A necessary evil of modern
times…
By Marc A. Brashear
Brief History
Zombies has been a part of the modern
day culture ever since George
Romero's landmark 1968 film, Night
of the Living Dead. Although they
was called Ghouls in the film, the
name zombie soon adopted itself as
the universal name for a re-animated
corpse.
The name “Zombie” originated from the
Haitian word from the tenets of
Vodou. It simply means a reanimated corpse or another person
that is under the control of a Bokor,
usually under a form of mind control.
Which really is nothing close to the
plague driven, flesh-eaters of
popular Western and European popculture.
Zombies in Movies
If it wasn’t for movies, the zombie movement would have never
took ground. So im going to start with the most popular, starting
from the Beginning.

White Zombie (1932) - - If it wasn’t for
this movie, nobody would even know what a
zombie is. This was the first movie where
the term “zombie” first appered, and is what
inspired Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.

Night of the Living Dead (1968) - -
The cult classic from the mind of George
Romero is what popularized zombies and put
it under the gaze of pop culture. This was a
total reinvention of the whole zombie idea
from White Zombie and made the iconic
zombie of today.

Dawn Of The Dead (1978) - - Also by
Romero, this is the movie that made me
start loving zombies and is what also made
Zombies as popular as they are today. Being
locked in a mall with an endless supply of
weapons and a creative group is what made
this movie so amazing.

Return of the Living Dead (1985) - -
Where the whole
“BRAINNNNNNZZZZZZ” element
originated from. Created from the same
person that made the Alien series, Dan
O’Bannon.
 Day of the Dead (1985) - - A less
known work from George Romero but
great nonetheless. It glorified how so
much chaos could happen when there is
a lack of communication during a crisis
showing a bit more attention to the
characters than his other movies
(Probably why not many people seen
it..)
 Dead Alive (1992) - - A film by Peter
Jackson that is deliciously gory. A true
cult classic that a lot of people often find
too much to handle. While being
somewhat of a dark comedy, the
excessive gore was more for
entertainment and comedic purposes
more than to shock the crowd. Note:
This is probably the Zombie movie in
this list that make you puke..

28 Days Later (2002) - - Although

Shaun of the Dead (2004) - - A

Zombieland (2009) - - Probably my
the “zombie” in this movie much different
than what many people are used too. It
is a really good movie and certainly a
good watch if you like a more dramatic
show of one mans survival after a zombie
catastrophe.
pure comedy in its own; It’s a hilarious
departure from the serious attitude that
follows most zombie movies and is
probably the most comedy-based movie
on this list.
most favorite zombie movie of all time. This
movie caused a huge change in the way we
look at the coming zombie apocolypse. Being
a comedy, unlike most zombie movies, focuses
purely on humor more than inciting fear and
shock. It introduced “The List” containing very
valuable notes pertaining to surviving the
zombie apocolypse with “rules” that following
will aid one when it comes to not becoming a
meal yourself. Ruben Fleischer, the director, is
a genus for making this movie and I highly
recommend just for its very entertaining dialog
and the ever “List”.
Zombies in Games
Zombies made its mark on Hollywood, but it wasn’t long after Romero’s first hit that the
zombie horde began to come down upon a new medium. Video games allow someone
to delve into the worlds that they would otherwise only be able to read or watch, so it
was inevitable that video games would come to reflect the zombie culture to about the
same level as movies. This is just a list of some of the most popular franchises with no
specific order.

Dead Rising (2006) - - One of the first
widely popular zombie based games focused on
survival more than holding down a trigger. The
game required you to try to escape a zombie
infested mall full of objects which just about every
one could be used as a weapon. The creativity the
game encourages allows players to kill hordes of
zombies in any way you want. One of the best
stress relieving games I think.

Resident Evil 1-5 (1996-2008)
- - Probably the most well known of all the zombie
games has to be Capcom’s Resident Evil series.
Having 17 released games it has come to be the
icon of most zombie gaming. The gameplay usually
requires the player to fight his way through a level
from a first-person perspective. The games,
especially Resident Evil 4, received high priase for
their action oriented theme, great story, and
terrifying zombies.

Left 4 Dead 1-2 (2008-2009)
- - My personal favorite. Valve’s Left 4 Dead introduced a
new element in zombie survival which included the
dependence on your team-mates in order to survive. This
team-based game play involves 4 players that have to try
and fight their way to a safehouse at the end of every
level using a large amount of teamwork and skill. But the
most appealing aspect of the game is its multiplayer,
which depending on the game-mode, you can play on the
side of either the survivors or the zombies as the “special
infected” The game received critical praise for its fresh
gameplay and its dependence on teamwork in order to
survive. (or kill)

Dead Space 1-2 (2008) - - A very different
kind of zombie game with very different zombies. This
game was designed to scare the daylights out of you.
With zombies that have to be dismembered, limb from
limb, in order to die, the atmosphere of the game can be
really bonechilling. With the necromorphs (zombies) able
to attack literally from any angle, the thrill of walking
down a dark hallway and hearing something creeping to
you from somewhere around you makes this game
certainly one of the best thrillers in the gaming world.
Note that its all based on a giant spaceship with the
setting being years into the future.

Red Dead Redemption: Undead
Nightmare (2010) - - While this is only an
expansion pack to a game set in the old west, the focus
around zombies is enough to give this game some notice.
Its kinda neat to be fighting zombies in an earlier time
since most zombie games are either set in modern times
or the near to far future.

Dead Island (2011) - - A nice game that went
with a more realistic approach by making guns a rare
convenience and fighting with clubs and other hand-held
weapons the games staple. Set on a tropical island resort,
the player has to figure out what happened and try to
leave the island. The zombie brawls was the main focus
of the game with a lot of detail put into the combat
system. But all in all received great reviews despite a
buggy launch and only added to the list of great zombie
hack-n-slash.

Nazi Zombies, CoD WaW and Black
Ops (2008-2010) - - While only being a single
game mode many people will admit to spending a lot of
time in it. The point of the game/mode is to simply try to
survive as many rounds as you can without dieing.
Sounds simple, but if you have a team-mate things can
get really intense. The mode has garnered a lot of
attention from the gaming community and many people,
especially when considering Black Op’s version, claim it is
a game in and of itself, and became very popular due to
its addicting survival-based gameplay.
Fin