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Winner of the silver medal in popular culture for the 2006 ForeWord Book of the Year Awards. This volume connects American social and religious views with the classic American movie genre of the zombie horror film. For nearly forty years, the films of George A. Romero have presented viewers with hellish visions of our world overrun by flesh-eating ghouls. This study proves that Romero's films, like apocalyptic literature or Dante's Commedia, go beyond the surface experience of repulsion to probe deeper questions of human nature and purpose, often giving a chilling and darkly humorous critique of modern, secular America.
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paffenroth.qxd 5/10/2006 1:33 PM Page i Gospel of the Living Dead paffenroth.qxd 5/10/2006 1:33 PM Page iii GOSPEL OF THE LIVING DEAD George Romero’s Visions of Hell on Earth Kim Paffenroth Baylor University Press Waco, Texas 76798 paffenroth.qxd 5/10/2006 1:33 PM Page v CONTENTS Acknowledgments Preface Introduction The Themes of the Current Zombie Movie Genre vii ix 1 1 Night of the Living Dead (1968) Romero’s First Look at Hell, Sin, and Human Nature 27 2 Dawn of the Dead (1978) Consumerism, Materialism, and the Fourth Circle of Hell 45 3 Day of the Dead (1985) Violence, Perverted Reason, and the Lower Circles of Hell 71 4 Dawn of the Dead (2004) Limbo and the Partial Victory of Reason and Virtue 91 5 Land of the Dead (2005) The Deepest Abyss of Hell and the Final Hope 115 Conclusion The Meaning and Future of Zombie Movies Notes Bibliography Index 133 v 137 185 191 paffenroth.qxd 5/10/2006 1:33 PM Page vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Few of my friends share my enthusiasm for the zombie movie genre, but those who do—or, more often, who at least tolerate reading what I’ve written about it—have provided valuable feedback as this book has progressed, especially W. Scott Field, Victor Gibbs, Robert Kennedy, and John-Paul Spiro. At my institution of Iona College, thanks are always due to my colleagues in the Religious Studies Department—Brian Brown, Kathleen Deignan, Robert Durning, and Elena Procario-Foley—and to my dean, Alex Eodice. The staff at Ryan Library also deserves special thanks, particularly Richard Palladino, Kathleen Pascuzzi, Matt McKee, and Ed Helmrich. I would like to thank my editor at Baylor University Press, Carey Newman. His enthusiasm for the project made it a reality and a success. Very special thanks go to the team who produced the cover: design and photography by William Lebeda; photography by David Midgen; zombie makeups by Greg McDougall and Cari Finken of Cerberus Creations; and the zombies themselves—Hillary Bauman, Anne Coleman, Crystal Deones, Grant Nellessen, Josh Novak, and Jeffrey Schwarz. The living dead have never looked so good or behaved so well. And, of course, one’s family always bears the biggest share of the burden of one’s idiosyncrasies, whether those idiosyncrasies are in entertainment or intellectual pursuits. My son Charlie rather enthusiastically vii paffenroth.qxd 5/10/2006 1:33 PM Page viii viii / Gospel of the Living Dead discusses zombies with me, talking fine points of tactics, stockpiling food, the advantages and disadvantages of various weapons, etc. When we do so, my daughter Sophia, on the other hand, simply keeps playing with Barbie and saying, “Zombies don’t exist, daddy.” (She has, however, learned to phrase her commentary that way, since when she used to say, “Zombies aren’t alive,” I could respond, “Of course they’re not: they’re undead.”) I know that, even if their