Man do I hate Nazis. Hollywood tends to agree; and why not? They made totally unsympathetic villains due to their lemming-like ability to violently follow the flawed logic of National Socialism. This made them fun to blow up in old timey World War II movies too.
As the years wear on, however, our collective memory of these creatures is now based almost entirely on their film versions. In short, Nazi killin’ ain’t what it used to be. This era is still rife with tales to be told (or retold), but directors are focusing on smaller, more personal stories. And while I think we can all applaud Quentin Tarantino’s attempt to rejuvenate the genre with his Nazi brain-bash orgy, Inglorious Basterds, most kids no longer have a cultural touchstone to that war or it’s atrocities. They get that “Nazi were bad,” but they’re not enjoying them getting torn apart as much because they’re not their generation’s villain. It’s simple Darwinism. Nazis have been doing the bad-guy heavy lifting for over 60 years. They’re tired, and somewhat antiquated.
“Fine,” you say, “but I’m a guy between 18 and 25 who really wants to see a large group of people blown up without the pesky Judeo-Christian guilt involved in witnessing large-scale homicide.” I want to say one word to you. Just one word. Zombies.
Yes. Zombies. They are the embodiment of our great fear – individuality being eaten away leaving only lockstep conformity. Also, Nazis were never that funny because of the historical context. Zombies, on the other hand, are both terrifying and hilarious. They’ve got all the menace, brainlessness, and endless horde, but they’re already dead, so where’s the harm in their destruction?
They are not a new construct; the undead wandered through mythology long before George Romero first scared the Hell out of audiences in 1968. But, they are villains that have just now come to age with the graying of the Greatest Generation. And although it had been rumored for a few years now, in 2009, and with much viral fanfare, the torch was officially passed in the form of Norway’s Dead Snow. You really have to respect the Norwegians for making the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup of movie villains: Nazi-zombies. (Note: if you find them, please shake the hands of the Dead Snow marketing geniuses who created the original web-trailer)
So when next you head out to the ol’ googolplex , do not mourn the cinematic defeat of the Nazi regime, but celebrate rise of the zombocalypse.