Okay, so I know this may be a bit of a departure from the usual, but the usual is usually over-rated. I’m a Zombie fan. Not Rob Zombie. Not Voodoo zombies. I’m talking contagion driven, George A. Romero ZOMBIES. Ever since I first saw Night of the Living Dead many, many years ago, I’ve been a fan. Long before the current Zombie renaissance, I was a fan.
Their current popularity is kind of a good news bad news thing. The downside is that you get a lot of people who don’t give an infected rat’s patootie about Zombies and just want to make a quick buck. The god news is, it lets all the secret Zombie lovers out of the closet. That’s where it gets fun.
One of those long term Zombie fans wrote a couple of books that you may have heard of. “The Zombie Survival Guide”, and “World War Z: An Oral History Of The Zombie Apocalypse”. It’s not just that these are both brilliant additions to Zombie canon, they were written by the last person whose name you would associate with horror. Max Brooks.
Now I can tell that all of you are sitting there waiting for the punchline. You are probably wondering who Max Brooks is and why I think it’s surprising that he wrote these books. Well, I’m glad you asked. He’s Mel Brooks son. You know, “High Anxiety”, “Young Frankenstein”, “Blazing Saddles”. That Mel Brooks.
At first, I was blown away to think that the son of one of the funniest people in movies was writing Zombie books. Then I read a bit more and realized that like me, Max is a long time fan. Just because his father did funny, doesn’t mean he has to. My father was a hard-rock miner. Me, not so much. Once I got my head around that, I could enjoy the irony of it.
Here’s hoping that Max Brooks can enjoy a long and successful career. Us old-school Zombie fans have got to stick together.
Cheers, Winston
Brain Bits To Go 
Win, I have to say, as long as I have known you, I am terribly disappointed in you for not introducing me to Zombie movies. Until 2008, I don’t think I ever watched a full zombie movie.
When I was working my Executive Protection detail in San Bernardino, my partner asked me, one night, “Do you like zombie movies?” I told him I don’t really recall ever seeing one (might have flipped past a channel on late night TV though).
We had a lot of down time, and his wife worked at Walmart, and was a HUGE zombie fan, so she would get the movies as they came in.
Without hesitation, for over a year, we watched 24, The Unit, and almost every zombie movie ever made. Original Romero’s, Remakes, British Zombie Culture. There was even one made up in Chalk River!!!
Anyways, I know what we will be doing, the next time I get up there. 😀
I never knew your education had been so sadly lacking. That is tragic! It’s good to know that your partner and his wife were able to get you into night class to fill in the gaps.
Looking forward to a good Zombie fest soon:-)