Zombie Madness – The Zombie cult

The sight of a dead person with smelly rotting flesh, out stretched
hands, hunting for human meat, repeatedly saying a particular word after a
set interval and walking at the speed of turtle with two legs, should be a
dead give away that you are in zombie land. The mindless living dead a.k.a
Zombies have captured the imagination of many people around the world.

So before I move on to the essential part of this gaming blog, I though

I’d provide some background information on the zombie culture as I found
it very interesting indeed. I hope you do too.

The Zombie culture was first introduced in movies with 1938

production called ‘White zombie’ and was later popularized by the 1968 film
‘Night of the living dead’. Which in turn lead to other famous productions
such as ‘The evil dead’, ‘Return of the living dead’, ‘Resident Evil’ and the
2003 release ‘28 days later’.

An interesting theory that came to mind while writing this article is

the small possibility that Zombie characters could have been inspired by one
of the most influential names in horror stories and horror movies –
Frankenstein. Although Frankenstein is more popularly referred to as a
‘Monster’ rather than a ‘Zombie’, it is difficult to miss the striking
similarities. The question is not if Frankenstein is a zombie or not, rather, is
Frankenstein the father of all Zombies? I’ll let you decide.

One of the most compelling reasons that led me to this theory while
doing research on the topic was, the first Frankenstein movie with sound
was released in 1931, titled ‘Frankenstein’. The sequel to the movie ‘The
bride of Frankenstein’ was released in 1935. On the other hand, the first
ever zombie movie ‘White Zombie’ was only released in 1938.

Frankenstein was born in 1818 through a novel written by Mary

Shelley. However, the 1931 release of the movie ‘Frankenstein’ was
modified from the original version of the novel. In contrast with the films
adaptation, Frankenstein was not created out of dead body parts in the novel.
There have also been references to the introduction of the word ‘zombie’ to
American culture through the 1929 book ‘The Magic Island’ by W.B.
Seabrook. The narrator describes his experience in Haiti, where Voodoo
cults practiced the art of resurrection. This information adds another twist to
the tale; could Frankenstein have been an inspiration from zombie tales?

Another interesting question that popped up was, if Frankenstein is

not a zombie, then who is the most famous zombie of all time? Some rather
strange names popped into my head when I asked myself that question I
must admit. Could Jesus classify as a zombie? If he could then it would
definitely make him the most famous. How about Eddie the head – the
mascot of British heavy metal band ‘Iron Maiden’, Kenny from ‘South
Park’, Michael Jackson in ‘Thriller’, Imhotep from ‘The Mummy’, or the
girl in the well from the movie ‘The Ring’. Can you think of anymore?

I have tried to find a list of the most famous zombies of all time and
could not find one. There are numerous others about top 10 zombie movies
and such but none about an individual zombie. I urge you to please vote or
suggest names so I can create a Top 10 list of famous zombies for my
gaming blog.

This Zombie madness has not only found it’s way to the movie and
music industries as mentioned above but also have a huge influence on the
gaming industry. There have been numerous zombie shooting games made.
Since I am writing this article with the games industry in mind and this is a
gaming blog, I will post an elaborate article on the subject matter soon. The
next article will contain insights on what regular zombie shooting games
contain and features that can be included in them to improve game play : ) .