Cargo (Movie review) Would You Ride A Zombie? | Zombie Book Club Podcast episode 32

"Cargo" delivers a post-apocalyptic journey set in the desolate landscapes of Australia, where Andy, a father infected by a pandemic virus turning humans into zombies, races against time to secure a future for his infant daughter, Rosie. After the tragic demise of his wife, Kay, Andy and Rosie navigate the perils of the Australian outback, encountering survivors and the constant menace of zombies. Among these survivors is Thoomi, an Aboriginal girl who believes in the curative powers of the Cleverman for her infected father. The narrative weaves together their struggles, culminating in Andy's ultimate sacrifice to ensure Rosie's safety, entrusting her to Thoomi and other survivors. This film not only thrills with its survival saga but enriches the zombie genre with its exploration of parental love, humanity, and moral dilemmas amidst a crumbling world.

Beyond the visceral struggle for survival, "Cargo" deeply integrates themes of cultural identity, environmental degradation, and the enduring human spirit. It uniquely incorporates Australian Aboriginal perspectives, particularly through Thoomi's character and her cultural beliefs, offering a rich commentary on cultural survival and the impacts of colonialism. The film challenges the conventional boundaries of the zombie horror genre, presenting a poignant story of love, sacrifice, and resilience. It reflects on the legacy left for future generations, invoking contemplation on our environmental responsibilities and the complexities of human and cultural coexistence in the face of apocalyptic adversity. Through Andy's journey and the diverse cast of characters, "Cargo" stands out as a multifaceted narrative that transcends typical horror tropes, making it a memorable addition to the genre.


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Transcript

Exploring Themes in 'Cargo' Zombie Film

Speaker 1 0:05

Welcome to the Zombie Book Club , the only book club where the book is a movie that I didn't actually know it was a zombie movie . It actually was one of the best zombie movies I've ever seen . I'm Dan , and when I'm not desperately trying to pivot my career from hard physical labor to working at home , I'm writing a book about a truck driver who's nearly beaten the death at a truck stop by a couple of red hat wearing hillbilly militia types who think that the zombie outbreak was caused by immigrants . Why ?

Speaker 2 0:52

And I'm Leah when I'm not drawing an evil magic chicken zombie for our first t-shirt . I'm contemplating whether anyone would be into buying a Zom Dom adult coloring book . I talked about this a little bit of a thread briefly , and they suggested that all of the characters should be Zoms , so it's less creepy .

Speaker 1 1:09

Yeah , it would kind of be creepy if somebody was just plowing a dead person .

Speaker 2 1:13

Yes , and then it turns into I think I feel like that'd be violation of a corpse .

Speaker 1 1:18

Yeah , even if they're undead . Yeah , that would be necrophilia .

Speaker 2 1:21

Yeah , that's the word I was looking for . It's like necromancy , that's not it .

Speaker 1 1:24

I always know I always have necrophilia at the tip of my tongue .

Speaker 2 1:28

So yeah , let me know . I mean , I don't know if I want to draw zombies having sex via BDSM , but when we said that Zom Dom thing , accidentally , it's been in my mind ever since .

Speaker 1 1:39

It sticks . It sticks in there .

Speaker 2 1:42

I do it if people you know there's demand .

Speaker 1 1:45

Let us know if you have demand for a Zom Dom coloring book .

Speaker 2 1:49

Yes , I don't .

Speaker 1 1:51

And please say yes .

Speaker 2 1:54

Today we are talking with the movie Cargo , because we literally could not find a single streaming platform with 28 days later on it .

Speaker 1 2:02

Yeah , we wanted to watch 28 days later and literally it's gone from the shelves on all online streaming platforms , including Voodoo , which is one where you pay for the movie . You just pay them and they give it to you . I didn't think that this was like up for debate , but it is . So we were like , well , we got to watch something else .

Speaker 2 2:22

Yeah , we got to watch it at Cargo and I'm glad we did . It's really good .

Speaker 1 2:25

Yeah , it really was . I was very surprised by this movie .

Speaker 2 2:29

And just for those folks who love , 28 days later , a hot tip go to your local library , they can probably get it for you . That's what I learned a couple of weeks ago . So we release episodes every Sunday , every single Sunday , every Sunday now . Yeah , this is Zombie Church , as we say , yes , zombie Church was on down .

Speaker 1 2:46

Praise zombie Jesus . Oh , we probably offended some people there . Oh , zombie Jesus , bring on to me your necrotic light .

Speaker 2 3:01

Who's your love upon me ?

Speaker 1 3:05

Infect me with , with , with , your parasitic love Ew we're moving on .

Speaker 2 3:13

Let's start with a summary . Dan , Tell us about Cargo for anybody who has not watched it .

Speaker 1 3:18

No , I'm going to tell you all about this . Cargo is a post-apocalyptic drama film set in Australia . I mean , who knew that Australia would be a good backdrop for a post-apocalyptic movie ? Who knew ? The story revolves around Andy , a father , who is , who is infected by a pandemic virus which turns people into zombies when the infection . Individuals have 48 hours before they fully turn into zombies . That can vary too , depending on , like how badly you were bitten . We'll talk about that later . I'm sure Andy's main goal throughout the film is to find a safe place for his infant daughter , rosie , before he turns . So after his wife Kay is killed , his wife is the one who gets infected by a zombie first . Yes , so something happens and he is also infected . She doesn't infect him , does she ? I don't remember that part . He's infected by a disease .

Speaker 2 4:22

It wasn't a week and a half ago . No , I think she . They're fighting zombies , I think . Wow , I don't remember . This is why we need to record more quickly after we can watch that thing . I swear we have good things to say about this movie .

Speaker 1 4:32

Anyways , after Kay is killed , andy travels with Rosie through the Australian outback . Along the way he encounters various survivors , including Thumme , an Aboriginal girl who believes her infected father can be cured by the Clever man . I love the Clever man , but which is an Aboriginal healer ? Andy and Thumme their paths intersect and they face several challenges , including other survivors with different intentions and the ever-present threat of zombies . Because Andy's condition worsens , he desperately searches for someone to care for Rosie after he turns . The film's climax involves a poignant decision by Andy to use himself as a decoy to lead zombies away . Sorry , I was just thinking about something later on in the movie that makes me laugh .

Speaker 1 5:24

We'll talk about that for sure , Ensuring Rosie's safety . The story concludes with Thumme and a group of survivors taking Rosie to safety , while Andy succumbs to the infection and is mercifully killed to prevent his complete transformation . Cargo is a film that intertwines themes of parental love , humanity , survival , cultural identity and environmental concerns , offering a multi-layered narrative that goes beyond the typical zombie horror genre .

Speaker 2 5:59

This is true . We're enjoying that . More and more zombie films are branching out and doing things a bit differently . So let's talk about the zombie type , because we always got to talk about zombie types .

Speaker 1 6:10

I like your adoption of our ComPlan 88 zombie type identification .

