So last night was "Zombie Night" in the lounge of my residence hall. Apparently my metalhead friend down the hall has a huge collection of zombie movies. I wasn't much a fan of zombie movies, or horror movies in general, but for the social benefits I decided to tag along with my friends from the 3rd floor.
The first movie we watched was Shaun of the Dead, which I've actually seen before. It's a well-done satire of the general zombie movie formula, as far as I know about them. I like how it builds up slowly, until it's only half way through the film that the main character realizes what's going on. The British humor was very well executed, too. It was worth seeing a second time.
The next movie, which I haven't seen before, was another comedy, Army of Darkness. It's about this guy who gets sent back in time to "dark medieval times" and has to fight a zombie army in order to save the castle and protect the "Necronomicon" that is the only way he can get back to his time. After seeing this movie, I now know where the quote "This, is my BOOMSTICK!" comes from, as well as the closing sound clip to None So Vile. The production was pretty low-budget but that played well into the comedic factor.
It was then time for the main event, at which all the girls mysteriously disappeared from the lounge. We saw a REAL zombie movie, called Dead Alive, directed by Peter Jackson. Seeing this movie has taught me many things. First of all, a good zombie movie is just as funny as it is scary, with gratuitous gore and macabre slapstick. Again, this movie benefited from a slow buildup, leaving you to think "this ain't so bad", and then at last it climaxes into a cinematic bloodbath of epic proportions. This was the goriest movie I have ever seen, and apparently that's arguably an objective statement. Just when I thought it couldn't get any gorier, the main character starts plowing through them with a lawnmower.
Thanks to last night, I am now desensitized to almost anything. Now I see why people like zombie movies so much.