March 15, 2004
Dan of The Dead
In anticipation of the opening of the new Dawn of the Dead, brokentype sat down with Dan Norby of Dead Baby Birds to discuss his thoughts on zombies in film.
So Dan. I gather you are looking forward to the remake of Dawn of the Dead.
It's been a tense and rocky road to tell you the truth. When I first heard that someone was remaking it I naturally thought of the Night of the Living Dead (NOTLD) remake in 1990. The updated gore and cool plot surprises between the two NOTLDs were just great. All I knew about the Dawn of the Dead (DOTD) remake was that Ving Rhames was going to be in it - so I was very up for it - you gotta love Ving. But when I found out that Romero was not going to be directing and that James Gunn was writing the screenplay I got a little nervous. Gunn formed his writing chops at Troma - no fault there - but he did go on to write the script for the live action Scooby Doo. Now it's probably not fair of me to knock Scooby Doo since I've never seen it, but all signs point to crap. Anyway, I was a little nervous. But I've recently read some good things about it, and it seems that Gunn's script is good and if the director faithfully shoots the script then we should have a real treat.
Much of Dawn of the Dead took place in a shopping mall - there's that really hilarious scene with the zombies wandering around and the muzak is playing and a few of them stumble into the fountains. Are you holding out any hope that this new movie will have any of that satire?
It would be a real shame if the remake lacked the social commentary of Romeo's original. Even though the mall has become a standard fixture in nearly every suburb of every city, the American dependence on consumerism is still a creepy thing. I mean that Clay kid from American Idol sold 60 million CDs. That scares the shit out of me. I'm hoping to see a zombified version of Clay in the film.
Then there are Al Qaida terrorists who want us to convert to Islam or die. That is the kind of politics that made the Red Scare zombies what they were in the original NOTLD - the fear that there's a mind altering force out there that's going to turn your friends and family into something you don't understand and can no longer recognize, perhaps even turn them into something that wants to destroy you (or eat you).
And then we have a president that treats the people he governs like mindless zombies (at the very least he treats us like idiots). Maybe the zombies will be the heroes of this movie, rising up and eating the president - that would be cool.
But there's always the sense in the Romero zombie films where no one knows what the hell is going on. I know I feel like I live in a nation and a world that seems to be spinning out of control.
What was your take on 28 days later? Strictly speaking, those weren’t zombies, but the parallels are obviously there.
28 Days reminded me of an Italian flick called City of the Walking Dead. In this film it wasn't bad enough that the zombies were flesh-eating zombies - they were totally nuts - they ran around, rode motorcycles, flew planes and shot guns.
28 Days was great about using the more aggressive zombies. It's certainly a different sort of threat, like the difference between having Michel Meyers or Leatherface after you - one is slow, persistent and indestructible, the other runs after you squealing like a pig with a friggen chainsaw. But either way you're having the worst day of your life.
There's a lot to say about 28 Days, but the most exciting thing is that it captured the low budget feel of a genre that Romeo started. Low budget is where horror is usually at its best. I appreciated the fact that it was shot on video and I hope it called out to thousands of indie directors and showed them how good a small film can look. Plus it was written well - without that you don't have much.
Zombie ambulation - speedy or shambling?
They're two different species, but they're both scary. Judging from the commercials for DOTD remake it looks like we're going to get speedy zombies. I think the director for 28 Days said he chose to make them fast because he saw modern consumerism being faster, more aggressive. So this rationale naturally works with DOTD. But what you really get is zombies that will jump out at you so there's more of a shocking scare for the audience. But I hope they don't spill over into the Matrix or Crouching Tiger type action. Acrobatic fighting is overused and dumb, even in the Matrix - to use it in a zombie film is just plain wrong. Zombies don't suddenly and mysteriously learn karate. Keep in mind if a zombie does a couple of round house kicks his leg is going to fly off. Zombies aren't into looking cool when they fight, they're into eating people - grapple and bite that's it.
Maybe I'm a purist, but I do prefer the shambling zombies. They're just creepier, more dreadful. There's also a better sense of false hope when it seems that you can just walk right past the zombies - which you could - but then you're in trouble when you get into confined spaces, or get overrun by the masses of them, or simply forget to look where you’re going. What's cool about the remake is that it looks like we'll get the best of both worlds - masses of zombies that are speedy.
You've played a zombie in one of your home movies, The Dead Don’t Cry. Any particular preparation you had to do?
Acting like a zombie is really easy, especially if you have access to alcohol. But even if you don't I find it best to just look straight ahead and walk without bending your knees with your hands in front of you like your walking around in the dark. Then moan like you've got a stomach ache and you've got it.
What else should people look for in the new Dawn of the Dead?
Aside from my hopes of seeing a Clay Aiken zombie I wouldn't know. I've been avoiding any spoilers or anything like that. But I hope that there will be similar switcheroos of gender and race roles the way the remake of NOTLD did. The makeup looks cool and the filming looks slick. I think it's going to be a lot of fun.
Dan makes movies and writes sweet sick horror stories at dbbirds.com. He once rocked Fargo. Seriously.
