Joel Schumacher’s Lost Boys (1987) reinvigorated the vampire genre by situating a teenage coming of age story in a small coastal California town beset by biker vampires. Starring a host of popular young actors, Lost Boys enjoyed tremendous commercial success and quickly entered cult status. Schumacher revisits the genre with Blood Creek (2009), a smallerContinue reading “The SS Comes to Appalachia: Joel Schumacher’s Blood Creek (2009)”
Tag Archives: Zombies
“Look at the flowers, Lizzie”: Moral Injury in The Walking Dead
All characters in The Walking Dead (TWD) suffer from moral injury, a form of post-traumatic stress disorder common in extreme situations like warfare or genocide. “Moral injury,” George Hagman notes, “implies that one’s experiences are not just inconsistent with previously held moral expectations, but have the power to negate and possibly pervert them.” The trulyContinue reading ““Look at the flowers, Lizzie”: Moral Injury in The Walking Dead”
Hiding in the Shadows: Outpost (2008) & Outpost: Black Sun (2012)
Outpost (2008) and Outpost: Black Sun (2012) pits contemporary mercenary soldiers against reanimated Nazi apparitions in a bunker deep inside Eastern Europe. These military horror films combine Nazi occultist pseudo-science, zombie/ghost super soldiers, and unscrupulous capitalist ventures into the plots. The story begins with a shady businessman, Hunt (Julian Wadham), approaching ex-Royal Marine turned mercenary,Continue reading “Hiding in the Shadows: Outpost (2008) & Outpost: Black Sun (2012)”
Overlord (2018): Killing Privat Zombie
The 2018 film Overlord is a thrilling, big budget addition to the military horror genre. Set on the eve of D-Day, the film embeds the audience in a platoon of paratroopers hurtling towards their priority target deep behind German lines. The opening sequence is intense and exciting as transport craft explode in mid-air and ourContinue reading “Overlord (2018): Killing Privat Zombie”
Shockwaves (1977) and The Birth of the Nazi Zombie Genre
What disappeared has every chance of reappearing – Jean Baudrillard The spate of Nazisploitation films in the late 1960s and 70s offer some insight into how audiences remembered the Third Reich and Holocaust a generation removed from the event. Both fascinated and appalled by its extraordinary atrocities, audiences were drawn to Nazi themes in horrorContinue reading “Shockwaves (1977) and The Birth of the Nazi Zombie Genre”
On Planet Auschwitz 