Our Interview with Andre Abramowitz

You might remember Andre Abramowitz from the early days of the site as the salty Armenian looking fellow with a love of punk rock and fantasy baseball and distaste for everything else, especially that cock sucker Del LeFevre.

Well young Andre has moved on to greener and pastures and is now the writer and executive producer of History’s (formerly known as The History Channel) upcoming special Zombies: A Living History, which features yours truly as one of the Zombie horde.

Andre has been knocking around the world of TV and Movies for a while now and this is his first special. We couldn’t be more proud of and excited for him.

Zombies: A Living History airs on Tuesday October 25th at 8pm EST on History. Check your local listings to see where History is on your channel guide and fucking watch!

SYFFAL: Outside of being an op-ed contributor for SYFFAL.com who are you and what is this TV show thing I am hearing all about?

Andre Abramowitz: I'm a writer and first-time executive producer on Zombies: A Living History, airing October 25th at 8/7c on a basic cable network whose name is featured prominently in the show’s title. The show is a documentary that presents an overview of the folklore, legends and real-world history that all lead to what we know today as the zombie. The later part of the show presents the nightmare scenario: what if a zombie outbreak actually occurred? To find out, we talk with first responders, military men, members of local and federal government such as the Assistant Surgeon General, Dr. Rear Admiral Ali Khan, as well as Daniel W. Drezner, who is the world's only member of both the Council on Foreign Relations and The Zombie Research Society. How are real-life institutions using a zombie outbreak as a model for dealing with future threats? How would our world change? What would we do to defend ourselves? Could we come together to face the greatest threat humanity has ever faced? Watch the show and find out. I'm not exaggerating when I say this may be the most important two hours of television in recorded history.

I've bounced around movie/TV sets for a few years as a grip and in the art department, while writing freelance wherever I can. Ultimately I suppose I'm a pretty fair example of someone being in the right place at the right time with a neat idea.

SYFFAL: So why Zombies?

Andre Abramowitz: Because they've fascinated me ever since I saw Romero's Dawn of the Dead as a little kid. It's not just the idea of the dead rising, but the idea of a complete societal collapse, where there are no rules and where people often become greater monsters than the living dead themselves. Upon doing some research, I realized that this idea isn't new, it's been with us for thousands of years. Zombies are the original undead abomination and the perfect metaphor for any cataclysmic threat faced by the human race - plague, war, societal change, economic breakdown, you name it and zombies present a blank slate to use as a metaphor for shit going to hell. They haven't always been called zombies but ever since we've been putting people in the ground, the living dead have been a part of our nightmares. Dating back to The Epic of Gilgamesh (2,200 BCE), we see evidence of a belief in the idea of the undead returning to tear us limb from limb. That idea has only grown more and more popular as our world comes closer to the brink of disaster. Since September 11, 2001 there have been more zombie films made and books written than in all years past - combined. Their origin and their attributes may vary from story to story, but the idea continues to creep us the hell out.

SYFFAL: How exactly does one get a TV show put on the air?

Andre Abramowitz: One day I was watching History and I caught the History of Vampires. I had always thought vampires were kind of lame, with such arbitrary rules - like why do they have to be invited in? What's wrong with garlic? Wooden stakes kill them but not a 12 gauge slug to the face? Zombies present a much more plausible and diabolical threats since their endless numbers make them unstoppable. They are relentless and no matter how many you kill or evade, there are always more. As Max Brooks told us, "What is so terrifying to me about zombies is that they come to you as opposed to all other monsters that you have to go find. Every horror film, every good horror story begins with a character making a bad choice. Uh, a girl getting drunk, taking off her clothes, going swimming at night, and then getting eaten by a giant shark. With zombies you can be at home minding your own business and they will still come for you."

So I got some ideas on paper and put them in front of my friend, John Palakas, who's done a lot of work producing successful spots for History. After getting him hooked on Brooks and Kirkman, he got where I was coming from and saw the potential for a great, history-spanning story. After a lot of doors getting slammed in our faces and people responding like we were nuts, "zombies have a history?" or "oh you mean Voodoo zombies?" the Walking Dead got six million viewers, which lead to a call back from the network.

SYFFAL: Tell us one of the most interesting things you learned while creating and preparing this show?

