Why Are Zombies Scary?

Zombies are pretty damn cool.

One of the coolest things about zombies is the fact that they answer the "open the door" problem in horror immediately. The "open the door" problem is a really hard issue to surmount in horror. And that issue is this:

Usually, in a horror movie, we might hear the monster lurking around outside. We might catch a glimpse of it through a darkened window. However, when the heroine of the movie finally opens the door, and reveals the monster...usually it's not near as bad as we thought it was.

That's because up until the moment the door is opened, our imaginations are running wild. And no matter what the movie comes up with 9 times out of 10, whatever our imaginations have cooked up is far worse.

There are a few rare occasions where this isn't true, of course. A key example would be John Carptener's The Thing. That movie continues to horrify us to tears, because we just don't know what is going to happen next. The Thing manifests itself in different forms every time and in new and more terrifying ways. We can never be truly prepared for what The Thing throws our way.

But accomplishing that perfect and pure moment of terror is pretty damn hard. It's extremely difficult to completely surprise the audience or show them something that not even their wildest imaginings would come up with. So, unfortunately, many authors and movie-makers go for a stalemate with the audience.

Take for example, The Blair Witch Project. By now, it shouldn't be a spoiler that the Blair Witch is never seen in the film. While I love the movie, and many horror fans do, it only offers a stalemate. Because we never see the Blair Witch, about 50% of the population pans the movie and hates it because it "doesn't show anything". I think that M. Night Shylaman often runs into this problem.

So...here's what's cool about zombies. They solve the open the door problem right away. In a zombie movie, we usually see the object of horror fairly soon. What's more is that usually the film's feature monsters are front and center. The Night of the Walking Dead surely doesn't waste any time showing us zombies in the film.

Even though zombie movies show the object of horror early on, even though zombie movies reveal the monster in the open light of day...we are still scared. And here's why. In a zombie movie, we aren't so much afraid of the zombies as we are of what they represent. I think this is very clear in the introduction of the remake of Dawn of the Dead. Besides that great Johnny Cash song, you've also got all of the terrible fear that zombies represent to us in that opening. You have the complete and total breakdown of society. You have a mysterious plague that cannot be stopped. You are given a faceless enemy that has already been predestined to beat you.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdPWrAMXGGo

In a zombie movie, we're far more afraid of being eaten alive, or being turned into a zombie, or one-hundred other horrible things that might happen to us.

Anyhow, that's why I think zombie movies are so cool.