Zombies are corpses that have been brought back to life somehow. Common ways to create a zombie include witchcraft or magic, but more recent depictions of zombies use technology and science, including space radiation or viruses. Zombies are commonly associated with the collapse of global civilization.
While George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) helped popularize the shambling, flesh-devouring creatures, zombies appeared in film and literature well before that, including the first feature-length zombie film “White Zombie”, released in 1932 and starring famed “Dracula” actor Bela Lugosi.
Since Romero’s film, zombies have slowly shuffled onward into comic books, video games, music, novels and television programs. The creatures are especially popular today, with books like “The Zombie Survival Guide” and “World War Z,” films such as “28 Days Later” and on television in AMC’s “The Walking Dead” series, which is an adaptation of a comic book series with the same name.
Zombies aren’t just for horror flicks either. The zombie is also a figure used by philosophers to explore issues of consciousness and the physical world. But these zombies don’t get quite the same amount of attention from the media.
(Text by Noel Kirkpatrick)
(Photo: Eric Ingrum/Flickr)