Zombie Movie FX: The Blue and the Gray … With a Tinge of Green

I grew up in the era before computer generated graphics and super realistic 3D and instead was weaned on latex rubber and fake blood. In the movies I watched, the only difference between the zombies and their afternoon snack was the pasty blue and gray make-up tinged with a moldy green.

As time went on, the make-up got better and soon they were chewing on latex eyeballs and the blood that flowed from the open wounds actually looked like blood and less like watered down Kool-Aid. Then as the 80’s entered its swan song and computers began becoming more powerful and less expensive, movie makers began toying with computers in horror films.

It started out small with computer generated flames shooting out of a building or a CGI demon pathetically trying to attack a wandering passerby. By the time the 90’s were in full swing, CGI was everywhere from body parts being ripped off to acrobatic stunts by super human zombies. The art of latex make-up was reserved for low budget fair, thankfully where most zombie movies have gravitated, and you couldn’t turn on the TV or watch a movie without being overwhelmed by cheap CGI from applications appropriately named the Video Toaster.

With the survival of the new millennium, people began realizing that the best way to make a movie was a sharing of CGI and classical make-up techniques. We had Wesley Snipe’s Blade hopping about like a vampiric fairy and then ripping off someone’ throat and throwing it on the floor with the appropriate plop. This became the way of zombie films as well. Milla Jovovich kicked her share of CGI zombie butt, but the bites were real and the blood flowed like fine wine. (By the way, she was totally naked in the movie. Boo to the Yah!)

I personally miss the days of the old blue and the gray with a generous helping of green. Who can think about the look of the zombies on Dawn of the Dead and not be afraid.

They may not have the sophistication of Resident Evil’s zombies, but they were a group you could really sink your teeth into. Instead of focusing on the special effects, you actually listened to the dialog and suddenly you realized, “Hey, the zombies all went to a shopping mall, that’s deep man.”

The zombies were real people and that showed in the way they moved and even though they couldn’t speak, they still conveyed the emotions that Romero wanted. CGI zombies can’t do that, they are truly zombies without feeling or emotion. They can realistically open their eyes, but there is nothing there. No spark of the former life they were supposed to have remains. We may have hit a new plateau of realism that will gross you out more than any cheap make-up could, but what do we lose in exchange? Is it worth having the terror if we lose our zombie loving souls in the process.