Since Shaun of the Dead is about a zombie apocalypse so one of the main things I need in my film is Zombies. However, I've decided to research into these undead, horror creatures to decide the type of zombie I'd like to have since there has been so many adaptations over the years. I started by watching a video on Youtube which shows the evolution of zombie adaptations over the years:
The first actual adaptation of 'The Walking Dead' zombies that we know of today, meaning a corpse that has come back to life to feed on the living, actually came from George Romero and his film 'Night of the Living Dead' back in 1968. This film kicked off the zombie craze and has since been classic as the mother of zombie films. This is also the film that got Simon Pegg's interest in Zombie's and helped in the creation of 'Shaun of the Dead'. You can even see inspiration and reference within the story. In Night of the living Dead they are trapped in a house and end up in the basement before the military comes and saves them. In Shaun of the Dead they are trapped in a pub and end up in the cellar where the military comes to rescue them.
Night of the Living Dead zombies are very slow, pale and look like dead people. They walk with very stiff movement, almost like they're joins are all stiff and locked in place. They don't make any noise other than a growl when attacking and they always have a blank and emotionless look on their face.
Looking to a more modern adaptation of zombies, we tend to get something like this:
This latest adaptation of zombies comes from the game 'Dying Light'. These zombies only come out at night, run very fast, just climb and jump very high as well as being very strong. They glow red but are sensitive to UV Light. These days, zombies in both games and films are aiming to become much more scary and also harder to fight so you'd more likely have to run. Here are a few examples:
Z Zombie - World War Z (Film 2013)
They has a horrible chattering noise they make. They can only be killed by being burnt, story, fast. Eyes go more white the longer they are infected. Skin loses the blood cells and begins to thin and rot over time.
Bonies - Warm Bodies (Film 2013)
Zombies that have been infected for so long and have gone without feeding that they feed on their own skin, they will feed on anything with a heart beat including animals, humans and newly turned zombies. Can only be stopped by removing the head or destroying the brain.
Bloater - The Last of Us (Game 2013)
The infection is spread by Cordyceps Fungus (which is a real life fungus that only effects small animals), if infected fungus will grow over a great deal of time from the infected person and end up with being armoured with these fungus growths as well as firing spores of the fungus at enemies, blinded by the infection but has improved hearing.
All these different adaptations have attracted different audience and made out zombies in different ways and given then so many different abilities. It's changed so much from the dead bodies coming back to life that we had in 'Night of the Living Dead' so the actual choice of how my zombies will both look and act is really important for my film.
Shaun of the Dead situation
In Shaun of the Dead, when Shaun and Ed awake from a night of drinking, Britain has broken out into a zombie apocalypse. The important part of this story is that this is the first day of the apocalypse. The people who have become zombies have only been zombies for 1 day so they wouldn't have rotten skin, they wouldn't be covered in blood but could possibly have blood on their clothes from their attacks or around their mouth if they have fed. Looking to Night of the living Dead it might be an idea for the zombies to have white eyes (could be done with coloured contacts). With the way they would act, I like the idea of having a Walking Dead style for them, like this:
The slow and almost struggling movement, as well as no fear or cares if they fall over just getting back up and carrying on.
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