Hatrack River Writers Workshop   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Writers Workshop » Forums » Open Discussions About Writing » What's so great about Zombies? (Page 1)

  This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2   
Author Topic: What's so great about Zombies?
Robyn_Hood
Member
Member # 2083

 - posted      Profile for Robyn_Hood   Email Robyn_Hood         Edit/Delete Post 
Really, I'd like to know what the appeal of zombies is. I don't think I've ever seen a zombie movie I liked. Resident Evil (which I know is not exactly a zombie movie), had potential, but as soon as everyone started turing into mindless monsters intent on nothing more than eating, I lost a lot of my interest. Now there is a sequel out there, and another movie called Shaun of the Dead, which promises much of the same out zombie stuff.

Has anyone out there seen a good use of zombies, or read a good use of zombies?

If you were going to use a "living dead" character, how would you do it effectively?

Just trying to stimulate some conversation.


Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
mikemunsil
Member
Member # 2109

 - posted      Profile for mikemunsil   Email mikemunsil         Edit/Delete Post 
Well you know, the only good zombie, is a dead zombie.

Just had to say it.

The only good use of a zombie I have seen was when it wasn't dead, but was half-alive and strugging to become fully alive once again. That is, when it was a character who made an impact on the reader/viewer. The 'zombieness' was always incidental to the character's other aspects and you could have made it a leper, an alcoholic, a poltician or other sufferer, without really affecting the story.

I've never seen a zombie that I cared about otherwise. Massed zombies are just a 'super'natural force to be reckoned with and just as interesting as any other disaster flick, which is to say, not very.

[This message has been edited by mikemunsil (edited September 20, 2004).]


Posts: 2710 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Whitney
Member
Member # 2176

 - posted      Profile for Whitney   Email Whitney         Edit/Delete Post 
The thing I never understood about zombies was what the big deal was? Ok, besides the fact that a walking, half-alive corpse is creepy, it's not like they are a huge threat. Duh! They shuffle. That's sort of slow. From all the movies I've seen the only way they could be dangerous is if there happened to be a lot of them and they cornered you. Other than that, you can run away a lot faster than they can shuffle after you. Dumb!
Posts: 66 | Registered: Sep 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Gen
Member
Member # 1868

 - posted      Profile for Gen   Email Gen         Edit/Delete Post 
Heh heh heh. To fully answer that question I would have to post my 90,000 word zombie novel.

Well, my 90,000 word sort-of-zombie novel. I've taken a few liberties, along the line of what Mike mentioned but taking it rather further along...

Why zombies? I honstly don't know. And actually, I wasn't fully certain the character in question was a quasi-zombie (there are full zombies as well, and better terms for everything) until a great whack of it was already written. I think I was just trying to write SOMETHING in the dark-fantasy-with-romantic-subplot genre that didn't involve a vampire or a werewolf.

Nothing wrong with sexy vampires and angsty werewolves. I just feel about them the way you do about zombies.


Posts: 253 | Registered: Jan 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
cvgurau
Member
Member # 1345

 - posted      Profile for cvgurau   Email cvgurau         Edit/Delete Post 
It's my understanding (and remember, what do I know?) that zombies shuffle as a way to conserve energy, which they expend when they lung oh-so-fiercly at you, baring yellow teeth behind decrepit skin.

I myself was never that big a fan of zombie movies, but I've only ever seen Resident Evil and Dawn of the Dead (the remake, from c. '89). They were both pretty decent. I'd probably watch them again, if there was nothing else on, but I wouldn't pay for them.

And Shaun of the Dead is a spoof of zombie movies, if I understand the few commercials I've seen. I envision a zombie grabbing the head of one of the two main characters snarling "Brain....braaaaiiiinn", before tapping their skulls, puzzled at the hollow sound, then moving on, still snarling for brains. A la Simpsons, of course.

My 2 cents.

