I think that most zombie movies have failed in large part because the gore is emphasized too much over the philosophical and psychological aspects that create the real story. There was no gore in Night of the Living Dead, but it is the granddaddy of all zombie movies. Dawn of the Dead had some, but it was still primarily a psychological story. Day of the Dead, along with the bulk of other zombie movies such as the Return of Living Dead, Dead Alive, House of the Dead, and the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead, had plenty of gore and were all unremarkable. Where we’ve seen some impressive work is 28 days later, I am Legend, and to a lesser extent Quarantine, none of which truly qualify as “zombie” movies but all focus on psychological aspects and lack the traditional gore-fest emphasized in traditional zombie movies.

Kidding.

I don’t think zombie movies need a lot of gore. Some minor gore needs to be present (since zombies are dead people, after all, and that means blood and the like), but I would love to see more zombie films that focus on the mood rather than the gore…

But zombies and gore really go hand in hand. It does serve a purpose more than just shock value or horror. It shows a level of depravity, animal-like instinct, that the dead are left with. And, similarly, it shows how humans, when killing zombies, will descend to that same level.

I think that’s important.

But one thing I have often wondered is if the concept of zombies, one of the big draw for certain parts of the audience (just like some of the characters we’ve seen, certainly a comment made in Romero’s Night), is that they provide a means for guilt-free murder shots. To take pleasure in the kill, but it’s okay because they’re zombies.

That’s something Romero, even with his ‘gag’ deaths, recognised in Night and is still a part of Survival.

Of course, I don’t enjoy zombie movies, anyway.