What's wrong with running zombies?

[Johnlindsey289]

There is debates on weither running zombies are good or bad on " 28 Days Later" and " Dawn of the Dead" ( 2004)!

But do you REALLY want to know what started running zombies before those movies? it was Umberto Lenzi's 1980 Sci-fi horror action thriller from Italy/Spain/Mexico " Nightmare City" ( a.k.a. City of the Walking Dead, Incubo Sulla Citta Contamina), anyone seen that movie? if not, then where is what it's about: It's about a radioactive spill that turns a plane full of passengers into deadly radioactive, fast moving, semi-intelligent, weapon weilding, sometimes cruddy faced, bloodsucking zombies that begin to infect and attack a large city but can only be stopped if shot in the head, a journalist with his wife must fight these creatures and flee the city of horror.

It's a very entertaining, action packed flick with gore, nudity, exploding heads, the FIRST zombies that ran fast but also drive cars, great music score and a twist in the end!

I highly recommend " Nightmare City" ( a.k.a. City of the Walking Dead) to anyone who's a fan of zombies, horror, European or south American horror flicks or anyone who wants to see what started running zombie movies.

There was also "The Return of the Living Dead 1 & 3", " The Stuff", " Zombi 3" and " Lifeforce" that had zombies that ran, Lifeforce didn't felt like a vampire movie since the three humanoids from space are called vampires but they do change their victims into zombies, why are the three humanoids from that movie are called vampires? if they are really vamps then how come they didn't had fangs or suck blood like traditional vampires?

[halo7]

Yeah ive always said it doesnt matter. i mean what exactly could stop the zombies from running in the first place except specific injuries?

[ZombieMan]

I have seen all of the those zombie movies that you named except "The Stuff" and "Lifeforce". Running zombies don't thrill me, but they aren't too bad either.

[Kable24]

I prefer slow zombies, but I don't get all into a hissy fit if they run.

[Ramplate]

to me it seems zombies should b slow because they are dead animated bodies - they way that they are still terrifying is when they some at you with overwhelming numbers - therefore it should be easier to make one than to dispatch one.

[EvilDeadNDN]

speakin of zombies, the zombies in the new LOTD look so awesome, great make up once again by romero.

[Dio]

I kinda like the whole zombie running thing, I mean wouldn't you be freaking out that zombies are running at you instead of just walking towards you? I think that's where they are coming from, they just want to scare you even more.

[Faithless Eye]

The thing that's terrifying about zombies (ok 2 things) is:

1. They come at you in ENORMOUS numbers. look at the huge crowds in the 'Land' trailer.
2. They never stop. They are notoriously difficult to kill (headshot/removal of head/burning). It's like, one of them will eventually get you.

Turning them into Olympic sprinters is making them no different, in essence, to your average serial killer or monster. The zombie character, what makes them zombies, is how they move and how they attack - slow and in great numbers.

I find the slow inevitability of death more scary than something running at me.

[EnderDeschain]

I find Shaun Of The Dead to be an excellent illustration of what's wrong with slow zombies. The idea is ridiculous. Being attacked by a sloth? Even an army of sloths? Oh good gosh, what should I do?! I'll just walk real fast in the other direction, yeah, that's it! Not exactly pulse-pounding, it seems to me. They may be difficult to kill, but it's not like you're pressed for time to find a way to go about it. Unless you find yourself surrounded, of course, in which case it doesn't matter if they're fast or slow or what, you're just fu**ed any way about it.

And besides, what you're saying about their relentlessness and tenacity becomes even scarier when you add a rabid-dog urgency to it. Just my opinion, anyway.

[Faithless Eye]

Slow zombies also add an air of complacency to those being threatened by them. So they're like "crap" when they actually get bitten.

[stunt double]

It's a very entertaining, action packed flick with gore, nudity, exploding heads, the FIRST zombies that ran fast but also drive cars, great music score and a twist in the end!