Speaker 2 6:17

I did not do that . You did that and then forgot that you did it , I did that , yes , I wrote all the other things about the zombie type . Good job Eve , but the first bullet point is yours . What we're referring to is that Dan wrote that this is either a pathogenic zombie or a symbiote-induced zombie , which I already forget what both those are .

Speaker 1 6:34

Pathogenic zombie is a zombie that's created by a bacteria , a virus , a microorganism that transforms a human being into a zombie . What's symbiote-induced ? Pathogenic-induced zombies are kind of the same thing , in the sense that a life form lives within the host and controls it for its own survival .

Speaker 2 7:02

So this is a combination .

Speaker 1 7:04

So pathogenic zombies can also be symbiont-induced zombies .

Speaker 2 7:08

Interesting .

Speaker 1 7:09

If the characteristic of the zombie is to preserve itself .

Speaker 2 7:13

Well , yeah , I think that they do want to preserve themselves , yeah they do also think that it's a virus or a bacteria . I think you're right . It's both Because one , they have like a weird zombie goo that , as they're turning this like nasty orangey goo comes out of their like all the orifices .

Speaker 1 7:30

It's kind of like trussing I mean assuming trussing orifices , we don't know but crusting out of their eyes , nose and mouth all over the place .

Speaker 2 7:36

It's disgusting and very , very nasty and I think the goo itself is probably contagious it might be and then the symbiont part of it , I think , is that they have this very strange need to hibernate . So there wasn't a lot of explanation about , like , when they need to hibernate specifically or why , yeah , but we have a bunch of zombies with their heads in the sand , which I definitely think is a metaphor , yeah , for humanity and people who act sort of zombified and like we start to see this too from the main character .

Speaker 1 8:07

It's like he's becoming these , like succumbing to the side effects of his disease yeah . He just like feels compelled to dig into the ground and shove his head into the ground , yeah . Or like to stand against a wall and like put his head against the wall .

Speaker 2 8:21

Yeah , in a dark tunnel so that there there's no light . So there's something interesting going there and I would say they're moderately paced . I don't think I saw any full out running , but they weren't like super slow shot of the dead shamblers , yeah they weren't shambling , but they weren't sprinting . No , they were just having a moderate walk .

Speaker 1 8:37

I feel like it's kind of a realistic because like they kind of like sometimes gallop a little , wasn't quite a run , it was more like a skip .

Speaker 2 8:46

Yeah , they would get a little bit faster when they were excited . Yeah , but still , best case scenario a very slow jog like that jog you do and you've been running for a while , but you know you got to keep doing it , but you don't want to .

Speaker 1 8:59

My current fastest running .

Speaker 2 9:02

Also , I shouldn't run at all . So there were a lot of existential questions and themes for me that came up in this movie and we're going to start with some of the easier ones , I think , and then work our way down , because definitely I want to return to the metaphor of the hand head in the sand , but I think one of the obvious ones is the theme of like parental love and sacrifice , which , tbh , I have no children , but it was interesting . Well , we have and I imagine , yes , that's true .

Speaker 1 9:28

Any parent could would agree that dogs are exactly the same as raising children .

Speaker 2 9:33

We have lost all of our Christian and parents Audience today . But that's true , I would go to great lengths if I knew I was going to become a zombie in 48 hours . I would definitely find a way to make sure that my little buddies are taken care of .

Speaker 1 9:49

Yeah , we'd call up our dog centers and be like can you dog sit forever ? You can have the house .

Speaker 2 9:55

Bella , please , yeah , move in here . We'll bestow our house to you . But anyhow , andy's journey really is driven by his determination to protect his infant daughter . That is all that matters to him , like when he knows that he's going to die . He's trying to figure out what on earth is going to happen to this pretty much newborn baby and I do think that there is like an inherent parental thing that happens . Parents , tell me again , I'm not one where you will just do pretty much anything to protect the well-being of your child . I will know as an aunt . The very first time I became an aunt of my eldest sister's son when he was born . When I first saw him my neat thought was I will fucking kill anybody who comes near this baby and threatens him . So I guess I've had that vicariously I guess , for my nieces and nephews , that feeling of extreme protection , I would do a lot to make sure that they're OK . But I can only imagine that it's more intense when it's your child .

Speaker 1 10:49

Yeah , I imagine yeah .

Speaker 2 10:52

And then , Dan , you were talking a little bit about how this film is a metaphor beyond just a person who is human about to become a zombie .

Speaker 1 11:00

I was talking about this just now , Well earlier . The film is a metaphor for the world that we leave behind for our children , adding a thoughtful layer to the horror genre . I think this is a common thing that we think about now . I don't think generations before us gave a shit about the planet .

Speaker 2 11:21

Depends on which cultures you're talking about .

Speaker 1 11:22

That's true .

Speaker 2 11:23

Yes , we'll take that back for some of you , but not all of you Our recent ancestors .

Speaker 1 11:30

Mine probably didn't care too much , so this idea that if you bring a child into this world , that it's going to be like thousands of times more difficult for them than it will be for you , and maybe it's best not to do that or to try to make the world a little

Exploring Themes in Cargo Film

Speaker 1 11:47

bit better . I kind of feel like this is kind of a new idea as we're facing the realities of climate change .

Speaker 2 11:54

It is not a new idea for people who aren't fully enveloped in white culture .

Speaker 2 12:02

That's what I would say , because I was too , until I was very lucky to just by chance have an opportunity to work with a lot of Indigenous folks in Canada , and I had one experience that really changed my whole life , and Natasha Lahani , a Squamish elder , sat down with me one day at this event that we were both at and was just like have you heard of the law of the seven generations ? And I was like , what's that ? And I know , dan , you've heard me talk about it a lot . Maybe people here listening have heard of it , but just in case you haven't , when I did hear this , it changed my little white brain from being a little bit , I think , myopic and thinking about like what are my needs and my immediate family's needs ? And like , sure , I care about other people , but I was not thinking very much about the future beyond my lifespan .

Speaker 2 12:51

And the law of seven generations is basically that the world we have today is the result of the last seven generations choices and that we are responsible for ensuring that there is a good world to live in for the next seven generations . I just want to let that sink in for a minute , because it still gives me chills when you think about your choices in the context of basically 200 years from now and you think about things like plastic . You're going to look at plastic a little bit differently than you did before and your plastic use .

Speaker 1 13:23

I think about Plastic Island , which I think is now technically a continent .

Speaker 2 13:30

But I do think that you're right . I think that there is because of climate change , more and more people of many cultural backgrounds are waking up to the fact that the next generation , people that are young now , like in this case , andy's daughter , rosie by the time she grows up , we don't know what kind of world she's going to have , and that's just scary , and I think that it is motivating for some people obviously not enough to really think about how we can do things differently to preserve a really incredible world that is very conducive to human life if we're thoughtful about our relationship with the earth . So I think it really is a metaphor for what we leave behind for our children . But I want to just share that on the seven generations teaching , because I think that it's a really powerful one and it's one of those things that if I had learned as a kid and we all did I think we have a better world , much less know what are those things called those coffee pods .

Speaker 1 14:24

Oh , curing , pods yeah .

