Type: Animated Corpse (They can’t be reanimated. They never stopped being animated when they died)
Source: The Discworld book series by Terry Pratchett
Reason for Existence: Death stopped doing his job for a little while. The soul of anyone who died during his abscence stayed attached to his/her body. When Death returned some of them remained zombies.
Method of Destruction: Unknown. No Discworld zombies have ever died. If they get dismembered they just sew their limbs back on.
Notes: Discworld zombies behave just like they did when they were alive. They don’t turn evil or stupid or anything. One of the more famous Discworld zombies, Reginald Shoe, joined Ankh Morpork’s city watch.
The problem with trying to define a zombie is that it will always exclude something that really feels like a zombie. For example, in O’Bannon’s ROTLD, the two guys became zombies after getting a face full of the chemical, but they had full use of their minds. Hell, even the rotting redhead half-woman they interrogated that told them they eat brains to alleviate the pain of rotting away had an arguably normal or near-normal mind.
Perhaps a more useful way to exclude Universal Soldier and RoboCop would be because the films are not in any way horror films. But watch, somebody will come up with an example of an unambiguous zombie from a movie with zero horror or even horror-spoof elements to make even this exclusion idea invalid.
According to the TV series (from what I’ve read), Robocop only has half of his original brain—the left lobe. The right was (I’d presume) destroyed by the coup de gras shot to the head. (Which left the scar visible on his scalp. Which shouldn’t even be there, if his face is artificial…)
And he does seem to eat a kind of “food” to sustain his organic parts, so he might have a stretch of intestines left, or it might just be a machine that extracts nutrients from the food.
Anyway, I digress. But I rented Plan 9 from Outer Space tonight, so I can add those kind of zombies to the list by tomorrow.
The Qlippoth and Golem of the Jewish Kabbala are sometimes read as zombie variants. Qliphoth are sometimes read as empty shells or broken vessels of beings which are animated dead, and represent evil in the universe. The Golem is an animate being created from inanimate material and possessing just a modicum of intelligence.
Type: reanimated corpse
Source: South Park Episode “Pink Eye”
Reason for Existence: After Kenny dies, the morticians accidently switch the embalming fluid with Worcestershire sauce. He is misdiagnosed as having pink eye.
Notes: Huge appetite for brains; unaffected by topical eye ointment. Apparently the Worcestershire bottle has a warning label about its use in embalming. Spreads rapidly after zombie consumes target’s brain.
Methods of destruction: The Worcestershire hotline says that only the original zombie needs to be killed. Kyle re-kills Kenny by slicing him lengthwise with a chainsaw, causing the others to revert. Unfortunately, the hotline had a long wait time, and during the hold, Stan and Cartman manages to kill many others by decapitation.
When Sammy Davis converted, Jews everywhere rejoiced. When Madonna converted, Jews everywhere said “This, we don’t need.”
Anyhoo
I’m no expert on Qlippoth, but I’ve never really heard them described as animated dead, or zombies. Golems are not reanimated dead as they aren’t truly alive to begin with. The only exception to this being the flesh golem of roleplaying games. But, the flesh golem is not a Kabbalistic creature. It is simply a Frankenstein’s monster animated by magical rather than scientific means.
Jews aren’t supposed to study Kabbala until they are 40 and well versed in all other areas of Torah. Since I am not 40, not well versed, and have complete disregard for all of my Torah day school to date, I’ll defer. My knowledge of Qlippoth mainly comes from one of the innumerable bizarre subplots of Gravity’s Rainbow and a few non-canonical readings like the linked website. I defer to any greater authority, even Madonna or Esther as she wishes to be known.
I’m no expert on Kabbalah either. But, considering that the Kabbalah Learning Centre appears to be something of a cult, that Madonna’s conversion included getting a tattoo, and and and that it’s freaking Madonna! I’m gonna go with what little knowledge of the broken shells that I’ve picked up over the years.
Buffy-Verse Zombie (normal) Type: reanimated corpse Source: Buffy Episode 36 - “Dead Man’s Party” (Season 3 episode 2) Notes: Much like the Romero-verse zombie in that they seem to have no brain function and are slow, although a major difference is that they have a goal of obtaining the Nigerian Mask (that animates them) to become a zombie demon named Ovu Mobani. Method of Destruction: Death of Ovu Mobani, massive cranial damage, no other effective means witnessed (specifically being run over didnt stop one).
