Luke Owen sits down with Doc of the Dead director Alexandre O. Philippe…
Out on DVD and VOD on Monday, Doc of the Dead is the most comprehensive look at the zombie sub-genre within horror. To celebrate its release, Luke Owen sat down with director Alexandre O. Philippe to talk about the documentary, his thoughts on the genre and what’s the worst zombie movie he’s ever seen…
LO: The film got a great reception at last year’s Film4 FrightFest (read our review here), how has the reception to the movie been for you?
AOP: It’s been great you know. We premiered at SXSW back in March and I’ve been pretty much traveling the world ever since! It’s been pretty non-stop. And the response has been great across the board and it’s been great to share it with fans and audiences around the world.
How did the project come about?
I’m a huge fan of pop culture and trends in pop culture and… I was at San Diego Comic-Con in 2009 and, I mean I go every year, but this particular year I noticed a lot more zombies at the event than there should be. And that was when zombies really started getting into the mainstream in a big way. And I made that sort of conscience decision that I had to make a film, I had to make a documentary to ask the question: how did zombies get into the mainstream?
I suppose you can attribute the zombie pop culture invasion to The Walking Dead – but where you surprised at how popular the show became?
I mean everyone was surprised! Even Robert Kirkman is pinching himself! There’s a lot of speculation and we could talk for hours about why zombies have become so popular as there are a lot of interesting ideas and theories. But no one can really answer why everyone is interested enough, you know the whole family from grandma to grandpa, to sit down to watch their little screen and watch The Walking Dead. It’s a very pecuiliar thing. I don’t think we’ve seen anything quite like it. And that kind of gory horror… it’s kind of interesting.
For you personally, what attracted you personally?
Well, I have a personal relationship with the genre. You know, Night of the Living Dead was one of two horror movies I watched when I was six years old, it was kind of my introduction to horror. Of course I got a lot of nightmares! And it’s a sungenre that I have followed throughout the decades with great interest. And what I love about zombie movies, and Simon Pegg will tell you the same thing, it’s this idea that they are a blank slate. Zombies are us and therefore you can use them to create any sort of narrative you want and to explore any metaphor or any idea that you want. So they’re a very versatile movie monster, and I think that’s why people are still using them to this day.
And for first time filmmakers, it’s quite an easy idea to get right. But it’s also easy to get wrong.
(laughs) Yes. I think it’s fair to say that there are too many zombie movies out there. And there are a lot of zombie movies that are just a waste of time. But there are some people who are still bringing new things to the genre. And even if they’re not as metaphorically rich or interesting as say some of the classic Romero films, I mean I’m looking at Dead Snow 2 – I thought that was a phenomenal genre exercise. It’s what the original Dead Snow should have been. Not that it was a bad film, but Dead Snow 2 was much better and it took it to the extreme, and it played with the set pieces and the expectations of the genre. And the zombie kills are spectacurly fun. And that’s the thing. The movie doesn’t have to be about anything – sometimes genre movies can just be genre exercises. And I think Dead Snow 2 succeeded rather brilliantly.
It’s interesting as I was going to ask you if you think the genre has watered down, as I really do think that it has. But then you see something like Dead Snow 2, Frankenstein’s Army or I Survived a Zombie Apocalypse and you realise that there are still some good things to be found in this genre.
Oh yeah! But I think anything that comes mainstream by definition becomes watered down to a certain extent. Because it feels like the public don’t have enough of it and want more of it. So we’re going to keep throwing things at you. And if you can’t throw lots of things at an audience, it’s going to fail. That’s just the way it works. It’s almost like natural selection (laughs). But I think there are a lot of contemporary zombie movies that you see and you think, ‘I really wish I hadn’t watched this, what a waste of time’. It doesn’t say anything new or offer anything new, there’s nothing novel about the zombie kills, there’s no substance to it so who cares? I don’t want to see 90 minutes of just… more shambling people. But then again, you know, you look at World War Z which I thought was very interesting. Of course zombie purists were up in arms about it, but I really liked that new take on the ant-like behaviour of zombies. I had never seen that before! And when I see something like that, it makes me realise that the genre is alive and well.
