So You Want To/Write a Zombie Apocalypse: Difference between revisions

{{tropeHow-To Guide}}

{{quote| ''[[Dawn of the Dead (film)|When there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the Earth...]]''}}

The [[Zombie Apocalypse]] is one of the enduring narratives of modern horror. Zombies have been around for centuries -- thecenturies—the original "zombies" appear in Voudoun beliefs, and many "real" cases of zombiism have been attributed to the toxins used in Voudoun rituals - but the modern impression can be traced to the George Romero movie ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]'', which gave the world many of the original tropes which can be found in zombie apocalypse stories. It's a popular kind of story, so for some advice on how to do it well, you may find this page useful.

Be sure to check out [[So You Want To/Write a Story|Write a Story]] for basic advice that holds across ''all'' genres.

== '''Necessary Tropes''' ==

You'll need zombies, obviously. There are many different types out there; however, there's a few common details amongst them that you'll want to at least be aware of. They're often (but not always) slow-moving, generally move using the [[Zombie Gait]], and lack any kind of intelligence or all but a few lingering remnants of their former personalities. They possess a ravenous, unending hunger for human flesh. (The ''[[Return of the Living Dead]]'' series was pretty much [[Small Reference Pools|the only one]] to actually feature [[Brain Food|brain-eating]] zombies.) A bite from a zombie is both fatal and contagious -- anyonecontagious—anyone who is bitten by a zombie dies soon after, only to be "reborn" as a zombie.

Zombie Apocalypse stories are also generally bleak, and feature the [[Downer Ending]] -- often—often times, [[Anyone Can Die]] in a zombie apocalypse, and it's not uncommon for some zombie stories to end with everyone either dead or, [[Fate Worse Than Death|even worse]], having become a zombie themselves. Even if one or two people survive, then it's usually a bittersweet ending at best -- thebest—the use of the word "[[The End of the World as We Know It|apocalypse]]" in the description is a pretty good hint at what usually happens to the rest of the human race, whether or not the main characters survive here. It's often [[Inferred Holocaust|taken for granted that humanity is screwed when the dead rise]].

Zombie Apocalypse stories also come with [[Gorn|gore]]. Lots and lots of gore. People tend to get torn apart in these movies -- quitemovies—quite literally.

== '''Choices, Choices''' ==

You should also consider ''how'' the zombie apocalypse is started -- isstarted—is it [[The Virus]]? A Voodoo curse? A crashed, radioactive satellite (don't laugh -- itlaugh—it's one of the reasons given in ''Night of the Living Dead'')? God punishing the sinners on Earth? [[Hell]] [[Dawn of the Dead (film)|being full]]? Whilst you should give this some thought for your own reference at least, it's not uncommon for Zombie Apocalypse stories to be vague about how it all started -- nostarted—no one knows how it started, it just did...

== '''Pitfalls''' ==

Zombie movies are a popular form of horror movie for amateur and first-time filmmakers, as they're quite cheap to make -- formake—for the most basic ones, all you really need is a few extras made-up to look like corpses, a few props that could be improvised weapons, and a place to film in. However, this means that there's a lot of zombie movies. And [[Sturgeon's Law|not all of them are good]]. If you want to write a [[Zombie Apocalypse]] story, be aware that there's a lot out there, so you'll need to make yours stick out in some way. You will also need to make them good.

Another particular pitfall is that, due to a lapse by the filmmakers, ''Night Of The Living Dead'' is, in fact, in the public domain. This means that it's had wide exposure and has been remade, either in name or not, quite a lot. As such, many zombie movies tend to follow its basic plot -- aplot—a bunch of people trapped in a house or other building, with the zombies trying to get in to eat them. This is very familiar -- tryfamiliar—try and think of a new spin.