#1: "Get the car, screw this running crap"
#2: "YEAH, GTA mutha******s!!!"
http://www.undeadmovie.com/images/zombies%20sit%20up.jpg

[frateb]

an army of sloths, that outnumber you 100 to 1... and aren't just sloths but your friends and neighbors... and will eventually surround you... not only is it an army of very familiar sloths, it's creating more sloths as it goes and will not stop until it consumes you...

running zombies are scary... but slow walking zombies are creepier... ever notice that mike meyers, jason vorhees and freddy don't come at you like they are running the 4K?... it builds tensions...

the scary part is waiting for it to happen, the moments in between the inevitable attacks...

and don't be confused... slow walking zombies aren't slow... they move with a purpose when they have to... they don't take a 1/2 to lower their jaw into a victim...

[Birdy]

I kinda like the whole zombie running thing, I mean wouldn't you be freaking out that zombies are running at you instead of just walking towards you? I think that's where they are coming from, they just want to scare you even more.

I agree with this totally. But I still respect the slow zombie tradition.

[JohnnyBgood]

Yeah ive always said it doesnt matter. i mean what exactly could stop the zombies from running in the first place except specific injuries?

Well I've never met one personally, but according to the zombie nationwide poll 'rigor mortis' was the suggested answer. :omg:

Audiences tend to be more demanding, and they tend to want things fast, and they tend to think slow is boring (which goes for just about any genre of mainstream film out there). Running zombies are okay, but really they're only just the latest thing thats starting to wear itself thin since by next week the newest thing could be zombies coping with terminal cancer, or erectile dysfunction, or cramps.

But hey, its perfectly fine by me if thats your thing, but I still prefer traditional zombies, or zombies that walk really really slow. ;)

[mrBrightsided]

Way I saw 28 Days Later were not as zombies (blah blah big hooplah), but with Dawn, I liked the running zombies. Much like the Days were infected, the living dead are reanimated by some sort of infection or something that runs rampant through the body, making them do what they do. So infection / whatever the hell is coursing through their veins and making their motor functions work normal or faster than usual thus causing them to run which satisfies my reason for liking them when they run. (Maybe that was a bit too much ...)

[Damovieguy]

"I find Shaun Of The Dead to be an excellent illustration of what's wrong with slow zombies." - EnderDesChain
Amen to that brother.... I've been saying that all along too. And people keep using the excuse that you get swamped by the slow zombies but you'll only get swamped by the slow zombies if everyone is stupid enough to go get themselves bit. And dont the 10's of thousands of military personnel with weapons have anything to say about this? Where do they all disappear to with their tanks etc? not to mention everyone else that has a gun.
If you have fast running zombies then you can well imagine that most of the military etc would have been overrun. Though if you have watch the DOTD04 DVD it does mention that survivors passing through town found Andy's video tape (which imo was poorly done) but I guess this implies that eventually they nullify the zombie threat somehow.

[frateb]

"I find Shaun Of The Dead to be an excellent illustration of what's wrong with slow zombies." - EnderDesChain
Amen to that brother.... I've been saying that all along too. And people keep using the excuse that you get swamped by the slow zombies but you'll only get swamped by the slow zombies if everyone is stupid enough to go get themselves bit. And dont the 10's of thousands of military personnel with weapons have anything to say about this? Where do they all disappear to with their tanks etc? not to mention everyone else that has a gun.
If you have fast running zombies then you can well imagine that most of the military etc would have been overrun. Though if you have watch the DOTD04 DVD it does mention that survivors passing through town found Andy's video tape (which imo was poorly done) but I guess this implies that eventually they nullify the zombie threat somehow.

i'm not sure where you live, but, i mean, where i am, whenever i am outside there is atleast 10 people within 20 feet of me... it's just that populated... that volume of people make it pretty hard not to get atleast bit by one of them if and when they are all zombies, especially, when you aren't aware that bites will kill you, and your only instinct is to get away... we the audience know how the virus spreads, but the people in the film do not have the benefit of seeing how it works... when your loved one gets bit or scratched, you take them to safety and try to take care of them... i wonder how quickly you could turn a gun on someone you love?... especially when you are holding onto to hope that a vaccine or some kind of medicine will cure them...

