Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth

by Kim Paffenroth

This volume connects American social and religious views with the classic American movie genre of the zombie horror film. For nearly forty years, the films of George A. Romero have presented viewers with hellish visions of our world overrun by flesh-eating ghouls. This study proves that Romero's films, like apocalyptic literature or Dante's Commedia, go beyond the surface experience of repulsion to probe deeper questions of human nature and purpose, often giving a chilling and darkly humorous critique of modern, secular America.

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Nonfiction, Film, Pop Culture, Religion, Literary Criticism

205 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

I am a professor of religious studies, and the author of several books on the Bible and theology. I grew up in New York, Virginia, and New Mexico. I attended St. John's College, Annapolis, MD (BA, 1988), Harvard Divinity School (MTS, 1990), and the University of Notre Dame (PhD, 1995). I live in upstate New York with my wife and two wonderful kids. In the horror genre, I have written Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth (Baylor, 2006) - WINNER, 2006 Bram Stoker Award; Dying to Live: A Novel of Life among the Undead (Permuted Press, 2007); Orpheus and the Pearl(Magus Press, 2008); and Dying to Live: Life Sentence(Permuted Press, 2008).

Reviews

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun fact: Zombies, as we know them today, were never meant to be referred to as “zombies”. George Romero, the director of the 1968 film “Night of the Living Dead”---the film which is credited for starting the whole zombie movie genre---never liked the term “zombie”. The word itself is never mentioned once in that seminal horror film classic. Romero preferred the word “ghoul”, the term for an ancient mythological creature that roamed graveyards and feasted on human flesh. The term “zombie” is actually a reference to either a hypnotized victim or a reanimated corpse through the power of voodoo magic, according to Caribbean folklore. Somehow, “zombie” became the preferred term for the walking dead in Romero’s film, and it stuck. Zombies have now become a part of the zeitgeist of American pop culture.

The question is: Why? What is it about zombies that has fascinated generations and continues to fascinate us? In terms of mythology, vampires have been around far longer and a part of far more national cultures than our own. Golems, werewolves, poltergeists, manitou, dragons, sea monsters: these mythological monsters have haunted human psyches for centuries. In the grand scheme of things, zombies are the newborns of nightmare creatures. Yet, for some reason, they are extraordinarily popular.

Perhaps one reason has something to do with social class. According to Kim Paffenroth, author of “Gospel of the Living Dead”, zombies have appeal due in large part to their proletariat leanings: “Zombies are the lowest, most “peasant” type of monsters, especially in comparison to vampires, who are always very sophisticated and effete... (p.16)” It makes sense, when one places zombies in a socialist context: as the undead, zombies literally lack the most important means of production: a pulse. (A close second would be brain power, although arguably it's not a requirement for some jobs.) They also outnumber the living (their bourgeosie) by about a thousand to one, so they definitely have strength in numbers.

Zombies also have another plus going for them in this pro-socialist argument: they are completely morally incorruptible, primarily because they are completely incapable of having morals to corrupt. They exist solely as id, no ego or superego. They are ruled solely by an eternally insatiable hunger for human flesh.

While this may seem awful, it’s actually a pretty pure and unsullied purpose. Unlike humans, zombies aren’t going to screw over other zombies for profit. They also aren’t going to exhibit feelings of superiority or hatred due to racism, classism, sexism, or homophobia. None of that matters to a zombie. All zombies are equal in each other’s dead, soulless eyes.

It’s actually kind of endearing.

Paffenroth, an Associate Professor of Religious Studies at Iona College in New Rochelle, NY and a huge zombie film buff, has written an intellectually satisfying academic study on the morality and ethics of zombies, using as his basis of study five films in particular, four of them directed by Romero: “Night of the Living Dead”, “Dawn of the Dead” (both the 1978 version, directed by Romero, and the 2004 remake, directed by Zach Snyder), “Day of the Dead” (1985), and “Land of the Dead” (2005). He also references other Romero-inspired films such as “Shaun of the Dead”, “28 Days Later”, and “Resident Evil”.

Basically, Paffenroth makes the very well-supported case that the zombie film genre is an exceptionally popular subgenre of horror precisely because of its tendency toward strong social commentary. Zombies, according to Paffenroth, are all too-relatable because they represent so many negative things about Americans: our rampant consumerism, our love of violence, our obsession with guns, our fear of foreigners, our society’s lack of empathy toward the poor and the lower class. In almost all cases, zombie films represent humans as being worse enemies to other humans than the zombies.

