{"id":1575,"date":"2008-12-23T07:49:35","date_gmt":"2008-12-22T20:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/?p=1575"},"modified":"2008-12-23T18:56:53","modified_gmt":"2008-12-23T07:56:53","slug":"new-platoon-of-the-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/roberthood.net\/blog\/index.php\/2008\/12\/23\/new-platoon-of-the-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"New: Platoon of the Dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Platoon<\/a><\/p>\n

This poster — designed by Joe Sherlock — heralds a new War-based zombie flick produced by John Bowker and Joe Sherlock, and directed by John Bowler.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Platoon of the Dead<\/strong> (US-2008; dir. John Bowker)<\/p>\n

Three soldiers must fight to survive the night in a seemingly abandoned house, when a zombie platoon attacks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The executive producer is J.R. Bookwalter (of The Dead Next Door<\/em> fame) and it was written by director\u00a0 John Bowker, who has quite a history<\/a> in low-budget genre filmmaking.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There is a tradition in war-based zombie films, going back to Revolt of the Zombies<\/strong><\/a> (US-1936; dir. Victor Halperin) and Revenge of the Zombies<\/strong> (US-1943; dir. Steve Sekely) through The Frozen Dead <\/strong> (UK-1967; dir. Herbert Leder), the classic Shock Waves<\/strong><\/a> (US-1977; dir. Ken Wiederhorn), Zombie Lake<\/strong> (Spain\/France-1980; dir. Jean Rollin) and Oasis of the Zombies<\/strong> (Spain\/France-1982; dir. Jes\u00fas Franco) — to such more recent takes as Uncle Sam<\/strong><\/a> (US-1997; dir. William Lustig), the innovative Homecoming<\/strong> (US-2005; Masters of Horror<\/em> series; dir. Joe Dante), Outpost<\/strong> (UK-2007; dir. Steve Barker) and the much-anticipated Worst Case Scenario<\/strong> [aka. Woensdag Gehaktdag] (Netherlands-[in development<\/em>]; <\/em>dir. Richard Raaphorst). Nazi zombies feature quite often in this sub-genre — which isn’t surprising really. If zombie movies are about our fears regarding the return of past evils and the insatiable nature of unethical mortality, then these represent one of the most iconic incarnations of that fear lurking in our cultural psyche. But the sub-genre has been used often (as the above named films indicate) to critique contemporary wartime politics. War is one of the great man-made creators of the dead — and there’s generally little reason why the war-dead wouldn’t be resentful.<\/p>\n

We’ll see what Platoon of the Dead<\/em> adds to the tradition when it is released to DVD by independent horror distributors Tempe Entertainment<\/a> in the new year. <\/span><\/p>\n