They Came Back: Zombie Movie Or Not?
Where do we draw the line on what is and what is not a zombie movie? We just can’t decide on our own, so every Monday we’ll post a new movie to be debated by, you, our readers and ask the question: Zombie Movie Or Not? Every Sunday we’ll post our findings and possibly strike that movie off our Zombie Movie List. The week should give you enough time to rent the movie if need be or you desire.
What every reader must keep in mind is that there are two basic types of zombie that every zombie movie based off of - the Voodoo Zombie and the Romero Zombie. The Voodoo Zombie, while not always raised by Voodoo necessarily, is basically a person, either undead or entranced, that is controlled by a person or entity for the purpose of completing tasks, often killing. Romero Zombies are basically mindless, flesh-eating undead whose bite will turn victims into zombies. Now, not all movies adhere to all of these rules, but if the basics are there, you got a zombie movie.
This weeks debate is over They Came Back aka Les Revenants (2004) Directed by Robert Campillo
IS: The dead arise from their graves and plot against the living, sounds like a zombie film to me.
IS NOT: The dead rise, but they don’t eat anybody, decompose, kill anybody, bleed or make gore of any kind. Calling this a zombie movie is going too far.
Now it’s up to you, reader. What do you think? They Came Back: Zombie Movie Or Not?
I vote yes. So, no gore, but the dead are returning to life. The French did “Zombie Lake” and the gore was minimal…and so were the clothes. Oh, and storyline, continuity, and other movie-type things that make it possible for audiences to follow a movie were also minimal.
Les Revenants = YES
I haven’t seen this, but I have seen the Masters of Horror episode “Homecoming,” in which dead soldiers protest the war in Iraq. They don’t eat anyone, and they don’t kill anyone until a Republican is re-elected. I consider them zombies, and I guess I’d consider this a zombie film too. It’s up to you whether you want to count this as a “yes” vote, though, because like I said, I haven’t seen Les Revenants.
That’s the thing about this movie, upon hearing it’s description you’d have to say it’s a zombie movie. At least in Homecoming the undead looked like zombies - all decayed and bloody to a degree. In Les Revenants the dead return looking completely normal, the only difference is they sort of have a blank look about them, not happy, not sad, not drooling idiots, not dead, not lively, just there. You’d really have to see the movie to experience the large gray area they cast over the line of zombie movie or not. I actually haven’t decided whether or not I want it to be a zombie movie in my own head. It’s really weird.
I just watched it and I’m gonna have to file this under the general “ghoul” category, and is definitely not zombie, though some of the wide shots are very dead-on atmospheric moments that conjure many shots from zombie movies.
This movie blends alot of different elements and is its own creature outside of the zombie genre, which tends to show necrotized people who devour flesh. I think mindlessness is a big factor in the zombie genre and that is why this movie echoes of it, but the people are not animalistic and uncontrollably violent - instead they could be said to be secretly plotting and even considering all of their actions. I know there have been plenty of zombie movies with “thinking” zombies or “speaking” ones, but I just think you gotta eat people. Take away the theme of graphic endocannibalism, not simply far-stretched metaphorically, and the zombie part is gone.
When I watch the “cleanup” scenes, I want to think zombie, but then the people disintegrate on their graves, so very un-zombie and instead spiritualistic.
This film was a good choice for ZMON?, given the issues it raises, but I don’t think enough people have seen it (including myself) to garner much of a spirited discussion about it.