“Romero and the other filmmakers,” writes Paffenroth, “use the fantastical “disease” of zombies to criticize the very real diseases of racism, sexism, materialism, and individualism that would make any society easy prey for barbarian hordes. And the portrayal is so powerful and compelling in these films, that it is impossible to discount it as some thoughtless anti-American screed: it is a real, if extreme, diagnosis of what ails us. (p.18-19)

Paffenroth looks at each film through the kaleidoscope of Dante’s many circles of hell, utilizing literary references and even biblical support for his arguments. The result is a smart, fascinating, and entertaining examination of an insanely popular genre. It should be noted that Paffenroth published this book in 2006, before AMC became the first channel to air a TV series, “The Walking Dead”, heavily inspired by Romero’s films.

Love them or hate them, zombies aren’t going away any time soon. In this Age of Trump---with a resurgence of white supremacy, vicious hate crimes, xenophobia, and rampant sexism and misogyny---Romero’s socially-conscious and moralistic zombie films seem all the more appropos.

[Alexis Winning · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this on the plane to Mexico...most people think I'm weird.

I really enjoy Kim Paffenroth's whole intellectual analysis of the genre. Although he focuses on George Romero's work, we can obviously generalize to the genre (since Romero started the whole modern zombie movement)

Why are there so few zombie non-fiction books?!!! I eat this stuff up. Paffennroth uses religion and standardized Christian themes to analyze the modern zombie story. He outlines how these themes pertain to the human condition within the zombie genre. I absolutely recommend this book to anyone who is a super zombie nerd such as myself.

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paffenroth's offering is fascinating, insightful, and intelligent enough to rival any published examination of social and religious sciences as they relate to genre cinema, a thinker's companion piece to the films themselves, and without its presence on the book case shelves of a true zombie fanatic you can deem his library incomplete. From the introduction, Paffenroth states "....the monstrous zombies created
by our imaginations, whether in a logician's thought experiment or a director's frame, may yet save us from our own misguided and arrogant urge to degrade and dehumanize ourselves into soulless machines." But aside from social comparisons to zombies themselves, the author takes us into a clear and detailed analysis of other important elements the films display-- the human characters, their symbolisms, interactions, and a study of the world around them on both personal and global scales.

For myself, personally, this work offers a refreshing and enlightening perspective on Christian ideals as they relate to a subject most Christian fundamentalists view very adamantly as Satanically inspired, something Christ demands us to ignore, to stay away from, to have nothing to do with. In stating his case, Kim takes measures to present the subject matter in a very Christian reader-friendly way, for as graphic and exploitive as these films can be, he takes great care to keep his content clean, concise, entertaining, providing valuable lessons for us all to pay attention to and learn regardless of our beliefs.
That said, there are reasons why it seemed difficult writing this review as well as Maberry's Ghost Road Blues, until I combined them. You see, I have the same things to say of both authors, and I always veer away as best I can from being redundant, so now I can say it all here:
I had an epiphany not very long ago involving doing these book reviews, and up until then I hadn't done one since high school. I can't imagine being paid to do one, and part of my motivation in doing them in the first place was to discipline myself into reading, period, and perhaps to teach and give an ear to books rejected for reviews elsewhere because of their self-published status. But as I've often taught in lectures or in providing simple advice to writers who wish to go that route, the real value I see personally in doing reviews lies beyond acquiring free books and flexing your literary muscles to voice opinions about them, to have them quoted on the backs of other's books so your name can get around. Letting the
world know you do reviews exposes you to a deeper appreciation of the works of others and invites potential greatness to your doorstep. Not having heard of them previously, both Jonathan Maberry and Kim Paffenroth, within maybe a month of each other, came to me to review their works. It's commonplace these days for anyone to approach me for a review, and I have to this date indeed reviewed some pretty damn good stuff. But in reading their works, and through some correspondence, in seeing what these two are about on their websites and perusing over their accomplishments, I can say
concerning the both of them that greatness has found its way to my doorstep, and it probably wouldn't have been the case if not for doing reviews. Call it an affirmation.
Check out their books, check out their websites, and you'll see what I mean.

