Zombies

Whilst the term Zombie evokes such images, as mindless and shambling corpses that feast upon human flesh, the term has now evolved into a much wider meaning. No longer restricted to the typical Living Dead motif that director George A. Romero largely established in his film Night of the Living Dead, the modern zombie is rarely slow and shambling or necessarily dead.

The Evolution of the Modern Zombie

A Depiction of creating Zombie slaves through the use of Voodoo.

Stories that involve bringing the dead to life as mindless slaves have dated back further than before the word Zombi had even been mentioned. One such example is in One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of folk tales that was first published around the 12th century. It compiled stories from the Middle East and South Asia, a couple of which involved a person raising the dead as slaves.

This is perhaps why the early zombie has closely been associated with voodoo magic. It was this association that led to the first recorded usage of the term Zombie in 1929 to describe people raised from the dead and used as mindless slaves. It appeared in The Magic Island, a somewhat embellished account of a man who witnessed Voodoo practises in Haiti, which would become very closely associated with voodoo zombies in the years to come.

Frankenstein tells the tale of a man who is brought back from the dead.

Despite the actual term Zombie not yet having been used till after they were published, some have pointed out that the works of horror author, H. P. Lovecraft have explored the concept of The Living Dead. His 1921 serial Herbert West Re-animator (which would later be adapted into a film) is often cited as an important milestone in zombie history.

The plot of the serialised short story revolved around a man who brings the dead back to life with a scientific formulae. It is an important short story as its resurrected dead were angry, violent and non communicative. It was also very reminiscent of Marry Shelley's Frankenstein which was first published in 1818 and would go on to have many screen adaptations over the years. What differentiated Lovecraft's story however was that the dead seemed to hold a particular hate towards the living and often attacked by biting.

This would become a staple of all most all Zombie stories and it is vary rare that any modern zombie tales would not feature this. Despite the importance of Re-animator, an earlier Lovecraft story published in 1925 called The Vault is often regarded as the first zombie bite in written literature. Still, these early zombie bites were nothing more than bites whereas today someone who falls victim to one will in almost all instances, turn into one of the Living Dead also.

A zombie slave from the 1931 film, 'White Zombie.'

Up until now awareness of the Zombie was primarily developed through literature, however in 1931 a film entitled ' White Zombie', would introduce people to the first Zombies depicted in a movie. The film stared horror actor Bela Lugosi and featured the Zombie Voodoo archetypes. The film would go on to inspire many other similar movies, however the next evolution in the zombie mythology would link them closely with the apocalypse.

In 1936 a film written by H. G. Wells was released under the title Things to Come. Whilst the film did not depict any Zombies it did involve a plague which spread by contact, turning its victims into mindless people who shambled around. They were still alive and did not show signs of aggression towards the living making them hard to classify as zombies, however the image of worn down human shapes walking around aimlessly amongst a largely destroyed city is very close to the imagery used in modern Zombie films.

Night of the Living Dead poster

The next jump in the Zombie mythology would move away from film and back to literature when in 1954 a short story by Richard Matheson was published entitled I Am Legend. The film would largely bridge the gap between the modern zombie apocalypse and what was depicted in Things To Come, by once again putting them in a Post-apocalyptic setting, however this time they were to be the actual cause of it. Despite some people not including the story as an example of Zombie fiction due to the monsters in the story being more associated with Vampires, it would go on to be adapted into a film three times ( The Last Man On Earth, The Omega Man and I Am Legend). The novella would go on to inspire the director of perhaps the most important Zombie movie ever made; Night of the Living Dead.

Directed by George. A. Romero and released in 1964, the small budget black and white film was the first depiction of the modern Zombie as we think of them today, despite being referenced as ghouls in the actual film. It featured the Living Dead in varying stages of decay and degeneration that had a hunger for human flesh. They were stupid and clumsy but overwhelmed people due to their huge numbers, resilience to any form of harm apart from sever head trauma, and would turn their victims into flesh eating zombies as well. The film became a huge underground hit, despite only being shown in grindhouse theatres due to the violence depicted in the film and its sequel, Dawn of the Dead, would prove to be just as important in establishing Zombies.

Often considered to be the most important and best Zombie film ever made.

Released in 1978 the film would once and for all associate Zombies with the apocalypse, and expanded on the concept of zombie bites, slowly turning people into the undead. The films is widely regarded as the definitive zombie film and is often cited as a source of inspiration for almost any zombie movie that came after it. It is considered to be the movie that began the golden age of Zombie films that lasted through most the eighties and early nineties.