Speaker 2 14:26

None of those . That wouldn't happen Convenience stuff that you just throw out as soon as you use it . If you're thinking about what's the result that that's still going to be around in a landfill seven generations from now , you're probably not going to do it , so no sense . If you've got a curic , maybe , yeah , actually you know what I'd offend them ? Yeah , you offended . Think about it . Maybe you don't think it's a curic . Your curic is stupid .

Speaker 1 14:49

It was never a good idea . It doesn't save you time . You can look they already made coffee machines before your curic is dumb .

Speaker 2 15:01

Dan , I love how you're just unapologetic about it . I'm so like I try not to offend people , but yes , what Dan said .

Speaker 1 15:09

Let's talk about humanity . Have we ever talked about humanity for moral choices before ?

Speaker 2 15:16

I feel like that's all we talk about in this zombie podcast , in this house Also true .

Speaker 1 15:21

In this house , we talk about moral choices every day . The film delves into the theme of what it means to be human in the face of devastating crisis . It explores the moral choices characters have to make to survive and how these choices impact their humanity . This theme is particularly evident in the interactions between different survivors , each making different choices under desperate circumstances .

Speaker 2 15:49

I feel like what's under the surface with that description is like there's people who try to hold on to a sense of ethics and care for other humans , and then there's other people who want to exploit the situation for their own profit and gain .

Speaker 1 16:02

Yeah , there's definitely like characters that are characterizing both of those things .

Speaker 2 16:08

Yeah , I think that's a common theme in zombie literature .

Speaker 1 16:10

I haven't really talked about the characters much , but what comes to mind is there's this guy and I don't even know his name . He's called what's His Face . What's His Face , but he doesn't deserve a name Stupid . What's His Face ? He's trying to take control of all of the oil pipelines . So he has this whole like set up . He has a big truck , he's going around because he thinks that the world's going to come back to what it was before and he's like I'm going to own the oil , I want to own the oil , I want to be rich when all of this blows over . And then there's people like the aboriginals are like it's not going to blow over . Yeah , that's that's . That's a direct line from the movie . They're like brah , not going to happen . But also he's doing like all kinds of like really messed up stuff like trapping aboriginal people in cages to use them as bait for zombies so that he can clear out zombies easier .

Speaker 2 17:09

Yeah , this guy is not not a good guy . This means you think of another really key theme to this movie and much of zombie literature that I think is worth continuously exploring , which is just like when you're desperate , what are you willing to do to survive , Because this man was desperate .

Speaker 1 17:27

So it's interesting to think like yeah he was desperate for the world that he knew to come back .

Speaker 2 17:32

Yes , and he creepily looked at it as an opportunity to like a get rich quick scheme . Yeah , and he also didn't really see the humanity of people who are different from him , like the aboriginal people . But I think , like in the case of cargo , there is a lot of just survival in the face of overwhelming odds , andy in particular , struggling with that when he encounters what's his face . Because one of the things that I think is like one of those like what would you do moments in this film that connects back to like your humanity and your , your , your , your willingness to figure out how to survive and do things you would not normally do is when Andy encounters what's his face . And what's his face makes him go out with him on a run , which is the first time where he sees to me caught in a cage and he has this moment where , like , he's making eye contact with this little girl I don't know how old she is , dan , what do you think Like she's ?

Speaker 1 18:27

got to be 10 or less , 10 or 11 .

Speaker 2 18:29

Yeah , somewhere in there and he wants to get her out . He's like this is fucked .

Speaker 1 18:35

Yeah .

Speaker 2 18:35

But he's having to make a decision , like his daughter , rosie is back at the camp of . What's his face is . What's her names with what's her name ?

Speaker 1 18:45

His what's her name ? Is his quote unquote wife . We find out later that she does that never . Never agreed to be on this guy .

Speaker 2 18:54

No , in fact she had a husband that died in the explosion at the oil refinery and then this guy showed up and basically like has made her his , like , she's basically his house heard . Yeah , she's basically captured . She doesn't really have a choice and she hasn't encountered people she could leave . So , anyways , she is back at camp with Rosie and you can see him calculating like do I try and do something or not ? And before we say what he does , what would you do ?

Speaker 1 19:21

in that scenario , dan . I mean , I was already thinking it and I was like I hope , I hope he does what I'm thinking , which is this guy has all the things that you need , but he's also unhinged and dangerous and the people in the cages are more likely to be valuable allies if I do something to save them and I'm running out of time as Martin Freeman and also have a loaded rifle standing behind . What's his face ? Who's Martin Freeman ?

Speaker 2 19:56

Andy , yeah that's the actor's name . I'm so bad at acting .

Speaker 1 19:59

It's played by Martin Freeman . Okay , the character's name is handy , I should specify .

Speaker 2 20:05

I just realized that we forgot a very important detail Like why is this guy , why is what's his face putting Aboriginal folks in cages ? Well , one , he's racist . I think that that's clear . But two , he's doing it because what he does is he like puts on a boombox with a really ridiculous song and then attracts all the zombies to the cage the person's basically live bait and then he shoots all the zombies and takes all of their valuables .

Speaker 1 20:30

But literally what this guy is doing .

Speaker 2 20:32

He is really unhinged and I know what I would do if I had a weapon and I felt that I could overpower him . I would definitely just be like , I think , when you see that somebody's put somebody else in a cage and it's the apocalypse . This is a time where you got to act quickly and just kill them .

Speaker 1 20:50

Yeah , I would have shot him in the back and then I would have shot him two more times in the back .

Speaker 2 20:54

Yeah , and then let two me out .

Speaker 1 20:56

Yeah , and then then been like to me that there's a let's go free the clever man . Also , I need you to raise my baby .

Speaker 2 21:06

Yeah , that's , eventually , you guys get there .

Speaker 1 21:08

I would just jump right to the point and I'd be like listen , guys , I don't have long , I've got this baby . I helped you out , you helped me out the end .

Speaker 2 21:16

Yeah , and I think we'll be over . I guess it did add a lot more drama to it all because he goes back to the camp and that's when , I think , at some point , he gets to be all alone with the quote unquote wife and she explains to him that she is basically his captured person and they try to escape . That doesn't work . There's a whole fight that ensues and then eventually they do end up killing this guy . But I think they needed he needed to go a lot earlier in this movie than he did .

Speaker 1 21:45

Yeah , but it also made the movie we're going to also talk about , like the choice that he has to make , like a little bit later , pause , what choice ? There's another point . A little bit after this , it's in the middle of the night and Andy has decided to escape with his baby . He's going to take what's his name's fake wife with him . They're all going to leave and he goes . They go in very silently . They grab the keys to the pickup truck . He grabs the rifle that he was using earlier that day .

Speaker 2 22:18

Right that could have been the moment .

Speaker 1 22:20

And then they leave . But the whole time I'm like this guy is not a good guy . He's not going to let you just get away . He is going to chase you to the ends of the earth because that's who this person is Shoot him in his sleep , Kill this man . There's no downsides to this . There's absolutely none . This guy does not need to be alive anymore .

