NEWS: Chris Gore’s Footage Fetishes: Walk like a Zombie

CULTURE: Chris Gore’s Footage Fetishes: Walk Like a Zombie

Halloween is the best holiday of all because the celebration requires dressing in a costume and getting drunk. And if you're like me, you've probably been a zombie at some point because you're a fan of the dead. I'm talking about the films of George A. Romero of course.



Hardcore fans know Romero as not only a master of horror but also the creator of the zombie movie genre. In fact, he invented the rules of the zombie universe. And you know them all too well - zombies feed on living flesh, you must shoot them in the head to kill them, if bitten by a zombie, you will soon turn into one yourself... etc… But what sets his films apart is that each of his undead epics has a social message wrapped within. The 1968 original Night of the Living Dead is really about racial turmoil in the South during the 1960s. Dawn of the Dead has a particularly meaty subtext involving consumerism in the 1980s - the characters trapped in the mall have everything their hearts desire, money, clothes, guns, stuff, yet they are still unhappy. Day of the Dead is about an out of control military industrial complex. Romero's most recent; Land of the Dead explores issues involving the growing class war and immigration. He doesn't hammer the audience over the head with these themes, which is why his Dead movies stand up to repeated viewings.





The original Night of the Living Dead is about racial turmoil in the 1960s.



Now I don't want to sound like a snob, but I can spot a fake zombie walking from a mile away. When I see someone during Halloween dressed as a zombie prancing around as if they are "alive" and not taking their role as a minion of the undead seriously, it bothers me. It's not so difficult to slather on some pale make-up, apply some realistic-looking wounds and dress like you're homeless or have been in a car accident. That's the easy part. The hard part is selling it, y'know, walking around like a real zombie. It's pathetic to see zombie wannabes putting forth no effort to sell their dead persona. I mean, that's half the fun of the costume, it's the act.



I think this stems from the fact that I actually played a zombie in the 1990 remake of Romero's Night of the Living Dead directed by Tom Savini.



I had just moved to LA and became friends with the guys working on the make up effects. I begged them to allow me to be a zombie in the remake. They offered to let me sleep on their couch and I headed to Pittsburgh for a week. Everyone who signed up to be a zombie was a fan, and they all had tales about how the original NOTLD changed their lives in some way. I first saw the original black and white Dead on TV when I was 11. It was shocking to my senses. The character I came to identify with, Ben, the only guy with any sense of reason, looks as if he'll emerge unscathed and is promptly shot in the head. Yeah, there's no happy ending. As credits role we are treated to a montage that looks as if it were taken from a news report as Ben, along with other zombies, are burned. The music over this sequence is haunting. I recall sleeping with the light on for fear of something popping out from behind the couch. Repeated viewings only heightened my fear and bloodlust to see more.



To be surrounded by so many like-minded fanatics was like vacationing at a convention where zombie make up was required. It never felt like work. All the extras were put through a "zombie school" which was easy. However, based on your look and the quality of your performance, you'd either end up in the background or you'd be used as a featured zombie along with the main cast. There were several important things I learned at school:

- Never look at the camera. Keep up a glazed look, not focusing on anything in particular.

- Imagine the way you died and bring that injury into your zombie character. So, if your leg was crushed, limp. Or if you were in a car accident and broke your neck, lean your head to one side.

- Very important - be consistent. Once you've got your moves down, they must be repeated in every shot so that the editor can cut together a sequence in which each zombie moves the same from take to take.

- And, the most important element was "the walk."



Now, that zombie walk was discussed over and over again, yes, it's slow-moving. But I can break it down for you simply, just walk slow like you have to take a dump. It's not that hard. And during the long hours we were all to encounter, that walk might not even have to be faked.



Our day started about 6 PM and went until dawn. Like any film shoot, the hours were long and made more difficult since this was a night shoot. Make up was always fun and also was a determining factor in the zombie hierarchy, whether you'd be in the background (simply painted grey with highlights) or featured (grey make up with wound appliances). I recall being so tired upon returning home, I'd save make up removal for mornings which meant I sometimes stuck to my pillow.



