a petrified Susan watches in horror as an ominous, worm-infested zombie conquistador rises through the earth, lunges at her, and tears out her throat. Bryan saves Anne and Peter but fails to save Susan. He shoots the rotting zombie in the back twice but it still stands, until Peter grabs a nearby wooden cross and smashes the zombie's head, destroying it. The group then head back to the hospital.

More and more zombies rise from their graves. The group finally arrive at the hospital and barricade themselves inside. Dr. Menard asks what happened to Paola and is told that she is dead. Dr. Menard explains to them that a voodoo curse has made the dead rise. He says he is still searching for a way to stop the curse. The zombies then begin their assault on the hospital. Dr. Menard goes to look for bullets, but is attacked and killed by a reanimated Fritz. Bryan sees the attack and shoots the rabid Fritz in the head as he ravenously gnaws on the doctor's cheek. The people who have been infected in the hospital begin to reanimate. A frothing black zombie bites a huge chunk of flesh and muscle out of Lucas' forearm. Lucas lets out a blood curdling scream, then silently dies of his horrific injury while the zombies start attacking the nurse. Peter hears her scream and tries to help her but a zombie breaks out the window. Peter shoots the zombie. He helps the nurse and continues his defense against the undead. The nurse goes to get some supplies but a reanimated Lucas grabs and bites her.

The zombies finally destroy the main door and break in. Peter and Bryan shoot at the zombies while Anne throws Molotov cocktails at them. They manage to stop some of the zombies and escape the hospital, which is now burning down. The last of the group are on the road heading to the boat and destroying more zombies, but a reanimated, blood-caked Susan appears in front of Bryan and bites his arm. Peter shoots the reanimated Susan in the head. They reach the boat and sail away. Now out at sea, Bryan is showing bad signs of contagion. He dies and they lock him in one of the rooms on the boat, taking the reanimated Bryan with them as evidence. When they reach the open ocean, however, they receive a radio report that a plague of zombies has attacked New York City. As the credits roll, the zombies are walking on the Brooklyn Bridge, leaving Peter and Anne to an unknown fate.

Zombieland (2009)

In his forward to the reissue of The Danse Macabre, Stephen King was cautiously optimistic about the upcoming movie Zombieland. But ultimately he feared it would be a stupid film. I hope he was pleasantly surprised by the end product.
Zombieland is the American Shaun of the Dead and I mean that in all of the best ways. The movie is funny, scary, touching, and thoughtful all in one package. I’ve seen it at least 20 times and it never feels old to me.
Now nut up or shut up!

Synopsis

Two months have passed since a mutated strain of mad cow disease mutated into "mad person disease" that became "mad zombie disease" which overran the entire United States population, turning American people into vicious zombies. Unaffected college student "Columbus" (Jesse Eisenberg) is making his way from his college dorm in Austin, Texas to Columbus, Ohio to see whether his parents are still alive. He encounters "Tallahassee" (Woody Harrelson), another survivor who is particularly violent in killing zombies. Though he does not appear to be sociable, Tallahassee reluctantly allows Columbus to travel with him. Tallahassee mentions he misses his "puppy" that was killed by zombies, as well as his affinity for Twinkies, which he actively tries to find. Survivors of the zombie epidemic have learned that it is best not to grow attached to other survivors, because they could die at any moment, so many have taken to using their city of origin as nicknames, i.e. "Columbus" is from Columbus, Ohio.

The pair meet "Wichita" (Emma Stone) and her younger sister "Little Rock" (Abigail Breslin) in a grocery store. The sisters are con artists, and trick Tallahassee and Columbus into handing over their weapons by pretending that Little Rock was infected by the disease, then steal their Escalade. The two men find a yellow Hummer H2 loaded with weapons and go after the sisters. However, the girls spring another trap for them and take them hostage. Tallahassee steals his gun back and has a stand-off with Wichita, until Columbus lashes out in anger that they have bigger problems to worry about, resulting in an uneasy truce between them. The sisters reveal that they are going to the "Pacific Playland" amusement park in Los Angeles, an area supposedly free of zombies. After learning his home town has been destroyed, and his parents likely killed, Columbus decides to accompany the others to California. Along the trip, Columbus persists in trying to impress and woo Wichita.

When the group reaches Hollywood, Tallahassee directs them to Bill Murray's mansion. Tallahassee and Wichita meet Murray himself, uninfected but disguised as a zombie so he can walk safely around town (and play golf). Murray is killed when Columbus shoots him, mistaking him for a real zombie during a practical joke while watching Ghostbusters with Little Rock. Columbus realizes during a game of Monopoly that Tallahassee has not been grieving for his dog, but rather for his young son. Wichita becomes increasingly attracted to Columbus, and Tallahassee bonds with Little Rock, with whom he was previously at odds. Despite Wichita's attraction to Columbus, she fears attachment and leaves with Little Rock for Pacific Playland the next morning. Columbus decides to go after Wichita, and convinces Tallahassee to join him.

At Pacific Playland, the sisters activate all the rides and lights, attracting nearby zombies. A chase ensues, and just as the sisters are trapped on a drop tower ride called Blast Off, Tallahassee and Columbus arrive. Tallahassee lures the zombies away from the tower, creating a distraction for Columbus to get to the tower ride; both use the attractions to their advantage. Tallahassee eventually locks himself in a game booth, shooting zombies left and right. Columbus successfully evades and shoots through several zombies to reach the tower, but not before conquering some of his phobias and even changing one of his rules of survival. In thanks, Wichita kisses Columbus and reveals her real name, Krista; Little Rock gives Tallahassee a Twinkie. Columbus realizes he now has what he's always wanted: a family.

Honorable Mentions

There are also zombie movies I love to watch but I just don’t consider them as influences on me. They include but are by no means limited to these films and series. Every one of these movies, good and bad, are worth watching.
• Brain Dead
• CHUD (The first and NOT the second)
• Evil Dead Series
• Horror Express
• I, Am Legend
• Night of the Comet
• Night of the Creeps
• Quarantine 2
• Reanimator Series
• Resident Evil Series
• Return of the Living Dead Series
• The Crazies (2010)
• The Omega Man
• Warm Bodies
• Zombie Diaries Series

What about World War Z?

I was just about to finish this one when I realized I never mentioned the highest grossing zombie film of all time. This would of course be the 2013 adaptation of the Max Brook classic World War Z.
Well I’m not gonna talk about it, at least not yet.
I started to write about WWZ when I realized that after George Romero no other creator has contributed more to the genre than Max Brooks. With that being a bona fide fact I’ve decided Mr. Brooks needs his own installment in which I will cover his entire spectrum of work.


And that’s it for part 3 boils and ghouls. Next time we’ll delve into zombies in the print world, excluding Max Brooks stuff. So until next time keep your back to the wall and your ammo dry.




-Josh