CVG


Posts: 552 | Registered: Jan 2002  | Report this post to a Moderator
Jeraliey
Member
Member # 2147

 - posted      Profile for Jeraliey   Email Jeraliey         Edit/Delete Post 
The thing that always scared me about zombies was that they can't be reasoned with and can't be appeased. Also, they don't seem to really care if they lose arms or other body parts. So basically, they can't be stopped, unless by total destruction. If you think about it, from the perspective of writing a story: it's a more unstoppable force than a mortal bad guy and less unstoppable than a natural disaster. That being said, though, it doesn't really leave that many plot options. Eventually you have to destroy the zombies.

So in every zombie movie, to preserve suspense, the characters have to go into a zombie-infested place unarmed, or their weapons have to jam or run out of ammo at the most inopportune moment. Then either they die or some breakthrough happens that lets them destroy all of them.

Personally, I never liked zombie movies. Plot aside, I just get too freaked out by the images....


Posts: 1041 | Registered: Aug 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Hildy9595
Member
Member # 1489

 - posted      Profile for Hildy9595   Email Hildy9595         Edit/Delete Post 
Personally, I really got a kick out of "Return of the Living Dead" which was a Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead spoof. The zombies getting on the radio and requesting, "Send. More. Paramedics" while they ate the ambulance crew cracked me up.

Yeah, I'm disturbed. And?


Posts: 338 | Registered: Aug 2002  | Report this post to a Moderator
bladeofwords
Member
Member # 2132

 - posted      Profile for bladeofwords   Email bladeofwords         Edit/Delete Post 
haha. I agree with all these points, zombies are best kept in video games in my opinion. I must say though that the most frightening zombie I've every encountered in a video game was not very slow. It was in a mod for half-life (I'm sure some of you have played this game) and the zombie was an evolved form of what is in the original game and that thing could run pretty darn fast. It was a team mod and the three of us were running down the halls backwards firing as fast as we could click the mouse. Zombies themselves make pretty lame antagonists though, they need something interesting to be in charge.
In one of my many WIP I have something that is sort of like a zombie but the root is actually in vampirism. A really messed up heroine junky could always pretend to be a zombie, as long as the decay wasn't too far along.

Jon


Posts: 175 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Phanto
Member
Member # 1619

 - posted      Profile for Phanto   Email Phanto         Edit/Delete Post 
My WIP has a zombie. This zombie, however, is one of the most horrific creations that I have ever conjured. I'm quite proud of her ^^.

(Though she is in only one scene )


Posts: 697 | Registered: Mar 2003  | Report this post to a Moderator
NewsBys
Member
Member # 1950

 - posted      Profile for NewsBys   Email NewsBys         Edit/Delete Post 
Could part of the appeal of using zombies as an antagonist be because you can have the heros kill large numbers of them without it becoming a moral delimma?

For Example:
If a hero killed a bunch of rioting normal people, we would think less of the "hero".
But if the hero kills tons of zombies, we can shrug it off, Well. They were already dead. No big deal.

It kinda gives the hero a guilt free license to kill.

By the way - Why do zombies need to eat humans?


Posts: 579 | Registered: Mar 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Robyn_Hood
Member
Member # 2083

 - posted      Profile for Robyn_Hood   Email Robyn_Hood         Edit/Delete Post 
Wow, looks like I'm not the only one who has zombie issues. I think the first zombie movie I ever saw was Return of the Living Dead (or something like that). It had two guys in it who had just died, but they hadn't realized it, and they weren't zombies yet either. They were the only interesting thing in the movie.

Overall I think zombies could make for an interesting plot device, but I have yet to see them used as such.


Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
EricJamesStone
Member
Member # 1681

 - posted      Profile for EricJamesStone   Email EricJamesStone         Edit/Delete Post 
The great thing about zombies is how they fly around the world giving out presents.

Oh, wait, that's Santa Claus.


Posts: 1517 | Registered: Jul 2003  | Report this post to a Moderator
goatboy
Member
Member # 2062

 - posted      Profile for goatboy   Email goatboy         Edit/Delete Post 
Um, exactly how does one go about killing something that is already dead?

Zombies worked pretty effectively in "Pirates of the Carribean".


