Poll: Do you like zombie movies?

(Not sure why I got downvoted, but I did answer a legit question!)

My beef with zombie movies is that they're usually cliche, and are going for "cheap scares" first and foremost. Often they're punctuated by gore for the sake of gore, and it's done tastelessly. Frequently there's a large cast that you feel no real attachment to and don't bond with, because they need lots of people to kill in a variety of ways.

But the upside: Apocalyptic scenarios in general give lots of options for plot and character development and interaction. I'd say take a look at something like Mad Max - it's a bit campy at times, but I remember some very interesting scenes. There was a relatively small cast that you developed some attachment to, and the sometimes slow pacing made the heavy action scenes really stand out.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of a zombie movie with really exceptional acting and minimal cliches. (If someone who is a fan of this genre can recommend one, I'll check it out). What I'd want out of a zombie movie is focus on character development of just a few people who interact with a broken world. And the filmmaker resisting the temptation to have the "dumb, defiant, big-boobed blond girl who doesn't listen to the leader and thus gets impaled on a fence and eaten" - the zombie scenario itself isn't unsuitable for a good movie, but the execution in these films leaves a lot to be desired.

For inspiration into some unique elements, you might check out the first two Fallout games. It's been a few years and I've not checked out the third, but the first two had some interesting scenarios and plots. In particular, humans interacting with other humans during the apocalypse/zombies could lead to interesting dilemmas and development. In Fallout, the world had fallen apart, and yet there were still people being really petty and villainous instead of uniting. This jives with my understanding of human nature, and makes the games more interesting. Human/human conflicts amidst a zombie background could be a fascinating way to break from the cliches.

In modern times there is a biozombie trend, when they aren't really "undead" so much as a sick human (eg I am Legend, 28 days later etc). I am not sure if it co-incides, but these biozombies seem to have enhanced reflexes, strength and hearing and speed etc... (whereas the old school ones were slow, sad things).

That's kinda what I was aiming at, plus on the upside, one can generate lots of zombie models randomly fairly quickly and use scripts to animate their shambling.

What I'd want out of a zombie movie is some focus on some character development and the filmmaker resisting the temptation to have the "dumb, defiant, big-boobed blond girl who doesn't listen to the leader and thus gets impaled on a fence and eaten"

Well one of the things I'm looking at is producing episodic web content, so character development (and subsequent demise) is on the agenda. I'm pulling a lot of influence from the Band of Brother's series in that respect.

My beef with zombie movies is that they're usually cliche, and are going for "cheap scares" first and foremost. Often they're punctuated by gore for the sake of gore,

Yeah, I'm trying to judge what people's expectations on blood are.

Thanks for your comments mate, really appreciated.