The question is, since everyone does it, do you really want to do the same trick?

I would suggest finding a way to twist the trick instead. For example have the zombies rip the arms and legs off of the character and leave the torso alone. Do this by simply burying/hiding their arms and legs and using fake arms and legs stuck into pantlegs and sleaves. If you want to go funny with it you can have the character obsess about them eating his guts or something, and then that's all that is left.

Then later the parapalegic torso zombie can make an appearance, lying their growling.

They did both tricks in Shawn of the Dead. That movie rocks.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

I'm probably going to do this film in black and white(trying to minimize cheesieness) and if I were to do this, what could I use for blood that isn't as messy as the corn syrup and food colouring recipe?

hitchcock used chocolate syrup for blood in his black and white movies. I'm not sure its not a messy but at least it'll taste good

"Anyone who has ever been privileged to direct a film also knows that, although it can be like trying to write 'War and Peace' in a bumper car in an amusement park, when you finally get it right, there are not many joys in life that can equal the feeling." - Stanley Kubrick

Chocolate syrup would look good, although I want something less messy, if possible.

Less messy? Like it won't spill and run all over the place? It won't flow off the actor on to the costume or floor?

Any blood mixture is going to be messy. It's going to splatter and spill and get on clothes and walls and the floor. At least it will if you're doing it right.

I meant less messy as in...not sticky and something that won't stain, a mess with blood is to be expected. I don't care if it's going to be sticky, I'm just curious of a possible alternative.

I've been looking into making an evil-dead style splatter flick, and the biggest question is gore.

A few sites I found for severed limbs, bits and gibs, hearts and brains, zombie masks, kits, and full body armatures can be picked up at these sites.

?url? http://www.nightmarefactory.com/?/url?
?url? http://www.gore-galore.com?/url?
?url? http://thehorrordome.com/?/url? (cheaper, better for low budget masks and such)

With creative use of those props and masks, good cheesy camera angels (zombie movies have to be cheesy) and the right amount of blood, a zombie movie could be a great start, especially to get you used to working with lighting, editing, ect.

A great first film :D, the actor's don't even have to act, they just make grunting noises and exagerated death movements.

Define cheezy. Was Shaun of the Dead cheezy in your opinion? What about the remake of Dawn of the Dead? If zombie movies tend to be cheezy it is not because they are intentionally done so. In fact those are the most painful of the bunch (Mulva Zombie asskicker comes to mind).

If you go into a production with little respect for the genre its unlikely the zombie fans are going to react positively to your movie. If your just using the word cheezy because you love the genre and realize others see it that way fine, but be careful anyway.

Just a word of advice from a zombie movie fan.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

quote:

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Originally posted by rjschwarz

If you go into a production with little respect for the genre its unlikely the zombie fans are going to react positively to your movie. If your just using the word cheezy because you love the genre and realize others see it that way fine, but be careful anyway.

Just a word of advice from a zombie movie fan.

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Regardless of respect level for the genre, which may I point out I hold in high ranking, a movie with zombies is bound to be cheesy. Even night of the living dead was dreadfully cheesy, though it is the holy grail of zombie movies. The remake of dawn of the dead was just wrong, zombies aren't supposed to run, they shamble. Running zombies are just not right. It is impossible to make a movie with zombies and have it be not cheesy. Impossible. Name three quality zombie movies that aren't cheesy.

something wicked this way comes...

quote:

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Originally posted by swordofdoom
Name three quality zombie movies that aren't cheesy.

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I would ask the same question rj asked. What is "cheesy"? I don't think "Night" is cheesy at all so I bet you and I have different definitions of the word.

According to several dictionaries, "cheesy" means very low quality. Cambridge Dictionary defines cheesy as "clearly of cheap quality or in bad style".

Three zombie movies that aren't low quality or in bad style: Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead.

Clearly not big budget movies, but all three aren't of "cheap quality". In my opinion they all use their low budget quite well to make a movie that has a lot of style and quality.

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The aim of an argument or discussion should not be victory, but progress.
Joseph Joubert, essayist (1754-1824)

Ok, lets put this in perspective, can you honestly think of zombies without chortling a little. Its cheese, pure cheese, zombie movies defy everything. Serious zombie movies are more funny then they are anything else, while funny zombie movies are more serious. Both are laden with processed cheese.
EX. The original Dawn of the Dead. You cannot tell me you could get through that movie without laughing. Not only is the physical comedy excellent (the escalator when they turn on the power), but the pure cheese of the whole idea is what makes the zombie genre so appealing. Or take the pie fight, come now, lets all look at the camera and say cheese. Zombie movies are nothing but cheese, they could package them and sell it as cheez wiz.

I'm not tearing it down, I'm simply saying, ZOMBIES+MOVIE=CHEESE

something wicked this way comes...

I have much respect for the genre. If I did not, I wouldn't be making a zombie movie. What I mean by cheesy is in terms of effects. Obviously I'm not making the most high budget of zombie films and therefore my effects will most likely not look that good.

When done properly the zombies are a metaphor for something else, something that can make you think the way few other movies can or even try to do. The metaphor can be for anything which ads to the strength of zombie movies: for racism (night of the living dead) or commercialism (Dawn of the Dead 78'), issues with food supply (Dead Meat), or censorship (Feeding the Masses), class struggle (Land of the Dead), Sometimes our solution is wrong (Undead) or the cohesiveness of society during a crisis (most other zombie movies).

Yes there are cheezy zombie movies but in most cases the makers did not attempt to make a cheezy movie and they became cheezy because the message was misunderstood or poorly implemented. If you deliberately set out to make your movie cheezy do not be surprised if you have a very small audience (as Troma's Mulva Zombie-Asskicker which still gives me headaches to remember).

Sword, I guess we define cheezy differently.

RJSchwarz
San Diego, CA

I guess so, but all I'm trying to say is that no matter how hard you try, no matter how good of a message you incorporate, the idea on a whole is cheese. Zombies are impossible to take seriously. The messages still get across, many of them very bluntly and packing a punch, but the content of the movie otherwise is going to be cheese. Now what kind of cheese it is changes from movie to movie. Some are swiss cheese, riddled with holes, some are aged cheddar, they get better with time, and some are just creamy smooth Velveeta, the orgasm of all cheeses. Regardless of what kind of cheese the movie is made out of, it all boils down to one thing, I'm sick of talking about cheese.

I never thought in all my years that I would ever get into a serious argument about zombies or cheese?:o)?

You people have held me back long enough, I'm going to clown college!

I'm very sorry, I didn't intend to start a spat about the definition of cheesy. By cheesy I meant the good form of film cheese, which the entire zombie genre (even the best ones) encompass.