Zombies

Zombies are humans, animals or any part thereof who have died and have since been reanimated through any of several methods. They have been referred to as the Undead or the Walking Dead. Traditionally, when a human being dies and is resurrected as a zombie, they are no longer a sentient being and lack any semblance of a conscious mind. These creatures are typically driven by pure instinct or an innate primal desire such as hunger or the need to kill. Zombies are often susceptible to psychological suggestion and may be easily manipulated or controlled by those responsible for their reanimation. This is not always the case however, and many zombies have rebelled against their creator over the years. The creation of a zombie may be conducted through a variety of ways. The earliest methods of zombie creation stem all the way back to ancient Egypt in the form of mummies. Egyptians who had earned the enmity of the Pharaoh or the gods would find themselves executed. Their bodies were wrapped in linen upon death and placed inside of a tomb. In place of the traditional Egyptian prayer ceremonies however, these mummies were instead cursed to return to life as a shambling monster with no other desire but to kill. It was common for Egyptian tomb builders to place a warning upon the sarcophagus, indicating to others what might happen should the tomb of the mummy be disturbed. While mummies may lie inert in their coffins for centuries, it was not uncommon for a thief or achaelogist to discover their remains and, ignoring the warnings, inadvertently bring the mummy back to life, usually at the cost of their own lives.

For the past several centuries, one of the more noted methods of zombie creation stems from the religious voodoo sects of the West Indies as well as some regions of the Southeastern United States. Many zombie creation rites originate from the island of Haiti. In the tenents of the Voodoo religion, a Voodoo priest, known as a Bokor, performs a ritual that brings the body of the recently deceased back to life. Like most zombies, this individual no longer has a will of their own and is submissive to the instruction of the Bokor.

In film
Zombies as film villains did not reach the same popularity as vampires or werewolves and they usually took the form of mummies or some variation of the Frankenstein Monster.

One of the earliest representations of zombies in horror films is the 1932 movie White Zombie starring Bela Lugosi. Lugosi played a character named Murder Legendre who owned a sugar mill run by a zombie labor force. At the behest of a colleague named Charles Beaumont, he produced a serum that could turn the living into zombies. Beaumont intended to use Legendre's serum on a woman he desired named Madeleine Short.

Although White Zombie is considered a respected staple in horror film history, it did little to boost the popularity of zombies in modern culture. 1943 helped to provide more zombie exposure in the RKO Productions feature I Walked With a Zombie. By the 1950s, zombies were seldom used for anything other than b-movie fodder such as the critically-panned Ed Wood movie Plan 9 from Outer Space.

It wasn't until 1968 that a director named George Romero created a franchise that would forever change the face of zombie culture in cinema -- Night of the Living Dead.

Notes & Trivia

 * The 1990s heavy metal band White Zombie took their name from the 1932 film White Zombie. White Zombie's lead singer, Robert Bartleh Cummings, also incorporated the zombie concept into his stage name, Rob Zombie.