Pam Anderson reading.
How many women of my years wake up thinking about zombies. I bet the number is pretty small--but larger now that they are showing up frequently at the multiplex and in novels.
This is my question. Why don't zombies have any distinct personalities? Why do they have to be a faceless hoard? Some of our vampires seem to have more personality than the real people in their stories. They dress well and are generally handsome, if pale. But give me an example of one attractive, personable zombie. I can't think of one. Is it set down in a rulebook somewhere? Werewolves get a better rap than zombies too. So do ghosts.
Who decided zombies should be consigned to such a fate? If I have missed a movie or story where zombies get to be real players, fill me in.
42 comments:
Zombies are by definition soulless (or, in their real. drugged correspondents, volitionless) bodies...hence they make a fine, easy metaphor for faceless herds of dangerous strangers.
Vampires, on the other hand, are a different sort of revenant. They have no conscience (unless they do), as opposed to having no desire, and are at least a sort of cheat of death that seems dangerous because they are pure bloodlust/id/need...as opposed to the kind of living dead who are dangerous because they are under the control (in their original or real-life form) of their masters.
Of course, the diseased of Matheson's creation, and particularly their rather less complex Romero descendents, are rather difference-splitting quasi-vampire herd zombies.
That that fine if badly-titled film I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE is based on JANE EYRE should give you a sense of where somewhat less metaphoric zombies in literature and drama usedd to be...Cornell Woolrich did a few good stories, as did some of his contemporaries...including Robert Bloch, with his fine novella "The Dead Don't Die!", made into a tv film no less (I'm told it's not bad). Bill Pronzini and Barry Malzberg put together an anthology of zombie stories (I can't remember now if it was published on its own or only in an omnibus), as did Stephen Jones (from the William Contento index:)
The Mammoth Book of Zombies ed. Stephen Jones (Robinson 1-85487-228-1, Oct ’93, £5.99, 518pp, tp); Anthology of 26 stories about zombies. Simultaneous with the US (Carroll & Graf) edition.
1 · The Dead That Walk · Stephen Jones · in *
3 · Sex, Death and Starshine · Clive Barker · nv Clive Barker’s Books of Blood v1, Sphere, 1984
40 · Rising Generation · Ramsey Campbell · ss World of Horror #4 ’85
45 · The Song of the Slaves · Manly Wade Wellman · ss Weird Tales Mar ’40
57 · The Ghouls · R. Chetwynd-Hayes · nv The Night Ghouls, London: Fontana, 1975
78 · The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar · Edgar Allan Poe · ss American Whig Review Dec, 1845
87 · Sticks · Karl Edward Wagner · nv Whispers Mar ’74
107 · Quietly Now · Charles L. Grant · nv The Arbor House Necropolis, ed. Bill Pronzini, 1981
128 · The Grey House · Basil Copper · nv Not After Nightfall, London: Four Square, 1967
165 · A Warning to the Curious · M. R. James · ss The London Mercury Aug ’25
180 · The Crucian Pit · Nicholas Royle · ss *
196 · The Disapproval of Jeremy Cleave · Brian Lumley · ss Weird Tales Win ’89/90
207 · Herbert West—Reanimator [“Grewsome Tales”] · H. P. Lovecraft · gp Home Brew Feb-Jul ’22
235 · Treading the Maze · Lisa Tuttle · ss F&SF Nov ’81
246 · Out of Corruption · David Riley · nv *
276 · The Taking of Mr. Bill · Graham Masterton · ss *
287 · Schalken the Painter · J. Sheridan Le Fanu · nv Ghost Stories and Tales of Mystery, James McGlashan, 1851; revised from an earlier story in Dublin University Magazine May ’39.
