Why Zombies Make Better Horror Movies Than Vampires
Filed under: Horror, Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom
The battle of the undead on the big screen has been under way for some time now, and after months of hearing that vampires are taking over pop culture, it seems like we shouldn't quite put our friends the zombies (no, not those ones) down for the count. Over at Newsweek, Sarah Ball put together a few reasons as to why zombies will never beat vampires in a pop-culture zeitgeist-off thanks to our long-standing love-affair with the pale tortured types. But just this weekend, audiences proved that when it comes to the walking dead, the zombies still have what it takes to bring in the crowds.
Everybody has their personal preferences (and man I love those bloodsuckers), so even though I've watched more vampire content than I care to remember (I even sat through the pilot of The Vampire Diaries), and I'll always be a dedicated 'fan of the fang', I think that sometimes those drooling bumbling walking corpses might be better suited (at least these days) to the world of horror. Here's why:
After the jump: my top 3 reasons Zombies (might) make better horror movies.
1. Zombies Don't Fall in Love
One of the best things about a zombie movie is that at no point do we have to worry about watching the trials and tribulations of a human zombie romance (OK, so one movie comes to mind). You can blame Twilight or you can blame Buffy, (personally I blame Frank Langella) but the romantic vamp is here to stay, and when you're looking for chills and thrills on the big screen, romance ruins the gooey fun.
2. Gore Factor
Now, technically, when you're talking about vampires or zombies, you're talking about the walking dead. But the thing about vampires is that for the most part they're pretty hot -- and unless you have a messy eater on your hands, the kill is going to be fairly PG. Zombies, however, are all about the 'goo' -- you've got body parts being ripped off, brains being eaten and all the blood and gore you could ever want.
3. There Are More Creative Ways to Kill a Zombie.
As Zombieland showed us over the weekend, sometimes there really is more than one way to skin a zombie. Once again, the zombies have to take the win, because in the end, most vamps just get staked. Now, as True Blood has shown us the result of the staking can be something new, but seriously, I'd rather watch an old lady drop a piano over Van Helsing and 'Mr. Pointy' any day of the week.
So who do you prefer as your big bad? Vampires or Zombies? Sound off in the comments below...
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
10-05-2009 @ 5:42PM
Premaximum said...
I'm really holding out hope for The Strain helping to usher -out- the romantic vampire. The book was excellent at portraying Vampires as something vicious and cruel, rather than soft and fuzzy.
Hopefully the movie will do the same.
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10-05-2009 @ 6:03PM
Kaeli said...
Hollywood seems predisposed against doing this, I'm afraid... I'm bracing myself for an "I Am Legend" style switcheroo from vampires to mindless, beastlike zombies.
10-06-2009 @ 7:26PM
nelson said...
This is a technicality, but those things in the book were vampire zombies, or zombie vampires. I can't really distinguish. I guess they're both undead. Now I'm just confused.
10-06-2009 @ 8:33PM
Premaximum said...
They originated from a vampire...just the underlings became mindless, I suppose. I suspect the second book will elaborate more on this. I think it was insinuated that the mindless "vambies" would get smarter over time. Can't recall exactly.
10-05-2009 @ 6:09PM
Maria Stahl said...
I went through my Vampire Phase back when Anne Rice was just getting rockin on her series. I'm so over vampires. Zombies are the scariest. Always have been, always will.
I started rereading George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series because the sequel has been in the works so long I have forgotten the earlier books, and was surprised to find - !zombies! in them. I had completely forgotten how zombie-like the Others are. Zombies are everywhere.
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10-05-2009 @ 6:27PM
Monika said...
Daybreakers might do a little something to change the gore-less vampire staking.
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10-05-2009 @ 6:27PM
Reuben said...
I'm a much bigger fan of vampires when compared to zombies, but I agree that zombie movies as a whole are indeed scarier. 30 Days of Night was the only vampire movie that I've ever seen that actually shook me up.
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10-05-2009 @ 7:18PM
paul said...
Del Toro's vampires in his book The Strain are pretty much a combination of vampire and zombie. Eatin' and poopin', eatin' and poopin'.
