The Walking Dead Girls

Zombie Documentary

Cheezy Flicks

R1 DVD

The phenomenon of Stripper Zombies (“zimbies”) and a new film called Stripperland are the main motivations of this documentary. The film apparently has nothing to do with the Japanese Zombie Strippers film made some years ago and reviewed in Synergy.

The bulk of the documentary was filmed at the ZomBcon convention in 2010. It consists of interviews by the unlikely-named Luna Moon with some of the greats of the zombie genre, the actresses and actors, and promo for the previously mentioned film. Thousands of people attended, showing the level of obsession with the living dead in U.S. film.

Regardless of its minor advertising content the documentary is still a fascinating look at the industry through the eyes of people like George Romero, Lloyd Kaufman, Bruce Campbell, John Amplas, Linnea Quigley, and even a group of models hamming it up for a Cheesy Flicks zombie calendar.

Producers and directors like Lloyd Kaufman and George Romero take their subject seriously, but only from the film production angle. Producer John Amplas is an Associate Professor in Drama at Pittsburgh University and looks at his subject from an academic viewpoint as well as a way to make a living. He did, however, get a bit carried away with vampires rather than zombies, showing where his interest lie. Lloyd Kaufman let slip that he acts in most of his own films because Union labour costs too much for a low-budget film.

The wider exposure of the films is also a sore point. When President Clinton removed the law preventing TV networks from “vertically integrating”, only showing their own productions, it cut out the main market for small independent producers and distributors. The situation has now improved with the voracious demands of cable TV for content, but until this happened Troma’s Toxic Avenger series and Poultrygeist were only shown in small theatres.

Many actors and actresses regard the films as a bit of fun, although some have difficulty expressing that feeling.

“…cause I was like oh my God you know…” – Linnea Quigley demonstrating her command of English

Bruce Campbell may have been having a bad day at ZomBcon. His attitude to the genre is rather harsh and unforgiving, considering the money he has made from it.

“What would be your favourite zombie movie?”

“It would be the one where I run away and throw fans in front of the zombies and they all get killed and I survive” – Bruce Campbell

On killing zombies:

“Apparently it’s all about making them no longer mobile. ….I’m not afraid of zombies. They’re stupid, they smell bad, you can’t talk to ‘em and they can’t go very fast” – Bruce Campbell

The Zombie Walk phenomenon was a parade of over a thousand people from the convention who dressed as zombies and paraded through the streets. There was also a Zombie Prom where young ladies could wear their favourite Prom dress while dressed as a zombie. All rather sad, really, but at least these people enjoy themselves.

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This review will appear in Volume 4 No. 3 of the digital and print edition of Synergy.

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