Speaker 2 22:46

Yeah , that is really true , and it makes me think about the fact that there's got to be this liminal space that you're in when you first are , like in the early days of the zombie apocalypse , where something like that maybe just doesn't occur to you , unless you're like us and you watch a lot of zombie stuff .

Speaker 1 23:02

Or you're a combat that would get there .

Speaker 2 23:03

Yeah , just like you've already had to make that .

Speaker 1 23:05

Some people are threats .

Speaker 2 23:07

Yeah , but like your average person has not killed someone before , and I think that there would be an internal resistance to that if you can think that you can't do it . But I think in these circumstances , in this kind of world , sometimes you have to make decisions quickly and you have to trust your gut of like . This person is not safe and at that point you know very clearly he's not , and the usual rules of engagement are no longer available to you , so you gotta make it difficult . I think it would fuck you up , though , so I think it was quite a while before .

Speaker 1 23:37

I'd sleep like a baby . Yeah , you get like . You know that nobody was hunting me .

Speaker 2 23:42

You have a very different perspective because of what you've been through , so let's talk about the aspect of having such a strong element of Australian Aboriginal culture in this world .

Australian Cinema and Environmental Themes

Speaker 1 23:55

I think that this was really incredible and unique and I like that they really showcased it . It wasn't just like set dressing , it wasn't an environmental thing , it wasn't something that they briefly mentioned and glossed over like it's . It is a core part of the of the story .

Speaker 2 24:12

Yeah , and to me is , I think , the most interesting character in my mind . So after he encounters her in the cage , we learn later that to me his father has been zombified and she is trying to put a harmonic in his mouth . Yeah , I love that . That's like the second time . We were just the third time I've seen a gag zombie .

Speaker 1 24:33

Yeah , it didn't actually have a harm ?

Speaker 2 24:35

No , it wasn't .

Speaker 1 24:36

She like tied a stick around his head and he was biting down on a gag .

Speaker 2 24:41

Yeah , which is also impressive . How did you do that to this guy ? But like , especially when you're 10 and this is like an adult man yeah , zombie wrangling , it's a skill . It is . We do a zombie wrangling camp for practice .

Speaker 1 24:53

I think we need to start one .

Speaker 2 24:55

Yeah , so anyhow , I'm going to transition back to the point to me or through me I apologize , I'm not sure how to say her name after being a couple of weeks , but I'm pretty sure it's to me . You see that this is her dad and that she has run away and is hiding her zombie dad from her mother and from the rest of the people in her community who are still OK , and you see them surviving and finding like really interesting ways to navigate zombies , like they're doing some very intentional burns of the bush and attracting zombies that way and then killing them on mass .

Speaker 1 25:30

Yeah , they're a face paint . They say that the zombies can't smell you if you have this paint on your face .

Speaker 2 25:36

Yeah , they've had interesting strategies . That would never occur , I think , to the Andes of the world , in Australia , because they don't come from that culture . So it really does add a lot , and I love the concept of the clever man not the concept , my apologies Having a clever man featured in the film .

Speaker 1 25:54

And also I expected him to be called like a wise man , a medicine man , a witch doctor , an elder . Never did I expect them to call him the clever man .

Speaker 2 26:05

Yeah , they actually used a term that is commonly used amongst Aboriginal people in Australia .

Speaker 1 26:11

That's such a great name .

Speaker 2 26:14

It is a great name and it's also accurate , like good old chat GPT because I use it to prepare for these podcasts sometimes is like telling me that he's just a shaman and I'm like that's not the right term . I know that's not what they called him , so of course I looked it up and it was clever man , but that's like another example of like anything that's not a Western doctor's a shaman and that's inaccurate . There's all kinds of healing traditions out there Insert Professor , anthropology teacher here . I won't go down that rabbit hole right now .

Speaker 2 26:43

I will say one of the critiques I have of the film is that while she was a central character and Aboriginal culture was definitely present , they never named the specific nation . There are many Aboriginal cultures in Australia and I don't know which one this is , and I think that , in the same way that we should not call every place in Africa Africa as in the continent , because there's tons of countries and locations and people's there , we shouldn't just be like all Aboriginal people . I feel like that was an oversight because it's still . It's still , let's face it . It's still centering a white male gaze .

Speaker 1 27:19

Let's talk about environmental concerns . They list some in this movie .

Speaker 2 27:27

It is definitely high in the themes here .

Speaker 1 27:30

Cargo touches upon environmental concerns and the legacy that is left for future generations . The post apocalyptic landscape can be seen as a metaphor for environmental degradation , and the film subtly comments on the responsibility of the current generation to protect the world for their children . Again , I don't know what other movies we could watch that uses the Australian Outback as a setting for a post apocalyptic nightmare that touches upon environmental concerns . If there's one of those , let me know , rabbit proof fence .

Speaker 2 28:09

The person that comes to mind Rabbit proof fence . I'm pretty sure that's what it's called . I will double check . I've never heard of that it's a great movie . Also , in this case , actually , the main characters are all indigenous and it's based on a true story . So , yeah , rabbit proof fence , check it out . No zombies .

Speaker 1 28:26

Yeah , you know , and any other Australian dystopian movies .

Speaker 2 28:31

I feel like you're referring to one and like assuming me and the audience know , and I think you're forgetting that , at least to me . No , I'm genuinely asking oh really , yeah , I thought I thought you were like implying that there was some like major one out there . Why are you laughing ?

Speaker 1 28:44

What is happening over there ? What is happening in your weird and wonderful mind ? You've never heard of Mad Max .

Speaker 2 28:49

Oh , I thought maybe , but there's no zombies , so I didn't realize that's what you're referring to .

Speaker 1 28:54

No , I was just going for dystopian as a whole .

Speaker 2 28:56

Mad .

Speaker 1 28:57

Max Got it . Mad Max had a , had a real direct approach to like environmental disaster . The world was heating up , there was a nuclear war somewhere that wasn't Australia , and also there's like a fuel shortage crisis , and then things just get worse .

Speaker 2 29:17

Thank you for that summary . I don't remember things very well .

Speaker 1 29:22

My point is that Australian cinema has always had a really great post apocalyptic foothold in cinema and they use the outback like their own backyard to showcase hey , this is what your world could look like . You could live in the outback too . Come on down to the steakhouse .

Speaker 2 29:44

Yeah , that's definitely what's happening . I mean , the outback is definitely a place where there are a lot of creatures that could fuck you up . If you don't have the knowledge that the aboriginal cultures there have , I think probably in trouble .

Speaker 2 29:57

And even what's his name . Steve Irwin , quote unquote expert of all the animals , got killed by an animal . It wasn't , it wasn't , it was a . What was it ? A stingray , stingray . Okay , so that's on the outback . It's still in the heart , the point I think there is a metaphor for , like the wildness of the outback and , I think , our humans softness and the fact that we have basically domesticated ourselves in Western civilization and like we don't know how to survive . I don't know how , I mean like I know a little bit more , I think , than most people , but I would still be in trouble if there was an apocalypse A .

Speaker 2 30:28

Dig a hole , put your head in it .

