I am what you might call an undead enthusiast.  I am enthused by the undead, from skeletons to zombies and everything in between.  I would only go so far as to say “enthusiast” because I am sure that someone could quiz me on some obscure literature or movie and I’d fail.  I do not go out of my way to read those stories and I do not exclude all other genres.  I enjoy them and that is about the extent of it.  In the end it is not just the undead that sets my heart a-fluttering, I think I am mainly fascinated by apocalytpic stories be they pre-, mid- or post-apocalyptic.

I just finished George Romero’s latest movie Diary of the Dead and while it was okay and I am sure I see what he was going for it just felt lacking to me in many areas especially in the acting department.  I am not sure if the actors were trying to act like someone that was not an actor would act in front of camera or if they were just not that good.  It is possible they were doing the best they could do with the material, which would be sad.  The other big let down for me, was that the effects were more like a poorly funded film school project (which would be getting a lousy grade) instead of a real movie.  No matter how much I tried I couldn’t suspend any disbelief and the zombies looked like actors instead of flesh eating denizens of the night bent on consuming the human race one person at a time. 

My question though is what is it about these invariably tragic stories that instills in me a craving to watch the horror unfold for the characters in it.  Is it the human suffering?  Could it be the struggle of simply living in the aftermath of a horrible catastrophe?  I will dig deep in my soul and try to figure it out and post more on that later.

-v- out.

Just FYI I know if I faced life in England in the Reign of Fire setting that I would be one of the first to succumb to even the most mentally challenged dragon.