THE DEAD TIMES
DEAD ARE COMING...
Decade of the Dead
Happy Halloween my ghoulish friends and welcome to a very special, apocalyptic Halloween update to The Dead Times. Now, as you all will now, 2020 started a whole new decade, admittedly with a whimper thanks to this terrible virus that has spread all over the globe and continues to ruin everything for pretty much everybody - thanks COVID, you monster. However, beside all the doom and gloom and unutterable desire for this year to end, it is my firm belief - as firm as the stone slab blocking egress from my Internet-connected tomb - that this new decade will be the Decade of the Dead; the true landmark era of horror that so many of us horrible consorts of dread have been yearning for. It'll be packed full of Zombies, demons, ghouls, ghosts, possessed souls, hell beasts, Cenobites, dream demons and other horrors not of this world. Most decades have seen a plentiful supply of scare flicks (of debateable quality) it's true and, I do believe this regular slew will continue, but there are a number of reasons I passionately believe, Zombies - those creatures of disgusting terror that we love so much - will, at last, take centre stage. And it's not just movies; video games and books, these will also get a big Zombification horror boost (in fact, you can already see the book world treading this path, most recently being joined by George Romero's nearly-lost masterpiece; The Living Dead).
COVID
Firstly, and most obviously, we have the horrors unleashed by the coronavirus. I mean, every country has had deaths, infections have risen well into the millions, it's on the news almost every day and people's lives have been affected by lockdowns, social distancing, facemasks and countless conditions we could not (and would not) have even dreamed of last year. Literally everywhere you go, it's there - restrictions, media coverage, whatever - the virus is inescapable; it has wormed its way into our culture and shows no sign of letting go, even the future leader of the free world could be decided based on how it is being handled. So, naturally, this is going to have a knock-on-effect on video games, books, movies and other forms of entertainment - it's a no brainer; if something is popular, whether it be good or bad, you put the right spin on it and you can make millions. The resurrection of the cancelled World War Z 2 project would be an obvious choice given the facts; the entire premise of the film series is a worldwide Zombie pandemic that infects millions of people in every state, region and continent. The team behind the failed (but hugely popular) idea for the sequel have also stated that they are adamant that, one day, the unmade movie will finally be filmed; this decade could be their best chance.
However, there is a deeper tale to tell here, one that could rewrite the rules of horror (something which, while it may not be badly needed, would not be unwelcome). In the 80s - some say the golden years of horror - the genre was still fairly young; experimenting was the flavour of the day and movies were varied. That's not to say there were not rules; don't have sex (especially, not pre-marital sex), never kill the dog, anyone who goes anywhere alone will almost certainly die and so on. These rules were solidified, come the 90s, and explained in almost cheesy fashion, through the decade-defining Scream movies. The 00s and 10s, stubbornly followed these rules, wavering a little towards the end but never straying too far from the mould. It was always the 'outside threat'; the evil stalker that lurked across the street or the escaped serial killer, or the horror was the fault of the protagonist going out and meddling in something they did not understand. In 2020, fear has taken on a new dimension - and I'm not talking about the movies anymore. Reality has become clouded by fear; the fear of infection by the coronavirus, the fear of your friendly neighbour who may already have it, the fear of yourself and how you may spread the disease to others, the fear and anxiety of social isolation, of not being able to live as you have been for so long - it's all 'inward' fear, not something triggered by you, a helpless encroaching dread that, you can take steps to avoid, but one that can, ultimately, never be escaped.
To this end, I see Zombies taking the limelight; an enemy that's all around you, that mindlessly locates and attacks people without those people actively doing anything to provoke them - it's all there in one grotesquely morbid package. But, it's not just Zombies that are going to be big in the coming decade. Since it is the fabled spooky season of demons and witches, I'm going to loosen the binding rituals placed on The Dead Times and talk about horror in general, not just my favoured undead friends. Freddy Krueger, that dream demon that is hugely popular in the horror-world, will get a starring role in at least one new movie; with social distancing and full isolation being key to surviving a worldwide virus, people will escape the confines of their homes in the dreamworld - the classic haunt of Freddy. The Cenobites of Hellraiser could also do well for similar reasons; people, forced to stay at home will undoubtedly take to rummaging through long forgotten, attic-stored possessions, unlocking mysteries that should best remain locked - a puzzle-box of demonic power would be ripe for this theme. That being said, there'll still be room for horror movies where the killers are not supernatural but normal, everyday people, driven to extreme measures during less severe lockdowns or untreated mental health issues. We have already seen one movie in this vein, Unhinged, and it is not hard to see the SAW franchise moving in this direction.