Speaker 1 30:30

Put my head in the hole .

Speaker 2 30:31

Head in the sand . Okay , we got to talk about this briefly and then move on . So there's my thinking , my , my thinking around the head in the sand metaphor is basically that , like the people who are seemingly unaware or unwilling to see that there is an environmental crisis happening and I think the fact that there's an oil refinery is a very specific choice and that we have to do something about it in order to be okay Are putting their heads in the sand and like being unwilling to look at the reality and and do something fucking any . Do anything , the love of humanity , literally do anything .

Speaker 1 31:06

Yeah , I had a

Analysis of Zombie Apocalypse Movie

Speaker 1 31:07

. I had a revelation about the movie that is not in these notes . Tell me so . Like you said , people with their heads in the sand are the zombies , right ? Also , everyone who does not embrace the Aboriginal ways and they're continuing down this path of oil and Western civilization . They're all dead . At the end of the movie . The what's his face that was . That was a total jerk . He's dead . Spoiler Andy dies at the end even though , like he's , he was like warming up to the ideas and the traditions and trying to learn some of the words and you know , but he's , he didn't . He didn't make it . But also , very interestingly and this is a detail you wouldn't really notice unless you paid attention to , like the signage around the oil fields and the logos , is that to me's father is wearing the , the uniform of the oil company ?

Speaker 2 32:11

Oh yeah , I don't think I caught that .

Speaker 1 32:13

So he was . He was a , an Aboriginal person who was working for the oil company and there was , and he was embracing those Western ways and this greed and and and rejecting his old ways , even though he still had all of that knowledge and skill that he passed down to to me . You know he was , he was becoming a part of that Western world , and he was , and he got turned into a zombie . Interesting . And the people who survived at the end were the Aboriginals who embraced the old ways and living closer to nature .

Speaker 2 32:52

Yeah , resilient ways , ways that have proven to be very effective for a much longer period than I don't know how long Australia's been around , but not that long .

Speaker 1 32:59

So not as long as 60 .

Speaker 2 33:00

I think it's like 60,000 years of history . Yeah of Aboriginal people in Australia .

Speaker 1 33:05

It's quite a while , yeah , yeah . So , like I think the movie , the big statement that the movie is making , is like this path that we're following with Western civilization and the thing that we , that we call society and civilized life , is the wrong way and it's going to kill us , especially if we ignore it .

Speaker 2 33:26

I strongly agree .

Speaker 1 33:28

Leah . What do we love about this movie ?

Speaker 2 33:30

So much , I think we've already talked about a lot of it . I'm going to start from the bottom of my list and then you can go with yours back and forth , if that's OK . Yeah , so for me , even though it didn't end well , because this is how Kay ultimately dies , I really enjoyed the very first scene , where Andy goes from their boathouse which is what they're surviving on this like island in a river to stay away from zombies to another like half sunken ship and discovers like three months worth of food in this ship . And he was so happy , he was so fucking happy to see all of those canned goods . Um , and it was just like . I think that that is humans , like it's one of our nature , our natural , our natural things to do , like it's inherent in us to forage . I think that's why we love shopping so much . Frankly , um , or we , I love shopping too .

Speaker 1 34:24

Yeah , it's like you know you like you find something on Amazon this week just cause I could .

Speaker 2 34:29

Yeah , the ding , ding ding of shopping . I was like I'm an adult Send me a toy . Yes , I mean , that doesn't possibly be very helpful for seven generations from now , but I am certainly not innocent in these decisions . My point is is that the dopamine that you get from shopping is inherently about our natural urge to forage . And you get back to that place in the zombie apocalypse and I don't think I'd seen someone like so happy to get food in the apocalypse before .

Speaker 1 34:56

I think this is what most of us love about the zombie apocalypse . Like I feel like there's a Fenn diagram somewhere of people who really really enjoy zombie apocalypse movies and people who really enjoy watching like survival documentaries watching the movie or the TV show alone . Yes , people who watch alone and people who watch the walking dead are like in the same Venn diagram .

Speaker 2 35:20

We should do some Venn diagrams , like all the things that like come together to make you love the zombie apocalypse drama . So what was one of the things you loved , Dan ?

Speaker 1 35:27

Oh , I've , I've got a long list . I know Cause I loved a lot of things . So one of the first things that we see is they in their , in their boat house . They float up to this wreckage and they find a whole bunch of these little plastic red boxes and floating in the water . They look like first aid kits . They fish one out and what they are are like zombie aid kits . So , like , what I love about this is that there was like some amount of government response .

Speaker 2 35:57

Yeah , they tried in Australia .

Speaker 1 35:59

Yeah , like it didn't just collapse overnight , Like they tried . They tried to do something about this and we're at a point where I guess it didn't work .

Speaker 2 36:09

The zombie aid kit included a thing you could inject into your head to immediately kill you if you're infected , which I was like . That's you know what that's real .

Speaker 1 36:16

Yeah , like I had some , a few like first aid kit supplies . I had some like information about like how long you have If you've been exposed . I had the syringe they shoot into your head . There's like an atropine needle and also a watch that you could wear Look like a little white sports watch and it would count down 48 hours because that's how long you got to live . And , speaking of , on the houseboat , right after he comes back from scavenging , he's pretending to fish because he wants to surprise his wife with all this food that he found .

Speaker 2 36:53

And he fishes out a bean can . A can of beans he does . It was really cute yeah .

Speaker 1 36:58

And that was . That was a nice moment . But also there's this moment where she comes out and she she asks him any bites yet and he says not yet . And I love that , that little bit of foreshadowing . It was kind of just like a nod to the fourth wall , just like we're going to get bit , both of us are going to be bit , and like in that moment I'm like , oh , these people are getting bit , yes , it was the same thing .

Speaker 2 37:20

It was very clear at that moment , which was very different . I'll just say briefly , one of the things that I loved was like knowing basically immediately that the folks that you see as the main characters , this family , are not going to survive , with the exception of Rosie , yeah , and that actually goes into the next thing that I like .

Speaker 1 37:37

So many movies Like if you watched World War Z . So many people have such wonderful things to say about World War Z , but if you really look at it , it's just kind of an action movie with Brad Pitt , yes , and this movie the main characters are not action heroes , they're just normal people . And they are . They're not there to like solve the zombie problem . They're not there , they're not going in guns of blazing , they're , they are barely getting by , they are out of their element . And that makes it so much more frightening whenever there is a situation where there's any number of zombies it can be one , it could be 20 , equal . Yeah , I think . Oh sorry .

Speaker 1 38:22

Well , just because , because you don't know if Martin Freeman , aka Andy , is even going to be able to do anything about it , the best thing he can do is just run .

Speaker 2 38:31

Yeah , and I mean there's a lot of this movie where I'm like he's going to eat his kid . That's what's going to happen . Yeah , that's the end of this movie . He's going to die and he just kid .

Speaker 1 38:39

We're watching a movie where at the end they just eat a baby .

