Brian Keene’s “The Rising” (2003) Review
3.5/5 “The Zombie Novel for the Millennial Generation”
-For the Uncensored!
It’s easy to say who started the Zombie genre for the 20th Century. George Romero. It’s always been a well-known fact, and nobody who watches or reads horror can’t deny the appeal of Zombie literature. It can share some DNA with Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein, as the monster is one interpretation of how life can return from the grave. What this series does do well is create authentic characters that you could believe exist in real life, and create zombies that don’t fit the mold of previous incarnations of stories told previously. Even Capcom’s Resident Evil comes to mind as a millennial horror story, too.
What Brian Keene’s “The Rising” does is set up a few basic principled characters, Jim, a man who’s trying to find his son Danny, in New Jersey, Frankie, a heroin addict who decides to rip off a bank on the eve of the apocalypse, while screwing over her crew, Martin, a priest who decides to join Jim in helping him find his son, and Mark, a hard-nosed marine who has to survive after the zombie apocalypse, by helping survivors. And Baker, a scientist who is hiding out, but imprisoning his friend, Powell, who becomes infected, known as Ob. Ob begs to be let out. Jim is the most noticeable character, as he stops himself from committing suicide, before he hears a voice mail from his son, telling him that he’s alive.