# What's behind the zombie craze? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 12, 2013, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105 "2013-10-12T23:59:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/41 "2013-10-13T17:38:51Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Also keep in mind that that goes back to 1968. Are you arguing that 1968 is equivalent to “almost as long as movies have existed”? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/42 "2013-10-13T17:48:36Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > Also keep in mind that that goes back to 1968. And pretty much stayed in 1968 until 2002 saw the release of both _Resident Evil_ and _28 Days Later_, and the kickoff of the first serious public interest in the zombie genre. You posted a list earlier to zombie films, but take another look at it, sorted by year. How many of those films had widespread theatrical releases? How many were direct to video? How many of them were made by Hollywood? How many of them were even made in the US? The current interest in zombies is significantly higher right now than it has been at any time since the release of the original _Night of the Living Dead_, by an order of magnitude. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/43 "2013-10-13T17:58:23Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > I’m calling bullshit on that one. As well you should. A new “desensitization” study is done every few months by some group and the results are never consistent. It’s almost as if the personalities of the kids involved has something to do with how they react to violent imagery. Truly, this is something NO ONE could have foreseen. ---
**Author:** ![Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Came_in_like_a_Wrecking_Ball)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/44 "2013-10-13T18:09:36Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > If you imagine shooting your parents, your teachers, and that girl who wouldn’t go out with you, then you’re a psychopath. But if you imagine that they’re zombies first, than it’s OK. Sort of. Insert zombie Flanders joke here. Interesting note: I was in a wal mart here in kentucky a few weeks ago and I heard some kid talking about the Day of the Dead DVD they sold there. I opined that the movie sucks (at least compared to the first two), and then his mom who’s from Pennsylvania told me she was there in the graveyard when Romero filmed the opening scene of NOTLD. Cool. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/45 "2013-10-13T19:12:30Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Are you arguing that 1968 is equivalent to “almost as long as movies have existed”? No, jus that if you only count “post-Romero” it still goes back over 40 years. There were zombie films clear back to the 30s. > [@Miller](#): > > And pretty much stayed in 1968 until 2002 saw the release of both _Resident Evil_ and _28 Days Later_, and the kickoff of the first serious public interest in the zombie genre. You posted a list earlier to zombie films, but take another look at it, sorted by year. How many of those films had widespread theatrical releases? How many were direct to video? How many of them were made by Hollywood? How many of them were even made in the US? The current interest in zombies is significantly higher right now than it has been at any time since the release of the original _Night of the Living Dead_, by an order of magnitude. There was little, if any, direct to video before 1980. Not all the films on the list were successful, but the fact that so many were made shows that directors (and more importantly studio execs) thought the public wanted to see them. There’s been at least two or three fairly well known films in every decade that I’ve been old enough to want to watch scary movies. Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things, Rabid, and Dawn of the Dead in the 70s, The Evil Dead (and sequels), Day of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead(and sequels) in the 80s. The remake of Night of the Living Dead, Army of Darkness, Bride of Reanimator in the 90s. Surprisingly not on the list is 1955’s Creature with the Atom Brain, which I’ve always thought of as the first “modern” zombie film. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/46 "2013-10-13T19:41:07Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > There’s been at least two or three fairly well known films in every decade that I’ve been old enough to want to watch scary movies. Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things, Rabid, and Dawn of the Dead in the 70s, The Evil Dead (and sequels), Day of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead(and sequels) in the 80s. The remake of Night of the Living Dead, Army of Darkness, Bride of Reanimator in the 90s. And can you name one movie from that time frame that starred someone as famous as Brad Pitt? None of the movies you named are particularly well known, outside of a small demographic of horror movie fans. They are, without exception, low budget, small release (or no release, once VHS came around), cult films. _Army of Darkness_ has the closest thing to an actual budget out of the whole lot, and that one’s not even a zombie movie. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/47 "2013-10-13T20:05:47Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > _Army of Darkness_ has the closest thing to an actual budget out of the whole lot, and that one’s not even a zombie movie. What about Bad Ash? The Evil Dead series regularly blurs the lines between “possession” and “zombie.” ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/48 "2013-10-13T20:29:18Z")
> [@dataguy](#): > > I’m trying to understand the ongoing fascination with zombies. I know that some things just get popular for awhile with no logical reason, but I really don’t get the zombie thing. From a writing perspective, they make for easy villains - no concerns about the political climate or insulting some eithnic group. We’re currently trending towards China and North Korea for action movie bad guys, but the public is not going to sit for evil having Asian faces very long. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/49 "2013-10-13T20:30:09Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > What about Bad Ash? The Evil Dead series regularly blurs the lines between “possession” and “zombie.” Bad Ash? Doppelganger. He even comes out of a mirror. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/50 "2013-10-13T20:30:42Z")
