Zombie movies

I'm weird - I would get up early in the morning to watch a zombie flick. In fact, that's what I'm about to do right now - there's an early morning showing for Zombieland at the theatre with captions on - and heck, after the kind of flat movie I saw last night, I'm in the mood for something upbeat that involves bangs, booms, and splats.

I'm not sure exactly when I started liking zombie movies, but I'm pretty sure the movie that kicked it off was the remake of "Dawn of the Dead" and also "28 Days Later" They're not incredibly horribly scary, but throw in a bit of action and it keeps my interest for an hour or two.

The horror genre as a whole doesn't really grab me. I'm not a big fan of movies that are meant to gross you out by showing people dying in grotesque ways, stuff like that, but I'm fine with a movie that tries to scare you with anticipation or the unexpected.

I think zombie movies have risen in popularity mostly because of the fears of a global pandemic happening, such as if the avian flu or swine flu or even mad cow disease gained traction within the human population. I'm not so sure a sanitary society is the answer - people using those purcell hand sanitizers and popping antibiotics at every opportunity, creating strains of superbugs that are resistant to standard drugs. So it all comes back to people's fear of science in a similar way that people have a fear of robots taking over the world. Next up will probably be genetically modified people ruling the world... oh, wait, that's already been done. ;-)

Off to see the flick! Football practice later today, hope that'll go well.... come on Favres!!!!!

UPDATED:

I just got back from the Zombieland showing... I admit I liked the "battles" and the beginning and end of the flick, but the middle was just a bunch of dialog that could have been done without. Lots of social commentary and attempts to appeal to a more cerebral audience.... come on just show me the bang bangs! ;-)