Ridiculous History – “Zombies, Part Two: The Movies!”

Podcast: Ridiculous History (iHeartPodcasts)
Date: November 4, 2025
Hosts: Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown
Research Associate: Ren Fest

Overview of the Episode

In this lively, insightful episode of Ridiculous History, Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown dive deep into the evolution of zombies in film, tracing the genre's transformation from early “voodoo” zombies to the flesh-eating undead that dominate pop culture. Building on their earlier episode on the origins of the zombie myth, this installment explores how cinematic zombies became a vehicle for sharp social and political commentary—sometimes intentionally, other times by circumstance. The conversation ranges from classic films like White Zombie and I Walked with a Zombie through George Romero’s groundbreaking Night of the Living Dead and onward to the wild variety of zombie films in more recent decades.

Segment-by-Segment Highlights

The Spookiness of Costumes and Personas (00:40–02:09)

• Ben and Noel kick things off by discussing Halloween traditions, dressing up (or not), and how adopting personas is a form of “social hacking.”
  • Ben shares: “Sometimes you do have to be a certain different person to get some stuff done. That could be anything from the social hack of wearing an orange construction vest to get backstage at places—unethical. But it does work.” (01:16)

Modern Zombies: Birth of a Movie Monster (05:36–06:41)

• The discussion shifts to the cinematic origins of the modern zombie, focusing on Night of the Living Dead (1968) by George Romero.

  • Noel: “It was a landmark achievement… for the zombie genre in that it really created the modern concept of the zombie as we know it.” (05:41)

• Ben compares Romero’s contributions to how the Faust legend established rules for dealing with the devil in Western fiction.

Night of the Living Dead – Realism, Politics, and Cult Status (06:41–10:22)

• They examine why Night of the Living Dead felt so real to audiences—shot in black and white, echoing the starkness of news footage.

  • Noel recalls effects legend Tom Savini’s take: “The way Night of the Living Dead is filmed takes a very cinema verite kind of slice of life approach… They felt… like they were watching something very familiar, like the news.” (07:50)

• Early critics dismissed it as trash because of its graphic content—yet it later gained cult status, in part due to its political undertones.

Zombies Before Romero: Voodoo, Colonialism, and White Zombie (1932) (10:22–19:31)

• Ben and Noel clarify that Night of the Living Dead was not the first zombie film—White Zombie (1932) predates it and is heavily influenced by sensationalized accounts of Haitian voodoo.

  • Ben: “As you can tell, this film is very heavy on the voodoo angle—a mischaracterization of voodoo, to be fair—and it is light on cultural sensitivity.” (13:13)

• The film’s antagonist, Murder Legendre (played by Bela Lugosi), uses voodoo to enslave other characters—an allegory for real-world colonial exploitation.

• They discuss the context of U.S. occupation of Haiti (1915–1934), forced labor (“corvée”), and the suppression of voodoo rituals as resistance.

  • Noel: “There’s a word for that… it’s slavery. And it’s slavery by another name.” (16:09)

• The hosts highlight how White Zombie’s promotional stunts explicitly played into racist, colonial stereotypes.

Social Commentary in Zombie Films: I Walked with a Zombie (1943) (29:50–35:26)

• I Walked with a Zombie offers a more nuanced, though still problematic, take on the voodoo mythos. The protagonist is a Canadian nurse who serves as an outsider lens through the grey area of colonial history and race/class divides.
  • Ben: “[This film] puts her in an outsider position, kind of a class of one’s own, making her a lens for the audience, theoretically, to more objectively view the cultural complications of the story.” (32:42)
• The film uses powerful symbols like the zombified guard Carafur and the T Misery statue, relics of slavery and resistance.

Cinema and “Sneaky” Critique of Power (35:26–36:21)

• The hosts praise old films for embedding critiques of colonialism and racism that, while often subtle due to censorship or audience expectation, still “cut through the PR and all the propagandistic spins.”
  • Ben: “One thing that’s brilliant… it cut through all that PR and it made the local populations… reassess their country’s involvement in a brutal past. And it did it so experientially.” (34:49)

The Cultural Explosion & Subtext of Night of the Living Dead (1968) (35:58–61:11)

• Night of the Living Dead is revisited, setting the historical context of the late 1960s: civil rights movement, political turmoil, assassinations, Vietnam War.
  • Ben: “There were serious questions about the viability of the United States as a thing. People… were convinced the US was going to fall.” (37:13)
• The film’s production background: micro-budgeted, grassroots, majority of actors were friends/investors.
  • Noel: “If you invest in our film, we'll also put you in the movie. So they appealed to some vanity. Even still… the budget is tight…” (39:58)
• Dwayne Jones, a Black actor, is cast as Ben—the most competent survivor—by chance, not as a political statement.
  • Ben: “He is the smartest one… pretty much all the other humans in the farmhouse are kind of useless and white.” (51:35)
• This “happy accident” leads to a film that (unintentionally) comments powerfully on race and authority in America—especially in the film’s controversial climax, where Ben is shot by a white sheriff and burned with the zombies.
  • Noel: “It really makes it read even more kind of poignantly… All of this not necessarily done on purpose, but it really feels intentional.” (52:05)
  • “Zombie films essentially function as a time capsule of the audience's greatest political fears. They're deeper the more you think about them.” (60:06)

