# What's the source of zombies eating brains?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [August 17, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110 "2006-08-17T18:02:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/1 "2006-08-17T18:02:06Z")
Prompted by a joke on The Daily Show, about a zombie Adlai Stevenson seeking brains…
In Night of the Living Dead (1968) the zombies are cannibals, but not particularly interested in brains.
In The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror III (1992), the zombies stagger around, muttering “brains…” and bypass Homer. I infer from this that the concept of zombie as encephalophagic (I just made that up) is so well established that it’s become a joke.
So somewhere in between 1968 and 1992, zombies became fixated on brains. Where did it happen?
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/2 "2006-08-17T18:07:27Z")
It was Dan O’Bannon, whose movie **Return of the Living Dead** branched off from Romero’s persional mythology and established its own. He directed and, IIRC, wrote or co-wrote the screenplay.
Before Romero’s **Night of the Living Dead** , by the way, zombies weren’t cannibals – they were simply the somewhat stupefied Walking Dead, and were simply creepy. Supposedly they were inspired by people drugged and enslaved by _fugu_ poison, according to Wade Davis, who wrote **the Serpent and the Rainbow** about his researches. The book was itself turned into a Zombie movie.
So zombies have been evolving in the movies. Nowadays, in addition to eating flesh, they no longer shamble around, but run and leap, too. The “Brains” thing is just the icing on the cake.
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### Author:  [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/3 "2006-08-17T18:11:13Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#):
>
> The “Brains” thing is just the icing on the cake.
Note to self: politely decline invitation to **CalMeacham** ’s birthday party.
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### Author:  [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/4 "2006-08-17T18:14:54Z")
Return of the Living Dead:
> **[The Return of the Living Dead (1985) ⭐ 7.3 | Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089907/)**
>
> 1h 31m | R
Dan O’Bannon also gave himself a cameo as a police officer wgho gets eaten.
OBannon keeps on doing things until he gets them right, then keeps on going until he gets it wrong again. Having written and acted in a flick with an Alien Creature Aboard the Spceship ( **Dark Star** ), whe went on to do it again in ( **Alien** ), then doing the screen story for **AVP**.
He gave us The Evil Living Dead in **Dead and Buried** and the “Soft Landing” sequence from **Heavy Metal** before doing **return of the Living Dead** , then toppling over with **LifeForce**.
At least he hasn’t given us any helicopter flicks since **Blue Thunder**.
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/5 "2006-08-17T19:21:30Z")
Return of the Living Dead probably one of my favorite zombie movies after the original Dawn and 28 Days Later.
Eating brains relieves the pain. The pain of what? you ask. The pain of being dead of course.
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### Author:  [@Clockwork\_And\_Candy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clockwork_And_Candy)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/6 "2006-08-17T19:30:38Z")
> [@Push You Down](#):
>
> Return of the Living Dead probably one of my favorite zombie movies after the original Dawn and 28 Days Later.
Whoa. **28 Days Later** was a zombie film? Weird. I don’t remember any of the infected actually _eating_ anyone. Only, like, killing them.
Huh. I guess this is good reason for me to re-watch that film. (Well, that and the fact that it has Christopher Eccleston in it.)
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/7 "2006-08-17T19:38:47Z")
Zombies don’t HAVE to eat people. Its a choice… like homosexuality. 😉
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/8 "2006-08-17T19:39:09Z")
> [@Clockwork And Candy](#):
>
> Whoa. **28 Days Later** was a zombie film? Weird. I don’t remember any of the infected actually _eating_ anyone. Only, like, killing them.
They didn’t even do that - just infect them and move on, one of the many reasons I disliked the film.
Well, that and the imbecile woman sitting near me who kept shrieking at bits one could see coming a mile off.
_Shaun of the Dead_, on the other hand, is a classic.
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### Author:  [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/9 "2006-08-17T22:31:25Z")
> [@Push You Down](#):
>
> Return of the Living Dead probably one of my favorite zombie movies after the original Dawn and 28 Days Later.
>
> Eating brains relieves the pain. The pain of what? you ask. The pain of being dead of course.
In Return of the Living Dead 3 it was explained that zombies somehow derive energy from the electrical impulses of the neurons.
The real reasons O’Bannon choose to have his zombies eat ony brains instead of all flesh were; 1) to make the film less gorey and ensure an R rating, and 2) to distance his work from Romero’s. AFAIK no Romero Dead film (or any film using his rules) has shown a zombie eating brains.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/10 "2006-08-17T22:49:07Z")
‘Return of the Living Dead’ was also the 1st zombie flick with fast zombies, to my knowledge.
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### Author:  [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/11 "2006-08-17T23:17:08Z")
> [@Clockwork And Candy](#):
>
> Whoa. **28 Days Later** was a zombie film? Weird. I don’t remember any of the infected actually _eating_ anyone. Only, like, killing them.
See, I always thought 28 Days Later was just a sequel to that Sandra Bullock movie, **28 Days**
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### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/12 "2006-08-17T23:40:48Z")
> [@Revtim](#):
>
> ‘Return of the Living Dead’ was also the 1st zombie flick with fast zombies, to my knowledge.
_Smart_ zombies, too. And talkers.
_“Send…more…paramedics!”_
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### Author:  [@thirdname](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdname)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/13 "2006-08-18T00:49:11Z")
> [@Push You Down](#):
>
> Zombies don’t HAVE to eat people. Its a choice… like homosexuality. 😉
Actually, a zombie won’t eat your brain unless ordered to do so by his zombie master. A lot of people get that wrong.
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### Author:  [@LiveOnAPlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LiveOnAPlane)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/14 "2006-08-18T07:09:13Z")
Naw, I think everyone’s missing the point here.
The 1968 film’s zombies were of my parent’s generation,t he one that helped win WWII and all. They just get right down to the basics.
The later film, though, completely bypassed my generation and had Gen X’er (or was it Gen Y’ers?) zombies.
As we all know, these kids are all about status and other frivilous stuff. So natch, they were not content munching an arm or something. Nothing but brains would suffice.
Hope this helps your understanding! 😉
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### Author:  [@dogbutler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dogbutler)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2006, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-source-of-zombies-eating-brains/369110/15 "2006-08-18T09:44:09Z")
Return of the Living dead is nothing more than viral marketing for [Armour](http://kookychow.com/kookychow/02/page/porkbrains.htm).