ever since the Resident Evil series took flight in the mid-90s, i started wondering if there was an epidemic so contagious and powerful that it could practically destroy the world in a matter of days. the possibilities are endlessly explored by many forms of media. Resident Evil has a virus. Stephen King's novel, Cell, features a mobile phone signal that turns people into mindless creatures. 28 Days Later stars an infection called The Rage. The Xbox360's Dead Rising has an insect which stings people, turning them into zombies.

you realize that most of them seem to be biomedical conditions. and given the advancement of research and technology and genetic engineering and all that crap in our time, it's quite a possibility that one day, we might actually bump into each other at the Carrefour in town. either you or me as the zombie, and the other as the one that's still alive. whatever it is, i believe that it's the responsibility of the one that's alive to kill the zombie.

it is thus, with the arrival of the long-awaited 28 weeks later, that i write this post. after all, it was 28 Days Later that was (IMHO) the first philosophical zombie flick that got me thinking about a world without laws and a proper code of conduct. it seems that the primal urges in humankind are released when you strip the average Joe of his humanity. you know what they say about humans and animals, the only difference is that we have a soul, fully equipped with human concepts like morality, ethics, love, dignity, sexuality, cultures, prejudices, etc.

however, remove these concepts from the human and all you have left is this basic instinct to survive. i know i have just brought back horrifying visuals of Sharon Stone and her vage, but then again, if you're a zombie, you prolly couldn't even comprehend the idea of 'horrifying'. as most zombie flicks define, the top three items on the zombie's wishlist would most prolly be blood, meat and more blood. zombies, simply put, are men at their most depraved and basic state.

zombie flicks, to me, portray men at their darkest moments, be they zombies or not. for these mindless creature, we can understand why they start cannibalizing the ones that are still alive. blame it on the source of the infection. but it's the one's that start letting their inner inhibitions come alive that make me worried. the problem is that the laws of our world are only as strong as the people's belief in it. when an outbreak like that breaks loose, all of society and its beliefs crumble with it too. people will start killing. people will start raping. people will start stealing and beating people up for no reason. i'm sure not everybody will be like the characters in the movies, all working together to fight their way out of the zombie-infested city.

what difference would there be then, between zombie and human?

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