The Evolution of Zombies On-Screen (61:11–66:55)

• From the 1970s onward, zombie films begin to reflect shifting American fears—consumerism in Dawn of the Dead (shopping mall setting), biohazards (Reanimator), and post-apocalyptic threats (Omega Man, 28 Days Later).

• The genre’s flexibility allows parodies and mashups (Shaun of the Dead, Zombieland, Dead Alive) and even “zombified pets” (Fido).

  • Noel: “You start to really see this kind of flurry of spins and twists on that iconic genre…” (61:11)
  • Ben: “We see zombies taking an increasingly secular approach… not quite zombies, like the villains of Charlton Heston’s Omega Man… they’re zombie in all but name.” (62:43)

• The endurance of the zombie metaphor:

  • “It’s always Halloween in America.” (65:38)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the creation of the modern zombie:

  • Noel: “It really created the modern concept of the zombie as we know it.” (05:41)

• On the black-and-white realism of Night of the Living Dead:

  • “...they felt as though they were watching something very familiar like the news. And yet on screen we’re seeing this horde of undead devouring the flesh of the living.” — Noel (07:50)

• On US occupation and forced labor in Haiti:

  • “There’s a word for that… it’s slavery. And it’s slavery by another name.” — Noel (16:09)

• On how subtext can sneak into problematic works:

  • “I would argue that there’s a little bit of subtext that’s hidden in the film that is very cleverly done.” — Noel, on White Zombie (25:56)

• On film as an avenue for critique:

  • Ben: “It cut through all that PR and all the propagandistic spins… and it made the local populations of Americans… reassess their country’s involvement in a brutal past.” (34:49)

• On the accidental casting of Dwayne Jones:

  • “Dwayne’s the best actor. So now our movie is political.” — Ben (48:33)

• On Ben’s uniqueness as a Black hero (and horror history):

  • “In 1960s America, regardless of genre of film, you would not see a black actor punching a white actor on screen. Especially not when the white guy is depicted as a villain.” — Ben (55:13)

• On violence against children in horror as shock factor and metaphor:

  • “Now you’re watching the young eat the old, which kind of feels like a symbol for generational upheaval in the US…” — Ben (57:14)

• On the political bite of zombie films:

  • “Zombie films essentially function as a time capsule of the audience's greatest political fears. They're deeper the more you think about them.” — Ben (60:06)

• On the evolution of zombies post-Romero:

  • “You start to really see this kind of flurry of spins and twists on that iconic genre that Romero created…” — Noel (61:11)

Timeline of Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |-----------|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 00:40 | Halloween costumes, subversive “personas” | | 05:36 | Introduction to Night of the Living Dead and modern zombies | | 06:41 | The film’s realism, reaction of 1960s audiences, Tom Savini’s commentary | | 10:22 | Earlier zombie movies: White Zombie, voodoo, and US-Haiti history | | 15:00 | Colonial subtext in zombie films, forced labor, suppression of voodoo | | 29:50 | I Walked with a Zombie, class/race lens, symbolism | | 35:26 | Zombie films as “sneaky” cultural critique | | 35:58 | Social context of 1968 America and the making of Night of the Living Dead | | 39:58 | Indie film hustle: casting by necessity, Dwayne Jones as Ben | | 51:35 | Ben as the only competent survivor—subtext now critical | | 54:42 | Pivotal scene: White character Henry locks Ben (Black character) out, Ben “clocks” him | | 55:13 | Breaking taboo: Black hero gets physical with white characters | | 56:45 | Child death and generational metaphors | | 58:06 | Ben killed by white sheriff—historical resonance, not scripted for race | | 61:11 | Zombies as shifting metaphors: consumerism, paranoia, apocalypse | | 65:40 | Comedy and post-modern takes: Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead |

Conclusion

The hosts expertly show how zombie films are more than pulpy horror—they tap into the anxieties and power structures of their times. From colonialist voodoo stereotypes to the civil rights context of Night of the Living Dead, to 21st-century fears of contagion and collapse, zombies remain ripe for metaphor and reinvention. Ben and Noel’s energetic, often humorous banter makes the heavy history accessible, leaving listeners with fresh insight into why zombies won’t stay dead in our movies—or our collective imagination.

Produced by: Max Williams
Research by: Ren Fest

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