A question for zombie fans.

[photog212]

I am a big fan of zombie movies,and all things zombie. But as I was watching AMC's 'Walking Dead' (amazing by the way) I began to wonder something. The show tries to keep with the 'rules' put forward by Romaro. Slow, flesh eating, get bit you become one, so on and so forth.
But, when many people are asked to describe a zombie, you get a slow moving dead person moaning for brains. "brrrrrrraaaaaiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnsssssssssssssss."
My question is where did the brain eating come from? I for the life of me can't remember a zombie only eating brains.

Does anyone know the origin of the 'BRAIN EATING' zombie?

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

The earlier movies, such as Night of the Living dead. Actually I think it was Night of the Living Dead.

 

[Just_A_Glitch]

Return of the Living Dead was the first actual zombie film to make a direct connection with zombies and brains.

 

[hittite]

I haven't a clue. I think it might have its roots in the Voodoo zombies, but I'm not sure.

 

[Lord Legion]

Walking Dead is pretty sweet...but I think "Braaaaiinnss!" is a bit better than "Spleeeeeennnn!"

 

[Bravo 21]

well the main cause is tradition, sort of like "thats how its always been done, so that is how it must be."
There are some fast zombies now though, just look at 28 days later, and zombieland

 

[IronDefender410]

I think it was just something that was tacked on to make zombies seem scarier, and it stuck and has been there since

 

[rekabdarb]

Walking Dead is pretty sweet...but I think "Braaaaiinnss!" is a bit better than "Spleeeeeennnn!"

LOWERRRRRR INTESTINEEEEEEEEEEEEE

esophagus

left eyeballlllllllll

not as much impact as brains

 

[BlindTom]

The Simpsons zombies were the only ones I really noticed doing it.

 

[GameSlave15]

i like the idea that when zombies first change they are the "fast" zombie but as they decompose or rigamortis sets or they "starve" from lack of flesh they become the slow moving shamblers that come from the classics. at least thats how i think of them. the question i bring up is why do zombies stop eating people? i mean i get that its good for show to have half eaten corpse on the ground. but honestly why would a zombie stop until all the flesh was gone. now that i think about it i dont see how a zombie could get into the brain with the skull incasing it. i dont think the jaw is strong enought to break the skull.

 

[QCX]

You have to big further back then a few black and white movies my friend.

In the early 1800's a small tribe was discovered in the African jungles. The tribes where lead by a "powerful" witch doctor.

It was documented that these witch doctors where able to bring back the dead. They would bury a supposedly dead person.

Of course in reality that's not completely true. What was happening is the witch doctor would have earlier feed the person a very powerful toxic plant, Daytura.

This would put the person in a near catatonic state, dropping their heart rate and breathing to a point where you would mistake them for dead. It would also cause a loss of most brain functions.

The tribes people would bury the body and dig it up 4 days later and it would be basically a "zombie". Little motor functions and next to no brain function.

The explorer whom found it called the bodies "The Living Dead".



The brains thing came about in the late 1800's along side Frankenstein and all the hubbub around that.


I can also tell you that werewolves are just a hallucination cause by a fungal rot in yeast better known as the black Plague in bread.

 

[Stryc9]

Return of the Living Dead was the first actual zombie film to make a direct connection with zombies and brains.

DING DING DING DING! We have a winner!

The "Return of the Living Dead" series of movies started the whole BRAAAAIIIINNNNS things with zombies. Any reference to zombies eating brains comes from there and tends to be parody of zombies movies in general, which is funny because Return of the Living Dead is a parody of Night of the Living Dead.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

I can also tell you that werewolves are just a hallucination cause by a fungal rot in yeast better known as the black Plague in bread.

No. Just...no. The hallucinatory fungus you get in bread is called ergot, and the black plague is a bacterial infection caused by Yersinia pestis. Two completely different life forms.

 

[GameSlave15]

Return of the Living Dead was the first actual zombie film to make a direct connection with zombies and brains.

DING DING DING DING! We have a winner!

The "Return of the Living Dead" series of movies started the whole BRAAAAIIIINNNNS things with zombies. Any reference to zombies eating brains comes from there and tends to be parody of zombies movies in general, which is funny because Return of the Living Dead is a parody of Night of the Living Dead.

does return have a grave caretaker running around with a shovel?

 

[Stryc9]

does return have a grave caretaker running around with a shovel?

No, but it's not trying to be a direct parody, it references "Night of the Living Dead" directly by saying that the movie was reality and the government covered it up and put some of the zombie bodies in barrels. Three of the barrels mistakenly get sent to a medical research supply company who keeps them in the basement. One of the barrels gets punctured and a gas leaks out of it and the zombie wakes up and hilarity ensues.

 

[Doinstuffman38]

does return have a grave caretaker running around with a shovel?

No, but it's not trying to be a direct parody, it references "Night of the Living Dead" directly by saying that the movie was reality and the government covered it up and put some of the zombie bodies in barrels. Three of the barrels mistakenly get sent to a medical research supply company who keeps them in the basement. One of the barrels gets punctured and a gas leaks out of it and the zombie wakes up and hilarity ensues.

I came across that movie on AMC during Halloween last year. It was really bad, even for a parody. I couldn't bear to watch the whole thing.

 

[TheTurtleMan]

Thats a good question because I've always wondered why zombies would want to go for the brains. Another piece of zombie canon is that the destruction of the brain would kill a zombie, so if zombies go after the brain, then how would they infect other people to become zombies?

 

[Dags90]

I thought Anya cleared this up in season 6?

And zombies don't eat brains anyway, unless instructed to by their zombie master. A lot of people get that wrong.

 

[photog212]

Return of the Living Dead was the first actual zombie film to make a direct connection with zombies and brains.

DING DING DING DING! We have a winner!

The "Return of the Living Dead" series of movies started the whole BRAAAAIIIINNNNS things with zombies. Any reference to zombies eating brains comes from there and tends to be parody of zombies movies in general, which is funny because Return of the Living Dead is a parody of Night of the Living Dead.

Thanks mates, much obliged.

Is this the one where the clumsy scientists burn the zombie? Then the smoke goes into rain clouds, and the dead rise from a graveyard eating the eighties stereotypes in the graveyard?

 

[Klumpfot]

Thats a good question because I've always wondered why zombies would want to go for the brains. Another piece of zombie canon is that the destruction of the brain would kill a zombie, so if zombies go after the brain, then how would they infect other people to become zombies?

Well, as people before me have pointed out, the movie that started the "BRAAAINS" thing was Return of the Living Dead. In that movie, you couldn't kill the zombies. If you cut off the arm of a zombie, you'd be chased by an autonomous arm and a one-armed zombie. And so on. In Night of the Living Dead, where the "removing the head or destroying the brain" thing was established (I think, haven't seen it in a while), the zombies (or ghouls) just want to eat your flesh.