Byrd’s film festival celebrates the zombie-killer in all of us

Samantha Foster
Contributing Writer

“Brraaaiinnnss!!”

Even those who have never seen a zombie movie, played a zombie video game or read zombie books know at least one thing about zombies.

“They are undead bitches that eat human life,” said crime scene investigation major Daniel Speed.

There is no doubt that the zombie subculture is invading rapidly. For just one example: This past Saturday marked the first-ever Richmond Zombie Film Festival at the Byrd Theatre.

The Byrd Theatre Foundation and 1818 Productions came together for this festival to raise awareness for the growing number of projects for which the Byrd Theatre needs funding.

Some of these projects include historical restorations in various parts of the theater and updating heating and electrical systems.

Five blood- and brains-filled movies were shown, from the comical “Shaun of the Dead” to the terror-inducing “28 Days Later.”

All proceeds went to the restoration fund for the Byrd Theatre, but funds are also being raised on kickstarter.com. The theater hopes to reach $2,500 by Dec. 7; otherwise the Zombie Film Festival will not have been entirely funded.

The Richmond Zombie Film Festival teamed up with the seventh-annual Richmond Zombie Walk, yet again proving that Richmond loves its fake blood and brains.

“My ideal world is the world invaded by zombies,” said VCU anthropology major Sam Dobbs.

Dobbs also explained his defense strategy against the zombie apocalypse. He plans to move to his farmhouse in Fairfax County until the initial hysteria dies down and then go live in a lake house.

Photography major Rachael Quick has been prepared for the zombie apocalypse since her childhood.

“My dad and I would be in a store, and he’d ask, ‘What would you do if zombies attacked right now?’” she said. Her tips for survival include using machetes, not ammo, keeping a lot of water, not keeping slow or “meaty” people in your group, and “staying f—ing quiet.”

When planning a defense strategy, the type of zombie often becomes an important factor.

As Spanish major Lindsey Burden explained, there are “infection zombies, which are super aggressive, have zero intelligence, can run, but starve to death” and the “crawl-out-of-the-grave” zombies which “cannot run, but also cannot die or starve.”

“Culture has moved from the rising from the grave zombies to the virus zombies” over the last few years, said theater major Parker Chadwick.

AFO student Eevee Baker added that this is more terrifying.

“It is more plausible that an experiment could turn back on us, and we would end up quarantining entire countries,” she said.

Despite the fear of our lives being taken over by brainless, flesh-eating creatures, people are still able to find a metaphor hidden in the blood and guts.

“It’s consumerism and people buying into things without thinking,” said jazz piano performance major Nick Berkin.

Antoinette Moore, a history, English and physics major, said, “It is everyone’s answer to death because they cannot die … It’s like being the Peter Pan of death.

“It is a parasitic relationship. The dead feed off the living to continue being undead. Much like the world today, where the rich feed off the poor.”

Advertising major John Quarstein took the political feel of Moore even further.

“When a Democrat is in power, vampire movies are popular,” he said, “but when a Republican is in power, zombie movies become popular.” The reasoning behind this theory is that we want to watch what we fear most at the time.

Zombies have invaded our culture, and judging by the number of zombie-related events, they will continue to eat away at our brains.