'The Last of Us' breaks 'The Romero Rule'
Two things on The Last of Us, the new hit series from HBO Max (image, above).
Even though a pandemic threatens to wipe out humanity, don’t call it “a COVID knockoff.” The series is based on a video game, from way-pre-COVID 2013.
George Romero might not have invented zombies, but his epic, low-budget Night of the Living Dead pretty much established the rules: The undead are as awkward as they are dangerous, slow-moving clods that are eager to eat your flesh, if they can ever get to you…
The monsters in The Last of Us—if indeed they are zombies (more on that below)—definitely want to dine of human flesh; but, after being infected by some kind of fungus that horribly disfigures them, they can still move at lightning speed. Even formerly invalid Grandma turns into a twitchy, tweaky, speedy demon.
It could be argued, of course, that these monsters are not zombies—perhaps they are just sick and twisted, but not the undead. This scenario, however, is utterly preposterous: If you’ve had the flu, lately, or the dread COVID, you know all you want to do is lay on the couch, watch something mindless (like, say The Last of Us) and sweat/shiver it out.
Even in the unlikely chance that you have an appetite, when you’re infected, you’re hardly going to have the energy to hunt down prey.
And, thankfully, Door Dash doesn’t deliver from the Cannibal Cafe…