Zombie Cliché Lookout: Abandoned Zombie Patient
When things go to hell in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, they tend to go to hell really, really quickly. That means that people often don’t have a lot of time to finish up tasks they’ve started before they have to flee for their lives (or, you know, get devoured by the unending hordes of the walking dead). If you walk around in the wake of a zombie uprising, you’ll find half-finished meals, lawn mowers abandoned in the middle of partially cut yards, and possibly zombified patients still strapped to the gurney where they were about to be loaded into an ambulance.
I’ve always loved this trope, because I always love looking for other stories going on in the periphery of the action. It’s always interesting to imagine just what happened to leave such a scene. It’s sort of like how there’s always a piano left in the street in World War II movies. People thought they’d have time to get their most valuable possessions out, but they didn’t, and had to leave some things behind.
Discussion Question:
When you’re watching zombie movies, what sort of thing do you always enjoy seeing in the background? They don’t have to be important to the main storyline per se, but they adds a bit of extra flavor that help deepen the story in subtle ways.
Other News:
If you haven’t already, please take a few minutes to fill out the Bricks of the Dead survey (don’t worry, nothing too personal). I’m going to use the information here to help tell a more interesting story in the upcoming two year retrospective for Bricks of the Dead‘s anniversary in February.
And, of course, there’s a certain contest that’s ending soon. I may have mentioned this before; it’s hard to say.
I smell a gunshot or zombification ahead~
I don’t watch zombie movies, and I’ve only ever seen Highschool of the dead (brilliant anime but has too much fanservice) , but I think generally the background has to be vaguely detailed. not brilliantly, just Vaguely. Sometimes if it has some relevence to the story it can be useful. For example, based on the ambulance’s position, I believe the man was on the ambulance when the zombies came, and as it crashed the stretcher fell out and rolled into zombies that pushed it to its current location while biting the victim.
I’ve heard good things about Highschool of the Dead, but I just don’t like anime. I don’t know what it is, but I just could never get into it.
I’m in the same camp as you, Dave, regarding Anime, I can’t stand it, but HSotD is actually not too bad for an anime. They got the zombies right, at least, but like Digihuman said, there’s a lot of unnecessary upskirts and focus on jiggling boobies which gets kinda tired and annoying when you’re trying to take it seriously. I’d recommend watching at least the first episode.
“a lot of unnecessary upskirts and focus on jiggling boobies”
Yeah, that shit right there is one of the big reasons I can’t stand the medium.
Dave, you do know that’s only a focus in SOME anime, right? There are others which have little-to-NONE of that at all. Take “The Law of Ueki” for example – all story, no messing around,
Oh yeah, I realize that. And I know it’s not fair to judge the medium on it, but I just can’t get over it.
I’m also not a fan of the art style.
Is it just me, or is there a figure in the second window from the left (not including the door) in the second panel?
Are the zeds learning from watching? Do they now have distractions or bait out? Will they have loud arguments soon?
You had me leaning in close to look.
If there is someone there, there shouldn’t be.
Does the person look blueish?
No I looked close enough and what your seeing is the ambulance in the reflection of the glass.
That’s probably it.
I see what you’re talking about, Lich, but I think it’s a reflection of the front of the ambulance in the window. a minifig ghost, not a zed. You know, like those supposed pictures andvids of ghosts that are all over Youtube?
Dammit, the close tag for the strikeout was supposed to be right after window. I screwed that up…
Fixed it for you.
Yeah, reflections can be funny, especially when the bricks themselves are also reflective.
So it’s like that one in “Three Men and a Zombie?”
Wait, that’s not it.
Murphy will have to shoot this zombie, or he’ll run the risk of zombie bites. I’m seriously hoping he’s learned by now that these things are deadly in more ways than one, and will do this poor zombie a favour and put it out of it’s misery.
Of course, there remains the question of where the ambulance officers went, and if they too are now zombies! Given how badly that went down earlier at this location, I’d say they’re either roaming around looking for fresh meat, or they’re having coffee and donuts with a few officers who decided to go somewhere not infested with zombies! 😀
I like the idea that these guys are just hanging out, drinking coffee and shooting the shit.
Nice episode Dave!
In a Zombie movie I like to see details that remind us that things that used to be of importance are now irrelevant. For instance in “28 days later” the bank notes that are scattered on the streets. Another cool effect and that sort of comes back the the same idea – picture a hi-fi store that has been looted. A looted supermarket makes sense but… a hi-fi store? I must have happened when people still thought there was a tomorrow.. very ironic.