[Robert Beveridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kim Paffenroth, Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Vision of Hell on Earth (Baylor University Press, 2006)

I have to say that just about the last book I ever expected to see would be a religious deconstruction of George A. Romero's zombie flicks. And yet that's exactly what we have here; divinity student Paffenroth (who has since graduated into horror-writing himself) offers up a dissection of Romero's films that is quite unlike any other I've ever seen-- he's looking for the religious side of Romero's messages about life, the universe, and everything. And while Paffenroth does make some of the same mistakes a number of other amateur film critics do, especially when discussing Night of the Living Dead (there's this odd belief among amateur film critics that the casting of Ben Jones was some sort of attack on the evil empire, rather than a last-minute casting decision because Jones happened to be the only guy around who could act well enough—the guy originally cast for the part was white, and the racial element of the film is entirely accidental, as has been repeatedly stated in more scholarly discussions of the film), it's hard not to be impressed with Paffenroth's logic. The guy's obviously done his homework. Most of it, anyway.

Paffenroth opens his chapters (each is dedicated to a specific film; he considers Romero's first four zombie films and Zack Snyder's 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead for comparison purposes) with a summary of the film he's looking at, and then a pretty standard deconstruction of Romero's criticisms of contemporary society. (This is where the whole overrating of Ben Jones' stature comes into play, obviously.) Where Paffenroth differs from most critics is that he's looking at all this through the lens of being a divinity student. I don't mean to suggest that he's tossing in altar calls at random places, but the Christian viewpoint on things is different than the viewpoint one is likely to find in most film criticism. I grant you, sometimes it's a pretty subtle difference, and critics of the book (metacritics?) who have had a tough time seeing the difference between Paffenroth's take on Romero and that of any hundred others who have written articles about the similarities between zombies and mall shoppers are worth reading; you may find yourself having the same difficulty. I don't believe that makes this book one iota less worth reading, but your mileage may vary. ****

[Kevin Fitzsimmons · Rating 4 out of 5]

I revised my original rating on this to make it higher. Drawing from Dante and an understated Christian perspective Paffenroth commits to an analysis of Romero’s Dead films and the remake of Dawn of the Dead.

My original review was low because I disagree with several
If his assertions. Particularly regarding Night of the Living Dead.

One example, I disagree that the characters are unlikeable. I believe that for all their flaws the characters are everyday folk confronted with an impossible situation. Had the undead situation not arose they might have liked each other.

This is a big point, because it impacts the interpretation of human nature that Paffenroth presents. His take seems rooted in Calvinism. I’ve always seen Night as decent people being put through hell. They have their flaws and those flaws drive the drama, but much like Chaucer’s pilgrims these are folks enroute to redemption. But in the Dead universe we see the ultimate secular nightmare of no redemption. We see humanity stripped of its soul and its god. It is a movie about our anxieties around death. Granted, in a post Covid world we now know several of the characters would have voluntarily gave themselves to the ghouls because a Facebook post told them to.

That is just one example. On every page of this book I found myself annoyed by some tidbit.

Here is the catch. He did present his arguments well, and he did make me think. It is a fun book to interact with. It reminded me of college and some of the late night arguments I would have with friends. At the end of it, I do have some very different questions to ask about Romero’s Dead films. Especially about the intentional use of Daylight Savings Time in Night. I think that’s a good thing.

Another aside, I wonder what the author would make of Romero’s and Krauss’ novel The Living Dead. Talk about a novel with theological implications!

I recommend this book. It’s an enjoyable argument by a very thoughtful writer.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

"This is the place I told you to expect. Here you shall pass among the fallen people, souls who have lost the good of intellect." - Dante's Inferno 3.16-18

If you're tempted by the notion of deeper sociocultural meaning to the genre of cinematic horror - if you believe there's worthwhile commentary to be found beyond the veneer of smut, thrill, and shock - then zombie movies are as sensible a place as any to start.

In fact, Romero's 1978 Dawn of the Dead has got to be one of the most resoundingly obvious examples of social commentary via cinematic horror. After all, it takes place in a shopping mall. The zombies that swarm the stores are crass and shamelessly impulsive, but don't they remind us a little of ourselves?

Unchecked consumerism can be fairly critiqued as, alternately, violently voracious, or just plain tacky. It's a point that has been made thoroughly about the '78 Dawn of the Dead, an endlessly fascinating and still relevant movie (which no doubt germinated this entire book; it's the longest and probably most passionately written chapter).

But compared to the huge volume of zombie movies, and their tendency to hide from cultural prominence yet re-emerge when needed, that observation merely scratches the surface. Indeed, this book came out in 2006, a prescient time - the dawn of a newfound zombie craze was just upon us.