and since we don't know the real cause of the infection or virus, it's impossible to eliminate it... do you think the army would just roll up everytime someone bites somebody else?... again, where do you live?... in my book that's domestic dispute... maybe... cops may show up... they don't expect to get bitten or that a bite will kill them... and they'll take every precaution to avoid having to shoot a suspect, which will ultimately work against them... biter gets subdued, but he's already bitten the person who called 911... guy gets thrown in jail, bites his cellmate... so on and so on... so once the army rolls in... it's too widespread and uncontainable... just like in the fast moving zombie movies... not to mention, who's going to give an order to just open fire on citizens?... what country will just start executing people that have violent tendencies... in the US, we give seriel killers a court date and an opportunity to defend himself... he doesn't get shot, even if he resists arrest... and nurses get bitten and/or scratched more than you...

if we all lived on mountains or in plains we would be able to see the zombies coming for miles... however, most of the worlds population lives in cities, where every door and corner is a hiding place...

there's nothing wrong with running zombies... it's just overkill... zombies are scary enough...

as far as shaun of the dead... as pathetic as you seem to think it made slow moving zombies look... notice that *****spoiler alert***** of the original 7, only 2 made it to the end, and they were about to die as well, if they weren't rescued at the end...

i think once we see land of the dead, you will realize how we can't really contain or stop zombies, slow or otherwise...

and for the andy tape... yeah, that was pretty cheezy, along with all the extras that were on the tape... it looks like i shot out back with home camcorder (the newscast thing)... but i wouldn't let it alter the outcome of the movie... it was cheezy extra just trying to give us some insight on what was happening with andy during the movie...

[Tobiaswins]

I hate the idea of running zombies. My reasoning? There dead.
A dead body has no life, no soul, no nothing. Muscles are not able to work properly without blood pumping through them, and blood can not pump without a working heart. Zombies should have a very hard time walking like in shaun of the dead. I realize that it's only a movie, but I think some things need to be explained a little better. The running monsters worked in 28 days later because they were not dead corpses, only really really really pissed off infected people. Yeah it could be argued that slow zombies are easy to escape, but not when the whole city is overrun. Imagine thousands of zombies on every street, on every corner, in every house and building all with a common goal..feeding. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge zombie fan and love any movie that uses them, I just think they could be better. There are other things I'd like to be different, like shooting a zombie in the head to kill it. Lets be real for a second, if i'ts a walking corpse isn't the brain dead anyway? The only way to kill a zombie should be burning it, or blowing it's legs off so it couldn't walk and then burning it ect.. I also have a small gripe about zombies looking like there pissed off, I'm sorry but a zombie should show no emotion whatsoever, even when it's devouring a screaming person, no emotion. Why? Because it's dead, and the person it once was is long gone, there is no soul there, the only thing a zombie understands is feeding.
I also kinda disliked the idea of a person who's been bitten die and then all of the sudden "BOOM" he's a zombie. I would have that process take a little longer. Sure it could be argued that if it takes a while for a corpse to become reanimated then it makes them easy to kill, it may seem that way, but by the time people figured out what was happening it might be too late.


please excuse the rambling, I don't mean to come off as an obsessed movie fan, these are only my opinions, so please don't flame or insult me if my opinions are different from yours.

peace. :cool:

[Johnlindsey289]

What about "Return of the Living Dead"? anyone seen that movie? now the zombies in that movie ran.

[stunt double]

I can understand or see how a person is freshly deceased (within the first couple hours of death) is renanimated, still possessing motor skills thus having the ability to run. But for the already dead, ones that are decomposed, how does one function since one needs brain activity and blood to "drive" the body?

That has not been addressed except for "radiation" or "bacterias" controlling the dead. So somehow, someway, the infected body (after it is long gone) has a lifeforce of its own?

[carnage4u]

1st) THERE ARE NO ZOMBIES IN 28 DAYS LATERS

2nd) i enjoyed the zombies in the remake of dawn of the dead

3rd) i do prefer the slow zombie. the slow moving horde that never stops and finall gets you is still creppy

4th) no zombies in 28 days.

