Editorials
5 Unforgettable Twists On Zombies in Video Games!
Left 4 Dead – The Infected
We had seen fast zombies in video games before Left 4 Dead came along in 2008, but developer Turtle Rock was the first to build an entire game around a concept that had only recently been taken mainstream by films like 28 Days Later and the Dawn of the Dead reboot.
The media they appear in often refer to them as “The Infected” because they share few similarities to their classic source material outside of a horde mentality and the fact that they’re as likely to kill an uninfected person as they are to try and infect them.
Once infected, they are as fast and agile as a normal person, only they don’t have to worry about stamina like we do. If an infected person has a goal, they’ll follow that carrot on a stick until they physically can’t move. They’re vicious, too. Sometimes they’ll eat their prey, but most of the time — including in Left 4 Dead — all they want to do is physically destroy them.
Left 4 Dead isn’t known for its narrative, so we don’t know much about what caused the apocalypse seen in the series. All we know is it hit suddenly and spread fast, leaving few survivors. Now the unlucky few who still remain get to witness their numbers dwindle as they get gradually picked off by the fast-moving hordes or their “special” variants.
As terrifying as the infected are, in Left 4 Dead they quickly become cannon fodder. Something to mow down when it’s standing between you and the safe room. That’s where the special infected come in — an elite cast of unique mutations that resulted in creatures like the Tank and Boomer.
Plenty of games have done this, but very few have had as much thought put into their creation. Each serves a purpose, with many of their abilities complimenting each other. That’s one of the many reasons why Left 4 Dead is such a fantastic multiplayer series.
In a recent interview, filmmaker Christopher Nolan explained that he’s always been interested in directing a bona fide horror movie, with the award-winning director going so far as to praise genre creators for their continued risk-taking on the big screen.
If you’ve seen Nolan’s recently released The Odyssey, you’re likely aware that a scary movie helmed by the legendary director could be a very good idea.
After all, Nolan insisted on making use of old-fashioned movie magic and in-camera practical effects when shooting his adaptation of Homer’s epic. This retro approach made Odysseus’ encounters with mythological beings such as the giant cyclops that much more terrifying. By now, fans are undoubtedly aware that the massive creature was partially brought to life by an enormous puppet enhanced with near-invisible CGI, but there were also plenty of forced perspective shots where actor Bill Irwin actually chomped on disturbingly realistic replicas of Ithican soldiers.
As you can see in the below behind-the-scenes test footage shared by the Los Angeles-based Hamer FX, Irwin was given an assortment of latex dolls filled with fake blood and breakable skeletons that he could tear apart on camera. The darkness of Polyphemus’ cave covers up most of the gore in the finished film, but the moment remains a terrifying highlight in a movie that has a lot to say about the horrors of war.
Nolan actually requested these tiny edible soldiers for the flick because his vision for the iconic cyclops encounter was partially inspired by Francisco Goya’s disturbing mural of Saturn Devouring His Son. This mysterious piece is actually one of the artist’s infamous “Black Paintings,” which were found painted directly onto the walls of his old house near Madrid before a French baron ordered that the collection be transferred to canvas and assigned names for public viewing.
Details like these are what make me think that Nolan could pull off a genuinely scary horror picture if he came across the right idea. That being said, between the Fear Gas sequences in Batman Begins and Circe using body horror magic to transform men into pigs in The Odyssey, one might argue that he’s been preparing for such a task throughout his entire career.
The Odyssey is currently playing in theaters everywhere, though it’s definitely worth seeking out an IMAX screening if you can find one near you.
View this post on Instagram
You must be logged in to post a comment.