And so here we have one of the many living testaments to the fact that you can enjoy the potato-chip-indulgence of zombie movies on the one hand, and form a cogent line of inquiry on the other hand, into the question: "Why?" What makes this subgenre so compelling that, from time to time, it just seems to take over wholesale?

When we take haphazard and obsessive collective notice of zombie fiction, as we did in the first decade and a half of the 2000s, to what, exactly, are we drawn? Well, there's the monsters themselves - as Prof. Paffenroth points out, zombies are walking, groaning liminal spaces. Familiar and foreign, human and demon, empathetic and mindless all at once: the sacred, defiled.

On top of that, though: you're probably not watching a zombie movie if it doesn't, at some point, imply: "Are we the baddies?" Zombie fiction almost inevitably features a total breakdown in social mores, and while this flavor of apocalypticism might allow us to live out fantasies of vigilantism, it also channels and portrays things we fear about our shared inner wickedness.

In both cases - the mindlessly ravenous zombies, the bickering distrustful humans - can be seen as offshoots of sin - hence the Christian lens offered by this book.

"Ah, wait, no way, you're kidding! He didn't just say what I think he did, did he?"

Yes, and I'll go a step further, that if you're a horror junkie, you don't need to have a Christian view of religion - or any religion at all - to find enjoyment here. For Gospel of the Dead is a work of scholarly theology, not one of those entreaties to convert-or-suffer. For one thing, it's not in the nature of this author to proselytize. (I can attest to this personally, because he was a college professor of mine!)

For another: even if religion is increasingly unpopular with millennials and we all recall the Moral Majority disfavorably and yadda yadda, line up ten avowed atheists and nine out of ten will be fans of Dante's Inferno, some hardcore. The Inferno, of course, is a mere one-third of The Divine Comedy , Dante's almost mathematical mapping of the theology of his time onto a poetic journey fashioned after the Greek and Roman epics. It nevertheless endures as the most popular third of La Commedia. It's a tale of reckoning. No matter one's views on theology, a parable about sinners having to pay the piper will always be relevant - especially when the imagery is as gruesome and as neatly structured as in the Inferno.

Despite the name of this book, it's Dante's Inferno, and not the Gospels, that provide the roadmap through which the author performs his Christian dissection of five classic zombie films.

Although the resulting niche is relatively narrow, the harmony this book achieves between zombie fiction and the consequences of unexamined, wanton sin - viewed through that grotesque Dantean lens - is pretty splendid. Paffenroth is not the first to propose pairing the zombie subgenre up with the Inferno, but the way he boils them down to indictments of human wickedness is thorough, well-argued, and - of no small importance - coated in the unashamed passion of an obvious horror film junkie. I've perhaps belabored the point already, but Paffenroth makes a compelling case that a book like this, grounded in one specific religion, can nonetheless offer something for modern readers of all sociopolitical persuasions: within this text, it is not just greed, wrath, and interpersonal betrayal that constitutes sin, but racism, sexism, classism, and even homophobia (bear in mind Gospel of the Living Dead dates back to 2006).

Each of the five aforementioned flicks gets a treatment that is never less than stimulating and consistent. The first chapter, on the original Night of the Living Dead, might offer the roughest sketch of a theological treatment. But as time goes on and the glut of Romero films continue, the increasing focus on the inability of humans to cooperate - indeed, their readiness to fall back on petty, violent differences and exploit each other wholesale - seems to vindicate quite squarely the author's overall theological thesis.

I mentioned earlier that the 1978 Dawn of the Living Dead chapter is the meat and potatoes of this book. From its many witty observations of the image of a zombie-saturated shopping mall, to its step-by-step accounting of the wickedness (and yet silliness) of the biker gang, it's a true MVP here. It cites Dante and doctrine alike, elucidating on the '78 film's warning about the hollowness of materialism - quite possibly the most crucial contribution that traditional religion can make in the screen-addicted 21st century.

I was, however, delighted to find, augmenting the chapters of the four Romero films, the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead - a wickedly wild ride of a movie itself. Throughout the other chapters on the Romero films, Paffenroth connects the moral vacuum of the zombies and the wicked humans to sin and hell. Here, instead, the shopping mall is a form of purgatory - a holding pen where life and even love can continue, but the soul aches for foregone hope. While this chapter's arguments lack some of the immediacy that bolstered its predecessors, it does offer some phenomenal and possibly underrated insight into the film's unique utilization of the redemption arc.

