Zack Snyder Adds A Twist to Zombies
So, what’s the big deal about Zack Snyder’s upcoming zombie epic Army of the Dead? According to the film’s producers, these aren’t your typical, braindead walkers. These zombies follow a hierarchy, lead by the alpha zombies. The Netflix film, which stars Dave Bautista, Omari Hardwick, Garret Dillahunt, Ella Purnell, Ana de la Reguera, Theo Rossi, and others, combines two film genres — zombie and heist. It follows a band of elite mercenaries hired to steal a load of cash from inside a Las Vegas casino vault during a zombie apocalypse. What they don’t expect are the alpha zombies who seem to have taken ownership of the Vegas strip.
Army of the Dead producers discuss the zombie hierarchy
Producers of Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead recently spoke to Screen Rant regarding the film’s zombie hierarchy and the dangerous alpha zombies leading the horde. “We have two kinds of zombies in the movie,” producer Deborah Snyder explained. “We have our traditional shamblers, for those who like shamblers, and then we have alphas.”
The Story Behind the Army of the Dead Alpha Zombies
Deborah Snyder: I think the idea is like what else can we do? What else can make it fresh because there has been a lot of zombie content out there, so the idea that this, whether he’s genetically engineered or he has part alien in him, but Zeus escapes from Area 51 and he’s like our alpha, he’s the king daddy, he starts the outbreak. When he bites you, we get other alphas. But if they bite you, it gets weaker and weaker and we get shamblers. It’s been really fun because those that like traditional shamblers will get that, but we’ll get these other alphas people think are a myth. At the time of the war there were only a few of them, obviously, and then once they contain it we realize that they’re building an Army in there of these Alphas.
Wesley Coller: So these creatures that are mythological sort of lore, the fast ones that are unknown. Do they exist or not? As we make our way into the city we get to explore that world, and I think part of the fun is unlike a traditional shambler, which is a threat in its own right because there is an elevated Consciousness, there’s some type of awareness we like to say that they are much like a wolf pack, so they’re not talking, they’re not communicating on that obvious of a level, but there’s a much more elevated threat in that way.
The zombie genre has been around for decades starting with the George Romero films. The visionary filmmaker is considered the father of the zombie genre. Over the years, numerous zombie movies have been released with different tones and styles. Some can even fall into the comedy genre.
The success of The Walking Dead series
The success of The Walking Dead series re-ignited the zombie genre even more in the past several years. The series started back in 2010 and is now heading into its eleventh and final season. Snyder’s vision for Army of the Dead will try to uniquely set itself apart from previous zombie films and shows in both style and its zombie lore.
Netflix has two more Army of the Dead projects in the works. One is an animated series that follows the early days of the zombie outbreak, while the other is a live-action prequel movie titled Army of Thieves. The prequel features Matthias Schweighöfer reprising his role as Ludwig Dieter from Army of the Dead.
Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead premieres on Netflix on May 21st.
