The Zombie Zone!

A friend of mine (same friend who gave me a zombie range target as a gift) just sent me a link to the Tactical Store's blog post on customizing your gun to survive the zombie apocalypse. This is too funny! It debates the merits of different weapons against hordes of the undead. Please copy and paste the link below into your browser to read the full post and be wildly entertained as I was!

http://blog.tacticalstore.com/

There are no sure things in Hollywood, but one genre of horror movie that seems to always just draw people to it is the zombie movie. I think part of what makes zombie movies terrifying, even the older ones with slow zombies, is the taboo. They're not human, but they're close enough to bring up the cannibalism taboo.

There's something great about zombie movies, which with George Romero's influence have also become renowned for having hidden political and social commentary. This combination makes these horror movies particularly interesting, even above many of their peers. Zombie movies also tend to have a cult following, keeping them popular even years and years after release to DVD.

There are several main factors that make up a great zombie movie.

#1: Interesting Zombies. The best zombie movies have a wide variety of zombies who could be odd looking, funny looking, or terrifying, but the best zombie movies have something that sets their zombies apart from the rest.

#2: Gore. Zombie fans can tell you one of the major things everyone waits for is the first extremely gory death scene. It's just not a zombie movie without one violent death scene.

#3: Non Cliched Characters. Don't get me wrong, there are always basic cliche characters, but the best zombie movies have one or two characters who really stick out as being unique and different. They're not just the pretty girl who gets killed or the rich jerk who gets what's coming to him. "Cemetery Man" is one of the best examples of this.

#4: Man vs. Zombie. The majority of good zombie movies have a siege mentality, with humans struggling to survive against the zombie onslaught. Most zombie movies are also synonymous with "zombie apocalypse."

#5: One Human Psychopath/Idiot. Usually there is one person who is either a psychopath and thus is as much of a danger as the zombies, or there's one idiot who does something stupid which lets the zombies in.

These are just a few of the things that make a great zombie movie. Not all of these always have to be present, but they definitely help. The new remakes of the old Romero classics are continuing the new trend of running zombies, which is definitely different from all the old school interpretations which had zombies strong, but slow.

This is a good base for starting a zombie movie. The one other interesting trend is the explosion of shorter fan films which are usually pretty funny zombie movie parodies, but that's for another article.

If you liked the information in this article, please feel free to visit my [http://www.squidoo.com/all-things-zombies]Zombie Movies website.

Thanks for reading!

Shane Dayton

Zombie contact lenses are a whole new concept in the contact lens industry. Also known as zombie whiteout or zombie special effect contact lenses, they are perfect for a theme party that calls for something scary or for a Halloween fright night get together. Many people who work in theatre as well as in films utilize zombie contact lenses on a regular basis to change their appearance.

Zombie contact lenses make the eyes appear completely white except for the black dot in the middle. Too scary for some but just right if the occasion calls for spooky or out of this world outrageous. Zombie whiteouts are sure to be an attention grabber and a conversation piece.

Zombie contact lenses, just like any other kind of contacts must be fitted to your eyes properly to ensure comfort so visiting an accredited eye doctor is a must. Zombie whiteouts are available both for contact lens wearers who require a prescription for vision correction as well as for those who don't.

Keep in mind that eye infections are always a health concern when you wear any type of contact, regardless of whether you wear ordinary contact lenses on a regular basis or occasionally wear ones such as zombie white-outs for fun. Proper hygiene in regards to cleaning and disinfecting of contact lenses is a must. This point cannot be stressed enough.

Many big name contact lens companies such as CIBA Vision and CooperVision carry what they term as "WildEyes" or "Crazy Lenses." Zombie whiteout contact lenses would fall under these categories. If you choose to search for zombie contact lenses on the Internet keep in mind that they are often also referred to as theatrical or costume contact lenses.

