How do you feel about Zombies?

[Gunslinger 1994]

I've noticed a lot lately that zombies are becoming a more predominant force than ever throughout both Tv and video games. I started thinking about this yesterday when I watched [REC] not knowing what it was about with my girlfriend the only thing is she is terrified of zombies, in hindsight a very bad move.
So my point is I have no problem with zombies and the fact that they seem to be 'shambling' into our media more often but how do you feel about it? Do you like them but feel they are over used? Or do you generally just hate them?

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

They're just these guys, you know?

 

[Frotality]

like every other media fad, theyre fine when theyre not being grossly and indignantly overused. so once valve stops bullshitting around with L4D and makes half life again, treyarch gets it out of their system, and everyone stops copying treyarch, maybe i can one day enjoy zombies again.

 

[smithy_2045]

How do I feel about zombies? Aroused. Definitely aroused.

 

[Jumping_Over_Fences]

I feel as if zombies are getting over exposed these days. There are tons of "Survival Guides" and things along those lines. I have always loved the zombie genre, but I am been getting a little tired of it recently.

 

[zen5887]

I'm not into them, I think they've been over rated for awhile now.

 

[Tav73]

Zombies, 3D and motion controls all seem to be something everything must have one or more of at the moment.
We'll all get bored of them again once they release "Waving Arms Zombie Killer 3D" and it's terrible.

On the other hand, I'm glad zombies are getting the big exposure in games and not..ugh..vampires.

 

[Jedoro]

Killing zombies never gets old as long as the game's fun.

 

[teh_Canape]

they're walking cannon fodder that smell like shit

think about it, zombies are meant for mass murder

 

[SomeLameStuff]

I don't mind zombies. They're enemies who can be killed without people going "OMG teaching our children to kill other people etc. etc."

That said, there seems to be a flood of things with zombies lately. Is it a sign of things to come?

...

I'll get the boomstick.

 

[TriggerHappyAngel]

They make every game better

 

[StriderShinryu]

Overdone, overexposed and, at this point, just plain boring. Stop it with the zombie related stuff already, it's getting worse than vampires were a couple of years ago.. though at least vampires never really did make themselves too prominent in the games world.

 

[BonsaiK]

I have no problem with zombies and the fact that they seem to be 'shambling' into our media more often but how do you feel about it? Do you like them but feel they are over used? Or do you generally just hate them?

WARNING: The following answer could blow your mind with incredible insight into the current popularity of the zombie phenomenon.

There's one really good reason why zombies have been showing up in our movies more and more lately. It's because they're cost-effective. All the other major horror movie effects and cliches require a significant financial or creative outlay if you want good results. Vampires are hard to get right without looking cheesy, ghosts are tough to visualise for obvious reasons, poltergeists require serious effort to make things move as they should, and even your standard serial killer/slasher fare requires a convincing anti-hero, properly choreographed death moves and either cinematic subtlety or careful tomato sauce management. On the other hand, all you need to make a zombie flick look good are a few dozen friends, some shitty ripped clothes and some of that darkener stuff in various colours that you can get from a $2 shop. Zombies are GFC-friendly.

As for computer games, zombies are easy to do there as well because you don't need to think too hard about realistic rag-dolling or death effects - you can just make the things fall apart in ridiculous over-the-top ways and it still looks kind of "realistic" because who's going to tell you that your zombie isn't blowing into bits exactly as a zombie should? Also, zombies, being "not quite human" are more censor-friendly, and it's quite within the bounds of credibility and accepted zombie folklore to give them green blood so they get past the German censors for example. It's a way to kill things that look like humans without actually killing real-deal humans and therefore avoiding touching the moral-panic nerves that games where you kill a lot of humans tend to touch.

Personally I find zombies very boring, five years ago I didn't feel that way but in 2010 zombies are yesterday's news. It'd be good to see some more imaginative ideas coming back to the fore in horror films and games.

 

[Layz92]

They are boring let alone overused. Shambling grotesqueries that screw around groaning and beating against doors are not that exciting. Don't mistake "zombies" for "undead" in general though. Undead like traditional vampires, wights, shades, skeletons etc kick ass and deserve so much more use. All a game dev has to do is open a D&D monster manual and they have a cool new (relatively speaking) undead enemy.

 

[kitsunefather]

The only thing left for Zombies is for some hack to write a teen-aimed drama about how they're really just misunderstood, sensitive whiners, and use it as an allegory for good christian values like abstinence.

If its done well, any horror monster can be treated with the respect and intelligence needed to make it stand out. The trouble with zombies is the only real horror from them is infection and quantity. Only so many times you can trot out the same horde of near-faceless enemies and expect people to give two shits.

 

[neoontime]

Well there an easy dangerous but not owerpowering enemy to add to media so as long as the mix them up a bit I'll be fine.

 

[Daverson]

At the risk of sounding pretentious, I liked zombies before they were cool. Of course, I still like zombies, so I guess I'm not that pretentious. If I were, I'd have to stop liking them because they're in fashion, and go onto something else... like... I dunno... Gill Men.

 

[Eliam_Dar]

Tehy are perfect gaming targets, you are not actually shooting something alive so... no problems.