305 · Clinically Dead · David Sutton · ss *
318 · They’re Coming for You · Les Daniels · ss Cutting Edge, ed. Dennis Etchison, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1986
324 · Mission to Margal · Hugh B. Cave · nv *
362 · Later · Michael Marshall Smith · ss *
369 · Marbh Bheo · Peter Tremayne · ss *
385 · The Blood Kiss · Dennis Etchison · nv The Blood Kiss, Scream/Press, 1988
404 · Night After Night of the Living Dead · Christopher Fowler · ss *
413 · The Dead Don’t Die! · Robert Bloch · na Fantastic Adventures Jul ’51
475 · Patricia’s Profession · Kim Newman · ss Interzone #14 ’85
481 · On the Far Side of the Cadillac Desert with Dead Folks · Joe R. Lansdale · na Book of the Dead, ed. John M. Skipp & Craig Spector, Bantam, 1989
As usual, the final word on almost anything. But can you quote scripture?
...and the Pronzini/Malzberg collection, if I can find that detailed somewhere, would lean toward the "older" form of zombie, as opposed to Jones's "mixed" group, or the sequence of zombie anthologies in the Romero mode beginning with BOOK OF THE DEAD, edited by Skipp and Spector.
For I am a jealous pedant...whose scripture, would be the obvious question in response...
Aha...the book or book segment I was thinking of was VOODOO! (entirely too many exclamation points around hea', if you ask me, Ma'am)--from another LOCUS/Contento online index entry:
Tales of the Dead ed. Bill Pronzini (Crown/Bonanza 0-517-61818-4, 1986 [Oct ’86], $11.95, 711pp, hc); Slightly altered reprint of The Arbor House Necropolis anthology (Arbor House 1981), which had one more story- “White Rabbit” by Joe R. Lansdale. This has 37 tales of terror.
9 · Preface · Bill Pronzini · pr
11 · Voodoo! · ed. Bill Pronzini · an New York: Arbor House, 1980; A Chrestomathy of Necromancy
19 · Introduction · Bill Pronzini · in
33 · Papa Benjamin [“Dark Melody of Madness”] · Cornell Woolrich · nv Dime Mystery Magazine Jul ’35
77 · “...Dead Men Working in the Cane Fields” [from The Magic Island] · William B. Seabrook · ar New York: Harcourt Brace & World, 1929
89 · Mother of Serpents · Robert Bloch · ss Weird Tales Dec ’36
101 · The Digging at Pistol Key · Carl Jacobi · ss Weird Tales Jul ’47
118 · Seven Turns in a Hangman’s Rope · Henry S. Whitehead · na Adventure Jul 15 ’32
179 · The Isle of Voices · Robert Louis Stevenson · ss The National Observer Feb 4, 1893
201 · Powers of Darkness · John Russell · ss Colliers Mar 30 ’29
216 · Exú · Edward D. Hoch · ss Voodoo!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor, 1980
223 · Seventh Sister · Mary Elizabeth Counselman · ss Weird Tales Jan ’43
244 · The Devil Doll · Bryce Walton · ss Dime Mystery Magazine Nov ’47
254 · Kundu · Morris West · ex Kundu, Morris West, Dell, 1956
271 · The Candidate · Henry Slesar · ss Rogue, 1961
(truncated so as not to exceed length-limit)
[the balance of the instant remainder version's content--cutting a Lansdale, no less, tut:]
281 · Mummy! · ed. Bill Pronzini · an New York: Arbor House, 1980; A Chrestomathy of “Crypt-ology”
283 · Introduction · Bill Pronzini · in
301 · Lot No. 249 · Arthur Conan Doyle · nv Harper’s Sep, 1892
337 · Some Words with a Mummy · Edgar Allan Poe · ss American Whig Review Apr, 1845
356 · Monkeys · E. F. Benson · ss Weird Tales Dec ’33
374 · Bones · Donald A. Wollheim · ss Stirring Science Stories Feb ’41
382 · The Vengeance of Nitocris [as by Thomas Lanier Williams] · Tennessee Williams · ss Weird Tales Aug ’28
397 · The Mummy’s Foot · Théophile Gautier; trans. by Lafcadio Hearn · ss One of Cleopatra’s Nights and Other Fantastic Romances, New York: B. Worthington, 1882; “Le Pied de Momie,” 1863.
