Mommy.. Where do the walking dead come from??

[Automan2000]

OK recently I have been getting more interested in zombie movies and games. I was thinking earlier today that there have been many ways shown in movies and games as to how normal people become zombies. I wanted to compile a list of all of them if possible and I thought the group here would be a perfect to help with that.

When you list a cause of zobiefication give an example of what movie or game it came from. I'll start it off with a few that I can think of right off the top of my head.

Radiation (Night of the Living Dead)
Virus (Resident Evil, 28 Days Later)
Parasite (Cold Fear, Resident Evil 4)

Also if you can think of more examples for the causes that have already been listed feel free to post those too.


Disclaimer: I realize that both 28 Days Later and Resident Evil 4 don't have zombies in the classic sense but I think they are close enough to count.

[Mofo Rising]

Hell plumb full (Dawn of the Dead).

[DodgingGrunge]

Aliens/Technology .......... Wild Zero - It seems that with the right ray gun, machine, etc., you can either bring the dead back to life, or hijack the minds of the living.

Voodoo/Occult/Spiritual .......... The Beyond - In some instances, zombies can be resurrected through the intervention of some supernatural being... the invocation is typically Latin.

Chemical/Biological .......... Return of the Living Dead - This is distinct from viral causes as a virus requires a living host cell to replicate itself, something a corpse cannot provide.

Disclaimer: I realize that both 28 Days Later and Resident Evil 4 don't have zombies in the classic sense but I think they are close enough to count.

Really, I think there are two valid means of zombie classification:  living and undead.  While it is only the latter that provides us with bounties of brain-eating goodness, the former is equally qualified in holding the label.

[Joe]

gah, im fine with calling the 28 days later beings zombies( after the debate we had a while back) but def not las plagas from resident evil 4. they aren't reanimated corpses they are people taken over by an intelligent host that controls them.

with that out of the way....

return of the living dead (biohazardous chemical gas/liquid{i think that fits under virus though})

Dead alive ( sumarian rat money {i guess that fits into infection/virus as well})

Undead ( Comets{they kill people and they return as zombies, only the poeple who were directly hit by them, then it spreads by "the bite"}i wouldnt say radiation, i guess alien virus)

cemetary man (just for the hell of it, apparently all the dead become zombies at any given time)

Ghoulies ( main bad guy comes back via black magic. definetly zombified though, hes a rotting corpse for christ sake)

creep show ( just for revenge i guess {aimed towards "fathers day" and "something to tide you over" well the latter is more ghost i guess so forget it)

[ulthar]

Chemical/Biological .......... Return of the Living Dead - This is distinct from viral causes as a virus requires a living host cell to replicate itself, something a corpse cannot provide.

Two other examples of Chemical 'resurrection' include THE BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE and RE-ANIMATOR.

[RapscallionJones]

Just playing Devil's advocate here, but the cause of the zombie outbreak in the Romero zombie flicks has never been officially established.  The venus orbiter mentioned in Night of the Living Dead is a very minor theory that you can easily miss if you're not paying close attention.

[Mr_Vindictive]

Just playing Devil's advocate here, but the cause of the zombie outbreak in the Romero zombie flicks has never been officially established.  The venus orbiter mentioned in Night of the Living Dead is a very minor theory that you can easily miss if you're not paying close attention.

True, it is never truly established in the films but it is mentioned and eluded to in each film.  In NOTLD there is the news report about the satellite/rocket (can't recall which) exploding and releasing radiation over the globe.  Then in Dawn you have the infamous quote about room in hell.  Day, if I'm not mistaken, also leans toward the idea that the zombies are a punishment from God.  Land, surprisingly doesn't give any explanation for the zombies.

[indianasmith]

Don't forget . . .

Space vampires in a ship hidden in the tail of Haley's Comet

(LIFE FORCE)

[Raffine]

Mesmerism/hypnotism: TALES OF TERROR (Roger Corman 1962) &  TWO EVIL EYES (George Romero 1990)

Both included segments based on Poe's The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, which was about about a man kept alive after death by being hypnotised at the moment he dies. The story always ends very messily.

[RapscallionJones]

Just playing Devil's advocate here, but the cause of the zombie outbreak in the Romero zombie flicks has never been officially established.  The venus orbiter mentioned in Night of the Living Dead is a very minor theory that you can easily miss if you're not paying close attention.

True, it is never truly established in the films but it is mentioned and eluded to in each film.  In NOTLD there is the news report about the satellite/rocket (can't recall which) exploding and releasing radiation over the globe.  Then in Dawn you have the infamous quote about room in hell.  Day, if I'm not mistaken, also leans toward the idea that the zombies are a punishment from God.  Land, surprisingly doesn't give any explanation for the zombies.

Always my favorite thing about Romero's zombie movies.  It just happens.

[flackbait]

Not sure what to classify this as, the movie THE INVISIBLE INVADERS, has the dead rising from the grave, but the aliens control these "zombies" so are they zombies or not?

[GoHawks]

Source of zombies:

Aliens/Technology ..........

Plan 9 From Outer Space

[Dave Munger]

Real Voodoo, like in The Serpent And The Rainbow. Where they slip you a mickey, fake your death, and use you as slave labor on a sugar plantation. I've heard that in Haiti, if this that if you attempt this, and it gets as far as the victim being buried, they charge you with homicide.

[Raffine]

Source of zombies:

Aliens/Technology ..........

Plan 9 From Outer Space

"Long distance electrodes shot into the pineal and pituitary gland of the recently dead."

Sounds right easy once you know how...

[Shadow]

Ancient Etruscan magic - Burial Ground
No reason whatsoever - Zombie Lake
Meteorites - Alien Dead