Posts: 497 | Registered: Jun 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Robyn_Hood
Member
Member # 2083

 - posted      Profile for Robyn_Hood   Email Robyn_Hood         Edit/Delete Post 
What zombies? The pirates in Pirates of the Carribean were mortals who were cursed. They weren't dead but they weren't really alive either.

I guess they were psuedo-zombies, in a way. And yes, they were done particularly well.

Killing something that's already dead? I never have been able to figure that one out.


Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
shadowynd
Member
Member # 2077

 - posted      Profile for shadowynd   Email shadowynd         Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
Killing something that's already dead? I never have been able to figure that one out.

One bright day in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight.
Back to back they faced each other,
Drew their swords and shot each other.

A deaf policeman heard this noise,
Came o'er and killed those two dead boys.
If you don't believe this lie is true,
Go ask the blind man: He saw it too!

-unknown

This is the version I learned as a kid.

Susan


Posts: 350 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Robyn_Hood
Member
Member # 2083

 - posted      Profile for Robyn_Hood   Email Robyn_Hood         Edit/Delete Post 
LOL! I haven't heard that for a while. I'd love to meet the oxymoron that came up with it!
Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Survivor
Member
Member # 213

 - posted      Profile for Survivor   Email Survivor         Edit/Delete Post 
Well, if you go back to the roots of zombie mythology (and reality) a zombie is the unfortunate victim.

The appeal of movie zombies that eat brains and so forth is simply that they are really gross, but not as morally horrifying as the same amount of mortal human gore. NewsBys has already mentioned this, of course. But it is an important factor in movie making.

Since we're writers rather than horror flick producers, movie zombies probably aren't the best inspiration. As I was saying, the reality of zombies is much more frightening and interesting. Basically, a voodoo sorcerer (basically a fallen priest) drugs you with some concoction that supresses all your life signs for long enough that you are presumed dead. After the funeral, he (or possibly she) digs you up and gives you an antidote of sorts. But the recovery isn't complete. You'll probably have at least some brain damage, and amnesia along with increased vulnerability to suggestion are usual results. The vodunist then uses you to terrorize those you knew in life either for purposes of extortion, revenge, or simply to build a reputation (important for some of the sympathetic magics popular in dark voodoo).

Although the actual practice is both extremely rare and forbidden, it is probably second only to the use of "voodoo dolls" in the popular conception of voodoo. Which may be a good argument for not using voodoo zombification.


Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999  | Report this post to a Moderator
Robyn_Hood
Member
Member # 2083

 - posted      Profile for Robyn_Hood   Email Robyn_Hood         Edit/Delete Post 
Okay, I've remebered a use of zombies that I actually liked, more or less. It was an X-files episode, and while I can't remember all of it, it involved Garry Shandling and an X-file being turned into a Hollywood movie.

----

Zombification? That's one I'll have to add to my HUB lexicon.


Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Doc Brown
Member
Member # 1118

 - posted      Profile for Doc Brown   Email Doc Brown         Edit/Delete Post 
NewsBys has it pegged. Zombies allow for limitless, guilt-free violence. Human-shaped targets make for thrilling for movies and video games. It's different in books, where the thrill of the action comes more from the danger presented by the foe rather than its physical appearance.

I believe this is same the reason that the world of The Matrix was constructed so that every person in the world (other than the main heroes) is essentially a zombie. That allows the heroes to commit unlimited, gratuitous violence and still remain heroic.


Posts: 976 | Registered: May 2001  | Report this post to a Moderator
cvgurau
Member
Member # 1345

 - posted      Profile for cvgurau   Email cvgurau         Edit/Delete Post 
If I remember correctly (and I'm only recently an X-Phile; and not a very large one, at that), the episode was about a cup, or bowl, or something ceramic thrown when Jesus was resurrecting Lazarus. J's voice was imprinted into the wet clay and trapped there until modern day, when a certain resonance (er...or something) played Jesus' speaking, and brought forth the dead.

Oh, and Garry Shandling as Mulder was hilarious, made even more so considering that Richard Gear played A.D. Skinner.