410 · The Eyes of the Mummy [Sebek (unnamed narrator)] · Robert Bloch · ss Weird Tales Apr ’38
429 · Charlie · Talmage Powell · ss Mummy!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor House, 1980
447 · The Weekend Magus · Edward D. Hoch · ss Mummy!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor House, 1980
459 · The Princess · Joe R. Lansdale · ss Mummy!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor House, 1980
474 · The Eagle-Claw Rattle · Ardath Mayhar · ss Mummy!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor House, 1980
482 · The Other Room · Charles L. Grant · nv Mummy!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor House, 1980
503 · Revelation in Seven Stages · Barry N. Malzberg · ss Mummy!, ed. Bill Pronzini, Arbor House, 1980
509 · Ghoul! · ed. Bill Pronzini · an The Arbor House Necropolis, ed. Bill Pronzini, 1981; A Chrestomathy of “Ogrery”
511 · Introduction · Bill Pronzini · in
523 · The Edinburgh Landlady · Aubrey Davidson · pm EQMM Jun 30 ’80
525 · The Body-Snatchers · Robert Louis Stevenson · ss Pall Mall Christmas Extra, 1884
546 · The Loved Dead · C. M. Eddy, Jr. · ss Weird Tales May-Jul ’24
559 · Indigestion · Barry N. Malzberg · ss Fantastic Sep ’77
569 · The Chadbourne Episode [Gerald Canevin] · Henry S. Whitehead · ss Weird Tales Feb ’33
586 · Disturb Not My Slumbering Fair · Chelsea Quinn Yarbro · ss Cautionary Tales, Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1978
600 · Quietly Now · Charles L. Grant · nv The Arbor House Necropolis, ed. Bill Pronzini, 1981
629 · The Ghoul · Sir Hugh Clifford · ss The Further Side of Silence, 1916
644 · The Spherical Ghoul · Fredric Brown · nv Thrilling Mystery Jan ’43
671 · Corpus Delectable [Gavagan’s Bar] · L. Sprague de Camp & Fletcher Pratt · ss Tales from Gavagan’s Bar, Twayne, 1953
681 · Memento Mori · Bill Pronzini · ss AHMM Apr ’74; revised.
689 · Gray Matter · Stephen King · ss Cavalier Oct ’73
703 · Bibliography · Misc. Material · bi
And, to utterly beat my own contribution to death, clearly VOODOO! was published on its own in 1980, and Pronzini edited on his own.
And, of course, since vampires are All desire, and zombies Null desire, vampires are easily sexual figures, while zombies usually can only be made into sexual slaves of one or another degree of pathos and/or disgust, or in their more hungry form, as usually rather less finesse-demonstrating attackers than vampires are often allowed to be. Zombie romance will probably never be quite up to vampire romance's popularity, though clearly zombie porn is at least as easy as vamp porn.
Everything I ever needed - or wanted - to know about zombies - and more! Zombie porn? Actually, in a strange way that makes total sense to me.
Laurie-Todd is my source on everything. If he would just move to Michigan...
Hey...all one needs do is engine-search and then rewrite badly and quickly...(OK, false modesty aside, read what interests one for forty years and then engine-search and blurt sloppily).
Wow, and I thought zombies were the faceless hoard because of Dawn of the Dead where they returned to their "natural habitat" - the mall.
It does seem like vampires represent internal fear - of our own desires, of what we want but know is bad for us, etc., and zombies represent more the external - fear of the mob mentality we see every day.
I think zombies are so popular these days because we like to think that everything is someone else's fault and there's just nothing we cab do about it.
And, you know, with vampires there's the whole sex thing.
I'm sure this is all covered in detail in the books Todd mentioned.
Joyce Carol Oates's ZOMBIE is also worth bringing up here...basically a Dahmeresque zombie who wants to make more literal zombies...between hers, Bloch's, Ramsey Campbell's, and Gary Trudeau's Duke when he was a zombie slave, you have a few colorful examples from before the current Austen and Brooks craze.
Interesting that the consumerist sheep metaphor is encouraging us to write "hoard" when we mean "horde"...(notes the typo king)
...unless, John, as I'm still awakening here, I'm stepping on your joke...(it takes hours some days. Sometimes weeks.)