> [@epbrown01](#): > > From a writing perspective, they make for easy villains - no concerns about the political climate or insulting some eithnic group. We’re currently trending towards China and North Korea for action movie bad guys, but the public is not going to sit for evil having Asian faces very long. Also, hard to sell that sort of movie to the Chinese. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/51 "2013-10-13T21:57:15Z")
Perhaps I should have said more correctly, I wasnt paying attention until the zombie outbreak … and was distracted during the rise of computer gaming, especially Doom-style shooters. Mainstreaming of zombies into entertainment is pretty recent, and it may be, as some have suggested, that we’ve run out of real people to dehumanise and turn into threats. As for effects on the brain, fresh brain - I found the research cited [here](http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2013/s3862722.htm)worrying. ---
**Author:** ![Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Came_in_like_a_Wrecking_Ball)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/52 "2013-10-13T22:19:18Z")
The Columbine killers were huge Doom fanatics. The night before the shooting, one of them wrote “Tomorrow the zombies will be dead! Ha ha!” ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/53 "2013-10-13T22:21:38Z")
> [@Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](#): > > The Columbine killers were huge Doom fanatics. > > The night before the shooting, one of them wrote “Tomorrow the zombies will be dead! Ha ha!” Cite for either of these claims? Plus one for relevance? ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/54 "2013-10-13T22:35:33Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Cite for either of these claims? Plus one for relevance? That the Columbine shooters were Doom fanatics has never been in doubt. But the “zombies” quote appears to be fiction. Harris and Klebold claimed the massacre would resemble Doom, but never used the word “zombie.” > **[Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Harris_and_Dylan_Klebold)** > > Location:Columbine High School(Columbine, Colorado) > Eric David Harris (April 9, 1981 – April 20, 1999) and Dylan Bennet Klebold (/ˈkliːboʊld/ KLEE-bohld; September 11, 1981 – April 20, 1999) were American high school seniors and mass murderers who perpetrated the Columbine High School massacre at Columbine High School on April 20, 1999, in Columbine, Colorado. Harris and Klebold killed 12 students and one teacher and wounded 24 others.\[b\] After killing most of their victims in the school's l... ---
**Author:** ![Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Came_in_like_a_Wrecking_Ball)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/55 "2013-10-13T22:39:12Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Cite for either of these claims? Plus one for relevance? Dylan Klebold wrote [In 26.4 hours ill be dead, & in happiness. The little zombie human fags will know their errors, & be forever suffering & mournful, HAHAHA](http://amyhopefrancis.wordpress.com/2012/08/15/the-hopeless-existence-of-dylan-klebold/). Apparently someone even made a short film called [Columbine Zombies](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1403142/). The other killer, Eric Harris, invented the [Harris Levels](http://www.snopes.com/horrors/madmen/doom.asp) that Doomers still play to this day. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/56 "2013-10-13T22:40:19Z")
Still waiting for a cite for relevance. ---
**Author:** ![Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Came_in_like_a_Wrecking_Ball)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/57 "2013-10-13T22:43:04Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Still waiting for a cite for relevance. The relevance should be obvious considering the (side) debate going on here about whether zombie films and zombie shooter games lead to dehumanization and violence. You can’t talk about that subject without bringing up Columbine, dude. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/58 "2013-10-13T22:48:43Z")
Good zombie fiction just uses the zombies as a plot device, the real story is about the people and how they deal with each other. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/59 "2013-10-13T22:57:54Z")
> [@Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](#): > > The relevance should be obvious considering the (side) debate going on here about whether zombie films and zombie shooter games lead to dehumanization and violence. Not really. For one thing: no actual zombies in _Doom_. For another, “That guy played a video game, and he’s a murderer!” isn’t evidence. It’s barely even an argument. > [@](#): > > You can’t talk about that subject without bringing up Columbine, dude. I’m pretty sure you can. In fact, I’d say that a rational discussion on the topic practically requires ignoring Columbine. ---
**Author:** ![Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@Came\_in\_like\_a\_Wrecking\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Came_in_like_a_Wrecking_Ball)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2013, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105/60 "2013-10-13T23:13:32Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Not really. For one thing: no actual zombies in _Doom_. For another, “That guy played a video game, and he’s a murderer!” isn’t evidence. It’s barely even an argument. > > I’m pretty sure you can. In fact, I’d say that a rational discussion on the topic practically requires ignoring Columbine. You can quibble about the definition of zombie all you want, every description of doom I’ve ever seen (including wikipedia) calls the undead marines zombies. Second, the fact that the columbine killers were obsessed with doom and even called their victims zombies surely warrants an (admittedly anecdotal) reference. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-behind-the-zombie-craze/671105.md?page=4)