Occulture

I remember the first time I sat down and watched Night of the Living Dead. I was 16 years old, and I rented the VHS tape, no joke, from my local video store. Around this time of year. And I was blown away by the aesthetic of the film, the black and white, the social commentary, and what I would later come to know as the zombie motif in fiction. And I’ve been - not obsessed - but heavily interested in this motif since then. And I’ve been looking for someone to chat with about it for two years now. Because not only is the zombie an integral part of horror fiction and greater pop culture, it’s an integral part for an entire sociopolitical and religious structure that emanates in Haiti. You wouldn’t know that if all you know about the zombie is from George Romero films or Walking Dead comic books. Thankfully, our guest this time, Dr John Cussans, is in the house to dig deep into the history of the zombie and tell us about something he calls the zombie complex. John is an artist, writer and educator based in Londo