Where do zombies come from?

Note: For the sake of time, I will not be including references or footnotes for this essay, but some basic research will confirm the information included here. Elements borrow from a variety of films and also from Max Brooks’ Zombie Survival Guide. This will not be a comprehensive listing of every type of zombie ever featured in film, nor will it be a thorough listing of all the sources of influence for the living dead in film. Instead, this will serve a basic introduction to the roots and changes of the zombie throughout film history. With that said, enjoy.
Zombies. The word brings to mind an instant image of a decaying corpse trudging across a field towards you, arms outstretched and mouth open. To be honest, this might be the closest to the truth, but before jumping to a conclusion, let’s investigate the origin of zombie mythology and the different versions of zombies that have been presented over the years.

First, it is my understanding that the zombie myth originates from voodoo culture, which is prevalent in Caribbean nations like Haiti. Voodoo “witchdoctors” believed in the power to bring back the deceased as a member of the “living dead” as a means of cursing someone. Voodoo zombies are not, however, members of the living dead, but simply poor, unfortunately people who are drugged by some sort of toxin and possibly a hallucinogen. The drugs initially simulate death, hence the belief that the person has died. The subject eventually “comes back to life” as a zombie. It is unsure how the mannerisms of a zombie into the legends, however it is likely that a person awakening from being poisoned by these drugs might have brain damage from the lack of oxygen during the paralysis. The brain damage might result in an inability to speak and reduced motor skills, which would account for the slow-moving zombie often seen in movies. There is no explanation on where the flesh-eating element of the zombie mythology would arise from this. Voodoo zombies would not have the “special abilities” seen in stereotypical cinematic zombies such as being able to survive any amount of physical trauma as long as the brain is left intact.

Now that we have established a likely origin for the zombie we know and love today, how have zombies in film changed over the decades.

While not exactly the first zombie movie, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead is considered to be the birth of the zombie that most of society knows and is arguably the best zombie film to date. After NOTLD, Romero made three sequels to the film: Dawn of the Dead (1978, not the 2004 remake), Day of the Dead and, most recently, Land of the Dead. All of Romero’s Dead series feature the same “classification” of zombie, although, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead do deviate (or progress, depending on your personal opinion) from his previous rules in some regards, but more on that later.

The Romero zombie invented what we think of today when someone says the word “zombie.” His zombies are slow, dumb and hungry for human flesh. A Romero zombie can only die from destruction of the brain; any other damage to the limbs or torso has no effect. The other unique element of Romero’s zombies is that anyone who dies or is already dead with their brain intact will rise from the grave as a member of the living dead. In this respect, a zombie bite does not necessarily transmit anything that turns you into a zombie, but simply kills you. After death, you become a zombie, not necessarily because of the bite.

Romero’s explanation for the zombie epidemic differs slightly from NOTLD to the sequels. In NOTLD, a radio announcer provides a possible reason for the dead rising from their graves as zombies when he says the reanimation may have been caused by radiation from the Venus space probe exploding in the Earth’s atmosphere. While not exactly contradicting this explanation, Dawn of the Dead presents the immortal words that will remain in most zombie fans’ minds as the best explanation for the living dead: “When there is no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth.” Personally, the religious/philosophical reason for the zombie apocalypse has a much greater impact than the scientific rational, which is more or else undermined (albeit without mentioning) by the work of “Dr. Frankenstein” in Day of the Dead.

As mentioned, Romero “evolves” his zombies in Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead, although it could be seen as a simple progression from the themes he began in Dawn of the Dead, where undead zombies return to the shopping mall because of memories they had from their previous lives. In Day of the Dead, a scientist is able to “train” a zombie named “Bub” to respond to music, follow basic instructions and even use tools. This progression continues in the latest entry, Land of the Dead, where the zombies consciously communicate with one another, adapt to use basic tools and weapons and work together to launch a full-scale attack on a human metropolis.

This evolving from an autonomic flesh-eating monster to something capable of a degree of intelligent thought coupled with memories of the past human life can be seen as a necessary progression in the series or a deviation from a basic set of rules Romero had already set for himself. No matter what your view is on Romero’s changes, the evolution of the zombie is unique to his series.

Modern zombie films have reinvented the definition of a zombie in many ways. In many ways, 28 Days Later rejuvenated the zombie genre in 2002. Before then, zombie films were few and far between, but include such classics as Peter Jackson’s horror-comedy Braindead (also known as Dead Alive) and Tom Savini’s remake of Night of the Living Dead. Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later threw a relatively new wrench in the zombie formula; what if zombies could run as fast as a human at full sprint and victims turned over almost immediately after a bite. The result was a terrifying movie about monsters that had many similarities to zombies, but many differences. Besides their physical superiority to Romero’s zombies, Boyle provides a rational, scientific explanation for the outbreak: a genetically-engineered virus called “Rage.”

Boyle’s quick zombies were carried over in Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead. Besides that change, Snyder made an intentionally noticeable change to Romero’s “rules,” only people that are bitten in change over in Snyder’s version.

This basic rundown presents some of the cinematic origins, changes and differences in the types of zombies that have graced the silver screen. As previously mentioned, there is no way to cover every zombie ever put to screen or pen. If you are interested in investigating other zombie stories or types not already mentioned, check out the following:
-Re-animator movies
-Fulci’s Zombi series
-Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead series
-Resident Evil films and games
-The Walking Dead graphic novels
-Max Brooks’ books Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z
-Shaun of the Dead