It is sometimes mistakenly associated with the the introduction of the brain eating zombie, however this is attributed to ' The Return of the Living Dead', a Zombie comedy released in 1985 that was not officially related to Romero's Of the Dead films. The Zombies in Return of the Living Dead were in much more advanced states of decay and fed exclusively on human brains, moaning the word while they advanced upon their prey.

Today the Modern Zombie is still developing and has begun to move away from the the slow shambling undead, to rage infected living people that have mostly identical characteristics to their dead counterparts but are much stronger and faster. These zombies would become widely knows as Fast Zombies. After the 90's many genres of cinema were trying to to move towards more realistic films, even ones that were essentially fantastical in setting. Horror movies were no exception to this trend and efforts to depict zombies in a more scientifically sound manor were at the forefront of this movement, largely spearheaded by the 2003 film 28 Days Later.

A Priest restrains a Demon Zombie in [Rec]2.

Whilst the traditionally undead and slow moving shambling Zombie are still very heavily associated with the term, their presence in film has become a rarity, movies instead favouring the faster Zombie. More recently a new kind of Zombie may be slowly evolving out of the Spanish horror film, [Rec] (later remade as Quarantine). Whilst the first [Rec] film featured fairly standard fast zombies that were believed to be affected by a mutated strain of rabies, the films sequel, [Rec] 2, would instead move in different direction, revealing that the Zombie like attacks were in fact the result of demon possession.

Basic Zombie Types

This character from I Walked With a Zombie may or may not be undead.

Over the years the term zombie has evolved and shot off into different directions, creating a wide variety of Zombie subtypes. Whilst these basic Zombie archetypes exist, this is not to say that some have combined characteristics of different types. While trying to slot a particular zombie into a category it is very common that they will overlap. A few of the main ones are as follows.

The Voodoo/Slave Zombie

These Zombies are the closest to actual living human beings, they are not always actually dead but are instead resurrected as mindless slaves to serve the person who raised them. Unlike other Zombies, since they are technically alive and not raised as re-animated corpses, they lack the dead and rotting appearance of a modern zombie as their flesh has once again become living. They are almost unidentifiable as being a Zombie in appearance apart from their often blank and emotionless face as well as their somewhat slow and deliberate movement, however even these characteristics are not always present.

The people that are resurrected through voodoo Zombification usually have to be brought back from death fairly close to when they died, perhaps no more than 3-5 days. If the intended target for resurrection has been injured to a state where they could not possibly be alive then the resurrection often won't work.

One of the first movies that depicted a Voodoo Zombie was ' White Zombie', however the more famous film would be Val Lewton's I Walked With a Zombie which depicted a more realistic take on the concept of Voodoo slaves. In the film it is unclear if these people were brought back from dead through magic or if is all something that is scientifically sound.

Zombie Powder from the Serpent and the Rainbow

After the forties the Voodoo zombie died out in popularity and since then is rarely featured in any form of media, be it in film or literature. The Serpent and the Rainbow is a 1998 film that would once again explore the concept in a more fantastical setting, however it still remains as a rarity. Some consider the re-animated corpses from ' Re-animator' to be somewhat reminiscent of the Voodoo Zombie.

Whilst the Zombies in the film were more similar to Rage and Modern zombies, they are brought back to life through a formulae and later mind controlled as slaves. The Zombie Comedy Fido also depicts the modern zombie regulated to slave positions through a special collar as well as in Shaun of the Dead. The Voodoo Zombie seems to have run its course in film and has shown little sign of ever coming back into popularity.

The Classic/Modern Zombie

A Zombie girl eating the intestines of her father.

The Modern Zombie, sometimes referred to as the Classic Zombie, is most commonly associated with Zombie films. They are the slow moving and shambling corpses that are often in very serious states of decay or bearing grievous wounds. The Modern Zombie is often the most gruesome looking one due to its close association with the apocalypse and the method they use to turn other people into Zombies.

Their bites will eventually turn its recipient into a zombie though not immediately. Due to these Zombies having been eaten somewhat by others they often have gaping bite wounds with intestines hanging out their stomach which has been ripped apart. Whilst the Modern Zombie is typically slow moving, incredibly stupid, largely unaware of their environment and has a generally weak looking appearance, a concept known as Liquid Zombie (or The Elastic Effect) allows them to take people by surprise.

Liquid Zombie refers to the phenomena of the undead gaining incredible amounts of strength whilst in close proximity to a living human, normally about one meter or so. It gives them an edge by taking its victims by surprise, and allows a single zombie to rip apart a human with little problem. Often they dig into a person with their fingernails, latching onto them with a vice like hold. In some movies even a scratch from a Zombie spreads their virus of decay which is very problematic in this situation. Liquid Zombies can be seen in the film Let Sleeping Corpses Lie.