My first scene was with about 20 extras in a grassy field. I was placed far in the back and this shot was not pivotal as it was intended to convey atmosphere. We'd do the "dump walk" down the hill for about a minute and then the assistant director would yell "Back to one." So, we'd trudge back up the hill to our first position, hence "back to one." We did this about five times and they filmed it once we had it down.



While all of the zombies in the film were fans, I was surprised to learn that the cast were Dead fans as well. Patricia Tallman, the lead female, loved Romero's work and considered it an honor to be cast. Tony Todd, who went on to play in many genre films, was new to the biz and was cast as Ben, the guy we all root for. Todd hung out with us zombies and enjoyed telling stories about how much the original scared him. Tommy Towles was a madman, and was not just a fan, but the cast clown. Tommy took every opportunity to goof on the rest of the cast and loosened everyone up when people were tired or tense. I even met Romero on the set very briefly. He was like everyone's uncle as he walked around the set greeting fan after fan.



After a week of "dump walking" and hanging with the cast, I finally was offered a chance to act with the main cast. Well, at least their charred remains. Tom and his girlfriend Judy, (played by Bill Butler and Katie Finneran) plot their escape in their truck; as they get gas, the vehicle blows up. Their crispy demise is tragic especially when you discover their bodies being devoured by zombies. My role was as the zombie who starts the barbecue. Tom Savini directed me in this scene, and, well, he didn't have much to tell me. Savini said, "Just drag the burning body about 6 feet and begin to dig in and eat." Easy Tom!



We did about three takes - I'd grab Billy's fake body, which had some weight to it, drag it, then I was the first to take a bite. The guts consisted of the worst chicken ever. This cold chicken was covered in fake blood made from watered down Karo syrup and food coloring. There were gallon sized milk jugs of this stuff everywhere and it does not mix well with chicken. While we were on camera, I feasted on the grotesque concoction, but as soon as Tom yelled, "Cut!" we all spit out that crap. I could do the zombie "dump walk" all day, but a zombie feast was something I did not want to repeat.





That's my ass on the far right chomping on a burnt corpse. The "flesh" was undercooked chicken covered in fake blood. Hey. Stop looking at my ass.



So, dressing as a minion of the undead for Halloween holds a particular charm for me. Behind every glazed look, underneath the pale and bloody zombie make up there's always a Romero fan. Just don't forget to work on that walk.



Gore gone!



Chris_Gore is an author, a filmmaker, the creator of Film Threat, and begins planning his Halloween costume each year on November 1st.

Savini is the best thing about modern zombie movies. The whole aesthetic about them and his makeup are what makes me sit through a lot of shitty films he's been in.

Honestly, I think you had to have grown up with the Romero movies to have the kind of reverence for them a lot of fans do.

I enjoy his original Night of the Living Dead, and if we're going to give the guy a hand for allegory, then that's the top of the game there, because the original Dawn while it works as an allegory for the Me Genenration and mindless consumerism, is a horrifically dated movie whose ending borders on the ridiculous, when teh hero music starts to play and Ken Foree goes all commando to catch the chopper.

And I hate the idea of intelligent zombies on principle, hence why Day is not a favorite and the less said about Land the better, Land of the Dead is the movie that destroys the whole Romero is the master of the zombie movie label hes been acribed. Leguizamo doesn't even kill Hopper's character which is the logical conclusion you're set up for the whole film. Hell, Leguizamo is the only thing that saves that movie from beinga complete and total abject failure just by virtue of his performance overcoming the lame ass script and cardboard thin acting from the no name actor who plays teh hero, to Asia Argento just being there. The movie has very little to no reply value and I think it says a lot that it didn't find an audience right after the sucess of the Dawn remake, which actually has a lot of replay value and doesn't hang itself on allegory to try to give it some undue relevance.

