Would you watch a zombie documentary that treats you as a survivor?
Hi everyone, I’m Robin. I work on documentaries including In Search of Darkness, Aliens Expanded and The Thing Expanded. My zombie obsession started at 13, when I found an ex-rental VHS of Day of the Dead in a charity shop. Years later, I got to interview Lori Cardille from Day of The Dead at her house. Teenage me would have lost his mind.
I’m kicking around an idea called Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse, and thought this might be a good place to put it under a bit of pressure.
The premise: the outbreak has already happened, and the documentary is your survival training manual. Please pay attention. There probably won’t be a resit.
We’d explore zombie films and TV as case studies: where to shelter, who to trust, which escape plans are terrible, and why appointing the loudest bloke with a gun as leader might need some thought.
Along the way, we’d explore the genre’s history and what these stories say about us: fear, power, community, and how quickly we turn on each other when things fall apart.
It’s early days, and I’m fielding feedback while there’s still plenty of room to shape it. Does that format sound fun? Which films or survival lessons would you want included? What would make you roll your eyes and switch it off?
I’ve written more about it on my Substack here, but I’d love your thoughts in the comments too.
First question: If you could make every survivor watch one scene from a zombie film as a compulsory training lesson, which scene would you choose, and what should they learn from it?
