4 out of 4 stars
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Are you a horror fan with gaps in your zombie film collection? Curious about what the best anti-zombie weapons really are? Want to know how film-makers get their zombie actors to look ever so disgusting?
The Ultimate Guide to Zombies by Dave Robertson is aptly titled. Each of its pages is jam-packed full of everything you didn’t know you didn’t know about zombies and zombie media. Movies, video games, books, tv shows, and even songs featuring zombies are gone over with a fine-toothed comb. Every time I thought the author missed an important zombie property, he proved me wrong. This is truly a book by and for the zombie super-fan.
Far from a mere catalog of media recommendations, Robertson also touches on what makes zombies such compelling monsters. The cultural and political commentary hidden behind these gory shamblers is surprising and illuminating. Questions of consumerism, racism, and loss of identity contribute as much to the zombie mythos as brains and gore do.
The book contains plenty of lighter subjects, as well. A chapter is devoted to discussing how a theoretical zombie plague might really affect the victim’s brain, with examples of real parasites and diseases that can create stunningly zombie-like symptoms (in animals, thankfully). Zombie-themed activities are given their due mention in another chapter. Fancy signing up for a zombie themed fun run? Would you accept an invitation to a zombie wedding? Zombie fandom is everywhere these days, it seems.
As a casual horror fan, I found The Ultimate Guide to Zombies entertaining and informative. There were numerous things I wasn’t familiar with to add to my list of things to check out. The protest song “Zombie” by Nigerian artist Fela Kuti was only one such highlight. Nigerian political history in a book about zombies, what a delight! The song is great, too. Robertson clearly put a lot of research and love into his book, and the result is a fine read whether you love zombies or not.
The book has been carefully proof-read, and in the whole thing I only found one typo. Formatting looks professional, with the minor exception that photographs aren’t centered on the page. That’s not enough for me to dock a star, however, and The Ultimate Guide to Zombies gets 4 out of 4 stars from me. If you’re even a little interested in zombies, horror, or modern media phenomena, you owe it to yourself to spend an afternoon enjoying this book.
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The Ultimate Guide to Zombies
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