How to Shoot a Zombie Movie - a Story Approach

Zombie movies are one of the single most popular genres of films in the world today. The factors that aid this phenomenon can be narrowed down to just a few basic concepts. Understanding these concepts will allow you to create a better Zombie movie.

This article does not deal with the Zombies, but rather how the Hero is crafted in response to the Zombies. Understanding how your hero is crafted allows you to better understand how your Zombies should be crafted to take advantage of the Hero's weaknesses.

Also, realize, there are no steadfast rules for Zombies, there are just some generally accepted concepts and some things that push the Zombie idea into parody-ville. For example, a Zombie driving a car or doing a complicated act which does not directly relate to their trying to assimilate the Hero.

Tip #1: Zombies are a universal threat. Ever culture on Earth has a myth about the after life, wanting to go to the afterlife and a common understanding that anything brought back from the afterlife against its will is going to be really upset about it. Since the Zombie is already dead, killing it by normal means is going to be difficult; in fact, there is only one way to kill a Zombie....take off its head. Anything else and you are just wasting your ammunition. You can slow down a Zombie by shooting out its knees but that is only a temporary measure. Knowing this, writing it in your story, creates a dramatic problem for your hero. He has no other option but to take off the head of an apparently living creature. Instinctively he will be conflicted and try everything else except "the ultimate measure". This is directly related to the story as a whole, as the heroes will try everything except "the ultimate measure" to survive. Whatever the ultimate measure has to be clearly defined and discarded as a possibility early in the story so the audience knows what is eventually going to have to be done.

Tip# 2: Zombies don't need anything to survive. Minus the situation in 28 Days Later (who were not Zombies in the classical sense but rather infected humans), Zombies normally do not need food, water, or shelter to survive, they exist outside of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and that in itself makes them more powerful than living creatures. Using this as an element in your film will allow you to create another dramatic problem for your heroes by using the Zombies to push the heroes out of their comfort zone and into an "unbearable situation" where they will have to eventually confront the Zombies. Allowing the Zombies to stand all night in the same place, watching, waiting, and gathering their forces is the "dramatic situation" that the heroes will eventually have to deal with, and sooner rather than later.

Tip #3: Zombies have a single objective, to consume. In that consumption they destroy, but destroying is not the actual objective. Remembering that allows your Zombies to become instruments of construction rather than destruction. Zombies also do no eat each other (minus the film Re-Penetrater), because the "thing" they crave is not existent in dead flesh. Zombies also do not eat animals, normally; they want humans, and normally human brains. Why? Who knows why, its part of the mythology. But it's part of the mythology you can use because it scares people. The most important defining part of a human being is their brain, without it, people are useless. People can and will give up parts of their body as needed but their brain is a non-discussable item, so to face something that only wants their brain is a "dramatic situation"

Tip #4: The biggest fear of any hero is to become a Zombie; it's the idea that he is going to lose his uniqueness, his individuality. This singular fear is what drives the hero to do "the irrational act" which propels the story along. The easiest thing to do would be to go where the Zombies aren't, but creating a situation with an "irrational act" allows the Hero to do the exact opposite.

Tip #5: The hero must have someone to protect as a representative of the audience and as a representative of the child side of the hero. This is one the most important aspects of the Hero, he is conflicted by his responsibility and his own sense of mortality, in the end, always choosing his responsibility allows him to connect to the audience, allowing him to be who they wish they could be.

Tip #6: The Hero has to remember that the only thing that makes a Zombie a Zombie is that they don't have any feelings. Feelings are what defines him and what causes him to do the "irrational act" and be in the "dramatic situation". His humanity is clearly defined by his actions and the level of care he gives to those around him. In contrast, Zombies do not stop for fallen comrades, nor do they feel fear based on what happens to other Zombies. They just keep coming. That lack of emotion is only seen by the level of emotion you give your Hero.

Tip #7: Zombies are all around us. In almost every movie, the threat that cannot die is a Zombie (or a vampire). Alien is a classic Zombie film with a unique anti-hero, in that the Alien fit everything about the Zombie profile without being one of the undead and could in fact be killed (although with great difficulty). By adding the Zombie characteristics though, you immediately connect with your audience and cause them the same level of fear based on the idea of assimilation and losing their uniqueness. The Borg are also classic Zombies, although they can do complicated tasks, they can only do singular complicated tasks. They are alive, but dead in their humanity (or alien-anity) and they have the same drive to assimilate all species to add to their collective.

Tip #8: Your Hero has to be the most implausible person for the job. In fact, your Hero should have another person with him that starkly contrasts his abilities, someone that is strong, brave, armed, and capable and constantly puts down the Hero for not being enough of a hero. This person of course dies in the film, usually by doing something incredibly stupid that is a direct relation to their bravery. The moral of the story is that it's good to be scared. The reason you make the Hero a reluctant hero is that again, he identifies with the audience; they can see themselves in him. He espouses everything they would feel in the same situation. You really want that connection with the audience, more than anything else. Gore and mayhem get boring when there is no connection to the audience about who is being threatened.

So, in these tips, you can see that making a Zombie film is less about the Zombie and more about the Hero. Crafting a proper Hero, giving him the elements of humanity, compassion, and individuality, causes him to connect to the audience. Give your Hero a reason to commit "the irrational act" by protecting someone else and then pushing him out of his comfort zone and into "the dramatic situation". The Zombies are just the rising tide of threat against his uniqueness and individuality, they are just the greater antagonism, the outer challenge, he must overcome in order to complete "the irrational act" and to get out of "the dramatic situation".

In conclusion, watch movies now with an eye towards how the Zombie mythology is used and how the Hero is crafted as a direct challenge to the Zombies and how the Zombies find and exploit the Hero's weakness.