Producing : Zombies by Leon Reaper

my movie takes it into more on the spiritual side, like the bermuda triangle, other dimension stuff

i know! :P to be honest when i write the script whenever i gotta think of a screnario in it, my mind just straight away thinks of something for me to write down. never had that with other movies. As this is in a different time period i thought id have more difficulty lol

Absolutely! As I understand it the original zombies were Haitian undead, who were buried and brought back to life by the witchdoctor to work on the land. As far as I know, no films have ever tackled it from that standpoint, but in any case, you would have history on your side, especially if you check for accuracy.

you may like it andrew because it is based on when us british also tried colonising Africa way back when :)

when didnt try, did lol

and it also has a witch doctor in it so, your right there aswell :)

dont worry, im a history fan myself so im going by the book in this one :D

Don't allow yourself to be put in a box by our predecessors; I also have a zombie script that breaks the tradition mold. Zombie movies have been evolving, from the introduction of the slow walking dim-witted flesh eater to the "running" zombies that bait you in with 'traps". I say express your story however your creativity allows it. If we got stuck on templates and blueprints of how certain genres and interpretations should be, all the vampires in today’s movies would still have them wearing capes with big collars saying, "Goood evening, I vant to bite your neeck" lol

although i think ''twilight'' went a little too far lmao!!

My aim is to show it in both perspectives, the soldiers in it are fighting for there lives but also realise that what they have done and due to trying to colonise Africa, they feel they deserve it....now im no zombie fan that lives and breathes for the genre but i am setting the tone to be more human and not endless horror but abit of a sentimental feel which no other zombie film has done

obviously it will include horror, gore, here and there but have a more human feel to it and not something too fictional if that makes sense???

but will will be adding fast zombies and slow ones as abit of a mixture

seeing as this is based more of a spiritual world, the dead are at my mercy of being both ;P

I say go for it, a new perspective would be exciting. :)

It's funny. Once I got an Inktip newsletter a few years ago, and there was someone looking for Zombie scripts set in the Detroit MI area. I thought Cool! My home state I write a lot of horror...and on seeing my inventory, I realized I didn't have a zombie script. It dawned on me that I thought zombie scripts/films have been done to , em, death. So while I knew I couldn't write one in time for those folks, I took it as a challenge. What can I do differently? What can I do that will help it stand out? What cliches do I hate and will try like the dickens to avoid in the writing? Is there anything I can do to spin those cliches and have them work for me and not against me? Could I also consider some social commentary like Romero did? I wound up writing that script and quite satisfied with it. Got lots of good feedback on it too. I like the comments above, the closest thing in films I seen towards Haitian zombie via voodoo is 1987's Serpent and The Rainbow.

well im glad i have your blessing, i respect Chris Johnsons opinion but i think if i did that the audience would lose the plot on everything thats happened, its abit too complicated to be a horror movie. sure there are stuff like that happening in the world but horror and politics would never work to that extreme. the audience would fall asleep during the screening if it was that in depth i think. anyway thanks people! i will keep you guys informed :)

i agree darren i thought they were done to death also, i guess you gotta just expand your imagination away from them to be unique in the genre.

Once written, This will be my first movie so any opinions or advice i would be grateful :D

the tribes will be half naked (top half) so will i need squibs that blends with their skin tone inserted in to the wound that will apear or will i need to do CGI? if anyone can answer this, that would be awesome! :)

id prefer if it was done by squibs though

Hi Leon, my mate and i just finished a zombie script. I think it's important to take a genre like zombies and take a different angle. Our story is totally different to the usual storyline and is currently being pitched in the US.

thats awesome mate :), there needs to be different storylines i think, otherwise the zombie genre will die out.and we cant let that happen :p

what do you think of my idea then in taking it into a different time period and also use the elements of the spiritual world?

well i was thinking using the british colonialism as the back story?

maybe i could do a zombie film in africa of the present later on?

