They (zombies) scare
me more than any other fictional creature out there because they break all the
rules. Werewolves and vampires and mummies and giant sharks, you have to go
look for them. My attitude is if you go looking for them, no sympathy. But
zombies come to you. Zombies don't act like a predator; they act like a virus,
and that is the core of my terror. A predator is intelligent by nature, and
knows not to overhunt its feeding ground. A virus will just continue to spread,
infect and consume, no matter what happens. It's the mindlessness behind it.[1]
So says Max Brooks who wrote the novel that this film
is supposed to be based on. But the author has claimed, and I can see his
point, that following a gaggle of rewrites World War Z (2013) has nothing in
common with his book, World War Z An Oral
History Of The Zombie War, which is a follow up to his 2003 novel The Zombie Survival Guide.
 |
| George Square was never this busy at Christmas! |
Marc Foster, responsible for the 2008 James Bond movie
Quantum of Solace and the inappropriately
named Machine
Gun Preacher (2011) the life story
of former outlaw biker turned Christian, Sam Childers, is in the
directorial driving seat for a movie about a world wide zombie pandemic. The
main character is ex UN investigator Gerry Lane played by Brad Pitt who when
the ‘disease’ breaks out is brought back from retirement, forced to leave his
family on a floating Pentagon and assigned to what seems like an impossible task
to identify how the deadly virus can be stopped.
 |
| Zombie team work. |
Given over to three nights at the Robert Burns Centre
Film Theatre in Dumfries as a replacement for the Robert Redford vehicle The Company You Keep which had been held
up, World War Z turned out to be quite
a treat. Yes ok nonsense, but smart nonsense all the same which manages to maintain
a good level of excitement throughout the full length of movie. And yes I know
that the critics, in general, did not think a great deal of the movie but I
thought it was very well made, had some good workman like performances from the
main cast and boasted some great action sequences especially the ‘George
Square’ episode in the first 35 minutes and I must say that the zombies in this
film were some of the quickest I have ever seen managing to spread the infection
round the world in no time at all! Seriously it’s worth a look if you want to
sample modern horror without the gory bits.
