Umm, zombies I guess

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  • Umm, zombies I guess

    With the zombie genre on the verge of oversaturation, I'm curious how others working with these tropes handle the use of the word itself. I feel like unless you're going full camp, using the word "zombie" is like shooting yourself in the foot if you're attempting something more like World War Z (which is, incidentally, the only film I've seen that used the word without falling victim to it).

    I've seen some zombie movies where the word is steered clear from. They just say infection, infected, virus, etc.

    I feel like it's almost a definite "no-no" in a query or logline. Am I correct about that? What about in-script? The previous draft of the script I'm working on doesn't use the word, and I doubt this new draft will either, but I'm curious how others approach this.

  • #2
    Re: Umm, zombies I guess.

    Originally posted by Eric Boellner View Post
    With the zombie genre on the verge of oversaturation, I'm curious how others working with these tropes handle the use of the word itself. I feel like unless you're going full camp, using the word "zombie" is like shooting yourself in the foot if you're attempting something more like World War Z (which is, incidentally, the only film I've seen that used the word without falling victim to it).

    I've seen some zombie movies where the word is steered clear from. They just say infection, infected, virus, etc.

    I feel like it's almost a definite "no-no" in a query or logline. Am I correct about that? What about in-script? The previous draft of the script I'm working on doesn't use the word, and I doubt this new draft will either, but I'm curious how others approach this.
    Do you have zombies or not? I understand not wanting characters to use it in your script but if your movie is about zombies, then whoever you're querying needs to know this. And whether you like or not it's a zombie genre movie. If it's not really zombies (like 28 Days Later) I think it's fine to say VIRUS or INFECTION etc. But it sounds like you have zombies!

    FWIW I don't think that the market is verge of "over saturation." Yeah there are a decent amount of zombie movies that come out but there's obviously still a desire for them. Especially for ones that create new rules or put a new spin on it (like Warm Bodies or Life After Beth).

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    • #3
      Re: Umm, zombies I guess.

      Good point. I think the concern was that "zombies" induces an eye-roll. It's not really a problem for me, and I don't like to focus on my own scripts so much as get a general idea of how others have dealt with this issue, if it is indeed an issue for anyone else.

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      • #4
        Re: Umm, zombies I guess.

        The cannon has strongly deviated from the "don't say zombie" rule in recent years.

        A large part of this is from the "sharknado" channel that is self-aware in the spoof context. They can get away with it.

        If you are writing a zombedy, it is barely acceptable and it better be a damn good script.

        If you are a traditionalist, not pitching to that channel, it is not OK and may turn off the purists.

        You are also competing against the ton of zombie scripts that are resurfacing from 4-6 years ago.

        Just my opinion.
        "Take the thing you love, and make it your life"--Californication. [email protected]

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        • #5
          Re: Umm, zombies I guess.

          Unless your characters live in a vacuum world where zombie movies and the walking dead don't exist, use the Z word.

          Movies that ignore common knowledge of zombies in pop culture tend to annoy me more than those that do acknowledge some basic horror movie lore.

          Everybody has a generic idea of what zombie's, vampire's, werewolves etc... are, your characters shouldn't be any different. Use those expectations to your advantage. Everybody says "Shoot 'em in the head, that kills a zombie", but what if it doesn't?
          Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue

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          • #6
            Re: Umm, zombies I guess

            I wonder what the studio takeaway is at this point when a zombie script crosses the desk. Or rather, what the reader take is. I have to imagine they want to go down to a Starbucks and start punching anybody with a laptop these days.

            Personally I stay away from the genre entirely. The best horror script I read recently went with more ghost/ghoul type stuff and I actually wound up enjoying it.

            But if you must, go ahead and use the word. Just please bring something new to the table, somehow.

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            • #7
              Re: Umm, zombies I guess

              You can check out my entry in the Halloween contest to see if I brought anything new to the table. It's called Norma Rae and it placed in the top ten. Which is pretty damn good if I say so myself considering there were 14 entries.

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              • #8
                Re: Umm, zombies I guess.

                Originally posted by christopher jon View Post
                Unless your characters live in a vacuum world where zombie movies and the walking dead don't exist, use the Z word.

                Movies that ignore common knowledge of zombies in pop culture tend to annoy me more than those that do acknowledge some basic horror movie lore.

                Everybody has a generic idea of what zombie's, vampire's, werewolves etc... are, your characters shouldn't be any different. Use those expectations to your advantage. Everybody says "Shoot 'em in the head, that kills a zombie", but what if it doesn't?
                Funny, I was just reading an article where the team from WD said they set that world up to be one where prior to the plague, no knowledge of zombies exist. None. No original Night of the Living Dead, none of the hundreds of movies it spawned, no video games, etc, nothing. Except they slipped in one episode and did reference a video game that had zombies.

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                • #9
                  Re: Umm, zombies I guess

                  Originally posted by Vance View Post
                  But if you must, go ahead and use the word. Just please bring something new to the table, somehow.
                  This.

                  I really doubt that anybody's make-or-break reaction to a script is going to have anything at all to do with if it uses the word "zombie."

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