Possibly the largest challenge is dealing with the fact that a traditional Romero-style zombie is not much of a threat to a healthy human. They're slow and dumb. Since the key to any horror movie is peril, you need to find some way to either advantage the zombies or disadvantage the humans. You can: [[Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)||Make the zombies faster]], [[Resident Evil|have the zombies mutate into more dangerous forms]], [[Land of the Dead|have the zombies learn]], [[The Horde|add a lot more zombies]], [[Resident Evil 1|trap the zombies and humans together in tight quarters]], [[Game-Breaking Injury|injure one or more of the protagonists so they can't simply escape]], [[The Load|introduce a character that the protagonists must defend]], [[Not a Zombie|establish that the characters don't understand the rules (initially)]], or introduce dissent in the ranks of the survivors, either by introducing [[Day of the Dead|a power struggle among them]] or [[Dead Rising|plain old psychological breakdowns.]] There are any number of ways to increase the danger. However, the biggest and most common pitfall of the genre is to balance the scales by [[Idiot Plot|making the survivors dumb]]. Since part of the appeal of the genre is the "What if this happened to you?" effect, making the characters act foolishly breaks the immersion of the audience.

== '''Writers' Lounge''' ==

=== '''{{smallcaps|Suggested Themes and Aesops}}''' ===

Due to George Romero's influence, many zombie apocalypses done today have strong themes of social breakdown. Usually, we see social breakdown happen on a large scale first (i.e., the people we look to for help and protection are [[Police Are Useless|helpless,]] [[Redshirt Army|dead]], [[Ghost Town|unavailable]], or have [[Armies Are Evil|gone crazy in the commotion]]), and then on a small scale within the main cast. Stress makes people bicker and fight, and paranoia spreads. People have [[Triangle Relations|complicated love affairs.]] With no external society to check their actions, normal people may [[Moral Event Horizon|commit heinous acts.]] It is standard for several members of the core group to die -- killeddie—killed by zombies, or just as often killed by each other.

When this theme is prevalent in a work, it can't help but imply some statement about humanity -- whathumanity—what we're really like when you take away our jobs, our homes, our [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|internet communities]]. Under these conditions of stress, your characters can become [[Humans Are Good|heroes]], [[Humans Are Bastardsthe Real Monsters|monsters]], [[Humans Are Warriors|something in between]] [[Humans Are Special|or who knows what else]]. Of course, if you're aware of this implication, you can just as easily subvert it.

=== '''{{smallcaps|Potential Motifs}}''' ===

=== '''{{smallcaps|Plot Suggestions}}''' ===

As mentioned above, most zombie movies, especially those made by amateur filmmakers with little money, tend to copy the plot of ''Night of the Living Dead'', with the main characters trapped in some kind of building (traditionally a house, although we've seen [[Dawn of the Dead (film)|shopping malls]], [[Day of the Dead|military bases]], [[Shaun of the Dead|pubs]] and many other variants) with zombies outside trying to get in. It's gotten to be more than a little cliche. How about inverting this -- whatthis—what if the zombies were trapped in a building trying to get out, and the main characters were trying to keep them ''in''? Or what about a story where the main characters have to travel a long distance across zombie-infested territory, rather than being barricaded indoors somewhere?

Most zombie movies also feature a nakedly [[Downer Ending]] or, at least, a [[Bittersweet Ending|bittersweet]] one -- itone—it's generally assumed that the [[Zombie Apocalypse]] ''will'' become [[The End of the World as We Know It|an apocalypse]]. This has been done so many times that, unless done particularly well, it can come off as being a bit cliché. Maybe you can find a happy ending? Perhaps the outbreak can be prevented, or contained to a small area, or even defeated?

Zombie movies are usually set in the present day -- howday—how about a period zombie movie? Or a futuristic one? Or one set on another planet?

== '''Departments''' ==

=== '''{{smallcaps|Set Designer / Location Scout}}''' ===

As noted above, the zombie movie is one of the cheapest kinds of movies to make; all you really need is a handful of main characters, a convincingly large 'army' of zombies, and somewhere -- ideallysomewhere—ideally somewhere remote and/or suitably apocalyptic looking -- tolooking—to shoot. So theoretically, a zombie movie can be set absolutely anywhere.

