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f brain-hungry zombies were going to attack somewhere, the library would probably be one of the hot spots.
On Thursday, zombies filled the Danville Public Library as part of the Zombie Prom.
Dozens of teenagers dressed up more for a Halloween party than an after-school program danced and schmoozed in the children’s department, bringing life to the place even though they were playing dead.
The Zombie Prom was a way for the library to reach out to youth in the community and to encourage young people to read. Rows of books were on display featuring popular books and games featuring the undead.
I’m not so sure that sharing a lot of the ‘popular’ Zombie literature with impressionable youth is a good thing, but hey, the Zombie Prom part sounds ok, and it’s a lot better than the ugly stereotyping we’ve talked about before from libraries.
Still, it’s not all perfect:
Library workers realized that zombies are a popular trend right now, with television shows and movies like “The Walking Dead” and books like “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” gathering large numbers of fans.
“We want to validate things they like,” said library employee Jennifer Hartley. “And we want them to see what we have.”
The ZRC would urge the Danville Public Library to help its young readers move PAST the things they already ‘like’, if said things are hate literature/television like, say, The Walking Dead. But getting them in the door is a start, and providing a Zombie Prom instead of a simulated bloodbath is another.
Summary: Dark, twisted, gory and unrepentent, ‘A Cadaver Christmas’ is like a modern, drunken, somewhat overlong ‘Evil Dead’ set at a Community college. Zombies are very badly mistreated.
Rated Living Supremacist.
There are a lot of different kinds of Anti-Zombie movie (unfortunately). You have your Romero-esque social commentaries, your ‘Shaun of the Dead’-ish black comedies, your Euro-zom movies where Zombie-Demon-Ghost-Things menace you because of an obscure passage in Genesis or a wrong committed against the Knights Templar.
Oddly enough given its prominence and indie cred you don’t see nearly as many Zombie movies that remind you of the ‘Evil Dead’ series. Well look no further, ‘A Cadaver Christmas’, which we saw recently at Chicago Fear Fest, fits the bill.
Let’s see. A small band of colorful idiots fending off Undead (and Living people arguably converted into Quasi-Undead) in a remote location on holiday? Check. Journals of doom? Check. Science gone horribly awry? Check. Deadpan narcissist main character whose primary reaction to stress is overwhelming violence with improvised weaponry?
Big check.
Which is not to say ‘A Cadaver Christmas’ is a ripoff; far from it. Not every movie has bug-eyed (but probably blameless) Zombies being mown down by a lunatic member of the custodial staff, certainly nothing by Raimi. This isn’t a redeeming feature for the ZRC of course.
‘A Cadaver Christmas’ has a plot, but what you really need to know is that the dour Janitor (his only name for most of the film) is fending off an ever-growing horde of innocent Zombies, mostly with cleaning implements, while a drunkard, a bar owner an inept cop and a goat… ‘lover’… follow him around and generally get in the way. Zaniness ensues, as does persecution of Zombies.
In fact, in all honesty, the persecution of Zombies goes on a bit too long even from a mainstream perspective. The ZRC outrage began to fade a bit into ennui at some points; maybe I was rage-saturated after a long film festival, who knows.
Still, the question has to be asked: why can’t Zombies go to college too? Hmm, ‘A Cadaver Christmas’? Apparently it’s because some people still think the Undead are just a ‘mess’ to clean up.
For shame. ‘A Cadaver Christmas’ is rated Living Supremacist.
Yet another film review from our recent trip to Chicago Fear Fest!
Summary: ‘Dead Weight’ strikes a new and devious blow for Anti-Zombie films – it manages to marginalize the Zombies from the, ahem, ‘Zombie Apocalypse’!
Here is an updated list of our planned ZRC public appearances. Some are set in stone, some are still subject to date and availability changes, but we hope to see YOU out there during our quest for Undead Equality!
How could we miss this one? Answer: get stuck in traffic and lost like last year. But not this time, Chicago! We’re on to your traffic wickedness and prepared to be on time this year for some Zombie Protesting goodness.