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10-06-2009 @ 2:53AM
wolverbunny69 said...
eatin and poopin zombies.... stephen king's critters in the cell or whatever its called...they eat and poop,eat and poop from what i can remwber readin...
ZOMBIES RULE!!!!!
10-06-2009 @ 1:12PM
Holly said...
Well yes, of course they do. Vampirism has been an obvious metaphor for sex since waaaaay before Stephanie Meyer tried to convince her preteen readers that the notion of a hot vampire in love with a human was a new concept. Zombies as a concept (cultural criticism in each film aside) aren't a metaphor for anything remotely attractive, they just want to eat me alive. So yeah. way freaking scarier!
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10-06-2009 @ 4:15AM
soloparolesparse said...
We could try to make a beautiful love story between two zombies. Just pay attention to wild sex scenes. Lovers could loose meat everywhere during tha amplex!
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10-06-2009 @ 4:51AM
CppThis said...
I prefer zombies, if only for the fact that modern zombie movies tend to be pretty tongue in cheek whereas most vampire movies take themselves *far* too seriously.
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10-06-2009 @ 7:30AM
Richard said...
There's something being overlooked here. No matter how bad the plot is, you can still watch a "bad" zombie movie and think to yourself, "It may have sucked, but it was ZOMBIES, Baby!" Watch a "bad" vampire movie and you think, "That sucked . . . . . no joke! I mean that literally SUCKED!"
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10-06-2009 @ 11:28AM
louis said...
my favorite is "hot wax zombies". sex-crazed zombies on motorcycles? cool.
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10-06-2009 @ 1:39PM
Null507 said...
The intereseting thing about zombies is that they aren't inherently supernatural. Most zombie movies hold that some virus or plague enveloped the world turning people to zombies.
My only problem with zombie movies is that for the most part there is very little difference in plot. Plus I'm not much of a fan of disaster movies because let's face it zombies are just another natural disater plot wise. I liked Zombieland because it left that behind and instead of killing off all but two characters from a large cast, they gave us a small cast of four people made us care and then let them kick undead ass. The only time anyone in Zombieland ached over the decission to kill themselves after being bitten was a con. I thought that was priceless.
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10-06-2009 @ 2:52PM
ML said...
I can't say I'm that crazy about either right now. Although I have to admit I've seen some entertaining variations recently, I find most zombie movies dull. Meanwhile, yes, I like Buffy and I do actually like a few vampire movies, but they've really begun to wear on me and lately my reaction has been "what, more vampires? Can't you think of anything else?" It probably has been that it's always the same old romantic vampire thing. If I had to choose, I might go with zombies (even though I find them more dull conceptually) because right now I sense more creativity in that area.
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10-06-2009 @ 3:00PM
Saint said...
Zombies win, there is no contest. Karloff was the ultimate in Frankenstein. Lugosi was decent in Dracula. It all goes back to the special effects and make-up design. Don't care if some think it is "all grunting and make-up." You like a bat on a string or a 7ft beast with a lazy stare? 30 days of night or 28 days later? No surprise that Night of the Living Dead is considered one of the greatest US horror films ever made.
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10-06-2009 @ 3:20PM
Felicia said...
I like both and find them scary in different ways. Vampires are more subversive and less gory but that doesn't always mean less scary. The classic vampires took your soul along with your blood and that can be a scary concept. I don't find vampires scary when they try to go gory and gruesome. 30 Days of Night wasn't scary because I kept thinking that if they were that animalistic, they would have killed off their food supply a long time before...sort of like zombies.
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10-06-2009 @ 3:30PM
The Former 786 said...
I feel like the dividing line is between men and women.
Females tend to like the romantic, ergo they will prefer vampire stories, while guys like rough 'n' tumble and so the creative zombie killing will pull them in.
Will there ever be a bridge between the two?
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10-06-2009 @ 3:44PM
Ryan said...
I've always liked zombie movies better, and it's not really because of the zombies themselves. It's the whole complete breakdown of society/apocalyptic aspect of the genre. I've always been fascinated by the different survival strategies in such situations.
I've literally made plans for what I would do in a zombie attack. Vampires not so much though.
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