JANUARY-JUNE 2015 L’ ATALANTE 19 111 Apocalyptic Visions of the Present: the Zombie Invasion in Post 9/11 American Cinema In his article “This Is Not a Movie” (2001) published in The New Yorker, Anthony Lane describes the reactions of New Yorkers and mainstream media journalists after the 9/11 attacks. Whilst some saw the incident as an inva- sion of horrific reality into the everyday life of a naïve nation, witness testimonies suggested a much more fic- tional interpretation of the event. Thus, in their descrip- tions of the terrifying sight of the attacks, people resorted to numerous cinematic similes: “it was like a movie”, “it was like Independence Day [Roland Emmerich, 1996]”, “It was like Die Hard [John McTiernan, 1988]”, “No, Die Hard 2 [Renny Harlin, 1990]”, “‘Armageddon [Michael Bay, 1998].” (LANE, 2001). Not only did these movies become a reality for New Yorkers, but a reverse process took place as well, as the visual nature of the attacks, combined with the real presence of horror in the everyday world, turned this terrorist act into a central theme for the film indus- try in the years that followed. Moreover, the change in political direction taken by the Bush administration after the attacks resulted in years of war atrocities, widespread paranoia, and staunch defence of the capitalist system. This new era of panic found an excellent means of ex- pression in horror cinema, which has traditionally been a source of meaningful metaphors for a society’s fears. The horror genre has experienced a dramatic resur- gence in the past decade 1 and, within the more general context of this trend, it is the zombie that seems to have had the most spectacular rebirth. Rising from the abyss of the B-movie series of the 1970s and 1980s to the para- dise of the blockbusters, the zombie has become a central figure in present-day popular culture. From action role- paying games and themed walks down city streets, to a variety of merchandising, survival guides, volumes of criticism, cultural studies and philosophy 2 , the figure of Inés Ordiz Alonso-Collada