2. There Will Be Blood - But Only A Bit
Watching the army blast their way through a zombie invasion is, of course, what blockbuster season is all about. Yet, amongst the fire, the rubble and the flesh-eating frenzy, there is undoubtedly something missing. Half the world may already be dead (or at least, making the other half run for their lives ) but there's barely a drop of blood to be seen. Is this a problem? Well, for a film that strives for realism, the conspicuous absence of blood becomes equally as distracting as though it were splashed across every reel. We're not crying out for needless gore (there are plenty of other zombie titles that will easily fulfil our bloodlust) but at the same time, we can't pretend that being pounced upon by a pack of frothing, fanged creatures isn't gonna leave a scar. The film's 15 rating (UK) is hardly pushed to its limits; there's no sex/nudity and virtually no swearing, but instead it promises two hours of ''intense frightening zombie sequences, violence and disturbing images''. Intense and frightening it may be, but one can only wonder what nightmares would have been unleashed had the film been afforded an R rating. For, incredibly, in the US the film has been given a PG-13 certificate; a decision that will, sadly, doubtless deter more than it attracts. Which, of course, is hopelessly counter-productive. For while the decision may be a surprise, the thinking behind it is less so. In fact, it couldn't be simpler: the less red stuff we see, the more green the film will make. Given its monumental budget, the studio needs to claw back every dollar that it can. And so, rather than appealing solely to the gorehounds, World War Z holds the rather unique position of featuring a zombie apocalypse that the whole family can enjoy. But this compromise, somewhat perversely, seems to have alienated both parties: it's too tame for the horror crowd, while not exactly being the first thing that springs to mind when you're taking the kids on a trip to the cinema. The movie may prefer to keep the splatter (and at least two minor characters' deaths) offscreen but it can still pull out a sucker punch. When Gerry stumbles out of the plane wreckage, his injury is made all the more shocking simply by the fact that most of the violence had hitherto been kept out of sight. Even the scene in which an arm is swiftly amputated is strikingly sanitised. It is moments like this that threaten to undermine the film's authenticity: presenting a bowdlerised version of events in which the zombies are killed whenever the camera just so happens to be looking elsewhere is, for horror fans at least, a cut too far.