[runningtongue]

well personally, I think the only types of zombies that should run are "demonically possesed" zombies.

if its in terms of a virus, then no, god no. because when your (A) sick and cant run and followed by death followed by rigor mortis (which doesent last that long) then you start to decay, really quickly. I mean, if it rains and your a zombie, your *****ed.

or (B) your dead already, have been embalmed and there's no possible way of running, much less getting around.


But demonically possesed running zombies are A OK in my book!

[frateb]

A dead body has no life, no soul, no nothing. Muscles are not able to work properly without blood pumping through them, and blood can not pump without a working heart.

not to get technical, because i agree that slow moving zombies are scarier, but... wouldn't the above be true for slow moving zombies as well?... i mean, you really can't use biology to explain why zombies shouldn't run, because biologically zombies can't exist... muscles can't work at all without blood pumping through them, maybe a last spasm or two...

zombies are something more... supernatural... laws of biology do not apply... it's why romero has never even attempted to explain their origin...

romero's zombies can run (see notld first zombie running after the car)... just like jason, freddy, and michael can run too... they just don't... perhaps that's a side theme... all the running around we do really doesn't get us where we want to be anyway... tortoise and the hare anyone?...

[Evilution]

zombies are something more... supernatural... laws of biology do not apply... it's why romero has never even attempted to explain their origin...


But he does...although vaguely in NOTLD; one of the professors working with the military asserted that cosmic radiation caused by an exploding satellite that orbitted Venus may have caused a mutation when the particles fell to earth. Sure it sounds absurd, but it's an explanation nonetheless.

Personally I prefer slow moving zombies because I get tired when the movie boils down to a silly chase. I find it more intense being surrounded by a slow horde of flesh eating zombie, but then again, to each his own

[Damovieguy]

I find it hard to believe people couldnt easily piece the facts together (get bitten by a zombie you turn into a zombie, ecspecially since supposedly so many people get easily bitten by them, Im sure after seeing 1 or 2 people change you would cotton on to the idea) and even if they couldnt you cant tell me in those realities they dont make zombie movies?? I mean what would happen if zombies really could exist, just about everyone in the western world would know for damn sure what to do. :-)

[frateb]

I find it hard to believe people couldnt easily piece the facts together

what about when the person that gets bit is a loved one?... how quick could you be to destroy them?... not everybody is so good under pressure... especially when they spend most of their lives avoiding it...

But he does...although vaguely in NOTLD; one of the professors working with the military asserted that cosmic radiation caused by an exploding satellite that orbitted Venus may have caused a mutation when the particles fell to earth. Sure it sounds absurd, but it's an explanation nonetheless.

yes, and in day he has a monologue about how god is punishing us... it's pure speculation... romero won't be doing any kind of prequel... ever...

[halo7]

Prequels? Wouldnt that be just like a normal day?

[runningtongue]

yOu CaNt RuN wHeN yOuR dEaD!!!

[Evilution]

yes, and in day he has a monologue about how god is punishing us... it's pure speculation... romero won't be doing any kind of prequel... ever...

I wouldn't call science speculation, no matter how absurd it is (especially for a horror movie). Besides, the trilogy doesn't need a prequel to explain anything because it was already presented in Night. In NOTLD (the film that started it all), the exposition is not a throw away scene; when the press is demanding answers and the military is refuting logical assertions made by the top science professor about a mutation caused by cosmic radiation; well, for a first time viewer, those are reasonable explanations to carry the obscure content of the movie. Now, for the subsequent sequels, the reasonable explanations presented in Night may have been ignored, due to the fact that it would have been redundant to reiterate. So, you're correct, in Dawn and Day, only speculations were presented, but the obscure fact was already stated in Night.

[Frizzo the Clown]

yOu CaNt RuN wHeN yOuR dEaD!!!
You can't walk and eat brains either. ;)

[cerealkiller182]

You can't walk and eat brains either. ;)

i know it sounds silly, but everyone has a weakness and if the dead became undead there are a few things they shouldn't do: talk, drive, do any activity requiring any intellect or physical strain(ie they should only walk, eat, and grunt)