But the makeup was good and the Savini cameo was fun and the only highlight of that movie for me, versus his cameo in the Dawn remake that added a lot to an already cool movie.

More to the point, with Romero movies, its not like I'm thinking, hmm I really want to see the excess of the 70's played up with human beings represented as mindless zombies, I know I'll watch Dawn of the Dead. Tht's like wanting to read The Fountainhead to see objectivism in action - and you can argue with your buddies about how the Marauders might be a Rand Objectivists or not -- good times, good times.

Basically, I like my zombie movies to have ghouls. Romero got that right in the first one and showed how people's prejudices will rise to the surface in that environment. Rehashing the same idea over and over and over in different social mores doesn't make you original versus make you repetitive and I'll give George more credit for Bruiser than I would for Land of the Dead and the horrible new movie he's doing that's like Diary of the Dead or whatever its called -- the premise doesn't even stand up to logic and really I applaud people who are willing to take some leeway and just say the rules of a genre are not defined by Romero. I want fast ghouls, or rage monsters or even Cemetary Man ghouls that rise for no reason versus gas station zombies that think.

And the Night remake got that right too. I like Savini's 90's remake way more than I ever have or ever will like Land of the Dead.

Good article, I enjoyed it.

Not to be a stickler, but in my film class we learned the first NOTLD was a protest against the Vietnam war. The main character wasn't black in the script, it just happened that Romero knew the man who ended up playing Ben and all the racism themes were read into it because of that. I dunno.. just what I heard...

I like both the old, middle and the new zombie flicks.

The old I like for their originality and style.
The middle (Reurn of the Living Dead) I like for their humor.
The new I like for the terror. Fast zombies can be fucking scary!

There is a Zombie Walk in Portland on the 28th.

http://groups.myspace.com/pdxzombies

Be there or be dinner.

yeah given how the allegory in Romero's films gets weaker or more heavyhanded past the original, makes sense he might've stumbled on to that scenario by random luck.

After all, its not like Saw or Hostel have any underlying message in them besides horror movies can be made inexpensively and generally turn a profit.

Random but most of those zombie movies were filmed right by my house and even down the street by my friends house in Connelsville PA. Romero even does fright nights in station square in Pittsburgh, it's pretty badass.

I love zombie movies! I am so jealous of you for getting to be in one. I was telling everybody when land was coming out that my dream was to be in a romero movie as a zombie even just one in the background

See, I think Dawn of the Dead works the best for me. I guess it's dated in some respects, but the essential "survival in the mall" scenario was very well explored and set up and makes for a more interesting scenario than is presented in the remake or, really, most other zombie movies I've seen. I guess I just have more interest in the mechanics of daily life in the midst of apocalypse than I do in a bunch of characters getting chomped on.

Day of the Dead had really lousy acting and not much else going on of interest, so that's a wash. Night of the Living Dead had some interesting moments, but it's a bit too primitive for me. Land of the Dead I sort of enjoyed, but ultimately it didn't have much to distinguish it except that intelligent zombie, and while I don't hate the concept (in fact, it's the only way zombies scare me. Not that Land of the Dead was scary, but there are a pair of zombie novels by Brian Keene that present a genuinely frightening version of intelligent zombies.)

I will give the Dawn of the Dead remake points for using an extended lounge version of Disturbed's "Down With The Sickness" over a montage sequence, though. That cracked me right the hell up.

Thanks again for all the comments. Hey FunkySkunk, actually we're both right. There have been many interpretations and there is more than one layer to Night's subtext, so you are correct as well. I kind of wish we had something to fight about, but yours is an excellent comment.

On that note, you should know that George Lucas was obsessed with the Viet Nam War and helped out Coppola on Apocalypse Now. Supposedly the Ewoks defeating the Empire in Return of the Jedi was a reference to Viet Nam as well. Anyway, thanks again.

Gore gone... for now.