List of films to study

[Illfurt Zombie]

Hello, as I mentionned when I introduced myself, I am donig a thesis on the evolution of the living dead and the undead in popular culture. I am going to study several zombie films to see how the creature has evolved over the past 70 odd years. I have come up with a list of films to study, so far I have reached 1978, I wanted to know whether I have not forgotten any major zombie movies. here's the list:

White Zombie (1932)
Revolt of the Zombies (1936)
Ouanga (1936)
The Ghost Breakers (1940)
King of the Zombies (1941)
I Walked With a Zombie (1943)
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Quatermass 2 (1957)
Invisible Invaders (1959)
Doctor Blood's Coffin (1961)
The Plague of the Zombies (1966)
The Mistresses of Dr. Jekyll (1964)
The Last Man on Earth (1964)
The Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971)
Tombs of the Blind Dead (1971)
Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things (1972)
Messiah of Evil (a.k.a Dead People) (1973)
Return of the Blind Dead (1973)
Deathdream (a.k.a Dead of Night) (1974)
The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (1974)
Shivers (1975)
Blue Sunshine (1976)
The Grapes of Death (1978)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)

If anyone can think of any films that should be in the list I am listening, if anyone has any interessing info about any of the above films they think could help my studies, I am also all ears.

Thanks

Illfurt

[The Blind Dead]

I would consider adding City of the Living Dead or House by the Cemetery from Fulci. I'd also reconsider Blue Sunshine as it wasn't a zombie film at all.

[evilzombie20]

Shivers wasn't either. But he did say he only got to 1978 so hopefully he'll be adding those.

Zombi 2 springs to mind.

[Illfurt Zombie]

Of course those films have been added in the second part of the list 1978 to today. I will explain the présence of Blue Sunshine and Shivers. Ok, the victims are not physically dead. However, in voodoo, man has two seperate living entities: the mind and the body. A zombie is nothing more than a killing of the mind leaving the body to live without it's former personality. The other option is the killing of the body, the mind is then transferred into another corporal envelope (this has been seen in Chucky, The Skeleton Key, or even in some zombie movies like King of the Zombies). In Shivers and Blue Sunshine, the minds have been affected, the spiritual entity is dead. Another important part of voodoo religion, and in the zombie myth, is that a corpse must be fresh in order to come back to life. The corporal envelope must still be alive, that fact that corpses ressurect after years in a coffin is entirely invented by Hollywood. Of course, I will have to make the difference within my studies but the "zombies" in Blue Sunshine and Shivers are simply an evolution of the myth, an adaptation to fit new social fears.

Illfurt

[The Blind Dead]

Blue Sunshine is about a drug that eventually turns users, years after taking it, into mindless killing machines. There really isn't much of a similarity between that concept and the Voodoo Ritual that creates zombies.

[Illfurt Zombie]

By becoming mindless killing machines, they become zombies because their spiritual entity no longer exists, they are mentally dead all form of consciousness and personality has been extinguished by the drugs. Yes the film is far from its voodoo origins but so are films like Night of the Living Dead, 28 Days Later... It's interessing to see how people perceive the zombie differently.

[The Blind Dead]

So you're pretty much slapping the term "zombie" on any old film that features characters that exhibit zombie-like states? Why not go back further than the 30's than? How about The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari's character Cesare? What about Wegener's Der Golem (1915) or even the character of Hutter in Nosferatu from 1922? You could probably include Boris Karloff's The Monster in the 1931 version of Frankenstein as well.

Technically all of these characters fit your definition of zombie.

[Illfurt Zombie]

Frankenstein is going to be used as a paralele to the zombie. The zombie, in its original settings, is made from voodoo magic (religion), Frankenstein's monster is made from science. There is a conflict between science and religion. The interessing point is that Shelly was not inspired by Haitian voodoo myths, they only surfaced in the late 19th century. The other caracthers will also be studied but on a lesser scale.

[The Blind Dead]

Frankenstein is going to be used as a paralele to the zombie. The zombie, in its original settings, is made from voodoo magic (religion), Frankenstein's monster is made from science. There is a conflict between science and religion. The interessing point is that Shelly was not inspired by Haitian voodoo myths, they only surfaced in the late 19th century. The other caracthers will also be studied but on a lesser scale.
Blue Sunshine's antagonists were also made from science nor was the filmmaker, who I've spoken to on a couple occasions, inspired by Haitian voodoo.

[chewy]

Blue Sunshine's antagonists were also made from science

I have to agree with you on this. Granted, it's been many years since I saw Blue Sunshine, but I don't remember the characters even remotely resembling zombies of either the flesh-eating or voodoo variety.

[Rufus_Cane]

I agree that zombi 2 should be included.

[eardrumbuz]

Zombi 2 is 1979. The question was, I believe, referring to movies made up til 1978.

I would have to agree that if any of the films already discussed above are going to be included in the study, then they all should be considered equally. It wouldn't be fair to bend the "zombie rule" for one film and not another.

I would also consider Franco's Dr. Orloff films and The Diabolical Dr. Z, as well as Mikel's Astro Zombies and Bava's Planet Of The Vampires. All are examples of the "mindless slave/killing machine" or "body taken over by another" type of zombie.

And, is Last Man On Earth included because of the "zombies" outward appearance/behavior throughout most of the film? If so, I would think Omega Man should be included for comparison, even though it's evident earlier on that the "creatures" have a will of their own.

And lastly, you mentioned 28 Days Later in one post. If that's to show up on the 1978-present list, then I would also include The Crazies on this first list.

[Illfurt Zombie]

Hi,


I will look into the films you mentionned, Crazies was meant to be on the list but was forgotten. Here is my list of films post-1979 so far, I will add some asian zombie films but I have not yet looked into that area:

Zombi 2 (1979)
Zombie Holocaust (1980)
The Fog (1980)
City of the Living Dead (1980)
The Nights of Terror (1981)
The Beyond (1981)
The House by the Cemetery (1981)
Dead and Buried (1981)
The Evil Dead (1981)
Day of the Dead (1985)
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Re-Animator (1985)
The Supernaturals (1986)
Evil Dead II (1987)
Bad Taste (1987)
The Serpent and the Rainbow (1987)
The Return of the Living Dead II (1988)
Pet Sematary (1989)
The Dead Pit (1989)
Bride of Re-Animator (1990)
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
Army of Darkness (1992)
Dead Alive (Braindead) (1992)
Pet Sematary II (1992)
The Killing Box (Ghost Brigade) (1993)
The Return of the Living Dead 3 (1993)
Dellamorte Dellamore (1994)
Resident Evil (2002)
28 Days Later (2002)
Undead (2003)
Beyond Re-Animator (2003)
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004)
Land of the Dead (2005)
Mortuary (2005)

I will also be looking at recent blockbusters: Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings, in which forms of zombies appear.

If anyone has any comments I'm am listening