Bashing in someone's head (in a zombie movie)

[BTM]

Dunno, you see this all the time, someone swings something heavy, hits a zombie in the face, down they go.  Well, in most zombie films, you gotta damage the brain enough to where they cease moving.  I can't help but wonder though: how easy it is to do that?  Seems like most of the time, it would take several shots, as I know of people who've gotten hit in the head and still survived.  And keep in mind you're doing with creatures who can't feel pain.  

On the other hand, I know blunt trauma to the brain can cause paralysis and suddenly serious brain injury can do all sorts of crazy things, but I just saying I'm not sure the whole "one hit and they go down" would always work, especially considering how strong the person swinging is, and what object they're using.

What do you guys think?  (Other than the fact I'm putting WAAY too much thought into this subject.)

[Andrew]

Depends on what you are hitting them with and whether you get a clean shot.  A solid swing with a baseball bat or pipe will crack a skull, I've seen it.  However, to really smash the head in requires it to be against something hard, like the ground.  When someone is standing up and struck, the head will move and a lot of the energy from the strike gets lost.

[indianasmith]

A geologist's hammer will do the job nicely . . . ask Leon Trotsky!

[Paquita]

If we're talking zombies here, I would assume that the freshness of the zombie would play a part in how easily his or her head could be bashed.  I'm willing to bet a not-so-fresh zombie head would be like a honeydew melon and crush pretty nicely with a nice hearty swing, and a fresh one would be more like a fresh coconut, which I can't crack to save my life, not even against a hard surface with a sledgehammer or being thrown across a parking lot... but that's just me.  I'd need a shotgun.

[indianasmith]

The skull is thinnest at the temple . . . never go for the top of the head unless you've got a very sharp, heavy instrument.  A sideways swing at the temple can fracture the skull and cause major brain trauma pretty easily.

[Trevor]

John Leguizamo does this pretty well with a heavy steel ornament in Land of The Dead. 

[El Misfit]

to get a concussion, use a sledge hammer (trust me from experience), to phase them, use a shovel

[retrorussell]

Yeah, the zombies that have been underground for long periods of time would be most susceptible to head trauma.  One good swing of anything and the skull should give in.  Peter West in Zombie was able to crush zombie melons with a grave marker and a shovel.

[Zapranoth]

In the zombie war book (I forget its name), the hand to hand instrument of choice was something much like a shovel -- meant as a decapitating instrument IIRC.  It was more reliable than a gun, ammo free of course, and could deliver a neutralizing stroke to zombies when wielded by soldiers or 5'2" housewives alike.

I think that'd be the idea.. something heavy enough to impart a heavy strike, sharp, but simple in form and pretty idiot-proof to use in the heat of battle.

[Zapranoth]

Well, if a vorpal blade +5 were not available, that is.

[El Misfit]

use a flame bomb!

[BTM]

If we're talking zombies here, I would assume that the freshness of the zombie would play a part in how easily his or her head could be bashed.  I'm willing to bet a not-so-fresh zombie head would be like a honeydew melon and crush pretty nicely with a nice hearty swing, and a fresh one would be more like a fresh coconut, which I can't crack to save my life, not even against a hard surface with a sledgehammer or being thrown across a parking lot... but that's just me.  I'd need a shotgun.

*Blinks*

(Begins to wonder if Paquita is single...)

[BTM]

Come to think of it, if you damage certain parts of the brain, it'd cause paralysis right?  So, you might drop them in one blow and, although they wouldn't inactive, they'd be unable to chase after you.  (Course, you might have to watch for them grabbing at your ankles and biting your feet.)

Course, I don't know... is brain damage a common cause of paralysis?  Usually I hear about SPINE damage causing that, but I'm guessing it's possible with head trauma as well.  (Not a medical doc, so someone else will have to fill in the details about that.)

[Zapranoth]

The motor strips are near the top of the brain, but swelling in the skull can put pressure on areas not directly damaged and compromise blood flow to those areas.  Of course damaging the outflowing spinal tracts can cause paralysis too.

But do zombie brains rely on their same prior physiology, is the question.   Is rotting and other damage to speech production areas the reason why some zombies don't talk?  Or partial damage to same, the reason that some of them speak in a slurred way?  Or is it that the muscles of speech production (and the integrity of the sounding chambers) have been damaged such that normal speech production can't happen?

Maybe the former neocortex functions just get rewired into a sort of get-more-brains subroutine, and that's why physical motions become jerky and less fluidly planned...   so many questions....