Timothy Gorman is a successful Webmaster and publisher of Vision-Doctor.com. He provides more contact lens tips and [http://www.vision-doctor.com/Discount-Contact-Lenses.html]discount contact lenses that you can research and purchase in your pajamas on his website.

The other night, I dreamed of the perfect movie. It was a strange dream, because the perfect movie starred Mia Farrow's sister and a guy who looked a bit like Jack Elam. It was also Italian-made, so really bad dubbing was a given. And then there were the zombies. But not just normal shamble-around-and-eat-your-brains zombies. No, there were zombies fighting underwater against sharks. That's right--sharks. And don't forget about the nudity. Lots of nudity for no apparent reason. Mediocre acting. Mediocre special effects. Truly, the perfect movie was not what I expected it to be.

I awoke in the morning and realized that my dream was actually more of a nightmare. No sane movie fan would actually consider such silliness to be anywhere near perfect. It had all been a terrible, terrible mistake. Then imagine my surprise when I realized my perfect movie actually existed. It's title? Zombie.

The movie begins as a seemingly abandoned boat drifts into New York harbor. A couple of cops are sent to investigate, and one quickly becomes a snack for the zombie lurking on board. It turns out the boat belongs to a missing scientist, and this quickly brings his concerned daughter, Ann Bowles (Tisa Farrow, sister to Mia), onto the scene. She meets up with Peter West (Ian McCulloch), a nosy reporter looking for a big story, and the pair decide to trek to the Antilles island chain, the last known location of Ann's father. Shortly after arriving, they meet Brian (Al Cliver) and Susan (Auretta Gay), who are willing to take them to the isolated Matul Island on their boat.
On the way, Susan decides to strip down to just a thong and go scuba diving. She runs into an underwater-dwelling zombie, but, luckily for her, a shark appears to do battle with the zombie, allowing her to escape (I'm not making this up, folks!). Once they reach Matul Island, the foursome meet Dr. Menard (Richard Johnson), who's feverishly working on a cure for the strange disease ravaging the island. It seems that this disease is killing the locals and then causing them to rise from the grave in search of human flesh. From that point on, all hell breaks loose.

I realize that the summary is a little long, but Zombie takes forever to actually get all the characters in the same location. For a good bit of the film, we switch back and forth between the main characters and Dr. Menard. And once they're finally all together, the climax of the movie is nearly in sight. But by that time, you'll probably find that you and anyone else watching are in full Mystery Science Theater mode. It's just one of those movies that's more enjoyable when you're making fun of it with your friends.

And believe me, there's a lot to make fun of. The prime example, of course, being the showdown between an aquatic zombie and a hungry shark. While it's certainly original, the sheer goofiness of the scenario will no doubt elicit laugher from even the most hardcore zombie fan. But what else would you expect from Italian director, Lucio Fulci? While his films have occasional moments of genuine creepiness, they're most often just downright silly. Of course, he was always working with a budget of about five bucks, so maybe it wasn't entirely his fault.

There's also the fact that everyone in the film confronted with a zombie seems to freeze up and stand there, perhaps even tilting their neck to the side in order to give the fiend a clear path to their jugular. What the hell ever happened to running for your life?! I know the undead would be a terrifying sight, but I imagine the prospect of being eaten alive would be even more horrifying. I know it's just a horror movie, but I'd like to see some realistic behavior demonstrated from time to time.

On a more positive note, fans of gore and nudity (count me among this crowd) won't go away completely disappointed. The women in the film are above average, and the violence certainly lives up to the reputation established by Italian cinema. We get gunshot wounds galore, lots of arteries severed by undead teeth, and even a nice scene involving a woman's eyeball and the jagged wood from a battered door.

But if you're not a fan of such things, your expectations should probably plummet. Zombie is good for a cheap thrill and not much else. Anyone looking for artistic merit will be left scratching their head (unless you define artistic merit as later adding an opening and closing scene set in New York in order to capitalize on the success of Dawn of the Dead). It's classic Italian horror cinema, and that's about the biggest compliment and insult that I can give it.

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