Flashback Weekend
Date/Time: August 10th-12th
Location: Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare
With legendary director John Carpenter in attendance, and the world premiere of a semi-lost Lovecraftian movie starring Jeffrey Combs, we had to go. We’ll be there mostly as attendees, but if any Anti-Zombiism goes down, the ZRC is sure to be on the case.
After our triumphant tour of Horrorhound Columbus, we had to pencil Indy in this year! I’ll be studying up for my Zombie Law School but still take the time to come talk Zombie Rights with whoever cares to listen.
We’d sooner buy Max Brooks a beer than miss The Dark Carnival – the ZRC has been at every single one so far! Some of our favorite, and least favorite, Zombie movies of all time showed there, and some really innovative Zombie portrayals have come out of it, good and bad. We first saw ‘George’s Intervention’ at the DC, as well as last year’s tragic Necromancy-Gone-Wrong tale “Dead Friends’
Nightmare on Chicago Street 2(?)
Date/Time: TBA
Location: Elgin, Illinois
A little bearded birdie told us that the wildly successful outreach opportunity ‘Nightmare on Chicago Street’ is probably coming back for a second year, and if so, believe me, the ZRC will be there.
I responded to the comment here, and I’m content to leave it at that, with two points of clarification:
1) The Zombie Rights Campaign will never temper its negative reviews on the basis of complaints. We are happy to air differing views and correct any factual misstatements, but if a movie needs condemning on the basis of Anti-Zombie prejudice, we’re your website.
2) We try to avoid unnecessary spoilers when discussing films, games or other creative works of recent vintage. Although I believe we still erred on the side of caution in this review, in the spirit of productive dialogue, I have hidden the bulk of the review and discussion behind a cut.
The ZRC tried to be optimistic about this film. After all, right in the title it claims to love Zombies!
Love! That’s good, right? Friendly? Tolerant?
Wrong. Oh-so-wrong. Because unfortunately, tragically, this film ‘loves’ Zombies in a very perverse, yet common way. They love to HURT Zombies.
This is actually a very common misuse of the language by the way. At a convention if someone tells the ZRC they ‘love Zombies’, half the time they’re really saying they ‘love to DESTROY Zombies’.
Which we resent, by the way. Not only is it imprecise to shorten your idea that way, it’s profoundly intolerant! Shame!!
Ahem.
So what is ‘For Love of Zombies’ really about? Well, in a pre-screening talk the movie was described as a ‘fanboy film’, and that at least is fair – this is a movie by, and for, those who cherish ‘Night of the Living Dead’. Just take a look at how they mimic the opening sequence from ‘Night’:
I have to admit, that’s some craftsmanship in your hate.
The film opens with your four, ahem, protagonists, consisting of two unhappy couples, heading to Evans City’s infamous cemetery on a sort of Romero pilgrimage. The two guys in the car, Pete and Jake, worship Romero to a level that qualifies as idolatry (and I’d put good money on someone having a shrine in their closet back home). Their girlfriends, Valerie and Brianna? Not at all.
So driving all the way to rural Pennsylvania to see a cemetery is causing relationship strain.
Naturally, our two pilgrims want to see the sights and take lots of pictures of themselves palling around the grounds, imagining themselves in the movie. For some reason, never explained or even really questioned, a Zombie Apocalypse begins at the cemetery, and our Zombie haters get to Live the Dream, as it were. Will they survive? Not saying. Will they even consider the feelings of the Undead they’ve grown up maligning? Nope! (Not really a spoiler)
This film raises some interesting questions for the ZRC. How do we stop people conflating Love of Zombies and Love of Harming Zombies? What can we do to stem the Romero fanboy tide, still rising after almost fifty years of hatred?
And do people really go to an actual cemetery to goof around and celebrate ‘Night of the Living Dead’? Complete with fake blood getting on the headstones? That seems kind of.. crass. I wonder if any mourning relatives ever cross paths with that revelry.
Awkward.
At any rate, The Zombie Rights Campaign was forced to award ‘For Love of Zombies’ with our second-lowest rating, the dread ‘Anti-Zombie’ ranking.
The ZRC attended the ‘Zombie Bohemia’ screening at Chicago Fear Fest last weekend and as previously discussed on the blog, we quite liked the film.