On the Matrix: I never understood why a person who dies in the matrix dies in real life. At least, not a person still hardwired to it. If this is true, then Neo and the other rebels are killing the very people they're trying to save. Seems kind of counter-productive, to me.

On topic, I've never read a zombie book, (or a book just with zombies in them) so I don't know how effective they aren't, but a zombie movie done right can be pretty terrifying. And gruesome. And gory.

These are all good things.


Posts: 552 | Registered: Jan 2002  | Report this post to a Moderator
Jeraliey
Member
Member # 2147

 - posted      Profile for Jeraliey   Email Jeraliey         Edit/Delete Post 
I thought it had to do with psychosomatic stuff. Although I've had an argument with a friend about just how much it's supposed to affect the person. Example: the folks in the Matrix spit blood in real life when they're getting beaten up, but in the later (much MUCH worse) movies, Trinity doesn't suffer any physical effects after being shot in the gut.

Disbelief....suspenders.....snapping......


Posts: 1041 | Registered: Aug 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
NewsBys
Member
Member # 1950

 - posted      Profile for NewsBys   Email NewsBys         Edit/Delete Post 
Thanks Survivor, good info.
Yikes, I wouldn't want to be turned into a zombie.
I like the word "vodunist". I'll have to think of a reason to use it somewhere.

Posts: 579 | Registered: Mar 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Robyn_Hood
Member
Member # 2083

 - posted      Profile for Robyn_Hood   Email Robyn_Hood         Edit/Delete Post 
Just had a thought, I suppose someone could write an interesting story that used television to turn people into actual zombies (instead of figurtive ones).
Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
cicerocat
Member
Member # 2138

 - posted      Profile for cicerocat   Email cicerocat         Edit/Delete Post 
quote:
as soon as everyone started turing into mindless monsters intent on nothing more than eating, I lost a lot of my interest.

I like plain, old fashioned zombies, so my fave such movie is Night of the Living Dead. To me, a zombie isn't supposed to be anything but a zombie, and to make it into something it isn't, or to make a show which centers around them into something other than a zombie movie, usually turns me off. I liked the first Resident Evil movie; not so much its sequel.

The Dawn of the Dead remake was pretty good--because in part it had an apocalypse bit to it (I also like apocalypse stories). I do like the realism added when the government gets involved.

quote:
Has anyone out there seen a good use of zombies, or read a good use of zombies?

There was a British movie not so long ago that had zombies in it, that might be more to your style, where the story wasn't about the zombies so much as this one group of people.

quote:
If you were going to use a "living dead" character, how would you do it effectively?

As much as I enjoy watching zombies on the screen, I don't think I could enjoy them in a novel or short story. I just don't think they'd be scary then. If I were to use one in a story, it could not be the centerpiece of the tale nor the main "scary" bit in a horror/dark fantasy novel; it just wouldn't work for me to try to make it so.

Cya,
CC


Posts: 57 | Registered: Aug 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
cicerocat
Member
Member # 2138

 - posted      Profile for cicerocat   Email cicerocat         Edit/Delete Post 
Phanto wrote:
quote:
My WIP has a zombie. This zombie, however, is one of the most horrific creations that I have ever conjured. I'm quite proud of her ^^.

Hmm, now that I think on it, I might have something that qualifies as a zombie--or just the undead in my novel. He's pretty gross, but I think his actions are more scary than just him. He is also a recurring antagonist. And if he had a taste for anything human, he had it before he was killed ;-) I must have been unconsciously channeling my zombie fetish ;-) when I wrote him.

Which reminds me of another movie that has zombies--or sorta--in it, but doesn't really focus on them as the main scariness or main plot imo; the main plot is being a spoof, which it does well--it's hilarious. I can't remember the name. Book of the Dead? Necromonicon? Something like that. It has the actor who played Autolycus (sp?) from Xena/Hercules tv series play the main character.

