So what is a zombie?
Not that I am looking for a text book definition or anything, but there seems to be as many definitions of what a zombie is as there are people on the site. If there is no agreement on what they are or what they can do, then how are we supposed to make any sort of plans to survive or mount an effective defense?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by JJ on -
In theory, a zombie is either what George A. Romero's original idea was or whatever is in the dictionary. Thanks to pop culture in America the idea of what a zombie actually is is now blurred. Survival plans should mainly range for any disaster so that it has a variety of uses. If you want to make a defense, many of the same techniques that are used on humans can be used on zombies, assuming that they can think. But technology should never be placed in front of old fashioned physical perimeters if you are strictly preparing for zombies. After all, what kind of zombie is going to acknowledge a chain link fence and several guards posted around the area? Simply put, if you want to survive zombies, preparing for every kind that has ever been introduced is the way to go. Not to sound bleak, but we no longer clearly know what they are or ever will be.
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Permalink Reply by Jericho Syndrome on -
actually there has only been one time in all his movies that they were called zombies, it was on Dawn of the Dead while the bikers were rolling into the mall, Peter haphazardly said about how the place will be filled with a hundred zombies...then Flyboy shot a biker... the reason Peter mentioned it is because of his Grandfathers voodoo background which is where the original definition of zombies come from meaning someone hypnotized to do the biding of others, what we mostly have on this site are mindless Draugr which are the closest to zombies we know of today...without the weapons and changing there size at will....
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Permalink Reply by Jericho Syndrome on
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the correct title we are supposed to call them is 'Undead' but its not as cool to say as Zombie......
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Permalink Reply by the death of saint.357 on -
well George has always said that he never meant for them to be zombies, since the original movie title was night of the flesh eaters. and the modern zombie, as the definition has come to mean are more closely relates to vampires then to the voodoo zombie. since night of the living dead was really just a rip off of the Richard Mathewson novel i am legend. only set during the our break instead of way after when there was only one man left. these are of course Romero's own words. in fact the only reason we call them zombies today is not even because or night of the living dead but because of dawn of the dead. down of the dead was bankrolled by Dario Argento under the condition that he have the European rights to the movie. and when it was released in Europe Argento changed the name to Zombi. and presto the name stuck and that is why we will forever know Romero's flesh eaters as zombies.
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Permalink Reply by DR Elder on -
Yeah, if I hurt there feelings, I'll live with it. I suppose we should actually call them life challenged persons, lest they hire a lawyer and have us all roasted. Not sure about the reanimated stinky viking guy I find under "Draugr", but I don't get how he fits into the whole contagion and disease spread business. You did however use the word "mindless". Let's go with that. Talk to me about mindless. Mindless I can work with.
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Permalink Reply by JJ on
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P.S. if a zombie can't think money should and would be better spent on physical perimeters. Good day sir.
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Permalink Reply by DR Elder on
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Thank you for your comments and I agree with you that physical perimeters are the way to go. My issue is what type would be effective. Actually a chain link fence of the thirteen foot variety commonly seen around almost any secured installation, covered by armed guards, would seem to me to be a pretty good idea. What I am trying to determine is could zombies climb a fence, or do they simply try and push their way through it. It does no good to erect a concrete wall eight feet high if you suddenly discover that your adversary can use a ladder, or has the presence of mind, and team work ability to stand on each others shoulders. Most any defense is based on the idea that your attacker has some regard for their own safety, or at least their survival, as well as the success of their assault. Are we assuming that is also the case with zombies? To throw up our hands and say they might be anything, capable of anything, would to my mind make this site and the entire question of zombies a waste of time.
