Sex and the Zombie (2008)

In 2008, the recordings at the ROSKILDE FESTIVAL took a different turn for FOKING FILMS. Deciding to up the ante, the company took it upon itself to give a well-earned endorsement to a genre scorned by review boards within both the movie industry and the societies of modern art: The genre of the TV-series.

Revolutionizing the zombie soap genre

In this high-end quality production pilot episode of SEX AND THE ZOMBIE, FOKING FILMS both cemented this artform as the new fab world wide, but also invented the Zombie-Soap genre, bringing instant redemption to George Romero’s works, and paving the road for the later-to come series known as ‘The Walking Dead’.

In the intro sequence, homage is paid to the many television shows of the 80s, with its character introductions and instant synchronization to the high-strung emotions between them. Further technical marvels are thrown at the audience as the episode progresses – from the famous black, empty screenshots that underlines the suspenseful cliff-hangers at the end of every emotion-laden confrontation, to the outlandish interruptions of commercials intended to heighten the sense of foreboding even further. The sterling work of Bo Jørgensen in particular, stands out in this production, as he perfects the graphic art project begun on ‘Creature from the Faeces Lagoon’. In a rare interview, he once curtly replied to a horde of questioning journalists and papparazzis, who inquired about his techniques: ‘I work, from early morning on and to long after midnight. There’s nothing but hard work in it, turning their grey world of bitter commonalities into a true work of art. It’s like persuading God’s angels to dance naked upon the head of a needle for your own personal gratification. Now piss off!’.

Moral values and harsh reality

As in every gothic tale, the chosen setting is a grim reminder of the loss of innocence, in a world where moral values, societal structures and the bonds between people are disintegrating. The zombie plague has brutally exterminated 99.7% of the population, and the remainder huddle in the crude confines of a primitive hospital in the last know safe-zone, Z-209.

Surrounded by cold, clinical doctors whose only interest lies in the publication of new research results, and not in saving the world falling apart around them, the protagonist himself tries to deny the presence of such a harsh reality, by – in the middle of the grief for his dear, departed wife – falling in love with the hard-working nurse.

The doomed lover

Frank Meistrup gives an excellent portrayal as the doomed lover, who – despite the despair-inducing close-ups in which his profound grief is evident and utter heart-breaking – refuses to acknowledge his existential dilemmas, and instead starts spouting french poetry in an assured manner, brazenly refusing to accept the rebuffals of the nurse, whose conflicting emotions – subtly performed by Anna Murray – provide an adult backdrop to his immature archetype.

As the hordes of zombies tear apart the hospital, the isolated world of the gothic romance shuts it out with reassuring fantasies of power and control over the hideously malformed creatures (look for the great cameo by director Hans Bruntt), illustrated by the award-winning and hilarious commercials brought by Power Television.

Screaming young fans

Wrapping the tale with a vengeance-soaked ending that brings the closure of ultimate poetic justice, Lina Nielsen provides – in her best performance ever, as the bride in a coma – the final warning to those whose passions are as mercurial as the winds, and whose foul treachery will be snuffed by the storm. The pilot episode brought forth a world-wide demand for more, as millions of screaming young fans burned their ‘Twilight’-T-shirts in a fit of teen-angst disgust, and committed group suicide rather than live in a world of fading grandeur, as FOKING FILMS had made its mark, only to march on to further glory elsewhere.

The text above is a censored version of a review by Dr.Mindstripper, The English Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2009

Reviews

‘Dybden af TV-seriens budskab er ikke indeholdt i den simple forklaring, at det, der skræmmer os, er udefrakommende – i form af umælende zombier der mæsker sig med vores blodige indvolde. Sex and The Zombie’s endelige budskab er at den navnløse frygt, vi alle står ansigt til ansigt med, findes dybt i os selv’ – EMPIRE, July Issue, 2009

‘Bloody Hell’ – _ George Romero, GORE MAGAZINE, 2009_

‘Zombiepesten er dommen over det moralløse samfund, hvor mennesket
holder grundlæggende eksistentielle vilkår som døden, ensomheden og
ansvarligheden fra livet med simple kommercielt opstyltede produkter.
Reklamerne i Sex and The Zombie lover os kunstig lykke i stedet for ægte
kærlighed, eufori på piller i stedet for lidenskabelighed, og et illusorisk håb
om udødelighed på trykluft’. Information, June 2009

‘The portrayal of the righteously vengeful female protagonist is one that I can appreciate whole-heartedly, as it is the eternal burden of many young women in our society to suffer the willful manipulations of devious men. In fact, my favorite character Mr.Darcy incarnates the more ideal noble spirit of a man, combined as it is with my description of the erotic desires awakened in most women when they spot a well-hung piece of meat, as shown in my recent book, of which this extract is rather illustrative: ‘The battle-gallery, and two or three of the principal bedrooms, were all that remained to be shown. In the former were many good zombie heads and suits of Samurai armor; but Elizabeth cared little for such trophies, and turned to look at some drawings of Miss Darcy’s, in crayons, whose subjects were almost exclusively the male nude form’. Uh, I love that…’. Jane Austen, 2009, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

Sex and the Zombie production photos