Cya,
CC


Posts: 57 | Registered: Aug 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Kathleen Dalton Woodbury
Administrator
Member # 59

 - posted      Profile for Kathleen Dalton Woodbury   Email Kathleen Dalton Woodbury         Edit/Delete Post 
Robyn_Hood, maybe we could make that a Hatrack writing challenge.
quote:
Just had a thought, I suppose someone could write an interesting story that used television to turn people into actual zombies (instead of figurtive ones).
Think there'd be enough different things people could do with the idea?

Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!  | Report this post to a Moderator
TruHero
Member
Member # 1766

 - posted      Profile for TruHero   Email TruHero         Edit/Delete Post 
I think there is a difference between undead and zombies. My take on the theory is that zombies are usually controlled by someone or something. Undead are usually under their own power. But the best characters I have read about zombies and undead have been written by Weis and Hickman.

Lord Soth in Dragonlance: What a cool undead character, and pretty ominous. The back story was very good.

Also, the undead around the wizards tower in Palanthus, (it has been a while, but I think that is semi-correct).

Then, the best example is the Necromantic society on Abarrach in "The Fire Sea" the third novel in The Death Gate Cycle. What a cool way to have zombies and undead behave. The "Lazar" are what the semi-undead people became or were called. With their souls flitting in and out of there bodies like a flickering flourescent light (at least that is how I equate it). In this story, it shows that your control over something isn't as strong as you think. That rottweiller on the leash just may rip you to shreds someday. The Zombies are revolting! Literally! Good stuff!


Posts: 471 | Registered: Sep 2003  | Report this post to a Moderator
Robyn_Hood
Member
Member # 2083

 - posted      Profile for Robyn_Hood   Email Robyn_Hood         Edit/Delete Post 
That's not a bad idea, Kathleen. I know someone mentioned The Legend of Sleepy Hollow as the re-write challenge for October, but maybe we could make this a flash-fic challenge (running concurrent to Re-write) due by October 20, this way we can exchange and discuss stories before Halloween.

250 words or one typed, double-spaced page. Post the first two sentences on a thread in F&F.

Anyone interested? If so, I'll start a thread for the challenge.

[This message has been edited by Robyn_Hood (edited September 22, 2004).]


Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
mikemunsil
Member
Member # 2109

 - posted      Profile for mikemunsil   Email mikemunsil         Edit/Delete Post 
What's so great about Zombies?

They spawn a challenge!


Posts: 2710 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Robyn_Hood
Member
Member # 2083

 - posted      Profile for Robyn_Hood   Email Robyn_Hood         Edit/Delete Post 
I suppose that is one use
Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Survivor
Member
Member # 213

 - posted      Profile for Survivor   Email Survivor         Edit/Delete Post 
Yeah, I think that TruHero has a point with the distinction between zombies and undead being at least partly a matter of where the control resides.

Of course, popularly the difference is in the amount of juicy flesh clinging to the body, if the flesh is dry or if most of the bones are showing, then it is undead rather than zombiesque for the purposes of Hollywood.

By the first distinction, the zombies in Night of the Living Dead work because they were being animated and controlled by some kind of radiation from outer space (as I recall). But the later zombies in that series are under their own control, just with the addition of an insatiable appetite for live brains. So they would be undead...except that they have juicy flesh to be spattered on everything.

But that gets back to NB's point about guilt free violence.


Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999  | Report this post to a Moderator
shadowynd
Member
Member # 2077

 - posted      Profile for shadowynd   Email shadowynd         Edit/Delete Post 
Are we talking generic zombie challenge, or specifically 'tv turns people into zombies'?

I was beginning to wonder if I was going to be able to start writing again, what with all the stress I've had lately, but my fingers are starting to itch again. So unless we have another major crisis here, I'm about ready for the next challenge!

Susan


Posts: 350 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Robyn_Hood
Member
Member # 2083

 - posted      Profile for Robyn_Hood   Email Robyn_Hood         Edit/Delete Post 
I think it would be "Zombification by T.V."; unless anyone has a major issue with that.
Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
mikemunsil
Member
Member # 2109

 - posted      Profile for mikemunsil   Email mikemunsil         Edit/Delete Post 
and will it be ultra-short, ie flash-fic? that suits me.
Posts: 2710 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Hildy9595
Member
Member # 1489

 - posted      Profile for Hildy9595   Email Hildy9595         Edit/Delete Post 
Cicero, I think the first movie you mention is 28 Days Later. The people in it don't technically become zombies (they're alive, just infected with a rabidly-contagious virus), but they do lose all their higher brain functions and just try to kill everyone who crosses their path until they die of the illness. It had some good moments, but was generally overrated, IMO.

