A Brief Guide to Raising the Dead

Good morning, Shamblers!

Once again, Shetland Annual Zombiefest is upon us! Time to go to that cabinet full of make-up, fake blood and latex you had installed on the wall that says “In Case of Shetland Annual Zombiefest, Smash Glass” on it, follow its instructions with the little hammer, sweep up the glass, reassure yourself that the cabinet was a brilliant idea and it's worth the money, order another sheet of glass from Hay's, and sit down to go to work on a zombie costume.

Suddenly, you are hit by a though that leaves an imprint on your mind you just can't get off, like a pigeon hitting a window. What, says you, if my costume is uninspired and a bit naff?

Well, says I, you could do worse than to follow these guidelines.

Get out of my mind, says you.

No, says I. Never.

Walk the Walk, Groan the Groan

The standard, most basic, no-frills zombie costume is as follows: tear some old clothes, even just a t-shirt and jeans. Put on some pale make-up, darken up around the eyes, and you’re done, really. That’s pretty much how they did it in Night of the Living Dead. A more recent addition in lashings of fake blood. You can thank the 2004 version of Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later, whose zombies* came absolutely dripping with Kensington Gore.

There’s nothing wrong with keeping it simple; it’s all about what we like to call the ‘shamble and ramble’. Get yourself a good, solid, dead-man-walking shuffle and a mournful, cadaverous ghoul-howl and you’re set. For pro-tips, watch the ‘blend in with zombies’ scene from Shaun of the Dead which neatly explains how to pull the classic moves off.

* No, I will not call the zombies from 28 Days Later ‘the infected’.

Climb that Mountain!

It’s easy to pour a bucket of fake blood over yourself; you can be a perfectly functional zombie that way. For those zombie fans who want to put in a little effort to get a little more return, think of it as two roads, to paraphrase Resident Evil. The blood-soaked road is hiking- the destination can be reached rather comfortably. The other road is mountain climbing- beyond the hardships lies accomplishment.

Look at the classic zombie films. Romero's 'of the Dead' trilogy, Fulci's Zombi II, Shaun of the Dead, even Return of the Living Dead. The zombies aren't that gory. Pallid complexions, sunken eyes, and decay make a chilling zombie.

Use blood reservedly but effectively. Less is more. Go for a single brutal wound (guts hanging out, amputation, gunshot wounds), or the classic 'messy eater' type- blood caked and dried around the mouth, chewing on a torn-off limb. The blood will be far more effective on your grayish-green complexion, or dripping thinly from the bullet-wounds in a torso that all over you.

Bringing the Character to (Un)Life

You want a zombie that stands out from the crowd? Think of them as a proper character. How did your zombie wind up as a staggering undead? How did they die? What were they doing?

One of the best zombie costumes I've ever seen was a friend of a friend on the zombie walk in Glasgow some years ago. He'd decided to go as a man who was infected on holiday in Spain, and turned into a ghoul on the easyjet flight home, massacring the passengers. The pilots were safely locked in the cockpit and performed an emergency landing- the medical teams going in to treat the wounded were overrun, and the plane-zombies escaped.

How did he do this? He let his costume tell the backstory. Loud shirt, straw hat, shorts, sandals, sunglasses, carrying a Duty Free bag in one hand with a straw donkey under his arm and a boarding pass sticking out his front shirt pocket as the cherry on a tasteless, decaying cake. He didn't need to tell anyone the story for his zombie- his costume did the talking. It was memorable and made his zombie more interesting than the zombies around him. The zombie costume itself? Not great, to be honest. A little pallid make-up and some froth around the mouth but that was it; but it didn't matter. He'd made a costume that was interesting and unique.

The “make them unique” approach has given us some of the more memorable zombies in media- the naked zombie lady in Night, Tarman from Return, the Hare-Krishna from the climax of Dawn, Bub from Day.

Try it yourself! Think about who your zombie was, and how they came to be. Your costume will have a lot more personality than Mr Ripped-Shirt-And-Jeans beside you.

Go for the Kill

Following on from who your zombie is/was- how did they die? This ties into to the 'less is more' blood rule- why slather yourself in blood when you can show off a neat injury? Did your zombie have a wildly-improbable accident, or did a survivor try to take them out and leave a gaping wound? Give your zombie some battle damage!

The simplest thing you can do is bullet-wound. Punch holes in your clothes , and colour the skin underneath dark with make-up. Dribble blood from the wounds to accentuate them. Voila! Your zombie took a spray from a gun across the back, and kept going. Maybe they have an axe sticking out their back, a souvenir from some poor sap who didn't know the “kill the brain, kill the ghoul” rule. Maybe they have a bear-trap on their leg, loudly clanking as they drag it along.

If you're feeling confident in your make-up skills, maybe go for something more elaborate. Intestines hanging out the shirt, dragging along the street after a disemboweling; an arm that's been set on fire- the sleeve burnt off, the flesh all charred and crispy. Maybe they've had an eye shot out. Be creative and give everyone something to look at.

Different Strokes

Okay- you really, really want to stand out from the crowd this year. Everyone's being a hyper-realistic zombie with a back-story and a circular saw blade sticking out their cranium. What do you do to stand out?

Pick an entirely different interpretation of zombies. Look at different artistic styles and redefine a zombie through a fresh medium.

Go as a cartoon zombie, with bulging ping-pong ball eyes and green skin. Go as a masquerade zombie; make a carnival mask up as a highly-stylised zombie face and hold it over your face on a stick. Go as a zombie of a cherished childhood cartoon character. Make an over-sized, papier mache Frank Sidebottom-style zombie head. Go as a zombie pinata, with sweets for guts hanging out.

Examples we have tried before were the luchadore mask zombie (not a zombie wearing a lucha libre mask- a lucha libre mask OF a zombie), zombie Hello Kitty (with a large EVA foam head, half rotted away to show the skull underneath), a zombie gorilla, and a cartoonish zombie inspired jointly by the game Stubbs the Zombie and the Cryptkeeper from the Tales from the Cryptkeeper cartoon.

There have been hundreds of different interpretations of zombies over the last century, don't feel bound to the 28 Days Later rabid athlete style that everyone else is doing. Think of the coolest zombie in that film. What did they look like?

Yeah, I can't remember either. The zombies weren't the focus of the film; the survivors were. You weren't supposed to get a good look at them or remember individual ones. They were parts of the horde and that worked fine for that film. That’s no fun, however, when you’re the zombie.

Great Inspirations

If you’re still lacking in inspiration, consider dressing up as a single zombie from a film. The aforementioned Tarman from Return OTLD, the eye-less Templars from the Blind Dead films, Big Daddy from Land of the Dead or Bub from Day. To help inspire you, Zombiefest comes included with a free theme each year! This year’s theme is Rock & Roll zombies; if you’re STILL not inspired then you’re maybe in the wrong place.

Whatever you do, put your wee heart into it and try to do something cool. A zombie walk is a chance to stand out, and be APART from the horde.

Now smash that glass and get cracking!