You know what's the only thing this book is really missing? More time. It was, as I said, prescient that it came out in 2006, but also an unlucky draw. Besides the four Romero films and the remakes, brief references are made to Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later, and even the Resident Evil franchise. But Gospel of the Living Dead had the bad luck of missing out entirely on Zombieland, World War Z, Train to Busan, and The Walking Dead - not just, for its time, a massive cultural institution of a television show, but a video game franchise that offered, through the characters of Clementine and Lee, some of the best-wrought relationships and dilemmas faced in post-apocalyptic survival horror.

If you dig the idea of a deep dive into zombie-flick-as-social-commentary, you have no shortage of books to potentially try. This author's own glossary lists what must be at least half of all the ones that had yet been written. For those in the exceedingly rare and weird Venn diagram overlap of Christian scholarship and horror movie fanaticism, Gospel of the Living Dead is an obvious choice for starting point. But even for those situated a foot or two outside, I'd reckon it's a fine a pick as any - it's a well-flowing, well-composed tome with a witty, relaxed, and thoroughly genuine author's voice.

[Jay Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the only academic non-fiction book that gave me chills as I read it!

Paffenroth's deep dive into the philosophy, metaphors and mythology of Romero's "of the Dead" filmography gave me a love of the zombie genre since I read it nearly fifteen years ago. Each movie is an "apocalypse" in the sense that it reveals human nature--on one hand, a group of mindless people who will use violence to convert others to their way of thinking, on the other, groups of survivors whose selfishness and greed make them even more dangerous. Gospel of the Living Dead gave me some high standards for zombie literature and media, and informed how I watch everything from World War Z to The Walking Dead.

[Victoria Timpanaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

A thorough study of Romero's living dead films that considers a religious lens. Much of the analysis uses Dante's Inferno as a comparison for ideas of what the end of the world would look like. I was surprised how much of an overview outside of religion was given for the films and appreciated this different perspective on the series.

[G. Edweird Cheese · Rating 4 out of 5]

a great analysis of the Romero quartet along with the Dawn remake. A deep look behind the themes of the five movies, connecting values, vice, religion and the human condition.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much to admire about this book--as one who loves zombie movies, to see a book outside of the ever-famous _Monster Theory_ take a serious critical eye to Romero's quadrilogy (and then some) of _Dead_ movies, as well as to put them in a critically religious light, is interesting stuff. Also, that the author of this book, PhD and Associate Professorship and all, would grace the cover among the hoard of zombies bathed in green light hopefully defines for all time the true fandom of Kim Paffenroth.

I also enjoy the serious effort to join Dante to Romero, for the associations have been loose and occasional, even in the subject movies themselves, but Paffenroth delves into the association and explores the connections, even if unconscious on Romero's part.

But this book does fall into the faults of most any critical work, and that is to overgeneralize the efforts of characters in order to apply the end results to a critical school. It would be hard to note some examples here without sounding nit-picky, but perhaps that is my reaction. In conveying the focus on greed in the original _Dawn of the Dead_, Paffenroth portrays the acts of the characters as being mostly oriented on the obtaining of goods, while I tend to think that the motivations were a bit wider than that (though I wouldn't go so far as to say there was NO aspect of greed involved). But rather than explore the range of character motivation, Paffenroth applies this to his critical viewpoint for the chapter, which is pretty common to see in critical works.

Romero's exception to symbolism noted, it seems that the drive of any work, whether 'literary' or 'genre,' is essentially driven by character, and that is of course the central hub of interest in any of Romero's _Dead_ films, whether it was a revisitation of female characters in the _Night of the Living Dead_ remake, or the re-exploration of the future of humanity in the _Dawn of the Dead_ remake (far less superior than the original in philosophy, by my standards, though lauded by Paffenroth as as an example of "how good a remake can be"), or the stripping down to base nature in _Day of the Dead_, it is through character that these ideas are ultimately explored and twisted and worked back upon themselves--something occasionally ignored in critical view.

[Patrick D'Orazio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this book gave me a good perspective on one man's views of the works of George A. Romero and the zombie movie genre as a whole. Dr. Paffenroth presents a well researched analysis of these stories as they relate to faith and religion in our society of today.

Books such as this and "The Philosophy of the Undead" are intriguing to me because they provide both insights and opinions that I can appreciate on the undead. I have my own views on the meanings behind it all, since I have read quite a few stories and seen many, if not all, of the movies out there related to zombies. I do not spend a great deal of time on message boards/chat rooms pouring over the minutia of these works though. I also do not have any personal friends or family members who have any interest at all in the genre. So grabbing a book like this and studying it adds shades of complexity to my own understanding of these dead things that have come back to life and how they impact our own society and world.