The other movies you reference (with the Necronomicon) are the classic Evil Dead movies by Sam Raimi, now best known for Spiderman I and II. Again, not technically zombies...the dead bodies are used as shells for evil spirits. Odd thing about these movies is that Evil Dead II, ostensibly the "sequel" to Evil Dead I, doesn't continue the story started in ED I at all, but is more of a complete retelling of the original tale. Army of Darkness was an actual follow-up to EDII, though.


Posts: 338 | Registered: Aug 2002  | Report this post to a Moderator
Wraith
Member
Member # 1711

 - posted      Profile for Wraith           Edit/Delete Post 
Ok I have to admit I haven't read the majority of the discussion. Infact all I've read was the question, so somebody may have already said this. But Robyn Hood you must read Exile by RA Salvatore, In that novel I have seen the best use of zombie's that I have ever seen anywhere. Becuase I don't want to spoil the book I will leave it there. There is an excellent use, that is 100 percent believable in a fantasy world, and extremely well done. In order to fully enjoy the depth of the book it may be best to read the book that comes before it called Homeland.

[This message has been edited by Wraith (edited September 22, 2004).]


Posts: 15 | Registered: Jul 2003  | Report this post to a Moderator
yanos
Member
Member # 1831

 - posted      Profile for yanos   Email yanos         Edit/Delete Post 
I'm not really one for zombie stories, but does this all mean that mummies are just zombies with bandages? Or would you put them as more undead with badages.
Posts: 575 | Registered: Dec 2003  | Report this post to a Moderator
TruHero
Member
Member # 1766

 - posted      Profile for TruHero   Email TruHero         Edit/Delete Post 
Yanos, I am kinda torn on that mummy question. I think in the movies, there are two different mummies. But I am going to have to put them in the "undead" category based upon my D&D experiences. They typically control themselves.

Unless you are talking about some of the old mummy movies in which someone steals some artifact that controls the mummy. Through the use of the artifact they get the mummy to kill off all of the people they don't like. But the mummy usually turns on the carrier of the artifact and kills him in the end. Mummies might need their own category in that case. The reason being, is that they are usually created to guard a tomb for eternity. Created= zombie or something akin to it. But they usually are free to control themselves, and that = undead. Maybe it depends on if they were slaves in life to begin with.

Anyway, zombies and mummies are usually in a different mythos. That is probably the answer right there.


Posts: 471 | Registered: Sep 2003  | Report this post to a Moderator
Goober
Member
Member # 506

 - posted      Profile for Goober   Email Goober         Edit/Delete Post 
Zombies have seeminly gone up in popularity in the past few years...they're all the rage right now.

Personally I'm a HUGE fan of Zombies, and I really can't tell you why. The '68 Night of The Living Dead is one of my favorite movies ever, its sequels are all great, as are its remakes, and I loved both Resident Evil films, not to mention a slew of other zombie flicks. And the Resident Evil games, and many other Zombie based games... A friend of mine plays in a "Zombie" metal band, another friend was writing a zombie novel, we've all ready Max Brooks recent "Zombie Survival Guide" which is a humourous (yet serious) take on how to survive a zombie outbreak (look it up, a fun read).

I think there is just something morbidly fascinating about the idea of people that are "Dead" harming you. Death is the ultimate barrier, and to have something that has passed it cause a threat to the living...its just freaky. Its otherworldly. Surreal. The best zombie films and stories seem to show humans in a very truthful manner. We see what it really means to be alive, and how society fials to function when "all hell breaks loose".

I just can't get enough of zombies personally.