This Zombie from Return of the Living Dead, proved to be almost impossible to kill.

The modern zombie was largely introduced and popularised by George. A. Romero in the film Night of the Living Dead and then further developed in its sequel, Dawn of the Dead. These also introduced what would become a staple in almost all Zombie films to come which explained that any sever head trauma would successfully kill the zombie, usually demonstrated with a bullet to the head.

Most Modern Zombies are incapable of speech or any thought process at all, fuelled only by their desire to consume living flesh, however there have been a couple of movies that move away from this. Return of the Living Dead, a somewhat spiritual successor to Night of the Living Dead, featured Zombies which fed exclusively upon human brains and would vocalise it by moaning the word out-loud.

In this film head wounds did not kill them in the slightest making them essentially impossible to kill, operating on the principal that every single cell in their body could operate independently. Despite these differences they are still considered to fit under the Modern Zombie classification and are largely responsible for perpetrating the Zombie Cliché.

Fast/Rage Zombies

This film popularized the concept of the fast Zombie.

These Zombies are now perhaps the most popular representation of the undead, despite most people still heavily associating the word with the image of the Modern Zombie. They are largely the result of a movement that occurred post nineties which largely aimed to make genre films appear more realistic. They were also an attempt to update their image and make them seem more threatening compared to the slow shambling Modern Zombies.

As a by product to make them more realistic, Fast Zombies are often not actually undead but are instead living human beings that have been thrown into such an inhuman rage that they bear the same mental capacity and capability of the Modern Zombie. A mutated strain of rabies is often used to explain this like in the first [Rec] film and Rabid.

The film 28 Days Later played a huge role in popularising the Fast Zombie, explaining their origin from a genetically engineered virus known as the Rage Virus. Like the Classic Zombie, they are highly contagious though it is taken to new levels as it is contained in their blood. If a person gets some of the infected blood on any open wound then they will become infect too. While these Zombies are very strong, perhaps from increased activity in their adrenal gland, they still are essentially human in physiology, meaning that while a headshot is very effective, they can die just like any other person could, even succumbing to starvation.

This is not always entirely the case and the Zombies from the Dawn of the Dead Remake, were a combination of the Classic and Fast Zombie, being undead but also displaying increased speed and strength. While fast Zombies are almost always incapable of speech they are often more vocal than their slow counterparts, often screaming whilst they run towards their intended prey.

Crazies

Sex obsessed Zombies, embrace a normal person in Shivers.

Often considered to more of a subset of Fast/Rage Zombies these ones are people that have been turned insane. They are sometimes capable of more coherent thought and communication and as a result are often more dangerous, setting up traps to capture people. Crazies are not undead, or even vicariously filled with rage or hate, their violence often being the result of sever paranoia as demonstrated in The Signal.

Motives of Crazies can sometimes be existent, however they usually have no goal at all due their general instability. While they are often depicted as biting people they are not commonly known to actually eat the flesh of someone, or to desecrate the corpse of their victims. The were largely introduced in ' The Crazies', however a different depiction of them is found in David Cronenberg's Shivers which depict Crazies as Sex obsessed people who do not want to cause harm but instead want to make everyone else sex obsessed also, spreading the disease with a kiss or sexually.

The Demon Zombie

While [Rec] depicted standard fast Zombies, its sequel would take the concept somewhere new.

Whilst very uncommon and only really featured in the film [Rec]2, it is important to mention as it is the first development of the modern zombie to occur since the Fast/Rage Zombie which were seemingly depicted in the first [Rec] movie. Its sequel however, showed that these zombies were actually the result of a Satanic Possession that spreads much like a normal Zombie Virus.

These Zombies typically act like the Rage infected ones, however the virus eventually develops and changes their behaviour, allowing them to crawl around walls and roofs like monsters. Satan can also use them as vessels and largely controls their movements, sometimes possessing one to gain control. In [Rec]2, the devil uses a little girl infected with this Satanic Virus to communicate with the living, creating an appearance and effect much like the possessed girl from The Exorcist.

Whilst [Rec]2 may be the first film to largely develop the concept of the Demon Zombie, they have been somewhat seen in other films. Lucio Fulci's The Beyond, depicts Zombies that emerge from hell, however apart from mention of where they come from, they differ little from the Classic Zombie. Some also consider that Demon Zombies are depicted in The Evil Dead.