Speaker 2 38:42

Yeah , Thankfully that's not what happens . So the last thing I want to say give a shout out to Andy . That I really loved was something very innovative , and I might even say this is actually also a survival tip in the zombie apocalypse using zombies as transportation . This kind of reminds me of Rerman Love Supreme . I think that he would do something similar , but what I what was really like innovative in the moment was Andy knew that he only had a very small amount of time left , and so he basically , with Tumi , like asked her if she would take care of Rosie , and at that point he knew that she was far away from her family and that she wanted to go back and that they were basically actively looking for her family as he was getting more and more close to becoming a zombie . And so he basically collected guts , strung them on to the end of a stick , tied the stick to himself somehow and told her to get on his back , and she basically steered him towards her , where she knew her family likely was , by , essentially , a carrot gut stick .

Speaker 1 39:45

Yeah , Like he was like a burrow . Yeah Pack , mulling its way up and down the Grand Canyon with a carrot gut stick .

Speaker 2 39:57

Yeah , she was on his back and then Rosie was on her back , so it's also like a very hilarious image .

Exploring Themes in Zombie Movies

Speaker 1 40:03

This movie , for the most part , is fairly serious , but I cannot deny that when they popped up in the mist riding on the back of zombie Andy , like he is a fucking mule , I had a full on belly laugh .

Speaker 2 40:19

It was great and it's really smart . So like just a survival tip in Prompt 2.1 . If you were in a zombie apocalypse and you can manage to bridle a zombie , just get a stick with something appealing to it on the end and then you can like the direction of the stick is the direction the zombie will walk . Yeah , it's genius , especially if you're a kid . I don't know if this is so viable for adults .

Speaker 1 40:41

Like if I climbed on somebody's back .

Speaker 2 40:43

Yeah , that might not go so well , but if you're a kid , this is a great tip .

Speaker 1 40:47

I just jump on some tiny zombies back Like somebody was barely 150 pounds when they were alive and I'm just like yeah , yeah , I don't think that would .

Speaker 2 40:57

they probably collapse . Like you know , adults giving adults piggyback rides is tough , unless you're one of you is much smaller than the other . So let's talk about what we did not like . I think this first one we've already discussed , which is that you know , if somebody is clearly a bad person and they are a threat to your life , just kill them .

Speaker 1 41:15

Yeah , the zombie apocalypse has different rules and you know , there of course there's themes of like how things affect your humanity , but I think we talked about this in another episode where I feel like you have like some humanity points and you just spend a few of your humanity points to deal with somebody who's an obvious threat that's going to kill you later .

Speaker 2 41:36

That's an interesting video game , like not just having like a little life bar but your humanity bar .

Speaker 1 41:41

Yeah , and you know you . Just you know when in your travels , after like , you find somebody needy on the side of the road and you hand them a can of beans and you get those points back and you become human again , Just a little bit . Yeah , Like the can of beans isn't equivalent to like murdering somebody in their sleep , no , but you know , if you have enough beans , eventually it cancels out .

Speaker 2 42:02

That's , I don't know . I mean , this is one of those things where , like , the morals of today's society versus the morals of this one are different . I think maybe that's true in this , I would . I just feel the need to say no number of beans equals a human's life . I disagree , I guess if they're really bad . I mean they're . I think the most people are complicated and a little bit good and a little bit bad , but if they're clearly on the side of a danger to everybody around them , then I guess yes .

Speaker 1 42:29

And maybe it is because I'm a veteran , but I very much do have like this categorization system in my mind of like if somebody is a threat and they they don't have any value to you or other good people , then don't bother me if they find a tragic end .

Speaker 2 42:52

Yeah , I think you just have a different lived experience for sure , as a person who's been raised female very much . It's like let's everybody else be comfortable , even if you're not . So it would take a bit for me . So I have one more thing I really want to call out that I didn't like , which is that there was this thing that happened . That I think is unfortunate and is always a risk when you have a movie that is centered from a white perspective . In this case , very typical , right , like most movies , the main characters are white man when it comes to zombie movies , unfortunately . And so while there was a really excellent incorporation of aboriginal culture , again they never named the culture , so it sort of blurred this reality of the fact that there are different peoples living there and they've been there for 60,000 years , and I think it really risked positioning aboriginal people as some sort of moral compass of the film for the white person .

Speaker 1 43:48

I think they were .

Speaker 2 43:49

Yeah .

Speaker 1 43:50

They were obviously in the right and everyone else was wrong .

Speaker 2 43:54

They were in the right . But I think that sometimes , even when it's a positive thing , it's like a positive stereotype that I think is happening , like white people were stupid and we should listen to aboriginal people , which is kind of like in a very tongue and cheek way , sort of true . But also aboriginal people are just as complicated . There are bad aboriginal people , there are in between aboriginal people , and I feel like the movie very much ended with this sort of like see white folks , like there's a better way to be , and it's like that's true . But you probably could have made some of the aboriginal characters a little more complex and ambiguous instead of just being across the board . Good yeah .

Speaker 1 44:39

I think I've read something about this and I don't remember what the terminology is , but like it's almost like there's like a mysticism applied to people who live earth based cultures .

Speaker 2 44:51

Yeah , it's oddly dehumanizing .

Speaker 1 44:53

Yeah , and like we do the same thing here with Native Americans , yeah , where it's like every depiction of them is like this very wise person who has like ancient magic and you know they pick some berries and mix it with like eagle feathers and that cures whatever disease you have . You know , like like they have like some , some hidden knowledge that us , us , us people from this culture have lost along the way and they can do nothing but good .

Speaker 2 45:22

And that their entire role is to teach us . Yeah , so both things can be true . There are a lot of Indigenous practices , lifeways , knowledge that are incredibly valuable to , I think , all of humanity , and there's still just people and some of their practices and teachings are maybe not so great . There's still complicated power dynamics , sometimes , like I just think that it's really it's risky to like , yeah , put people on a pedestal in that way . And this was either . My last point I like to think about , like what would this movie have been like if Toomey was the main character ?

Speaker 1 45:57

And why couldn't she be ?

Speaker 2 45:59

Yeah , I mean , I think there's still all the familial stuff . You could still have her encountering Andy and helping him with this kid . You could still have those pieces . But I think if she was a main character , it would be a very different and more unique and interesting film .

Speaker 1 46:12

Yeah , I mean we got a lot of Toomey , because I mean I would say that Toomey is a main character , but she's not the main character , she's not Andy .

Speaker 1 46:22

No , we're often seeing Andy encounter her , not the other way around and we did see a lot of Toomey before Andy ever met Toomey . So we did see some stuff but like we didn't get to see like what things were like when her father was alive , other than like one flashback . We didn't see what happened and we didn't see the weeks after , as she's like wrangling her dad into a root prison .

Speaker 2 46:52

Yeah , I mean she was

Cinematic Analysis of Survival and Colonialism

Speaker 2 46:54

very innovative . I'll say that , and I feel like you know this is the moment to just pop in real quick with my attention span test . I'd give it a seven out of ten .

Speaker 1 47:02

Yeah , oh , attention test .

Speaker 2 47:04

Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 1 47:05

There were some moments .