Andre Abramowitz: That there are a number of real life diseases and parasites that can cause symptoms that mimic the behavioral traits of a zombie - scary stuff that I plan on exploring more in future projects. I also got a crash course in survival, shooting and knife fighting from the weapons experts that appear on our show: JL Bourne (who's zombie novel, "Day By Day Armageddon" kicks major ass by the way), Kyle Defoor, Josh Burmeister and Roger Ma (author of "The Zombie Combat Manual").

SYFFAL: What is your all-time favorite Zombie show/movie of book?

Andre Abramowitz: World War Z, which you gave me, was a huge influence on my conceiving of this show. Based on Studs Turkel's, "The Good War," Brooks draws straight from historical events and the book possesses a global view of the zombie apocalypse that is unprecedented. I think getting him on board with the show legitimized us in the eyes of some folks at the network. I also love The Walking Dead comic book (and TV show). Kirkman presents as he calls it, "the zombie movie that continues after the credits roll," which is something that I always wanted to see - ok, our heroes got away from the present danger but what happens next? The zombies are still out there.

As far as movies, Romero's first three are all amazing but there's something about Lucio Fulci's "Zombie" (aka "Zombi II") that I find incredibly exhilarating and disturbing. It contains two of my all-time favorite movie scenes: The splinter in the eyeball scene and the zombie fighting a shark. It really doesn't get better than a zombie fighting a shark. Oh wait… there's a smoking hot chick scuba diving topless? I guess it does get better.

SYFFAL: Do you think there is a possibility of a zombie apocalypse in Obama's America?

Andre Abramowitz: To quote Chuck D, Armageddon has been in effect, get a late pass. You see the zombies line up for their new iPhones the day they arrive at the Apple store?

SYFFAL: Zombie three-way? Which to current celebrity starlets would you most like to feast on your organs? (Yes that is code)

Andre Abramowitz: I'm not going to think too hard (see what I did there?) about this one… I'd roam the wasteland until I found zombie Christina Hendricks and zombie Adriana Lima, capture them and keep them chained up in my Mad Max-ized RV. I'm more of a top, so I'd probably do the feasting.

SYFFAL: I was recently watching the Deadliest Warrior and they had a Zombies vs. Vampires episode. They said Vampires would win because of their super strength, speed and intelligence. Are they right or wrong?

Andre Abramowitz: Zombies were robbed. I'm still not sure how they came up with that cockamamie formula for the ratio of zombies to vampires... and I study baseball sabermetrics. There would be virtually a limitless number of zombies because if we follow the Romero model, we would have not only the infected human populace but also all of the recently deceased corpses in the world. What happens when the vampires go inside for sun-up and they wake up surrounded by a horde of zombies? What happens when a vampire gets infected by a zombie, does it create a zombie-vampire? Ridiculous.

SYFFAL: What is your soundtrack to the Zombie Apocalypse (5 song mix tape style on song for each of the following situations)
Initial news of the infestation

Andre Abramowitz: "City of the Dead," The Clash

SYFFAL: The moment when the power goes out and you realize you are fucked

Andre Abramowitz: "When the Man Comes Around," Johnny Cash - which Zack Snyder used brilliantly in the Dawn of the Dead remake.

SYFFAL: When you arm yourself with crude instruments and make your way out to the streets to find safety

Andre Abramowitz: "War Ensemble," Slayer - honorable mention to "In The House, A Heartbeat," the main track from John Murphy's brilliant 28 Days Later soundtrack

SYFFAL: When you team up with other humans in hopes of making it through this

Andre Abramowitz: "Nothing But Flowers," The Talking Heads

SYFFAL: When the zombies get you and all is lost

Andre Abramowitz: "Death Is Not the End," Nick Cave - find the live version, where Kylie Minogue coos, "when the cities are on fire with the burning flesh of men…" Chilling.

On a side note, a lot of zombie films have great scores. Do yourself a favor and listen to Goblin's original "Dawn of the Dead," score as well as Fabio Frizzi's gems for "Zombi II" and "City Of The Living Dead."

SYFFAL: Actually I did. Our man Dick Richardson wrote a piece on that very topic that will be included below in the related links section. What is your advice for surviving the zombie apocalypse?

Andre Abramowitz: A couple of nuggets that I collected, JL Bourne told me to travel light because "ounces lead to pounds and pounds lead to pain." Roger Ma taught me that a crowbar is your best friend and logic dictates that you should always save one bullet for yourself.

SYFFAL: Remember it is on Tuesday October 25th at 8pm EST. Check your local listings.