The Return of “They Came Back: Zombie Movie Or Not?”
That’s right, The Return of Zombie Movie or Not? They Came Back Edition!
The first time around the discussion was less than satisfactory for the editors of the ZRC, so we believed it warranted some more time to let our readers take a look at the film. Hopefully you’ve all done your homework and can enter the debate with the assurance of a clean outcome.
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?
Comments(5)
I never saw this movie. I have had trouble finding a copy. I think there are some others on this website who are in the same boat.
I think ZRC has the responsibility to aquire some copies and distribute them to the unwashed masses.
Just kidding,
i totally dug this movie (although it was slow at times). it’s definitely a zombie flick but not conventional. It’s scary in a different way…I vote yes.
BobThe Coward: I’d love to provide that sort of service, but on our budget that would be illegal.
Really I’m half and half on this, but I’m going to stick with my decision from the first time around that these creatures are NOT zombies but ghosts of some sort.
The plot’s overarching theme is very zombie movie in that in involves “dead people” overthrowing human society for a more chaotic and paranoid existence. But as I mentioned previously, the antagonists do not eat flesh or act uncontrollably violent, but are quietly calculative and their “bodies” disintegrate over their graves when they “leave”. Visually, there is also a lot of tribute to zombie films – the cleanup reminds me of many movies, namely “Zombi 3″ and the wide angle group shots of the people are very zombie movie. I posted screencaps of the scenes I’m talking about at http://picasaweb.google.com/stinger839/LesRevenants#
This is on Netflix, $5 for a used/resold copy at Amazon, and $10.19 at deepdiscount.com (so nobody had an excuse, even a cheapo pirate like myself).
I’ll go ahead and say it’s a zombie movie, but it’s more allegorical of a zombie movie, which is interesting because zombie movies are supposed to be allegorical of other things.
Yes, zombie movie.