World War Z: 10 Unforgivable Cuts From The Book

2. Zombies Walking

Runner Much like omitting the quislings, I can understand why they chose to turn the film€™s zombies into fast runners. To many people, the slow zombie has become a joke €“ we€™ve subjected them to satire in Dawn Of The Dead and Land Of The Dead turned them carnival sideshows. They€™re a tad useless, and their un-threatening nature is made all the worse when contrasted with the oh-god-no running zombies pioneered in 28 Days Later, who are an altogether more terrifying beast. Yet call me a sucker for tradition, but I think I preferred the walking zombies. While the filmmakers made some fantastic visuals out of the runners (the Israeli wall-climb being a particular highlight), they€™re honestly too threatening to really exist within the narrative of World War Z. Does that make sense? Yeah, probably not. Here€™s what I€™m trying to say €“ the slowness of the zombies was an integral part of the book€™s narrative and turning them into sprinters will give the sequel writers a massive headache. Because they were slow in the books, they could be adapted to and though the humans got their behinds kicked (and then eaten) at first, they adopted new battle strategies and eventually got back on top. The fact it was a climb to get to that point was what made the turnaround so thrilling. Keeping them sprinting negates this whole process, because it looks like too much of a challenge. Yes, watching a fast zombie headbutt their way through a car windshield onscreen is terrifying, yet perhaps the filmmakers cut their nose off to spite their face. They looked for a cheap thrill in this film at the expanse of massive pay-offs in the next, and as the sequels roll in this might end up seeming like a bad choice.
Contributor
Contributor

Durham University graduate and qualified sports journalist. Very good at sitting down and watching things. Can multi-task this with playing computer games. Football Manager addict who has taken Shrewsbury Town to the summit of the Premier League. You can follow me at @Ed_OwenUK, if you like ramblings about Newcastle United and A Place in the Sun. If you don't, I don't know what I can do for you.