MovieChat Forums > La horde (2010) Discussion > Head shots

Head shots

posted 14 years ago by miaowface
28 replies | jump to latest

I'm halfway through watching this film and even though I'm liking it, I can't help but get frustrated at how the characters don't get the whole "destroy the brain" thing, after all you don't need to be a huge fan of the zombie genre to know their weak spot. I find it irritating when the characters keep shooting them in the body when logic says they should know how to dispatch a zombie, especially after they wasted all that ammo on the cop zombie and it didn't stop him until he got a shotgun blast to the head. You would have thought they'd make some sort of connection. (And I'm aware that talk of "logic" is a little silly given the dead rising has no logical explanation, at least not in this film, but all zombie films require a little suspension of disbelief!)

All flowers in time bend towards the sun

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] wavemaninawe 14 years ago

Max Brooks' World War Z makes a rather interesting comment on that.

The soldier who survived the battle of Yonkers said something along the lines of: we had been trained to shoot center mass throughout our entire military career, and you expect us to pull off consistent head shots in the pressure of combat?

There's not much time to think in a fight, you're pretty much running on auto-pilot and adrenaline. Nearly everybody will follow the base impulse to shoot at the body because it's the easiest target and we subconsciously know that it contains lots of important and delicate equipment. A bullet there will usually pay off.

Hell... even without the fear factor, the head is a very difficult target considering how small it is. Especially if it's moving, attached to a body that's running towards you at top speed.

Priests adore prophets, prophets resent priests

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] wavemaninawe 14 years ago

>EggusPicus

Again, I think it was nerves. Being even MORE of a problem when the zombie is that close to you and filling your head with vivid images of what's going to happen if it gets hold of you. That's a similar reason to why people sometimes just freeze up, paralyzed in threat situations.

If they would have escaped, had time to rest and gather their thoughts, access the situation... they could probably have gone into a second encounter and fought more effectively, already knowing what they were facing.

I was really impressed by Aurore's 1 on 1 in the kitchen though. She kept a cool head and that was IMO, the most kickass scene in the whole movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYEYSW4uBQo
Nice grappling @ 0:45-0:51. Pretty textbook stuff.

Oh... BTW. I love the quote. I just read all of Wanted today for the first time. I LOLed when that line came up. :-D

Priests adore prophets, prophets resent priests

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] mannoe 14 years ago

I've never shot people but I can assure you that getting an accurate headshot on even a medium size mammal like a pig on the move is pretty difficult, especially when it's coming AT YOU

[–] Dragon_Eye_Morrison 14 years ago

Sorry but i think this is a weak argument, going for a clean one-headshot is obviously silly, why not shoot them in the legs and then in the head? The characters never ever try to go for the heads at all, the whole "they're too nervous" thing doesn't apply here at all.

[–] wavemaninawe 14 years ago

> Dragon_Eye_Morrison

It does apply under the stress of combat. I've heard plenty of first hand accounts to support the theory.
One of the more interesting being the police officer who stepped out from his cover to pick his shell casings off the ground during a gun fight. This was because it was standard procedure to clean up after yourself in the firing range. All those hours spent practice shooting and picking up shells afterwards. Once he got into a real fight, he operated on auto pilot and the cleaning procedure was part of his conditioned response since he did that every time he practiced shooting.
Another example was a cop and a criminal who supposedly unloaded their weapons at each other from a close distance, in open terrain and missed every single round.

A personal account: during martial arts class, we were doing an exercise of 2 on 1. My teacher and another pupil rushed me while I was cornered. I just lashed out by impulse and took the most direct route away from them (normally you're never supposed to move in between attackers, but there was enough space at the time). It wasn't until i had laid some 3 meters between myself and Teach that I noticed I had tackled the second attacker off her feet and pulled her into a choke hold, using her as a shield against him. Teach commended me on doing a good palm strike against his face to knock him back, but I couldn't remember that either, it just happened.

Come to think of it, they do shoot out a zombies legs on one occasion. The torture scene. But in that case they had a good heads up warning, seeing her coming alone from a mile away.

Priests adore prophets, prophets resent priests

[–] Selish70 13 years ago

Yeah, well - Brooks also figures that with its back against the wall humanity would devote the resources to design an entirely new weapons system instead of mustering the millions of rifles laying around. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it was fun to think about and write about, but it makes "Z"-ero sense.

Plus, in the movie the Nigerian dude blasts the zombie super about a half-dozen times in the torso with a shotgun when they are on the stairwell. This despite: 1) The guy ain't moving; 2) Nigerian dude has a shotgun, so at 10 or 15 feet + stationary target = easy headshot and 3) He has already seen that about 40 shots to the body do no good, but a headshot works. Yup, that's slow on the uptake right there.

[–] Blues32 11 years ago

Yes, that explains why the first few shots were body shots...but the first zombie, the guy with the bag on his head? He was shot up to insane levels and not ONCE did they aim for the head. I find it hard to believe that not ONE of them tried it.

Then again, these guys weren't very bright at all, were they? Only ones with any brains were Ade and...what's his name...kick-ass mustache cop, if only because they were smart enough to realize that working together was the only sensible thing to do. Plus neither of them tried to freaking sexually assault the crippled zombie chick.

And THAT is where babies come from.

