Hello Cadets, for you here in the Midwest I hope you are staying cool. As I said before you have asked for more zombies and I am inclined to oblige. One thing I like about zombies is that they are complex in their simplicity. There have been a variety of spins on the genre but it is almost impossible to romanticize a zombie story unless the romance is between two survivors because, really, who wants to kiss a diseased undead corpse? Today’s post will be about the three different classifications of zombies. I hope you enjoy and please let me know if I miss anything.
The first type is the classic, rise from the grave, shambling zombie as portrayed in the 1932’s White Zombie. The reason for this is the original lore of how a zombie was created. There are many stories all over the world for centuries about zombies but there was one particular story In Haiti people would get voodoo potions from witch doctors for anything from holistic medicine to love potions but every so often these ‘potions’ would contain a tetrodotoxin to make the person appear to be dead. Bear in mind this was many many years ago before autopsies were common practice. Usually the person who fell victim would be buried alive for hours to days before being dug up by the witch doctor and put to work on plantations. By the time the ‘bodies’ were dug up the person would have developed brain damage from a lack of oxygen and there were times where they didn’t retrieve them fast enough and the person really died. The plantation owners were usually cruel as most slave owners are and would beat the people the essentially kidnapped. One instance the laborers had enough and attacked their abusers with the only tool available, their hands and teeth. One of the men did make it to a town and was recognized by a neighbor, marking the most well-known zombie sighting.
Since then the standard for a zombie is usually some sort of infection or disease that can be spread through zombie bites or being reanimated from a voodoo curse. These zombies are usually all sorts of grotesque, already partially decomposed, slow, and stupid, they can’t use doors or climb anything more complicated than stairs (if that). These are the zombies most typically seen in George A. Romero’s films or the Resident Evil series. These zombies are still terrifying because they do not stop until their head and brain are destroyed and they possess seemingly inhuman strength. Another twist Romero added in Return of the Living Dead and Land of the dead is that they can learn. One on it’s own, while no laughing matter, is hardly a challenge to dodge or dispatch of but a swarm of them could easily overpower a person as displayed in the first episode of Walking Dead. Shaun of the Dead even had something to add to the terror of these slow menaces in the fact that they are easily fooled by pretending to shamble and groan like them but people’s unwillingness to work together or accept the situation is just as dangerous as the zombies themselves and caused them to lose most of their crew. Needless to say slow and steady does not minimize the threat or amount of fear induced by these creepy slow-pokes.
That brings me to the next type, the fast moving zombies. The first film to feature this particular adrenaline-inducing terror was Return of the Living Dead in 1985, which wasn’t terribly scary but great fun. It was not a common trend until 2002 when Danny Boyle directed 28 Days Later. These badboys are of a whole other level of terror because usually they could move just as fast as the survivors but the difference is that they never slow down because they don’t get tired. Imagine trying to maneuver around debris, climb structures and just run like hell while dodging a monster that can do everything you do without slowing down or feeling pain, it’s a whole other level of unfair. On the plus side they are usually still lacking in intelligence and you can still fight if you are able to keep your wits about you but needless to say it’s a safe bet most of us will end up like those who fell victim in Zombieland, rundown and unable to defend against these quick moving horrors.
There is a whole different classification for zombies as of 2002 with the Rage infected people of 28 Days Later, this introduced the infected versus the reanimated. Infected does not apply to all fast moving zombies, as in the case of the Dawn of the Dead remake, but it does make up the majority. The difference is that the infected ‘zombies’ do not need to die to become a zombie. [Rec] was another prime example as was the remake Quarantine with the mutated rabies virus. There are a lot of movies that never reveal the cause of the zombies such as Shaun of the Dead so the safe bet is if they die before becoming a zombie it’s reanimation, not infection. Same can be applied to Left 4 Dead as we do not know the cause of infection and the zombies don’t try to eat the survivors but beat on them instead. Personally I like this spin on the zombie genre, it’s something new for a monster that’s been fabled for centuries.
I have to honest and say that I love how popular the zombie theme has gotten. I am sure with the resurgence of Grimm fairy tale remakes in the making that the trend is going to waver for a bit but the fans aren’t distracted for long. We aren’t in it for the love and romantic drama, we are in it for the gore, story, and even to see the unlikeliest of relationships form. I hope you all enjoyed learning about zombies, if I missed anything please let me know on my facebook group at
The Litter-ati. On that note I bit you all farewell until tomorrow. This is War Kitten signing off and reminding you that voodoo priests with potions are the equivalent to a stranger in a van with free candy, usually not to be trusted.