Zombies seem to stand in for something more than they exist as a separate threat-an apocalypse, a nuclear war, a plague. They are the aftermath, the bi-product of the initial event.
Vampires seem more like the main event. One vampire can be deadly. One zombie-easily snuffed out.
Well, zombies usually are portrayed as less intelligent. But do see I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE and Darby Jones and decide how easily snuffed he'd be, vs. the character Dawn's dismissal in a late episode of BUFFY the tv series: "Oh, scary vampires...killed by splinters."
Zombies? I will not hoard the horde.
Todd - I have seen "The Dead Don't Die" and it is a pretty interesting movie, terrific if somewhat eclectic cast. I haven't read Bloch's original story but have been wanting to track it down.
Great YA book about teenage zombies: GENERATION DEAD by Daniel Waters. They do have personality.
Cullen--the illustrations for the novella in its initial appearance in FANTASTIC ADVENTURES made the protagonist into a Robert Bloch lookalike.
I will look for that one. Someone had better stick up for these beleaguered zombies which no one will hoard.
You should read Dead Heat by Del Stone Jr. Zombies with personalities in that one. A very very good book
Vampires sparkle; zombies don't.
BTW, all of the collections Todd mentioned are worthwhile, although the Jones tends to stretch the definition of zombie.
Basically, Patti, I'm saying you can't judge the artistic zombie solely by Romero's shuffling children so prevalent now...
Jerry--Valdemar is an interesting example of just under the wire zombie, indeed.
Clearly, I have much to learn about zombies.
Todd needs to be drug-tested. I suspect performance-enhancing substances...
Secret ingredient in Lo-Carb Monster: BRAINS, of course. (We of the Horror List at Indiana U were trying some months back to determine which film or story introduced that trope, since the NOTLD zombies and others of their vintage didn't actually seek to eat brains specifically.)
Zombies seem to stand in for something more than they exist as a separate threat-an apocalypse, a nuclear war, a plague. They are the aftermath, the bi-product of the initial event.
Vampires seem more like the main event.
I like that, Patti.
Vampires are a virus but zombies are an influenza epidemic.
One of my favorite jokes: vegetarian zombies crying "GRAINS!"
Christopher Moore wrote zombies as having an unquenchable appetite for human brains and an unwavering desire to shop at Ikea in The Stupidest Angel. That's the most personality I've ever seen in zombies in literature or in film for that matter. Something tells me that's not quite what you had in mind.
PS: I just thought of a movie featuring zombies with personality, My Boyfriend's Back. It's a really really bad comedy but I still dig it. None of the leads have done much with their careers but Matthew Fox and Philip Seymour Hoffman both have small parts that are quite amusing.
I wish I could find it again but I found one blogger who had an interesting theory about vampire movies being more popular during a Democratic presidency and zombie movies being more popular during a Republican presidency. The blogger cited Interview with a Vampire during Clinton's presidency and the Resident Evil movies, Sean of the Dead, I Am Legend, and 28 Days Later during Bush's presidency as examples.
Although now, maybe because of the economic crisis, anything seems to go. Vampires and zombies may have more power in uncertain times. And less needs perhaps. That IKEA thing makes sense to me. Good place for running down humans.
Jerry-that's a great one!
Perhaps Todd, the zombie expert, can explain this to me. The zombies with which I am familiar walk very slowly draging one leg behind the other with old banadges falling off their bodies and with one arm streatched out before them which they use to catch an able bodied person (who can run) and strangle them. How can this happen?
Same way the Blob and company catch them...they never tire (and zombies wear sensible shoes).
Zombies have no brains, Patti.
Is that because some other zombie has eaten them?
I found the Zombie/Vampire Republican/Democratic presidency thing I mentioned yesterday.
It was actually on Newsarama (a comic book news blog) and it's a theory of Ethan Van Scriver, an artist for DC Comics.
Here it is
Hey, Perplexio, thanks. I'll read it tonight!
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