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Permalink Reply by the death of saint.357 on
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unfortunately the fact of the mater is that zombies do not yet exist, and may never exist. and until they do rise we will never know exactly what a zombie will be. however if we put logic into it we can break down actual zombies into too types, the living zombie aka the rage virus zombie, and the classic George Romero undead flesh eater zombie. now i could go on and on trying to explain the differences between these two. their possible configuration, strengths weaknesses habits. but many people have done this before and you should look into them. for now i will just say that what ever a zombie is, it is made from a human. their for it can not do anything a human can not do. it is often limited to doing much less then a human can. but the fact of the mater is if you can't do it a zombie can't do it. so you should base your defense around, can a person get through this. because at the end of that day, zombies aren't the real threat. they never are. even in the books and movies there just an event, like a storm or a plague or a war. the real threat is and always will be man. so if you prepare for that, you'll have no problem with the zombies.
if how ever you would still, like to learn more about zombies i again snuggest picking up the book, "everything you ever wanted to know about zombies", by Matt Mogk. it is a complete encyclopedia of everything zombie, research done by actual Nobel prize winners into how a zombie might function as well as giving you tip on how to survive in a world over run by them this book takes zombies as seriously as any other possible disaster. also to answer you last question this site is not a zombie research or defense site. there are plenty others out there aiming at that end.. this site's goal is to create the first community generated zombie horror film in the form of a fake documentary. like spinal tape. if you want in depth research into zombies, i suggest the "zombie research society". check out their website I'm sure if anyone can they can answer your questions. its not jsut kids rattling on about the best guns. there are scientist and other scholar's who have put their time into researching everything zombie. not to put this site down, i love it, its just not what we're all about.
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Permalink Reply by DR Elder on
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Yes I get what you are saying. My issue is what kind of video can you shoot when the protagonist changes from clip to clip in radical ways. My favorite site for any actual research is put out by http://www.zombiescience.co.uk/, which bases their studies on a theoretical prion disease, and its possible effects. It is backed by the University of Glasgow and has some rather eminent folks on the roster. The problem seems to be that our moderator, while he does give us a time line, and a very general description of two types of zombies he is concerned with, offers no other specifics, or guidelines upon which to base characters. Not being disrespectful, as I am awe struck by the scope of this sites success and level of participation, and I am very excited about the potential or I would not be here. It simply occurs to me that we have everything from hard core preppers to D&D nerds each headed off in their own direction. Some agreement on basic guidelines would, I think, advance the projects goal while reining in some of the wild absurdity. There seems to be very little agreement even on the most basic questions.
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Permalink Reply by the death of saint.357 on
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i think its because we have such a wide array of people that we can get such a rich and diverse experience. i mean the world is made up of many different people and your way if surviving may be different from mine but that doesn't mean we wont both make it.and you right we do have a general guide line that's kinda vague. i think the reason he didn't go into specifics like cognitive ability, reanimation time, incubation of the virus in living humans,strength and weakness is he didn't want to stifle anyone's creativity. but i think he gives off enough clues to ascertain what are zombies are.
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the Lz zombie is caused by a virus. it is spread through fluid transfer only. once introduced into a host it will manifest in one of two ways, either by killing the infected and then reviving them as a zombie. no set time as it seams to vary upon factors yet unknown. or it will result in a living human who has lost all sense of self,problem solving skills and the ability to communicate. they seam to follow typical 20 days later living zombie rules. extremely aggressive, disoriented, and they seam to attack anyone who is not infected. how ever unlike 28 days later they do seam to eat their victims. and since they are still living and rely on all there internal systems to survive their life span is limited as they don't seam to have the mental where with all to consume water. once deceased they will reanimate, again time not listed as it varies. into the undead type of zombie.
now the Lz undead seams to follow basic GR zombie rules. such as they are a reanimated human corpse, with only the most basic of motor function no problem solving ability and intense hunger for living flesh, and the single minded automation to seek out and consume every non infected person it can, while spreading its own infection. the only way to destroy them is the classic destroy the brain scenario. it is unclear as to weather removing the head from the zombie will stop its functions or merely reduce it to a head which may or may not be able to bite. again not a lost of information but it was enough to get us all thinking and working towards a singular goal. i think the appeal of zombies is that they can vary so differently and in fact be used to express so many things and fears.
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Permalink Reply by DR Elder on
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Excellent summary, and one very much in line with my own understanding of the scenerio. If this is generally accepted as the template, and adhered to generally then shooting effective video should be fairly easy.
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Permalink Reply by the death of saint.357 on
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it is and of course not everything uploaded to this site is put into the movie. a lot of stuff while great just doesn't fit the requirement. but other stuff does and is there for added in in fact some of my work as a key contributor has probably made its way in.
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