The Zombie Group! discussion

What do you think are the boundaries that qualify a zombie? I know there is a huge debate about 28 Days Later; to me they qualify because the only thing missing is that they didn't die first. Everything else is there: plague, violent attacks that spread the disease, apocalypse, etc.

I think you could go two ways with this question: How would you define the term "zombie"? or What qualifies as an acceptable zombie story? For the later, I am fairly relaxed about whether its an actual "zombie" story as long as its a good story and has some consistent themes (primarily underdog human vs hoards of 'something' in a society that is falling, or has fallen, to shambles). So for example, I consider I am Legend a good zombie book even though its not about zombies. However, if you asked me what a zombie was, it would have fit a definition similar to what was described in World War Z.

In other words its about entertainment and a good story (28 days later/I am Legend) vs preparing for the eventual zombie uprising (world war z/dawn of the dead) :-p

Dan wrote: "I think you could go two ways with this question: How would you define the term "zombie"? or What qualifies as an acceptable zombie story? For the later, I am fairly relaxed about whether its an ..."

Good clarification Dan! I guess in essence, those in this group are interested in he story itself, not the specific of a zombie, although there seems to be a consensus of annoyance if they don't adhere to specific "rules"

Dan wrote: "I think you could go two ways with this question: How would you define the term "zombie"? or What qualifies as an acceptable zombie story? For the later, I am fairly relaxed about whether its an ..."

That kind of reminds me how I used to spot Zombie movies in disguise. Like..how Maximum Overdrive (and the short story Trucks) , and Tales from the Crypt : Demon Knight are pretty damn close to the same story as NOTLD. Gas hungry Trucks as Zombies.

Dan, I think at times those two questions can combine to make things even more confusing. Such a huge percentage of zombie lit/movies are post apocalyptic that for a lot of people if you take the P.A. aspect of the "story" away it doesn't matter if the zombies in the story adhere to proper zombie definition. Does a zombie story need to having hordes of zombies, or is it still a zombie if there are just a few? At what point is it just undead? I recently finished The Mammoth Book of Zombies which had no P.A. stories in it and without that way more than half of the stories in it really didn't feel like zombies to me.