Why are Zombies so popular?

[Hepcat]

Rational, or utterly clueless?? 

Whatever way you want to define calm and non-hysterical.

[Scatter]

Whatever way you want to define calm and non-hysterical.

Well, it's kinda like telling somebody who's actually driving on the Autobahn how to do it when you've never actually driven a car before. Or did you stay at a Holiday Inn  Express last night? 

[BrotherD]

So to get back to the question at hand, and I think some of this has already been touched on in this thread, so I may revisit some of what's already been discussed . . .

There's definitely something to be said for the "fantastic" element of seeing something so human-like, yet not-so-human-like being destroyed or killed on screen.  There's a reason so many zombie movie fans thrill at the fantastic death scenes built around dispatching zombies, and to ignore that part of it ignores a big part of the reason why zombie movies appeal to their fans.

But to get a bit more cerebral about it, I believe zombie movies - especially in the post-Romero era - are typically the most allegorical of horror films.  The zombies represent something that we, as a society, fear en masse.  I still believe it's just a matter of time before we see a zombie movie pulling its inspiration from what happened at the Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant last year.  It's no mistake that mad cow disease was referenced in a few zombie flicks not too long ago, or that a handful of zombie stories sprang up that were built around fear of the H1N1 virus, or even its vaccine.  Horror movies often deal with these "big" fears, and zombie movies put a face on them.  (And, really, looking at zombie movies pre-Romero, you can still see this.  Instead of disease, there are statements about colonialism, loss of identity, etc.)

I'm a zombie movie fan (I'd have to be to keep producing my zombie movie podcast for as long as I have!), but I know there are a LOT of BAAAAAD zombie movies out there.  Economically, for whatever reason, it's cheaper to make a zombie movie, and the success of The Walking Dead, Zombieland, etc., opens up the market for the lower-/no-budget movie makers out there . . . for better or worse.

[Count_Zirock]

Zombies have really, really good press agents!

[lblambert]

My own thought is that zombies really aren't any more popular amongst horror/monster fans than they were a decade ago. For whatever reason they're the pop culture flavor of the month which makes them popular for being popular. That'll only last until something else comes along that the masses will find cool. 

[Zackuth]

I think Scatter hit upon something calling zombies the ultimate lemmings.  You are faced with a pack of enemies whose only drive is to eat you.  They aren't fast, they aren't smart, and they aren't organized, but they are relentless.  Zombies just keep coming.  It doesn't matter where you run to, it doesn't matter how fast you are, it doesn't matter how many of them you kill, they just keep coming.  An even if you out run the pack chasing you, there is a chance of running into another pack where ever you stop at.  There is something very frightening about an enemy that (to quote Kyle Reese from Terminator) "will not stop, ever, until you are dead!!!"  There is also a chance that one of those trying to kill you could be a family member or a close friend.   There is a chance of facing someone you care about who has turned and having to kill them.  All of this is very disturbing.

[Fester]

They seem to be the creature du jour recently, what with all the movies in the last few years. And the novel mashups such as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies have added to public awareness of the living dead.

However, the concept seems to have made people uneasy for as long as there has been civilization.

Ishtar spoke to her father, Anu, saying:
"Father, give me the Bull of Heaven,
so he can kill Gilgamesh in his dwelling.
If you do not give me the Bull of Heaven,
I will knock down the Gates of the Netherworld,
I will smash the door posts, and leave the doors flat down,
and will let the dead go up to eat the living!
And the dead will outnumber the living!"

That was from the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest surviving works of literature. Originating in Sumeria about 2250 to 2000 BC, The Epic of Gilgamesh includes mythology, monsters and heroes and covers many issues such as fame, immortality, bravery, love and war -- all still relevant today.  The above quote is from tablet IV, where the goddess Ishtar has fallen in love with the Sumerian king/hero Gilgamesh and he spurns her advances. She then decides to destroy Gilgamesh and all of his kingdom.
That last line sounds like a tagline from a George Romero movie . . .

http://www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/

Flash forward to Early Medieval Europe, and there are plenty of examples of the undead in European mythology and literature.
In Icelandic and Scandinavian traditions the Dragur and Aptrgangr are much more dangerous than the shambling ghouls of Night of the Living Dead. 
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ghosts.shtml
JRR Tolkein made several memorable references to the returned dead and/or undead. The Barrowi-wights, witch king and his Nazgul or ring-wraiths bear a remarkable resemblance to traditional Norse/Germanic concept of the dead rising to harm the living.  Though not specifically revenants, Tolkein originally saw them as wights on horseback, not kings driven to be servants of the one ring.

I am not familiar with Asian folklore, but I suspect there are deep running roots to a living dead/undead tradition there as well.

[Sean]

No. That's why my outlook stays so rational.

Hep,  I DARE you to have kids.  That is your only valid pass into the parenting discussion. 

Now... why are Zombies so popular?  It's an unoriginal idea (pretty popular direction these days) that can be done generically and still garner more acclaim than complaint.  Zombies also go all the way on the 1st date. 

[missdead13]

i have no clue.. im not into it.
i like shaun of the dead, which pretty much is more of a parody of zombie move... Fido as well.
I also like I walked with a zombie, which is very very old.

I heart monsters

[Hepcat]

Well, it's kinda like telling somebody who's actually driving on the Autobahn how to do it when you've never actually driven a car before.

1. You forget that I've had the experience of being parented. I know what they did right, and what they did wrong.

2. A corollary of what you're saying is that second, third, fourth, etc. children are raised better than the first, and that people with many children are better parents than those with just one. Well there's no statistical evidence for either proposition.

Hep,  I DARE you to have kids.  That is your only valid pass into the parenting discussion.

Nonsense. That's like saying you have to put your hand in the fire to know it will burn.

[Zombiology]

1. You forget that I've had the experience of being parented. I know what they did right, and what they did wrong.

Parenting is a completely different perspective from being parented, Hep.  While raising my kids, I looked back several times at things my parents had done or said when they were raising me and I would go, "ooooh, that's what they meant!"

[Sean]

Parenting is a completely different perspective from being parented, Hep.  While raising my kids, I looked back several times at things my parents had done or said when they were raising me and I would go, "ooooh, that's what they meant!"

100% true, Z...

[Sean]

1. You forget that I've had the experience of being parented. I know what they did right, and what they did wrong.

2. A corollary of what you're saying is that second, third, fourth, etc. children are raised better than the first, and that people with many children are better parents than those with just one. Well there's no statistical evidence for either proposition.

Nonsense. That's like saying you have to put your hand in the fire to know it will burn.

I don't know about people with 5 kids VS people with 1 kid..... but I know that people with ZERO kids don't know how it feels to be a parent... and what comes with that.

Frankly, being parented does little to show what it's like to BE the parent.... 
...and your knowing that putting your hand in a fire will burn it is wonderful... but parenting is a little more complex than that, Hep.   

[BigShadow]

Zombies are just the trend now, just like Vampires were a few years ago when Twilight was big. 

[Zombiology]

Zombies are just the trend now, just like Vampires were a few years ago when Twilight was big.

Zombies have been trending before Twilight.  About 8 years ago, I worked on a zombie flick and there were two others in the Portland area shooting as well.  All local independent stuff.