i got loads of ideas for zombie movies, one i wanna do is my version to the sequel Dawn of the dead :D

which involves a demon.......thats all im saying ;P

oh cool, i will look it up :)

In the video game Resident evil 5, it takes place in Africa as the T virus infects the population. Now not only does it turn people in it zombies it more so mutates them into super mutant monsters! I but reading through ur comments you wanted a more spiritual feel to your film, then i think the best course of action would be to use raise from the dead zombies no viral or chemical spill. Some thing maybe to look into is the The cradle of life theory! where all life truly came and was developed in are area in Africa! Know moving past that tomb rader film i think that maybe that could be used well! PS. voodoo zombies are not raised from the dead they are people who are still alive under the control of Witch doctor using a chemical compound developed by Witch doctors that makes it apear as though medically the person is dead but they are still alive, as well makes one extremely venerable to the power of suggestion.

dont worry though i will make a good movie, im 22 and i study films not just to enjoy but to appreciate and learn. Hell i even watch old cowboy movies to Fred Astaire movies from the 30s lol,which most my age wouldnt even have the patience for. but i watch how its been edited, camera techniques everything :)

xander you read my mind, :P thats exactly what my script will have in it, and due to it being a spiritual world i can experiment without the restriction of what the time period actually is at the start, also the zombies will be rising from the sand too

well sandy soil lol

i will let you know on (Jan -Feb) once my scripts finished :)

Even though people follow a "safe / tried-and-true" formula, I feel good writing is ALWAYS about something different. In essence, too much of the same thing becomes exactly what you don't want: cliche.

Actually, today's quote at the top of the Stage 32 page sums it up wonderfully: " "In any art movement, the art has to move into a new phase - a filmmaker has a desire to make a film that is not like a previous film." — Norman McLaren "

what zombie movies need nowadays is: creativity and experimentation if it is to survive in my opinion

exactly :)im doing stuff completely differently, maybe it will be a good movie once made...who knows, but even the resident evil movies are lacking in the imagination department

Well said. And survival, whether in or out of a zombie film, is key. Be memorable - but for the right reasons.

obviously once made it will be attacked by critics and fans who are only accustomed to how things have been for the last 50 years or so of zombie movies but hopefully it will be appreciated and revitalise the genre in some way....well i hope it does -__-

If you do the best you can, what more can be asked.

I think it's a good idea mate. I have heard of a zombie film based in ancient Rome and a gladiator is the hero.

oh yeeeeah i read that, now that would never happen but you know, least they are trying new things. take this idea or not but you know the lost legion that was never found when it went into the north of britain in roman times, well they never did find the bodies of the fallen victim apparently....maybe a zombie movie in that :P

victims*

dont worry people though, i will make you zombie fans proud :) there will be soo many differences that you will be like woah! and i also got several zombie designs that i will introduce in it aswell :)

" once made it will be attacked by critics and fans who are only accustomed to how things have been " Not entirely so. They only have to be well made just like any other film. "Zombieland" and "Shawn Of The Dead" come to mind, although they embraced dark humor in their films; while not exactly zombies, the 28 Days Later films also had some praise on both sides. Yhe current cable series 'The Walking Dead' has critics and fans behind it. Just sayin'

ah thats good :), i will do my hardest and do it the best i can.

I'm excited! All this zombie talk has peeked my interest. I read zombie scripts all the time for the companies I work for and none of them offer anything new.

dont worry i got many ideas, one i have involves the same kinda concept as the terminator but involves a demon with zombies in it :P

Good luck with it mate, we're already thinking about a sequel to our script. It has loads of possibilities.

i suppose so chris, but im staying optimistic

and try my best, thats all anyone can do

horror movies are endless, it dont need to be about just zombies, i got a few others that dont include them. i just havent mentioned it. i also got a movie for one like fightclub, i got one about the war of independance. :D

and all of them are completely different and have never been done before :)

was that an attempt to damage my morale and enthusiasm?

