Budding screenwriter Geoff LaTulippe is on a roll - his breakout script Going the Distance was on the Black List and is in development at New Line and now he's set to adapt a novel called "Breathers: A Zombie's Lament" written by S.G. Browne. In advance of its actual debut on bookshelves, LaTulippe is teaming up with producers Diablo Cody and Mason Novick (Juno, Jennifer's Body) to adapt the zombie novel and sell it to a studio. Sounds like one hell of a dream team. I'm sure the three are planning to whip up a "rom-zom-com" movie that, just as book does, "reinvents zombie culture for the 21st century."Here's a description of the plot from a reader at Amazon:
"Andy Warner reanimates after the car accident that kills his wife, but is too mangled from his injuries to talk. He lives in his parents' wine cellar, occasionally attending a zombie support group and struggling to rejoin a society that offers the undead no rights, bans them from working and doesn't even punish those who destroy them. When Andy and his fellow zombies—notably Rita, a sexy suicide victim with a lipstick fetish, and Jerry, a Playboy-obsessed stoner—learn why they're so driven to consume human flesh, the repercussions are both tragic and hilarious."Looks like the dealmakers were successful as word on Tracking Board.com is that Fox Searchlight has secured the project. On the heels of this and this, Hwood can't seem to get its fill of zombies.
Why the popularity of zombies? I remember last Halloween as I drove into work, listening to the local college FM station, and they had a couple of students on who were really into the whole zombie thing, down to the minutiae of what characteristics qualify as zombie and what do not.
Perhaps because we all work so hard, we feel half-dead?
Your theories?
UPDATE: If you enter "top zombie movies" into Google, the top search site is About Men.com. Their top 10 zombie movies:
1. Dead Alive (1992)
2. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
3. Army of Darkness (2003)
4. Dawn of the Dead (2004)
5. Zombie (1979)
6. Re-Animator (1985)
7. Century Man (1994)
8. Bio Zombie (1998)
9. 28 Days Later (2002)
10. Day of the Dead (1985)
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7 comments:
Hi Scott;
I think the number one reason zombie movies are so popular is Shaun of the Dead. Simply, this "Smash hit romantic comedy. With zombies" made zombies fun, even for those who don't like horror films. It really surprised me that it didn't make the AboutMen.com list. I'd say something about them being brain dead, but that would be insulting to zombies. Right?
Tom
The zombie movie you described, Scott, sounds like a total lemon.
I think zombie movies are a reflection of a Godless society. They core premice of "zombies" is predicated on the horrific notion of a resurection from life to another form of life doomed to uglyness. Satan's perversion of God's resurrection and new life after death -- and news flash, righteous or unrighteous you will be resurrected: to life or to judgement.
I've thought a lot about the atraction of "zombie movies." In part because I'm attaracted to them for some reason. I attribute my attraction to them as part of my fallen nature; sometimes we actually want things contrary to what we know is right in the eyes of God.
And not all zombie movies are the same in how they protray this evil/grotesque message. My aunt, who at one point was very close to joining a closter and becoming a nun, actually thought "Day of the Dead" was a hoot. Bob the zombie who salutes people and is trying to be saved by a doctor, WAS funny. A precurosor to "Shaun of the Dead" I'm sure.
But buy-in-large, I'll stick to my statement. Attraction to zombies is a reflection of our own fallen nature, which sometimes wants things contrary to what we know in our hearts is right.
- E.C. Henry from Bonney Lake, WA
I'm afraid the zombie thing doesn't work on me anymore and I cringe whenever a new one rolls off the line. The pinnacle entries in the genre, "Shaun," "Night of...," "Dawn of...," and the Dawn of the Dead remake from Snyder, are pretty much all that needed to be said on the topic and all else are merely run-on sentences.
Even Romero, the granddaddy of the Zombie film, has produced tired and stale work in his "Land of..." and "Diary of..." entries.
I wonder if the upcoming Wolfman flick with del Toro will produce a renaissance in man-to-dog movies? I kinda' hope so!
I'm actually looking forward to a couple of zombie period pieces.
'Pride and Predator' and 'Pride and Prejudice and Zombies'.
Jane Austen with Zombies? I'm there.
My mistake. 'Pride and Predator' involves an alien! not a zombie. So, an alien crashes into a Jane Austenesque world, where "he stalks and slashes to horrific effect".
I'm still there. =)
"and news flash, righteous or unrighteous you will be resurrected: to life or to judgement."
Um, let's keep the discussion to screenwriting instead of bullshit mythological bullying, thanks.
I really wish I got the appeal. Zombies are so overdone - I took a producing class last semester where everybody had to come up with a project to work on, and somehow two different teams presented zombie TV shows that were essentially identical. They've fallen into the quagmire of cliche "badass" stereotypes, right next to ninjas, pirates, and Chuck Norris.
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