Speaker 2 47:06

They're a little slow sometimes .

Speaker 1 47:08

Yeah .

Speaker 2 47:08

Just why I won't give it like a ten out of ten Zeds .

Speaker 1 47:11

Yeah , you know , one thing that I did like about this movie that I didn't go over in our likes is that like this , this movie doesn't have like jump scares , it's like a building psychological thriller . So like it's it's it builds your sense of unease . So I think also that can mean sometimes it goes a little bit slow , but in those slow moments , because I was able to pay attention , there's always fine details . Those details like fully enriched the story if you see them . Like we had to rewind because I noticed that there were zombies with their heads in the sand and Leah was looking at a tablet drawing a magic chicken .

Speaker 1 47:55

That's true , that is what I was doing and I'm like , I'm like Leah , did you see that ? And Leah's like what ? But like after that . I think you did a pretty decent job of like keeping an eye out for some of those details , because suddenly you're like whoa , that's something different . They look like ostriches , yeah , which was very funny .

Speaker 2 48:16

All right , this brings me on to my favorite segment of Zyba Club the racist , sexist , capitalist , colonial , ableist misogyny of the living dead . We love that part . It just keeps getting longer the title Because it depends on what the episode or episode is about Possibly .

Speaker 2 48:32

I guess there's not . I mean , misogyny is there but there isn't patriarchy . Yeah , I'll stir that in there too . Yeah , misogyny is patriarchy of the living dead . So in the case of this movie , we've already talked a lot about how it's integrated elements of Aboriginal culture into the narrative . I think I want to talk a little bit more about its commentary on colonialism , because I think that that is very present in the film and I really appreciated it so automatically . I think that this film is itself a metaphor , not just for environmental crises but also for the disruption and displacement caused by European colonization of Australia , and the zombie virus is sort of like a representation of the destructive forces that were brought by those outsiders . That's interesting .

Speaker 1 49:14

Yeah .

Speaker 2 49:15

Yeah , so like I think that what's his face definitely represents the white male colonizer .

Speaker 1 49:19

I love that we're just continue calling him what's his face .

Speaker 2 49:21

What's his face ? Because he's all about extraction . He's trying to extract as much as he can , hoard wealth as much as he can . He sees Aboriginal people as not human right and has a right to do whatever he wants with that .

Speaker 1 49:33

In fact , when they escape , he gets really mad at them for escaping .

Speaker 2 49:36

Yeah , he does not see them as real people and , on the flip side , it also shows the truth of any place that any people who have experienced and are experiencing a colonial project is that the Aboriginal culture and characters are clearly figuring out how to survive and have developed a resilience from already basically having gone through an apocalypse , right Like when any place that's been colonized , especially with settler colonialism .

Speaker 2 50:00

In this particular case , settler colonialism is when white people move in . Basically Indirect colonialism is when you colonize a place but you don't have a lot of white people moving there , basically . So , in short , I think that they Australian folks , have already been through an apocalypse and not only do they have Australian Aboriginal folks my apologies not only do they already have like resilience in the life ways that have helped them to survive and thrive in that landscape for millennia . They also have the resilience of having been through something fucking horrible already and still being here . That helps , yeah , and I think that that is really really interesting thing to just think about and I appreciated being a theme of this , this movie . I will say I didn't have a lot of critiques on like sexism or racism in this , other than that sort of reification of Aboriginal people , but I think overall it was a pretty well done film . In this way , let's talk about survival , survival tips , survival tips yeah , there were some good ones in this show .

Speaker 1 51:09

Oh , you know , yeah , there was . There's one that I've literally never thought of before . So , like you're walking in the woods , walking in the mud , you're walking in the snow , you leave behind footprints , and Dewey had a really good solution for this , which is you . You coat your your shoes and mud and plants all over the bottom of your shoes and you can be quieter and it helps you erase your tracks .

Speaker 2 51:35

It's kind of genius , yeah , so I definitely want to employ that one .

Speaker 1 51:39

Yeah , like just some , like a few little pine boughs would do the trick . I mean , it would kind of look like somebody was scraping pine boughs across the snow where we live , but it wouldn't look like a footprint Again works for a specific landscape . Yeah .

Speaker 2 51:54

Adapting to your landscape is key here for survival .

Survival Tips and Zombie Book Club

Speaker 2 51:57

Another key survival tip that came up right at the beginning of this movie is it's really important that , with the group of people you're surviving with , you have radical transparency . Don't try and protect people from the very present and real risk that there are zombies everywhere . Aka , don't fucking lie .

Speaker 1 52:16

Yeah , so what happened ? We didn't even talk about this . But when , when Martin Freeman goes into that boat to get those , those canned goods , you know , he goes out there by himself . He goes in a little rowboat and he goes in and he's , he's so excited he finds so many cans . But when he's in there he hears some rustling from the , from the bedroom area of this little sailboat . The door is closed so he grabs what he can and he leaves . And you know , when he comes back he has a conversation with his wife , shows her the the cans of things . Also , he found a bottle of wine and wrote her an anniversary note . It was so sweet . So you know , and he and she , she asked if he ran into any trouble . He's like no , no , this is easy peasy . Lemon squeezy .

Speaker 1 53:04

Had nothing in that boat but food , yep . And so you know , seeing this generous gift to honor their anniversary , she gets the idea well , maybe there's some more stuff on the boat . She goes back to find like a disposable razor , because Martin Freeman's beard is uncut Intense and she likes it when he is shaved . And she goes back and that's when she gets bitten by this boat zombie . So because Martin Freeman lied , she died , she died .

Speaker 2 53:40

If you lie , someone dies , there you go . That's a good quick rhyme for you , yeah .

Speaker 1 53:45

So when you're in a survival situation like this , it behooves you to have full transparency about all threats . Like if you heard a stick snap in the woods , tell somebody . If you saw a zombie in a bathroom , don't just be like they probably won't go in there .

Speaker 2 54:03

Tell somebody this is a world where hypervigilance is very useful .

Speaker 1 54:06

Yeah and sure , maybe they might be like oh , I feel really stressed out . Knowing there's a zombie there , it's better than them just wandering around having no idea .

Speaker 2 54:15

Yeah , I agree . And then we have to , of course , bring back up the gags . Gagged zombies , riding zombies for transportation . If you're a kid , oh yeah , these could be great things . I mean honestly , even if you were an adult . But you have kids or a dog who's tired , strap them to the back of a zombie .

Speaker 1 54:32

Yeah , we could also just rope them up and have them pull a sled .

Speaker 2 54:36

Oh yeah , if you got a lot of them . Yeah , that's genius yeah .

Speaker 1 54:39

I mean , it's a little bit harder to wrangle , but maybe you could put blinders on them .

Speaker 2 54:43

This makes me feel so guilty because I always still wonder if there's a human inside . And in this case , andy opted in , like he suggested this , he made it happen . He was like too meagre on my back . Yeah , I feel kind of bad .