=== '''{{smallcaps|Props Department}}''' ===

=== '''{{smallcaps|Costume Designer}}''' ===

Zombies tend to be dressed in everyday clothing that has been made very ragged. For further [[Irony|ironic value]], some kind of uniform -- policeuniform—police, medical, military -- canmilitary—can be useful in showing what happened to the people who were supposed to deal with this kind of thing. The clothes of the living tend to look little better, as they've been spending days, weeks or months running for their lives or locking themselves inside a building.

=== '''{{smallcaps|Casting Director}}''' ===

=== '''{{smallcaps|Stunt Department}}''' ===

Zombie movies are frequently characterised by lots of gory shots of zombies either eviscerating some helpless and hapless bastards or themselves being eviscerated, shot and/or bludgeoned to death by the heroes, so you won't want to skimp on the fake blood. The opportunities for your characters -- deadcharacters—dead or living -- toliving—to be dispatched is limited only by your imagination and budget.

== '''Extra Credit''' ==

=== '''{{smallcaps|The Greats}}''' ===

Watch George Romero's original ''Dead'' trilogy -- ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]'', ''[[Dawn of the Dead (film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'', and ''[[Day of the Dead]]''. Most of the classic zombie tropes that people now take for granted, as well as the genre's association with social commentary, come from these movies. All three have been remade. ''Night'', thanks to its public domain status, has had several remakes over the years, but the 1990 version starring [[Tony Todd]] and directed by Tom Savini is generally held up as the best of them, to the point where Romero himself has given it his stamp of approval (he produced and wrote the film). The [[Dawn of the Dead (2004 film)||2004 remake]] of ''Dawn'' by [[Zack Snyder]] is also considered a good movie in its own right, albeit one with a very different, far more action-packed tone than the original. Romero's later ''Dead'' films (''[[Land of the Dead]]'', ''[[Diary of the Dead]]'' and ''[[Survival of the Dead]]'') are generally considered a mixed bag, but all three have their fans.

For an example of a zombie movie which takes the "classic" zombie formula and yet does something completely unexpected with it, watch ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]'', a [[Romantic Comedy]] which is also a zombie movie (although often described as a parody, the zombies are actually treated entirely seriously for the most part; it's more a homage to Romero than anything). The two genres are put together and, amazingly, work incredibly well -- itwell—it's both genuinely funny, genuinely sweet ''and'' genuinely frightening.

As long as we're on the subject of video games, ''[[Resident Evil]]'' (especially the earlier games) is also a must-play for anybody interested in zombies. Not only is it the [[Trope Codifier]] for the [[Survival Horror]] genre, it is also largely responsible for the resurgence of interest in zombie media in the late '90s and 2000s, as well as popularizing the idea of zombies being created by [[The Virus]]. Every game in the series (other than ''[[Resident Evil 0Zero]]'', the ''[[Resident Evil Gun Survivor|Gun Survivor]]'' games and the ''[[Resident Evil Outbreak|Outbreak]]'' games) is available on [[PlayStationPlay Station 3]], be it on a disk or through the [[Playstation Network]], so if you own a [[PlayStationPlay Station 3]] you have no excuse not to play them. A word of caution: starting with ''[[Resident Evil 4|RE4]]'', the series started downplaying both the zombie and horror elements in favor of an action-shooter direction, with the "traditional" zombie enemies replaced with a cross between ''[[Invasion of the Body Snatchers]]'' and the "sprinters" of modern-day zombie fiction -- afiction—a shift that wound up creating a [[Broken Base]] in the ''RE'' fandom. There also exists [[Resident Evil (film)|a live-action film series]] based on the games, but be warned: it is a classic case of [[Love It or Hate It]].

=== '''{{smallcaps|The Epic Fails}}''' ===

=== '''{{smallcaps|The Honourable Mentions}}''' ===

[[Category:So You Want To{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]]