Posts: 614 | Registered: May 2000  | Report this post to a Moderator
Survivor
Member
Member # 213

 - posted      Profile for Survivor   Email Survivor         Edit/Delete Post 
For purposes of TV, the difference is that mummies are dried out and thus do not have "juicy flesh". They don't have bits that go splat when you shoot/hack/club them.
Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999  | Report this post to a Moderator
Survivor
Member
Member # 213

 - posted      Profile for Survivor   Email Survivor         Edit/Delete Post 
P.S. that "Lazarus Bowl" episode of X-files? All I can say is "Scully taking a bubble bath with Mulder and Skinner, yeow!"
Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999  | Report this post to a Moderator
Robyn_Hood
Member
Member # 2083

 - posted      Profile for Robyn_Hood   Email Robyn_Hood         Edit/Delete Post 
Wraith: Thanks for the tip.

It sounds like there may be interest in a flash-fic zombie challenge so I'll post it over in F&F.


Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
DeepShadow
Member
Member # 2182

 - posted      Profile for DeepShadow   Email DeepShadow         Edit/Delete Post 
A great source for making zombies into gripping characters is Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead, the latest in a series of monster-hunting guides for the Ravenloft roleplaying game. Yes, it's a roleplaying guide, but it actually has a lot of great material for getting into the emotions of fictional characters and readers.

Not to mention the nightmares that Toben the Many will give you. Until I read that section of the book, I would have said that I've never seen zombies as truly scary.


Posts: 38 | Registered: Sep 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
goatboy
Member
Member # 2062

 - posted      Profile for goatboy   Email goatboy         Edit/Delete Post 
I'm not greatly educated on this whole dead/undead thing. If a zombie is dead, and you kill him, is he then undead, nondead or alive?
Posts: 497 | Registered: Jun 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
Robyn_Hood
Member
Member # 2083

 - posted      Profile for Robyn_Hood   Email Robyn_Hood         Edit/Delete Post 
Good question. I don't think that killing something which is already dead, makes it alive (it's not like a double negative). But, how do you kill something that is already dead?
Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
shadowynd
Member
Member # 2077

 - posted      Profile for shadowynd   Email shadowynd         Edit/Delete Post 
A zombie is undead, but if you kill him he is then dead. Wheeeee!

That is the fantasy/horror creature, not necessarily the "real" zombies of Voodoo/Santaria fame. Though I suspect if you kill those, they are dead too. Really dead.

Susan


Posts: 350 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
EricJamesStone
Member
Member # 1681

 - posted      Profile for EricJamesStone   Email EricJamesStone         Edit/Delete Post 
Look who knows so much. Well, it just so happens that zombies are only mostly dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Now, mostly dead is slightly alive. Now, all dead...well, with all dead, there's usually only one thing that you can do. Go through his clothes and look for loose change.

Posts: 1517 | Registered: Jul 2003  | Report this post to a Moderator
Robyn_Hood
Member
Member # 2083

 - posted      Profile for Robyn_Hood   Email Robyn_Hood         Edit/Delete Post 
LOL. I was trying to figure out if that applied in this situation!
Posts: 1473 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
shadowynd
Member
Member # 2077

 - posted      Profile for shadowynd   Email shadowynd         Edit/Delete Post 
*looks at EJS for a moment, blinking*

I suppose one could argue that *any* undead creature is actually only mostly dead but slightly alive. If that is not the case, what it the difference, then, of a mostly dead critter and an undead critter?

I must confess that I, for one, have never met a zombie or undead creature in person, therefore am far from an expert.

Susan



Posts: 350 | Registered: Jul 2004  | Report this post to a Moderator
EricJamesStone
Member
Member # 1681

 - posted      Profile for EricJamesStone   Email EricJamesStone         Edit/Delete Post 
Susan,

I shamelessly adapted some dialogue from "The Princess Bride" in my post above. (Click here and search the page for "mostly dead.") It was not meant to be taken as a serious explanation of undead phenomena.

[This message has been edited by EricJamesStone (edited September 28, 2004).]


Posts: 1517 | Registered: Jul 2003  | Report this post to a Moderator
  This topic comprises 2 pages: 1  2   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2