It’s interesting you bring up World War Z as you have Max Brooks in the documentary. And I really liked World War Z but I understand why fans would be upset about it. But if you take it at face value and not as a literal adaptation, because it takes just the title and runs with it.
And that’s exactly what Max Brooks says. You know, the only thing they have in common is the title. I think there is a danger of being a purist of anything – and I’m not just talking about movies. You can extend that to, you know, religion (laughs). Because, look, you can have your preferences and you can have your faith but there are a lot of options and tastes out there. And how cool would it be to live in a world where we just accept that?
There’s an interesting moment in the documentary where you have Max Brooks and George A. Romero on a panel, and they talk about they don’t get the love for the genre. What did you make of that?
You know in George’s case, there’s something quite touching about it because you get the sense that he was just out to make a good little film. Which he did! And he’s still there scratching his head going, ‘how did this thing become so big?’. And he has this beautiful quote in Doc of the Dead where he says, ‘zombies are the little guy’. And there’s so much love and affection around that which I think is a beautiful thing.
For you, what do you think is the pinnacle of the zombie genre?
Oh man! That’s a really tough question. You know… I have to go back to Romero. As trite as it sounds, but I’m not going to give you Night of the Living Dead or Dawn of the Dead – it has to be the trilogy. Because you have to really look at those movies as a trilogy, in the sense it created the modern zombie, but it also made the modern zombie evolve. It introduced elements of comedy, it introduced the idea of zombies having memories of past lives, so it really set the stage for everything that came out afterwards. So I would say that was the pincale, but there have been some brilliant movies that have come out since, like Shaun of the Dead and, one that many people don’t talk about enough, is Fido. Pontypool is a really interesting zombie movie!
Yeah, Pontypool is really, really interesting.
Yeah! And, with so many out there, I think it’s even more impressive when a good movie comes along because you look at it and go, ‘wow here’s an angle we’ve not seen before’. And that’s cool.
There are always those movies that take a different angle which are really good, and you just reminded me of a film that was shown at FrightFest a couple of years back called The Desert when talking about Pontypool. Because it’s a zombie movie without zombies. And it’s all about the characters who just so happen to be in a zombie apocalypse.
Oh wow, that’s really cool.
So, you’ve got some great interviews in the movie – but was there anyone you didn’t get?
You know I feel really blessed that pretty much every living zombie icon is in it. You know for the most part. The one that I really wanted but knew he would never give me an interview is Danny Boyle. And that’s because it would be a thirty second interview. I would ask him if he made a zombie movie, and he would say ‘no, thank you very much’. And… I don’t really get why he doesn’t think he made a zombie movie – because he did very much make a zombie movie! And that’s the thing – he didn’t make a zombie movie in the classic Romero sense, but there are a lot of definitions to what a zombie is nowadays. I mean I could say Invasion of the Body Snatchers is kind of a zombie narrative. You know, the Borg in Star Trek are kind of zombies. They are a collective and they want to assimilate you. And that’s a form of zombieism. But yeah, we can debate this for a long time! (laughs).
Just before I let you go, and I don’t want you to badmouth anyone, but what is the worst zombie movie you’ve seen?
Oh man! I mean… oh you know what? There is one, and it’s kind of a critical darling, it’s Otto. I cannot stand that freaking movie. I can’t stand… you know… it feels so pretentious. And it’s so poorly shot – and it’s so poorly shot on purpose. It’s the kind of filmmaking I really resent and I really resent that movie.
And here’s me thinking you were going to give some bargain basement answer!
(laughs) hey you asked man! I had to be honest.
So what’s next for you?
I’m currently working on a project about the shower scene from Psycho called 7852 which is going to be a black and white documentary and it’s going to be totally different from my previous movies. A huge passion project for me. And the other thing I’m working on is my webcomics company (www.friedcomics.com) and one of them happens to be a zombie western called Dead Skins.
Doc of the Dead is out on DVD and VOD on Monday 30th March. Our thanks to Alexandre O. Philippe for taking the time out to speak with us.
