They Came Back
Encyclopedia
They Came Back is a French
zombie
film
, originally released in 2004. The film was screened at the Hamburg Fantasy Filmfest in Hamburg, Germany, the Venice Film Festival
in Italy, and the Toronto Film Festival in Canada.
Unlike modern zombie films, in which the undead characters wish to digest or otherwise harm the human characters, the 70 million people who return from the dead in They Came Back want simply to re-integrate themselves into society. In the French village where the film takes place, the town's population must cope with the social and emotional ramifications of the dead coming back to life. The dead are not unlike children, having to relearn how to talk and remember.
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
, originally released in 2004. The film was screened at the Hamburg Fantasy Filmfest in Hamburg, Germany, the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
in Italy, and the Toronto Film Festival in Canada.
Unlike modern zombie films, in which the undead characters wish to digest or otherwise harm the human characters, the 70 million people who return from the dead in They Came Back want simply to re-integrate themselves into society. In the French village where the film takes place, the town's population must cope with the social and emotional ramifications of the dead coming back to life. The dead are not unlike children, having to relearn how to talk and remember.
Synopsis
As the movie begins, a slow moving mostly gray haired crowd walk through a French town. These people are clean, combed, and casually dressed. Integration with society becomes the first issue that concerns the town politics. While the authorities monitor and record movements, habits, sociability, and intelligence the personal relationships between the returned and their respective live spouses and parents comes into the foreground. Painful memories are awakened, guilt, fear, love, even unearthed passions are aroused. However, monitoring the returnees shows them to be very much apart from their live cohabitants and in fact involved in late night clandestine meetings, seemingly plotting with more intelligence than they are exhibiting in their day jobs.See also
- Babylon FieldsBabylon FieldsBabylon Fields was a proposed television series that featured reanimated zombies as characters. Rather than being portrayed as malevolent monsters, however, the recently deceased return to their homes and attempt to pick up their lives. The pilot had elements of black comedy as well as drama...
was a proposed television series featuring reanimated zombies, with similar themes