going to give you some vocab words to look up, it relates to the occult and some of these Ideas. look up the tools of Necromancers(IE spirit box, talking head). Egyptian Ceremony of "Opening the Mouth" There are others let me know if you have questions, or are looking for more Ideas.

brilliant thanks man!! :)

How d'ya mean Chris?

this one was pretty sweet, you guys should check this out if you like zombies. http://www.indiereign.com/video/flesh-eaters-love-story

Molds were meant to be broken Leon. "Following" traditional zombie blah blah blah.. go with what you know. If you are making a statement about the evils of colonization, go that way and just add zombies as a metaphor for the dead and dying due to the rape of the land, people and natural resources. Like district 9 did with the aliens to bring to light the mistreatment of immigrants and xenophobia

Leon it sound like you got a cool concept going on! and Tek doko i kinda agree wit what your saying when using a message withen your work with zombies. I went to screening of land of the dead at Deluxe in Tronto and George A. Romero was there and there was a pannel after the film. And to him in all his work there is a message (except for the original night of the living dead being about racial stuff, he just thought the black zombie was just cooler!) But walking dead and all this new age zombie stuff is just main stream stuff trying to get a pay check! there is no real substance to the stories now adays! (not the comic just the tv series walking dead). So yeah Leon go what with you know, and just try and not fall into tropes and cliches'

thanks for the comments, im thinking about putting both slow zombies and fast running ones all in one so it stay true to the old ones but has some fast paced moments included

Great idea, Leon. And it could benefit the conflict with your characters, since they might never know which "speed" of zombie they're facing.

YAAAAY! i like your thinking, one of the things im doing in it is, you know in some movies, you see a cow/bull skeleton head lying in the background to make the atmostphere look like a desert?, well thats a zombie with a skull on and it rises up from the ground wielding hand scythes :P

do you think i should include weapons of this decade? seeing as its a kind of spiritual hellish world can i get away with it seeing as its not in their time period?

im thinking about putting a chainsaw in it aswell, thats why i ask

A tribute to Bruce Campbell the ultimate zombie slayer.

thanks man, i will look it up :). i want a zombie using a chainsaw to slice the characters up

also havent you noticed that none of the victims of any zombie movie never try commiting suicide anymore?? the only one i remember that does was in 'Day of the dead', may have to introduce it in my movie cus tbh someone would. it definately would cross someones mind. gotta be realisitic!

Nobody answered my question :'( can i introduce a chainsaw in my movie if the characters are in a spiritual hellish world? like theres no time period in the world etc? :(

The way I see it, you're the writer, so you can do/introduce anything you like.

Though if you can come up with something that is other-than-a-chainsaw that somehow corresponds to the Spiritual/Hellish World, that'd be ideal.

Well said, Samuel.

Look at The Walking Dead, The suspense and twist that comes with the characters, you can make it bloody as hell if you wanted to, but get some real fear in there, get in depth with the people that are involved in this hell thats unfolding around them.

Doesn't matter. All that matters is if it will sell. That depends mostly on the art (poster) and name talent. If you don't have names, consider this an addition to your resume to prove you can make a film when you do your next project with name talent.

thanks guys for the advice, im adding really good stories to the characters, i am making loads of characters have a little story to tell in it :)

thanks jon, i intend to do that :)

my plan is to introduce slow and fast zombies so the film will be at a pace that will be frightening because it is something that is that all round expected, the characters that will be shown will have their story to tell and my way is showing the cruelness of colonialism and also put dread that they will feel when being hunted this way in the spiritual world with zombies all around them, but for the first time ever you will see em in a new light and have sympathy for them with what is going on , see that these people are also human beings that lived their own lives and only joined the army for separate reasons.There will be a element of ' we deserved this' kinda aspect of it but will have sadness in it aswell as they will soon realise that they will never see there loved ones again and that they will all die......and no-one will ever know about it..... :)

that is not all-round expected*