My Top 5 Zombie Movies, A Guest Post + A Giveaway from Melanie Karsak!

Thank you so much to Karina for inviting me to stop by and talk about my favorite zombie movies!

 While my novel, “The Harvesting,” is kinda a mix of “28 Days Later,” “True Blood,” and “Lord of the Rings,” I am truly a zombie fan! I remember watching zombie movies as a kid (my dad never took the PG rating to heart) and have always loved them! Of all the monsters out there, zombies are the only ones who truly give me the creep-out factor. While there are so many great zombie movies out there, today I will share my “Top 5” all-time favorite zombie flicks! Let’s begin the countdown:




5. The Omega Man

Granted, I was not even born when this movie first came to the theaters, but I saw the movie on reruns at least a dozen times when I was in my pre-teens. If you are not familiar with this 1970s Charlton Heston film based off the writings of Richard Matheson, you should check it out!

Matheson is the writer behind “I am Legend.” In “The Omega Man,” Heston, playing Dr. Neville, is seemingly the lone survivor of plague that has turned most of humanity into nocturnal zombie-esque creatures. They are not zombies of the brain-eating sort; they resemble the “alternative species” zombies found in “I am Legend.” I chose this film because 1) it is completely campy, 2) it was the first “zombie” film I ever saw and it made a huge impression on me, and 3) the trailer is hilarious. Enjoy:

4. Night of the Comet

Continuing on the theme of campy zombie movies, next up we have “Night of the Comet.”

This 1980s zombie flick features two California valley girls who find themselves amongst the few survivors of a comet which otherwise turned everyone to red dust. What do these dystopian survivors due in the wake of such destruction?

In true 1980s style, they declare “the stores are open” and segue straight into a “Girl’s Just Wanna Have Fun” mall-shopping montage . . . only to be interrupted by half-decimated, not so friendly, comet survivors.

3. The Serpent and the Rainbow


While “Night of the Comet” and “The Omega Man” feature zombie-like creatures, “The Serpent and the Rainbow” address the traditional definition of a zombie; a corpse reanimated by the use of voodoo.

This movie is seriously scary. Tapping into our fears of being buried alive and of dark magic we do not understand, “The Serpent and the Rainbow” goes to the root of the term zombie.

2. Zombieland

I know I am not alone in my love for “Zombieland.”

There is something really fun about the mixture of comedy and horror. I like that the zombies in this film are fast, bloody, and ready to devour. I also like that the people who survive, including Bill Murray (for a bit, at least), do so by use of common sense, manipulation, and sheer dumb luck.

 I think it is smart to name the characters after cities, and I enjoyed the relationship that developed between Columbus and Tallahassee. I think my heart broke just a little bit when we all realized that Tallahassee had lost his little boy to the zombies.

While funny, this movie still had heart. At times, however, it lacks brains. While I really love this movie, I thought the amusement park scene was silly. In a world full of zombies, it would behoove you not to make a lot of noise. Fail, zday survivors, just fail. And a “Zombieland” TV show? No thanks.

1. Shaun of the Dead

By now you are seeing a theme in my movie picks . . . I like my zombies funny (why the heck did I write a dark fantasy/zombie novel and not a zombie comedy)!

What I like about “Shaun of the Dead” is not that it’s funny, though it is amusing; I love this movie because of the social commentary it makes. If the zombie apocalypse happened, would we notice? According to “Shaun of the Dead,” the answer is no!

This is a really important reflection on the state of our societal interactions. Shaun slips in blood, bypasses mangled corpses, and fends off a zombie panhandler without even noticing that they are, in fact, zombies! The movie is great, the characters are loveable, but the larger message is important.

It is the same message we see in “Warm Bodies,” it’s just presented in a slightly more satirical way. We are feeling pretty dead inside, folks. Isn’t it about time we started noticing one another again?

Thanks so much for letting me stop by to talk about my favorite zombie movies! While I don’t think “The Harvesting” was directly influenced by any of these films, my novel does address the idea of what it means to be “dead inside” and plays with the different kinds of “deadness” we might feel. It’s also a story about human survival which questions the composition of our contemporary Middle Earth. If you like zombies, and romance, and action, and a little vampire on the side, check out “The Harvesting"!

 Melanie Karsak, steampunk connoisseur, white elephant collector, and caffeine junkie, resides in Florida with her husband and two children. Visit the author at her blog to learn more about upcoming projects, book signings, and other neato things.

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Summary

It's all fun and games until someone ends up undead.

Though Layla reluctantly returns home to rural Hamletville after a desperate call from her psychic grandmother, she could never have anticipated the horror of what Grandma Petrovich has foreseen. The residents of Hamletville will need Layla's help if they are to survive the zombie apocalypse that's upon them. But that is not the only problem. With mankind silenced, it soon becomes apparent that we were never alone. As the beings living on the fringe seek to reclaim power, Layla must find a way to protect the ones she loves or all humanity may be lost.

"To label this a zombie book would be a false pretense . . . this is so much more than that. What you start out with and what you end up with are very different, and those twists and turns in the middle will make your heart beat faster over and over again."-- Colossal Pop

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