Does this mean I agree with everything Dr. Paffenroth states in this book? Definitely not, but gaining new insights means you come from a different place than the person who offers new information. Kim did a great deal of research and his proposals are well thought out on the religious and faith based ramifications of Romero's works. I am no academic and I am also a lapsed Catholic so to say I have a different perspective is probably an understatement. But that makes this book all the more interesting because of that.

Zombies are interesting protagonists. They hold up a gritty and cracked mirror, perhaps of a fun house variety, to us and we get a look at what we potentially could become, or maybe already are. The Romero movies all used a pretty harsh tone of criticism of western civilization and more specifically American culture. Our take on religion and faith are a part of that and this books taps into it.

I myself like a good debate. Not just arguing to prove someone else wrong, but being able to just present my own views and go back and forth with someone else. A book vs. face to face is not as satifying for debating various points of interest, but it still gives me something to gnaw on as far as the undertones of the zombie genre.

[Holden Attradies · Rating 4 out of 5]

There really isn't enough zombie non-fiction out there, although with the explosion that the zombie lit genre is going through I suppose this number is going. This is one of those, and it is exemplary as an entry into the genre.

Any discussion of the zombie genre has to pretty much start with Romero and his films, because in a very real sense he created the genre with his movies. The view we have of zombies comes from those movies (see Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies). It was amazingly illuminating having someone go through all of his movies step by step and deconstruct them. I also appreciated the way to takes on the critique of what is in the movie: he seems to not talk about what the creators of the movies intended with the art but solely with how the art is perceived. Take Ben from Night of the Living Dead. I am almost certain this author knew the actor who played Ben was cast not because of his race, but he doesn't even bother going into that. Regardless of the creators intent the fact that Ben is black changes the way we the viewer perceive tone the characters on screen and the interaction between said characters.

The book proper is actually a pretty short and fast read, a third of the book is actually end notes. I understand why it was written this way, Paffenroth is a scholar and wrote this book pretty much the way a scholarly paper would be written. But those end notes are probably my biggest critique of this work. There are at times and overwhelming number of them, with some just being citations of sources and quotes, while others are whole paragraphs of content that I felt could have easily been folded into the main text. I started out reading them all but found it was taking me out of the text so much that I ended up reading the main text first and the end notes afterwards.

[Jon Carroll Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

new review:

I've finished it. I decided in the end that the book is pretty great. Some of the things I found interesting were, the author's over enthusiastic appraisal of the Dawn remake- I found the remake rather bland and formulaic, he found it motivational- and his take on Day, which is both critical and reverential. (sp?)

Paffenroth is a rare thing, theologian and a zombie scholar. I'm anxious to read his zombie fiction.


Old review:

Thoroughly researched and superfluously footnoted, this book is presented as theological appraisal of George Romero’s zombie movies. Despite the eye-catching cover and it’s unique premise, the book - so far - reads a little dry. It attempts to distill the films’ deeper themes and presents them, apologetically, for Christian contemplation. Most of the information I know already from being a Romero fan of long-standing, but, I still plan to finish this book. It is about zombies after all.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book by a professor of theology. He takes all of the Romero movies plus the remake of Dawn of the Dead and subjects them to social and theological criticism. He uses Dante's Inferno in this criticism. The author's outlook can best be described as left-wing Christian so his social and political analysis of the movies is quite good. At times his drawing Christian lessons out of the movies is a bit forced but this is usually not the case. A great read for any fan of Romero and the zombie genre.

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before zombies became the rage that they continue to be, Paffenroth took seriously their implications for religious thought. For those who have an interest in monsters and religion, and especially how they are related, this is a book you won't want to miss. You might want to catch up on your Romero movies before reading it, though. I say more on it here: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.

[Rick · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent overview, analysis and criticism of Romero's living dead movies. The book examines how the zombie movies draw on literature and religion, such as Dante's Inferno, to study human sin and societal failings.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A bit heavy on synopsis. The analysis is not terribly deep, but frequently references Dante, which is pretty awesome. While definitely worth reading, the criticism lacks the feminist-marxist element that I feel is necessary in any analysis of contemporary horror cinema.

[Josh T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads like a thesis. Much zombie movie discussion, little gospel tie-in. Author's sleeve photo not to be missed.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

04/30/2008

[Will · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title may be misleading. It deals with "Gospel" only metaphorically