Zombies are a changin'....Pontypool

Zombies in popular culture have changed over the years. There was the flick in 1943 called I Walked with a Zombie, featuring creepy mindless voodoo zombies. In 1968, George Romero's zombies caused by some unknown force began walking the earth. After that there was a boom of zombie flicks regurgitating the Romero formula, however, sometimes these stories gave origins to the zombies. The super natural, toxic waste, and medical experimentation comes to mind. 2002 brought a new kind of zombie into being. I know there is a debate on whether these people are zombies or not but I'm a firm believer that the infected individuals in 2002's, 28 Days Later, are zombies. So the zombies sped up and become more terrifying than ever before. 2004's Dawn of the Dead remake used fast zombies, meanwhile during the same year, Shaun of the Dead reminded us all just how dangerous and fun slow zombies can be. Anyway, a new surge in zombie pop culture began and continues today.

As of 2009, we've seen a new breed of zombies. Fast or slow doesn't matter much anymore. It's the origin of the zombies that are being explored. Supernatural reasons are out for the most part (thank god) and more scientific reasons are being explored. I've always believed that the more real something is the more scary it can be. Witches and vamps don't cut it for me (Steve Niles' & Richard Matheson's "vampires" were fine, however).

The Signal (2006) explored a sound wave that has infiltrated the television and radio waves that turn people into mindless lunatics. [Rec] (Quarantine in the U.S.) explores the possibilities of a human rabies virus. Stephen King's book Cell explores a sound wave generated through cell phones and other devices creating mindless "flocks" of destructive humans with a collective mind. Again, with 28 Days Later, a rage virus blasts through the human populace. I'm sure there are other science based zombie flicks out there that I have not mentioned.

A new zombie film explores yet another possibility loosely based on science. Here's the synopsis for Pontypool and a brand new trailer: A small-town radio station discovers that recent madness in the local population may be caused by a virus transmitted through speech. The flick is set in a radio station in Pontypool where one day the morning team starts taking reports of extreme, bloody incidents of violence occurring in town. As the story unfolds, the radio staff soon realizes the violence that is ripping society apart is due to a virus being spread through the English language. That in turn poses a problem for a yappy radio jock and his staff holed up in the broadcast booth housed in the basement of the town's abandoned church as a slaughter rages beyond its walls.

here's the trailer via Bloody Disgusting.

Pretty cool, eh? With all that barely researched stuff I was blabbing about above, we can still trace these "new" zombie films back to George Romero with his 1973 film called The Crazies: When a government plane laden with biological weapons crashes in a small Pennsylvania town in this George Romero film, its deadly cargo seeps into the water supply -- and anyone who drinks the water becomes stark, raving mad. David (Will McMillan), a firefighter, and his wife, Judy (Lane Carroll), are two of a very few left unscathed. To save themselves, they and a few others attempt to escape … but for some of them, it may be too late.



So where does the Zombie genre go from here?