Army of the Dead Recruits Heijningen

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 6, 2008

A Zombie Army approaches

Commercial director wunder-kid and multiple Cannes Lion award winner Matthijs van Heijningen has been selected to direct the upcoming big screen zombie massacre that is Army of the Dead. The project is the brainchild of and will be produced by Zack Snyder, who helmed one of the top zombie movies of all time – Dawn of the Dead, a remake which, in my opinion (which matters), is far superior to the slow, plodding original. (Flame on)

Details are sparse, but we do know a few things about this flick. First off, it will feature zombies and secondly it will take place in an over-run Las Vegas. The main crux of the story will be a father attempting to save his daughter from the impending onslaught of flesh-eaters, presumably by finding her and then fighting his way through the reanimated corpses. We can also postulate that the Snyder produced flick will be feature fast zombies, because A) Dawn of the Dead had them and B) Heijningen is a music video director, a breed not known for their long establishing shots and slow pans.

When we know more, you’ll know more. My blood is already flowing for this one.

Zombie art courtesy of Chris Bolton

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Danny Gallagher

"Dawn of the Dead" better than the original? I'm sorry, you couldn't be more wrong if you were dangling a baby over a 9-story balcony while you were saying it. Without the brilliance and vision that is the original DOTD, you wouldn't have it's inferior remake. Plus, zombies shouldn't be world class sprinters. Their name comes from the word "somnambulist" meaning "sleepwalker," so running zombies are in fact the biggest oxymoron since "the ice cream diet."

Robert Fure

Well, considering the original Zombies were people under a spell, or otherwise living people being controlled, the realm of dead, fictional zombies is, of course, up for debate.

Now, allowing for the fact that a zombie can in fact become mobile after death, one could theoretically postulate that the zombie should be able to operate at least as well as it did at death, if not just a touch better as it is now completely resistant to pain and endurance problems. Over time, the zombie would suffer muscle breakdown, etc, and lose the ability to fully function, and at some point would become completely immobile.

I like a mix of fast zombies with slow ones. "Dawn of the Dead" (Remake) was a fun, awesome horror film. The original, I feel, as a zombie film, isn't as good. If you want to compare them as films with a mission or a statement or a point, or as examples of culture, then sure, the heavy handed message of DotD would lend it to being more of a message film than a fun film.

Army of the Dead Recruits Heijningen

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