Speaker 1 54:55

I mean , I don't know , we actually learned the answer to that in this movie , because Andy has a bottle of perfume from his wife which he sprays in the air to make the baby stop crying . So at the end , right before they're about to brain him , they spray some perfume and he kind of like stops being aggressive because he smells the perfume in the air .

Speaker 2 55:17

That was really sweet . So , yeah , ok , we can't really enslave zombies then .

Speaker 1 55:21

Which he's still in there . No hamster wheels for them .

Speaker 2 55:25

I was just thinking . Like vermin loves Supreme , I can no longer support you , even though I really want a free pony .

Speaker 1 55:32

It depends on the zombie , though , like these are different kind of zombies than we usually see .

Speaker 2 55:37

I mean , I don't know , we don't know , I know we still have to have a Lori Calcuttaire come join us to have a debate about do zombies have human rights ?

Speaker 1 55:44

So we'll get there Walking dead zombies . They tried these experiments . They tried to have them do memory recall .

Speaker 2 55:51

Oh yeah , with the governor , yeah , but then there are smart zombies later . I know you don't want to talk about season 11 .

Speaker 1 55:56

We're not talking about season 11 .

Speaker 2 55:58

But they're part of the world .

Speaker 1 56:00

They are not , because that season was garbage and it was poorly written and I don't know who got the creative liberty to make that change . But they fucked up and they need to be fired and never they probably pulled a writer from Fear of the Walking Dead . It's probably what happened .

Speaker 2 56:18

Yeah , that was a mistake . Yeah , sorry . Fear of the Walking Dead . You are good for the first season . Maybe two .

Speaker 1 56:23

Yeah , I'd say three seasons were decent and then after that is a big . What the fuck ? Yeah , yeah , we haven't even talked about Fear of the Walking Dead . I don't know what I want to . I don't think I can do it .

Speaker 2 56:36

We're thinking about doing an episode that's like all the things that we either refuse to watch because we already know they're bad , or we tried watching and are bad and just complaining that the ways that they are bad , I don't know . That could be a fun one , maybe for the future . How many zeds , dan , would you give this movie , and why ?

Speaker 1 56:52

Oh god , I want to give it like nine zed birds , nine out of 10 zeds . Yeah , it's just good . It's just good . I don't want to explain my answer . That's a good one . You like it , it's good . I'd watch it again .

Speaker 2 57:06

I'm going to give it an eight out of 10 zeds and that's just because I used to be a teacher and I really tried to score fairly .

Speaker 1 57:16

Yeah , I'm kind of out of control with my scoring .

Speaker 2 57:19

You're very generous . You were like me the first year I taught , where I was like you get 100 . You get 100 . And I was like , oh , I should probably be a little more . Like part of my job when I grade something is to give like critical feedback , if there is any . So I should probably not just give everybody 100 because I completed the assignment . So yeah , but it was good . I would recommend it . Watch it if you haven't already .

Speaker 1 57:43

Yeah , so everybody listen , especially if you're new and you've never heard this before . But we are a book club . We are . I know this was a movie , but we read books . Right now we're reading Sylvester Barzee's Planet Dead and we're going to discuss it on episode 35 . Yes , and you know , planet Dead , it's a book . It's a book about when the world goes to hell the zombie hand basket . That's right on right in the description .

Speaker 2 58:11

It is you find out that true evil hides among the living .

Speaker 1 58:14

We already knew this , but we agree , sylvester Barzee , it's set on a politically isolated future , where the wall is built and America's turned its back on its allies , the wall is built now .

Speaker 2 58:24

Isn't that so sad ?

Speaker 1 58:25

Yeah , well , some of it is .

Speaker 2 58:26

I saw a video of a bear couldn't go back to his normal migratory lands because of the wall and it made me really sad . It's a stupid wall . It is a stupid wall for people and non-human people alike . I don't like it .

Speaker 1 58:39

Yeah , hopefully it rusts and dissolves back into the land .

Speaker 2 58:43

It will eventually . Yeah , it'll just be a long , long time from now . So before we close that , I will just say briefly that I've been reading Sylvester Barzee's Planet Dead to Dan as a bedtime story .

Speaker 1 58:52

It's my bedtime story .

Speaker 2 58:53

We only have like 30 pages left now . Yeah , and it's the first time that I finally decided , like you know , what these characters need voices , dan . What do you think about my voiceover potential as a voice actor ? Oh so good . Which voice do you like the ?

Speaker 1 59:12

best . Oh , the one character that I'm not going to name , the state one .

Speaker 2 59:20

Yeah . Miss state , miss state , gets a Valley Girl voice because I don't like her .

Speaker 1 59:28

Well , actually , the main character also has a hilarious voice .

Speaker 2 59:33

That voice was inspired by Karen Bark . You don't know who Karen Bark is ? Go find out . Very funny .

Speaker 1 59:39

Yeah , go get on Instagram , find yourself a Karen Bark .

Speaker 2 59:42

Yeah , you'll have a good time , we promise so . Yes , that's how I read the main character , catherine Briggs . So , please , we love some interaction on this pod . If you've got a burning question , a zombie apocalypse tip , we might play it on air and respond . You can call us at 614-699-0006 . That's 614-699-0006 . Or you can email us at zombiebookclubpodcastatgmailcom . Don't forget , send us your clocks .

Speaker 1 1:00:11

Yeah , also , all of this stuff is in the description . We've also got a link tree for all of our social media and also every link for every platform that you can find this podcast on . If you haven't found your podcast platform that you like , yeah , like if you're on YouTube , for example , and you're like I don't know if I want to sit on YouTube all day , getting YouTube ads in the middle of this podcast , you can go to Spotify . Yeah , apple Podcasts , the Apple one .

Speaker 2 1:00:46

Audible . It's so many places now . But just please , we need at least 10 mother cluckers . Just give us a voicemail with your best evil magic chicken zombie clock and if we do that , we will pick one on air that is going to get the first evil magic chicken zombie t-shirt . Tbd when that happens , because , honestly , we're not professional , we're just making this shit up as we go , but I would really love to hear your clocks bring it on . And also , the other thing we're requesting for future casual dead episodes is survival stories . If you've been through a real life wild story you want to share , we're going to have a future casual dead episode about that that's going to be the next casual dead right .

Speaker 2 1:01:27

Maybe Sure , let's do it Next casual dead . That's OK , I thought it was . I thought we were going to talk to a zombie cosist , but maybe both .

Speaker 1 1:01:36

Yeah , maybe we got time , I don't know . Get it to us fast , because we'll need them .

Speaker 2 1:01:40

Yeah , so hope that you're having a lovely day evening middle of the night and that if you are bit , go bite others .

Speaker 1 1:01:49

Yeah , bite somebody . Yeah , bite your family first . Thanks for listening , then bite your friends . Yeah , don't bite your dog . You can't transmit the zombie virus to dogs . This isn't Resident Evil . We don't talk about Resident .

Speaker 2 1:02:01

Evil . No , animals are bitchin' on this podcast . Yeah , don't bite any animals Other than human ones .

Speaker 1 1:02:07

Thanks everybody for listening . Au revoir , goodbye , the apocalypse is nigh . Bye , bye , bye .