After the screening there was an informative discussion of the film and we have some video for you to peruse.
First, a discussion of how the film came about and the process of making it, including a love of SD video and VHS:
Second, some discussion of the value of supporting Zombie Friendly work in progress and the productivity of Pro-Zombie outreach, including that of, yes, The Zombie Rights Campaign.
We’re happy to help, Mr. Brando. And we’re even happier your film Unlives up to our admittedly high standards!
Readers of the blog might be wondering by this point whether there were any Zombie movies at Chicago Fear Fest that we actually liked. It’s true, I admit; the ZRC can be hard to please, and our standards may be a tad exacting. But look no further, for today we’re reviewing ‘Zombie Bohemia’, which truly came as a breath of fresh air during the festival’s largely Anti-Zombie programming schedule.
Zombie Bohemia tells the story of a struggling Zombie artist named Michael, trying to make his way as a creative professional in Brooklyn against nearly impossible odds. From the perspective of a documentary crew we see Michael and his colossally self-involved manager/agent Anton try to navigate an art scene that is hostile enough for the Living and downright perilous for the Differently Animated.
(Michael doesn’t have it easy, as a Zombie or an artist)
Michael tries a little bit of everything to get noticed, from paintings to sculptures, mixed media, even various traditional public artforms like sidewalk chalk and caricatures. All along it’s clear that he aspires to create something really meaningful and communicate about the Zombie condition with the larger Living community.
And all along he faces difficulty and, let’s be honest, prejudice. Anton doesn’t understand Michael or the struggles of being a Zombie, and tries to treat his angst and anger with ‘psychic adjustment’ while ignoring his nutritional needs and pushing a vegetarian diet on the Differently Animated artist. Prominent members of the art community also fail to show sensitivity to Michael’s needs, and an admittedly unfortunate incident with a housecat leads to serious career repercussions.
But perhaps worst of all are the machinations of Michael’s arch-rival in the art world, Lester Onedowski, who conducts a one man media war against Michael and his burgeoning career.
Does Lester see Michael as an artistic threat or an Undead one? I will leave that question for you, dear readers, but the impact of this persecution on Michael is heartbreaking, and his resilience in the face of said persecution is quite frankly inspiring.
(Michael with his adoring public)
I won’t sugarcoat ‘Zombie Bohemia’ for the ZRC blog readership; this is a difficult story, at times Michael is hard to sympathize with entirely. He’s erratic, temperamental, secretive and, yes, he may occasionally backslide and harm others in the pursuit of his dream. Or as supplies for his art.
(Of course, Michael *is* a professional artist, and that often comes with some rather colorful personal baggage. Interesting topic for post-film discussion: Do Zombie artists have to hold themselves to a higher standard to avoid condemnation than their Living counterparts, and how do we fight that double standard?)
Michael isn’t perfect. But tipping the balance for the ZRC is the fact that Michael clearly sees himself as an artist first, not merely as a stereotypical Zombie. Michael doesn’t want to eat the Living, he wants to sell them paintings. He has no interest in fomenting an Apocalypse and isn’t going to be seen shambling around a mall when there’s creating to be done. Michael may not be a perfect role model but he can still serve as a very positive example in film of a different role Zombies *can* play: the thoughtful creator, rather than the thoughtless destroyer, as seen in the work of Brooks, Kirkman and Romero.
Michael is a person too, an artist too, and that meant a lot to the ZRC. We were genuinely moved by his plight.
The Zombie Rights Campaign awards ‘Zombie Bohemia’ our highest rating, that of ‘Zombie Friendly’. Very good job by all involved.
For more on ‘Zombie Bohemia’ feel free to check out their website.
The ZRC saw ‘Abraham Lincoln vs. Zombies’ last weekend at Chicago Fear Fest, and, well, it’s pretty much just what it says on the tin: this is a movie about perhaps the greatest American president… fighting Zombies.
Innocent Zombies.
*sigh* Where to begin?
Update: See the full review behind the cut. If you need a quick rating, the ZRC had to award this film the lowly and much-dreaded ‘Living Supremacist’ award.
