Zombies!: An Illustrated History of the Undead

by Jovanka Vuckovic, George A. Romero

The zombie phenomenon is unique in Western popular culture. From its origins in the voodoo beliefs of Haiti, it has become a key ingredient in today's cinema, popular literature and comics. With one simple premise that the dead rise again to feast on the living and turn them into zombies, the undead have inspired a huge variety of artists to explore ideas of survival, morality, fear, humour and horror. ZOMBIES! is the first book to take a wide look at the whole phenomenon, from low budget cult movies to long-running comics and best-selling humour novels. With stunning imagery, and an authoritative and entertaining text from one of the worlds most distinguished experts on the genre, plus a foreword by master of horror George A. Romero, this tome will appall and delight the reader in equal measure.

Genres: Horror, Nonfiction, Zombies, History, Film, Anthropology, Pop Culture

176 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2011

About the author

Jovanka Vuckovic is an award-winning writer, artist, film critic and cinema historian. She spent five years as a digital effects artist at CBC Television, where she earned a Gemini Award for Best Visual Effects. She became a noted horror genre expert during her tenure as Editor-in-Chief of Rue Morgue Magazine and was recently named one of the top thirteen most important women in the history of horror alongside Mary Shelley, Kathryn Bigelow and Vampira. Vuckovic is the author of Zombies! An Illustrated History of the Undead (due out February 2011 from St. Martin's Press/Ilex Press). She is currently directing her first film, The Captured Bird.

Reviews

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever gone to Wikipedia to search for something then ended up clicking on a dozen different things because shit is really interesting? This book makes me want that streaming Netflix magic everyone keeps talking about.

[Damon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great guide for the fan of all things zombie with tons of pictures and new movies, books, comics that I must seek out.

[Kurt Dahlke · Rating 2 out of 5]

A nice overview especially of some highlights of the early years of zombie literature, but overall pretty light and mostly for beginners. It does bring the Rue Morgue magic with quick chapters on zombie music, and video games, but it's a very easy read and not even close to comprehensive, plus weird errors or typos (for instance, who is Frank Franzetta?) make it less-than-must-read.

[PearlDoll · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative overview of zombie culture, packed with striking visuals and entertaining commentary. While the content is fun and accessible for casual fans, seasoned readers may find it a bit repetitive in structure and light on deeper analysis. Overall, it’s a solid, middle-of-the-road read. It's perfect for browsing, but not definitive of much.

[Emmanuel Deroeux · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jovanka Vuckovic explore la filmographie des zombies, de leurs origines haïtiennes à leur impact actuel sur divers médias. Avec des critiques expertes, elle retrace l'évolution de ce thème et son influence sur la culture occidentale. Un ouvrage captivant et éclairant.

[Frankenoise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of history and helped me find new material to check out, which is the whole purpose of a book like this. Great read and info!

[Tia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely beautiful color reproductions of vintage movie posters and a very comprehensive overview of the birth of the undead archetype in books, folklore, and cinema!

[Rita · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a book that you can get absorbed in, more of a coffee table book, but still very informative.

[Luis Dion-Dussault · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ce livre est parfait!

Ça couvre le ciné, la littérature et les jeux vidéo!

Je me suis ajouté plusieurs films à ma Watchlist! 😆

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading this! I never realised that the movies I saw as a child were zombie movies. I just remembered being scared witless and loving it! Why else would a country girl in the late 70s watch "City of the Living Dead" a million times. It was poorly scripted with the worlds worst English dubbing EVER, but that didn't detract.

This book isn't an in depth history of the zombie genre. It clearly and visually describes the history of the myth and it's portrayal in film, tv and books. It describes the growth of the accepted portrayal of a zombie and then the variants. It also gives a good run down of the more famous writers, producers and actors.

Each double spread was a chance to see something ghoulishly familiar or something new that you will want to run out and see.

If you are not already a zombie fan and just want to know what the fuss is about, or want to ensure you are not totally excluded from the next conversation, or just want to make sure your kid is not into some weird cult - then read this. I dare you

[D.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

By her own admission, Vuckovic set for herself a fairly impossible task: to detail a complete history of the fictional undead. Though she understood her limitations, she still managed to accomplish a reasonably thorough overview of the living dead as presented in popular media. She spends very little time on the real-world roots of the zombie, devoting the majority of the book to their fictional evolution.
The book is heavily illustrated and quite readable. If there are any flaws to the work, it's that there are some editing issues and that the structure gets a little repetitive; the chapters seem to be designed to be able to be read independently of each other, so when read sequentially a great deal of information appears over again. A more objective view of the media would have been nice, too.
This is a fun read with lots of wonderful zombie pictures, and a thorough look at the phenomenon for the vaguely interested.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comprehensive and covering all media (mostly film), it's a quick and interesting read for even the most casual zombie fan. My complaints are few: The author sometimes overreaches a bit in her definition of a zombie (including mummies and the creatures of "Slither") and on page 8, she incorrectly credits a photo from "Zombi 2" as being from "City of the Living Dead". Okay, so that last one isn't really a valid complaint but "Zombi 2" is one of my favorite guilty pleasure movies so I just had to bring it up.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

I met Janvanka a few years ago at Crypticon, held at SeaTac in Washington State. Our tables were next to each other. I'm a huge lover of movies, and a big fan of Zombies from way back. I found her book an extremely complete account of the history of Zombies. Her accuracy on the quality of movies, books, games and more pulled me in. And I hate to admit it, but she found a couple of treasures I overlooked. Naturally I bought her book and I've poured through it repeatedly.

[Blake Petit · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent book -- covers lots of zombie films going back to some of the earliest examples. It's very photo-heavy, which is appreciated, but also makes it a quicker read than one would expect from the thickness. I enjoyed it, though, and it gave me some movies to add to the old Netflix queue.

[Jim Peterson · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, mix of pop culture, academic treatment and coffee table-style book on our beloved rotten but walking friends. I think we're getting carried away with zombies, but I still have an affinity for them.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

AWESOME! If you love zombies and want to know all about them READ!!

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad book on the history of zombies but the author doesn't hide the disdain for the Dawn of the Dead remake.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very concise, though now dated, easy read for zombie enthusiasts. It will illuminate the current generation on the zombie's beginning.

[Victor Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoy reading the origins of things. This book actually tells a good clear origin of zombies and how it evolved through the years. great book no doubt about it.