Thanks!
I love that part of 28 Days Later as well, especially since the protagonist stops to pick up some of that cash.
yeah, who wouldn’t do that?
Oh yeah, I’d be grabbing hundreds.
you could still use them to light a fire afterwards!
That you could. Or as toilet paper.
Or – and here’s a crazy idea – you could use them to trade with other survivors. In a post-apoc world, electronic money (including credit cards) will go down with the banks, but you’ll still want something to use as currency to move beyond simple barter, and old-world cash will still fit the bill. (Admittedly coins are a lot better for this than notes)
I used to laugh at the idiocy of that until I remembered that, at that point in the plot, I knew more than he did about what was really going on. As far as he knew, the money was still worth something more than easy kindling. From that perspective, it made total sense to me and I stopped laughing.
That’s always an interesting disconnect in movies, isn’t it? Even better when it’s reversed and the character knows more than you.
I read somewhere about the beginning of the zombie apocalypse ‘folks were breaking into the big shops and stealing what they could before there was a single zombie in town’. Flat screen TVs. Designer clothes. Much like those riots in London last year. The food aisle was a disgusting rotten mess of wasted food. All that was left was the tinned stuff.
That’s what a lot of people always say about Katrina too. I wonder how much of it is true.
I have to agree, those little touches of societies letting go are great. I have to say out of my most recent viewings of zombie stuff (The Walking Dead) I love the idea of people jumping into cars, and for whatever reason leaving them. The touches of personality in them are great, the teddy bear buckled in next to a car seat kind of thing. It makes you wonder what happened to make them exit the car, why they didn’t grab the bear if it was so important that they even buckled it in for the kid. Or the views of inside the shops, like barristas, the laptops open and running, coffees hot/cold just siting there waiting for someone to come and claim them again.
Oh, I forgot about that bear. Awesome example there, Tom!
…gives me the creeps just to think of it.
Oh yeah. Those are the best sort of background details because they’re so evocative.
I guess this is one of the guys Murph was wiggin about. So sad! I also guess that we all know what has to be done.
My fav background stuff has to come from Shawn of the Dead. The beginning when the ZA is going on all around him but he is too sleepy to notice was hilarious!!
I was thinking that one too… cause if you watch carefully you see how it’s unfolding and how it’s supposed to have happened.
Walking Dead – A creep out factor was when they’re in that car graveyard on the highway and they’re checking out the various cars for supplies. One of the characters looking into a car where there’s a child seat and all this blood on it. eww…
That was gross!
Also, “I Am Legend” when he walks into the nursery. So sad.
Man, I Am Legend could have been great. Get right of the CGI vampires and change the third act, and it’s a classic.
The one with Will Smith? That’s the only version I’ve seen.
@The Bloody Car Seat – Yeah, that’s a tough one right there.
Shaun is brilliant with it’s background gags.
And that scene with the ambulance where a zombie struggles with getting out of a body bag… And the part where Shaun does a typical British shopping trip with zombies!
I love the zombie in the body bag. Such an awesome little details
Stuff like this is why I’ll never understand the people who try to claim Zombieland was better than Shaun. Preposterous.
People actually think that? Wow… Shawn is way better.
Hard to believe, isn’t it?
wow that building in the background is great, is it a set or did you make it?
That’s Cafe Corner, the original modular building. It’s an official set, and a hell of a nice on to boot. Unfortunately it’s long off the market.
And I am recreating that set as we speak with some color changes. I don’t see the point in a duplicate and it happens to save me $80 on obscure parts.
Cafe Corner would look awesome in a few different color schemes. I can’t wait to see what you come up with.
Yay Murphy’s back!
Perhaps the ambulance crew are on the other side of the vehicle dropping bodies on the floor.
On a side note, watched Stakeland recently, really enjoyed it. Although it’s Vampires I thought it was a nice take on the whole “survival” genre. Anyone else seen it?
What’s Stakeland? It’s got a cool title.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1464580/
hope that link works.
basic story is nations demise politically and economically………and a plague of vampires.
small communities of survivors holding out, with a drifter working his way across the nation.
Worth a look in my opinion.
Well Dave I love hearing background music. Murphy’s probably sighing because he knows Dave is going to make him finish that task.
Yeah, background music can be huge. Also, when the background music is notably absent.
Whats a gurney
The bed/cart thing patients lie on in ambulances and hospitals.
Oh, I saw one of those somewhere, pushed up against a door to protect a comatose police officer from the oncoming zombie hordes.
You certainly did!