THE DEAD TIMES

DESCRIPTION:

This picture of a military Zombie from game Call of Duty: Vanguard is undeniably cool - everything about it draws your eye. The background - a vast, crumbling Paris-like city at night, is filled with hidden details. Smoke billows into clouds, illuminated by the burning fires below, remaining just out of sight but imagined from the ruined buildings and suggestion of a war against the undead. Zombies lean into shot, mysterious and not quite taking centre-stage. The partial eclipse of the sun in the top-right only adds to the threatening ambience, silently posing the question; did this have something to do with the rising dead? It's front and centre though which is the highlight - the Zombie, decked out in his military uniform, clearly resurrected after falling in battle, almost audibly groaning with his half-open, lipless mouth, exposing his crooked teeth. His glowing red eyes and the strange symbol, poking out from beneath his helmet make you again question the cause of this Zombie outbreak; was it something supernatural, a virus or something else entirely? Was the Zombie resurrected far away, having stumbled, perhaps miles, to this location, or is this the re-animated corpse of a soldier deployed to the city in the later stages of the outbreak? You don't have much time to contemplate the answers however. The breath-taking angle of this shot - low to the ground, looking up at the assailant - gives the awesome impression that this unbalanced walking pile of meat and bones is about to topple on you, making it almost impossible to get away without getting bitten, ceiling your fate to join the hideous ranks of the roving dead.