The Walking Dead
The main series is ending but there are so many more stories to tell in this undead world
2022 will see the final episode of The Walking Dead; the 100-plus episode TV show that, arguably, got Zombies into mainstream media. The first few seasons of the show were sublime TV - with viewer numbers steadily increasing to above a jaw-dropping 17 million, making The Walking Dead the most watched episodic TV show in history; a record which has, to this day, still not been beaten. Admittedly, later series have declined in quality but the show still garners a fanbase that is millions strong. Whether you count yourself among that fanbase or not, it's hard to argue the impact The Walking Dead has had; there have been a mind-crunching number of episodes, it has sparked a career for a huge number of actors and crew, the main series has gone on to spawn multiple off-shoot series such as Fear the Walking Dead and yet more are on the way (plus some rumoured, yet unconfirmed, ones), and, to cap it all, there are now going to be three movies set in The Walking Dead universe. That's not mentioning the phenomenal success of the mammoth comic book series from Robert Kirkman that started the whole rollercoaster or the host of TWD video games.
My point is that, at some point in our 10-year future, someone is going to have the bright idea of following suit - of bringing more Zombie stories to TV, of penning more Zombie comics and of filming more Zombie movies, simply to try and grab some of the fame The Walking Dead snagged. Will all that new material be good; as good as TWD in the early days? Hell no. But does it matter; the more mistakes you make along the way, the better the final destination, right? For years, the only non-TWD, 'realistic' Zombie show on TV was Z Nation and that did stupidly well for its more comedic angle, punting out a massive five seasons before its eventual cancellation in 2018.
Resident Evil
I've added Resident Evil to the list for largely the same reason as The Walking Dead; for so many people, myself included, it was their induction into the Zombie realm. Starting way back in 1996, the game series, movie series, book series, whatever you want to call it is still going strong to this day and will undoubtedly continue to do so well into the current decade. As with The Walking Dead, all the glory gained by Resident Evil products in this new decade - the rebooted film franchise, the new Netflix TV series - will definitely inspire outsiders to enter the Zombie genre and try and gain some of those riches for themselves.
However, the RE series has been moving away from Zombies; both the 7th and soon to be released 8th games in the numbered series (there are countless spin-offs to the linear entries) have avoided the living dead altogether - still fixating on hideous beasts, just not the ghoulish, undead kind. The agonising success of recent remakes of games from earlier in the series though, especially Resident Evil 2, and Capcom's confirmed plan to remake another Zombie heavy game not in the numbered series (although originally intended to be), Resident Evil: Code Veronica, tells me that the company has not abandoned its Zombie roots, meaning a return to (pardon the pun) the dead times seems likely. Capcom have also, primarily due to the success of the remakes, stated that they want to focus on franchise revivals, restoring life into many of its outdated game series. Could this mean a reboot of the long-lost Dead Rising franchise - a more comedic Zombie game that sees huge swathes of the world infected with a deadly Zombie virus, turning billions of people in mindless, shambling undead and forcing those not infected to deal with the risk of infection, even founding a drug - Zombrex - to combat the Zombie flu once it is in your bloodstream? Sound familiar to today's situation? Oh yes, if there was an apt time to add some humour to a global pandemic, it's now.
Now, there's plenty more examples of Zombie video games, books and movies coming next year and in the foreseeable future, there always are, and, as always, I'll be covering these in a special yearly preview article later on. The more informed among you will quickly notice two glaring omissions from this article; Dying Light 2 and the crazy-delayed, Dead Island 2. And it is true, these notable one-offs will likely stir things up in the world of Zombie media - the former being the sequel to one of the best Zombie games of recent times. What I've noted above are only the three main reasons that this new decade is going to be one of nightmares - in the good way, of course. Even horror in general seems to be a more dominant force in the new decade, seeing countless projects on the horizon, both new and old; Halloween Kills and Ends, a remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, reboots of Candyman and Hellraiser, The Conjuring 3, Scream 5, Wolf Creek 3, Evil Dead Rise, a brand new film from horror-maestro James Wan… the list goes on and on. The future, it seems, is going to Hell and I, for one, cannot wait to reach that fiery destination.
DESCRIPTION:
2020 spawned a whole new decade. In this very special Halloween update to The Dead Times, I explain just why I think our 10-year future could be the Decade of the Dead.
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DATE UPLOADED:
31/10/2020