# Why do zombies want brains? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 14, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078 "2007-05-14T19:25:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/21 "2007-05-15T04:00:57Z")
[QUOTE=alphaboi867] Dan O’Bannon (writer/director of The Return of the Living Dead) had his zombies eat only brains (instead of flesh like Romero zombies) because he thought it would make it easier to tone down the gore and secure the R rating the studio required. [/QUOTE] That’s got to be one of the oddest lines of reasoning I’ve encountered regarding horror movies and the MPAA ratings system. “Obviously a zombie movie is going to earn an X rating for its excessive gore and graphic violence-- oh, but _these_ zombies don’t chew on your limbs and viscera, they only bite your skull open and feast on your living brains. Well, that’s all right then; Rated R!” Especially weird, considering everything else that ultimately wound up in **Return of the Living Dead**. I would have thought that the onscreen decapitating, head-impaling, eye-gouging, limb-amputating, self-immolating, split dog abusing, and necrophilia content would be considered at least as objectionable as your basic Romero-style cannibalism. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/22 "2007-05-15T04:02:43Z")
Double post. :smack: Speaking of a need for brains… ---
**Author:** ![St\_Ides](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@St\_Ides](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/St_Ides)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/23 "2007-05-15T04:03:26Z")
Maybe they’re not zombies. Maybe they’re actually survivors thanking the things that’s kept them alive through the ordeal. ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/24 "2007-05-15T04:17:12Z")
Yep, it was the O’Bannon film “ROTLD” that started the whole “Braaiiiiinnns!!” thing and it just sort of resonated with the zombie movie fans [the “Tarman”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQzA6xGnwbg) was the first Undead American (IIRC) to speak and show higher-reasoning abilities [I know you’re up there, Tina, because i can smell your BRAAAINNNS!!](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLaPJpn6jqA&mode=related&search=) ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/25 "2007-05-15T05:00:54Z")
[QUOTE=MacTech] Yep, it was the O’Bannon film “ROTLD” that started the whole “Braaiiiiinnns!!” thing and it just sort of resonated with the zombie movie fans [/QUOTE] –mainly because the list of quotable zombie lines up to that point consisted of “Uuurrrggghhh…” ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/26 "2007-05-15T09:13:21Z")
Well I like sushi. It’s an aquired taste. Maybe zombies, in the beoming half dead prosess come to a taste for brains. Why overthink it? (Assuming a zombie hasn’t eaten your brain.) ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/27 "2007-05-15T12:38:42Z")
[QUOTE=riker1384] Actually, a zombie won’t eat your brain unless ordered to do so by his zombie master. A lot of people get that wrong. [/QUOTE] I love you. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/28 "2007-05-15T14:39:02Z")
> [@riker1384](#): > > Actually, a zombie won’t eat your brain unless ordered to do so by his zombie master. A lot of people get that wrong. The only zombie I am aware of with an apparent master is the so-called “voodoo” zombie. In fact, these are not really zombies at all. Once again from the _Zombie Survival Guide_ : > [@](#): > > Although it is said that voodoo houngans (priests) can turn humans into zombies by magical means, the practice is rooted in hard, undeniabale science. “Zombie Powder,” the tool used by the houngan for zombification, contains a very powerful neurotoxin (the exact ingredients are a closely guarded secret). The toxin temporarily paralyzes the human nervous system, creating a state of extreme hybernation. With the heart lungs, and all other bodily functions operating at minimal levels, it would be understandable if an experienced coroner declared the paralyzed subject to be dead…So what makes this living human being a zombie? The answer is simple: brain damage. Many who are buried alive quickly use up the air inside their offins. Those that are recovered (if they are lucky) almost aolways suffer brain damage from lack of oxygen. Really, for the next zombie outbreak, I can’t stress enough the _Zombie Survival Guide_ as a usefull reference. Not only does it contain handy information on the biology of zombies, but it offers the best zombie defense scenerios of any reputable zombie text. Did you know that zombies can’t climb? If I were in _The Night of the Living Dead_, I would head upstairs and knock out the stairs. If only those people had _The Guide_. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/29 "2007-05-15T15:15:34Z")
[QUOTE=Christopher] Really, for the next zombie outbreak, I can’t stress enough the _Zombie Survival Guide_ as a usefull reference. Not only does it contain handy information on the biology of zombies, but it offers the best zombie defense scenerios of any reputable zombie text. Did you know that zombies can’t climb? If I were in _The Night of the Living Dead_, I would head upstairs and knock out the stairs. If only those people had _The Guide_. [/QUOTE] I’d also suggest his new book World War Z. It’s about how a massive zombie attack first spread, the governments reaction, and then eventual defeat of the zombies. It is surprisingly good. Spoilers ahead about how the military first reacts: [Spoiler]At the first ‘major battle’ of the zombie war, the military higher ups had the grunts behind sandbags on the floor (disregarding the fact that zombies can’t climb), had them in full MOPP gear (if there was really a threat, the higher ups would have been in it also. For any who have never been in MOPP gear, let me tell you that it just plain sucks donkey’s balls. Not good donkey balls either, the nasty kind). Yeah, the military lost that battle, to say the least.[/Spoiler] ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/30 "2007-05-15T15:40:34Z")
