Grand Rounds

Why we do the things we do.

by Steven Schlozman, M.D.

The Horrors, the Horrors! Meditations on the Science of Zombies and Fear

By Steven Schlozman, M.D. on February 15, 2011 in Grand Rounds

As an author, as a physician, as a guy who likes to think scientifically, and, most importantly for this piece, as someone who actually enjoys within reason being cinematically frightened, I have been trying to piece together this data in order to make sense of the popularity of zombies. Read More

You could have just said "The

Submitted by Anonymous on February 15, 2011 - 7:51pm.

You could have just said "The Uncanny Valley"

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Shaun of the Dead

Submitted by Patrick on February 15, 2011 - 8:21pm.

I didn't experience any horror in Shaun of the Dead. For me this movie is comedy, not horror.

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thanks for the comments

Submitted by Steven Schlozman on February 16, 2011 - 5:27am.

thanks for both comments. With regards to the first, the concept about robots being more unsettling than perhaps intuitively expected seems spot on to me. I am familiar with this literature and I agree it would have jived well with this piece. There are similar notions with regard to babies (human ones) and the classic cinematic aliens from older movies. Both babies and aliens have big heads. So, we viscerally see a baby in those nefarious invaders and get a little chill; a more mundane example might be to photoshop a cute beagle but to replace the dog eyes with cat eyes. Both familiar features (a cute beagle and sweet kitty eyes), but not belonging together, and you get a potentially creepy creature as a result.

With regards to the second comment, there is always a fine line between humor and horror. People laugh at the creepy cackles over the loud speaker at those haunted houses you go to on Halloween.I found Shaun of the Dead hilarious, but it was funny to me because of the juxtaposition of the zombies with Shaun's seemingly neurotic dilemmas.

I thank both of you for furthering this fun discussion.

steve schlozman