[–] ddaveddave 14 years ago

I totally agree, if you are fighting for your life I imagine you'd always go for a headshot, (i cant believe i just said that) After the first guy comes back from the dead i think it would be clear that you were either dreaming or you were in a world of *beep* if you haven't got much time (like enough for one shot) then you need to shoot to kill! Or at least if you gonna spray bullets do it at head height, thats got to be a no brainer right? Excuse the pun

[–] Dismas444 14 years ago

Untrained civilians I could understand not going straight for the head, but the COPS at least? The ones who are trained to do a double-tap to the forehead if you want to take a dangerous opponent down quickly? You ALWAYS go for the head, heart, or lower shin (if they're still or slow). Seeming as they could deduce from the first zombie that shooting around the heart did nothing, you'd imagine they'd try to either go for the head, or disable their legs? Maybe French police aren't as well-trained as London's :P

[–] disconnexions 14 years ago

That was the most annoying thing about the film. It'd be better if they at least tried to shoot for the head and then missed than not to even try. Seems like they were saving their headshots for the uninfected.

I would have aimed for the legs in situations like the hallway and at least try to slow them down.

http://www.disconnexions.com

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Decomposed 14 years ago

Maybe their accuracy was bad...

Chun Li's ASS!!! --->http://i164.photobucket.com/albums/u14/john_vindley/chun_li_ass.jpg

[–] Zarathustras_Crown 14 years ago

Police aren't trained to do "double taps" to people's heads...standard practice is to always, ALWAYS go for the center mass for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that it's simply more likely to be a hit. The only police who would be trained whatsoever for a head shot would be specialist snipers on SWAT teams, and that would be with high powered, long range rifles. To even manage a head shot with a handgun is a challenge...to pull off a head shot with a handgun on a moving target is damn near impossible. To do it on a moving target, in the heat of battle while being attacked by zombies? You'd need a hundred four leaf clovers to have a prayer in hell of doing it even once let alone dozens of times.

--
*+_Charos_+*

"I have often laughed at weaklings
who thought themselves good because
they had no claws."

[–] jmix66 14 years ago

The movie was all over the place in every detail.
That head shots would be seen as having an obvious advantage over repeated failed body shots.
Even if the they weren't trained, "spraying and praying" would have been seen as a waste of ammunition.

Bad films are a crime against humanity.

[–] Ghost_Of_Me 14 years ago

Its not they couldnt do it, im sure in a real life situation the stress and adrenaline is so high that getting a head shot would be extremely difficult no matter the distance. Its that they never put two and two together! I mean it dosent take a genius to figure out that if you put 4 full magazines into somebody and they keep coming at you, maybe its time to try a head shot since the body isnt doing anything.

They couldnt figure out that neck snapping and brain bashing would put them down, but hey lets just keep wasting our ammo and spray and pray with our heavy machine gun and the last of our hand gun ammo. Seriously come on, arent cops supposed to be somewhat smart? I understand the coked up gangsters.

[–] damalc 14 years ago

that drove me crazy too. i kept repeating a line from the original "Dawn of the Dead" : "Shoot it, man. Shoot it in the head."

[–] Soul_2000n 14 years ago

It's funny that people bring this up.

On the Dawn of the Dead (2004) boards, everyone cries about the characters getting the head shots.

Yeah its easy to say to go for the head, but when you're in a panic situation you go for what's easiest to hit.

And to point out, Bola did take out the legs of the zombie teacher to slow her down..

What an excellent day for an exorcism

[–] Tyler-A-Arse 14 years ago

I agree, and it's easy to say that when you're watching the movie. Even though I consider myself good under pressure, I wonder would I be able to hold myself together and aim for the head when something like this is coming at you. I think I may panic and just start shooting.

These are the worst kind of zombies. Fast and agile. It could possibly be your azz if you miss the head on the first shot. That's scary.

[–] Soul_2000n 14 years ago

Got to agree with you there. Unless you're a soldier, most people aren't trained to handle the pressure.

You have to realize, in the case of the new fast zombies you've got microseconds to aim and fire. Even the best shots can't pull that off with accuracy. I don't care how many video games you play.

Not only that but you have to be aware of everything around you. You can take aim at the zombie in front of you and have another coming from the side ala the raptors in Jurassic Park.

What an excellent day for an exorcism

[–] Tyler-A-Arse 14 years ago

Even the best shots can't pull that off with accuracy. I don't care how many video games you play.

[–] Loque 13 years ago

You'd think cops and gangsters would be able to handle some pressure given their chosen profession. Accuracy isn't really a factor when your target is so close that you can put your firearm up against it.

The characters are clearly just idiots.

[–] murrrr23 14 years ago

I had just started a topic about this when I noticed your post. I agree 100%. At times I caught myself yelling 'just shoot them in the head dumb@$$!' It made some scenes frustrating to watch. This movie wasn't absolutely horrible, it did an alright job of keeping my attention and entertaining me, but I wont recommend this or re-watch it...

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Moondrop_C 12 years ago

I can't seem to remember the franchise Zombie movie from the 1990s, but I remember there was a comical part where one person was telling them to shoot in the head and he did, but that didn't stop them.

I want to say Night of the Living dead, but I can't remember. It was geared mostly toward teens in one of the franchises the lead girl zombie has to keep piercing herself so she doesn't eat the boy she likes.

Too bad I didn't see this back when you posted it. That was Return of the Living Dead III.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107953/combined

[–] filmbuff1974 11 years ago

**SPOILER ALERT**

Yes I agree. It was actually a deal breaker for me in deciding whether or not this was a good zombie movie or not. I decided it was a bad ploy to keep unnecessary action sequences long that could have been finished quickly with a simple head shot.

Live Full & Die Empty. Tap Your Potential and Realize Your Dreams!