A [certain post](http://www.fvza.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2504) on the [Federal Vampire and Zombie Agency](http://www.fvza.org/) site (itself a great source of zombie data) provides a helpful list of some of the different know types of zombies from various places in fiction. (They left out the “Plan 9” zombies, tho, I’m afraid.) ---
**Author:** ![kingpengvin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9dc877/32.png) [@kingpengvin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kingpengvin)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/31 "2007-05-15T16:26:42Z")
No Plan 9 Zombies!!! And they have Masters… and are actually dead! (Take that Zombie Survival Guide!) All you need is an electro ray gun a Fleet of 3 flying saucers a lemon shaped Mothership and the patience to take over the world three zombies at a time (actually every so often you have to turn one into a skeleton to prove your power so it takes a very loooooooooong time) “Do you still believe it impossible we exist? You didn’t actually think you were the only inhabited planet in the universe? How can any race be so stupid?” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/32 "2007-05-15T16:46:59Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Originally, Zombies were simply The Walking Dead. They didn’t want to eat you or anything – they were just creepy. For further info, read Wade Davis’ The Serpent and the Rainbow and criticisms of the book. Zombies moved slowly and, aside from the severe ick factor of having a walking corpse near you, not harmful or threatening. With George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead the zombies started getting more aggressive. They moved faster and for the first time attacked people, eating them and infecting them. The movie drew a lot of inspiration, I think, from a slightly earlier science fiction film, **Invisible Invaders**. [/QUOTE] I’m not familiar with **Invisible Invaders** , but I would cite the 1964 low-budget Italian flick [\*\*The Last Man on Earth \*\*](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058700/) (based on a story by Richard Matheson and starring Vincent Price) as perhaps the first film to show cannibalistic/homicidal (Romero-esque) zombies. This film is included in the cheapo “The Living Dead” horror-movie box set. I’d have to give that movie a second look to be sure, but I don’t think that Price’s zombies discriminated in favor of brains per se; they just wanted the flesh of the living. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/33 "2007-05-15T16:49:12Z")
[QUOTE=CalMeacham] Zombies have evolved, as have all horror tropes. Originally, Zombies were simply The Walking Dead. They didn’t want to eat you or anything – they were just creepy. For further info, read Wade Davis’ **The Serpent and the Rainbow** and criticisms of the book. Zombies moved slowly and, aside from the severe _ick_ factor of having a walking corpse near you, not harmful or threatening. With George Romero’s **Night of the Living Dead** the zombies started getting more aggressive. They moved faster and for the first time attacked people, eating them and infecting them. The movie drew a lot of inspiration, I think, from a slightly earlier science fiction film, **Invisible Invaders**. [/QUOTE] Between those two stages, we have the old EC horror comics from the 1950s (ultimately shut down by the Comics Code Authority), wherein the dead often rose from their graves (from no adequately explained cause) for the single purpose of seeking vengeance on their murderers (against whom they could not defend themselves while alive, but against whom they somehow have greater powers while walking-dead; I would expect a resurrected cadaver to be feeble at best). ---
**Author:** ![Unintentionally\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unintentionally_blank/32/5418_2.png) [@Unintentionally\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unintentionally_Blank)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/34 "2007-05-15T17:23:30Z")
They’re lookin’ for prions. They’re dead. They want to be mad too. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/35 "2007-05-15T17:25:55Z")
**Invisible Invaders** : > **[Invisible Invaders (1959) ⭐ 5.0 | Sci-Fi, Horror](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052929/)** > > 1h 7m | Approved ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/36 "2007-05-15T18:04:38Z")
Of course, there are dyslexic zombies who want to eat your Brian. (I’ll understand if you don’t laugh. Frankly, I’m not sure I understand it, either.) ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/37 "2007-05-15T18:31:33Z")
[QUOTE=Patty O’Furniture] :rolleyes: What a cowardly line. [/QUOTE] Aw, have a heart! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/38 "2007-05-15T22:59:50Z")
> [@](#): > > No Plan 9 Zombies!!! And they have Masters… and are actually dead! > > (Take that Zombie Survival Guide!) > > All you need is an electro ray gun a Fleet of 3 flying saucers a lemon shaped Mothership and the patience to take over the world three zombies at a time (actually every so often you have to turn one into a skeleton to prove your power so it takes a very loooooooooong time) See now, _The Guide_ strictly discusses terrestrial zombies. To be quite honest, the probability that anyone, much less zombies, has or ever will come from another planet is so low, that I must wonder what reality your living in 😉 . Real terrestrial zombies do not have masters. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/39 "2007-05-16T00:07:22Z")
[QUOTE=Olive, The Other Reindeer] **Why do zombies want brains?** [/QUOTE] Isn’t it obvious? Zombies are French. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2007, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078/40 "2007-05-16T02:23:03Z")
[QUOTE=RandMcnally] I’d also suggest his new book World War Z. It’s about how a massive zombie attack first spread, the governments reaction, and then eventual defeat of the zombies. It is surprisingly good. [/QUOTE] Seconded, and not just for horror fans. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-zombies-want-brains/404078.md?page=3)