Are you tired of zombies in fiction?

[KevanG]

So Sam, have you ever done a zombie movie? Would you like to?

 

[Black Narcissus]

So Sam, have you ever done a zombie movie? Would you like to?

Star Wars movies don't count? Or you mean the new-new ones with old fat Hamill and that chick who was married to the wonderful Paul Simon?!

Please reply.

 

[KevanG]

I meant more of a literal zombie movie with the flesh eating undead thingys. Not the unnecessary additions to a great series.

 

[Xeno]

The only zombie movies I have ever liked are satirical ones like Shaun of the Dead. Return of the Living Dead was hilarious, too, as was the first Re-Animator (the H.P. Lovecraft novella scared the hell out of me, though).


Zombies are cheap monsters, so their appeal is understandable, but they're too ridiculous to take seriously as a threat. For one thing, how does a rotting corpse chew up human flesh, much less digest it? Or walk, even? Vampires and werewolves may be played out but at least they're a tiny bit more plausible.

 

[Victarion]

I always thought that if you hunkered down for a few days, the zombies would eventually become immobile piles of flesh and bone.

 

[SuperFerret]

I'm okay with zombies, sort of over vampires, and as a big fan of werewolves, desperately waiting for them to get their due. Too often werewolves are either playing second fiddle to vampires or are portrayed terribly.

 

[Earth001]

I honestly don't really care about Zombies. I just don't pay attention to them.

 

[Xeno]

I always thought that if you hunkered down for a few days, the zombies would eventually become immobile piles of flesh and bone.

There is always an endless supply of new zombies, though, because they're created whenever anyone dies. The "zombie plague" virus is supposedly latent in everyone in some of these films/shows, from what I've read.


Frankly, the idea of a virus being capable of reanimating corpses is ludicrous to me. Once the brain is dead, the nervous system no longer functions and the muscles and organs won't work, plus there would be no circulation. "Killing the brain" of a zombie should have no effect since the brain is already dead. The whole premise only works if you mentally gloss over all of that and just go with the gory flow.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

The part that is the most implausible to me is the rotting flesh still allowing a body to function.

But as long as the the genre is ripe with symbolism I'll still be on board.

 

[Whiskey Tango]

It works just fine if zeds are supernatural in origin rather than biological. Everyone is obsessed with realism these days though so they always seem to go with the virus angle.

I have few problems with outright suspension of disbelief, personally (although even I have limits). Focusing on "Why are these zombies not rotting away?" is just as alien to me as questioning the plausibility of Superman's flight or the existence of sound in space in Star Wars. Dissect these things too much and all you do is screw yourself out of a fun tale.