Sub-Category: Ovu Mobani Type: Re-Animated Corpse/ Zombie Demon Notes: If you look at its face it can freeze you with a blast of light/Hypno-Ray (not fully explained by show). Has basic martial arts skills (instinctive) and apparently restored brain function (although it has no verbal skills) Goals: Unknown, as dispatched before they can be revealed. Method of Destruction: Destruction of its eyes.
ps:
Would The Crows from the James O’Barr series of the same name count?
I would say maybe. If they do, they would be a subcategory of Revenant.
BTW Do you have the details on the zombie gang (Don’t know the name of the episode. They ride around in a convertible with Xander, call arson ‘baking a cake’, and one says “You totally raised me dude!”)
Herbert West Zombies: Movie Version, Advanced Type: reanimated corpse Source: Beyond Re-animator Reason For Existence: As Dr West - now in prison - made refinements to his reanimation reagent, he came to the realization he could use a form of energy that exists in all living things - which he calls the NEE - in the process to more fully return the subjects to their pre-death states. Notes: Advanced West Zombies retain most of their original intelligence and personality - although if not the original source of the NEE, they tend to take on portions of the original donor’s personality - and their physicality. West’s first human subject (the warden of the prison he was incarcerated in) for the Advanced reagent was reanimated using a rat’s NEE, and he took on some ratlike traits. The second subject[sup]1[/sup] was reanimated with the warden’s NEE, and picked up some of his more pronounced personality traits - a sadistic streak, for instance. As the other subjects - reanimated by the Warden - are dangerous, violent prisoners, and likely reanimated using the warden-NEE-infused serum, it is difficult to discern if or how a serum made with the subject’s own NEE would be effected. Method of Destruction: Eventually, an Advanced West Zombie who takes enough damage will cease functioning. However, this takes a significant amount of damage, and severed body parts will continue to act even after separation - or even the destruction of the main body[sup]2[/sup].
1: Prison doctor Dr Howard Phillips’ girlfriend Laura, a reporter who had been researching the prison, and murdered by the warden after discovering some of his more egregious abuses, and refusing his sexual advances.
2: In one particularly strange instance, the warden’s penis, severed by Laura (with her teeth) when he insists she felate him after her reanimation. The penis went on to fight with a rat(!!!) - the very rat whose NEE was used to reanimate the warden.
Beyond Re-animator only came out in 2003, so you’re not THAT far behind. (I caught it on The Movie Network’s horror/gore movie glut this past Hallowe’en - where I also caught Jason X and Freddy vs Jason.)
I dunno. I think ‘zombie’, I think ‘dead guy still walking’. Whether it’s mindless and wants nothing but brains, is under some entity’s mental control, or has it’s own desires doesn’t really matter to me.
Oh, I thought of another zombie.
Idle Hands zombie Type reanimated corpse Source the movie Idle Hands Reason for Existence Slackers killed by possessed friend are too lazy to ‘follow the light’. They’re just as intelligent (?) and strong as they were before death, but slowly rot away. Method of Destruction They eventually end up near someone else who’s dead, and follow the light since they get bored of duct-taping their limbs back on.
Umbrella Zombies:
“It is worth noting that although bites from Umbrella Zombies are subject to normal infections, they do not seem to infect the victim with the virus in question.”
Actually, in the movies, they do. They make a HUGE deal of it in the movies.
In the first movie, the T-virus is spread via the air ducts (or somesuch) in the Hive, but oddly enough, none of the characters seem to catch it from the air afterward. Did it mutate after the first massive-scale infection, or plot gap?
One last “in the movies” thing: In the movies, the way to kill them is a shot to the head. The big mutated things are tougher, tho.
Would you count The Crow-types as zombies? They did die and come back to life to finish some business and die again.
I regard The Crow as a form of Revenant, akin to those Norse types we were discussing earlier.
…and I was thinking *Resident Evil * in terms of the video games, not the movies; you’re quite right, being bitten in the movies WAS a big deal. Being bit in the game wasn’t; just eat the nearest potted plant, and you’re fine, move on…
Do bodysnatchers count? They seem zombie-like enough to me.
Bodysnatcher Type: Alien communist thing Source: The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (original) Reason For Existence: Take over Earth (or good ol’ capitalist America, whatever) one person at a time. Notes: Come in pods that contain a replica of you! Replica comes alive when you go to sleep. Replica indistinguishable from you except for lack of emotions (and strong affinity for communism :D). This includes intelligence, memory, speed, appearance, circulation, etc. Method Of Destruction: Never mentioned. Presumably can be killed by whatever would kill a normal human.