Fast zombies: patient zero?

I was watching "Zombieland" on TV the other night (great fun), and I noticed that "I am Legend" was on another channel at the same time, and "Shaun of the Dead" on yet another channel. Zombies all over the TV schedules.

This prompted me to wonder, when did zombies get so fast? In older movies, zombies were usually a bit rubbish, shuffling along and groaning out demands for "More brains". Unless you were cornered, you could mostly escape at a brisk walk.

Since "28 Days Later" (at least) movie zombies are typically super-speedy predators with herculean strength and only occasionally shedding their own digits, limbs or major organs at random. Much more scary.

So does anybody know when the first fast zombies appeared?

"Nut up, or shut up" is my favourite quote from Zombieland.

28 Days Later is the first time I encountered speedy zombies in a movie. Terrifying, but entertaining. Mind you, wasn't the zombie cat in Pet Cemetery a nimble creature?

Tim Cooke wrote:Mind you, wasn't the zombie cat in Pet Cemetery a nimble creature?

Haven't seen that one recently, but that does raise a secondary issue: would a zombie cat be nimble because it now has fast-zombie powers, or because it's a cat and cats are nimble to start with?

I think there's a promising Media Studies master's thesis in there somewhere, if not a PhD...

The movie Black Sheep contradicts your theory. Sheep aren't naturally that energetic when out finding nice grass to eat or doing other sheepy activities, but given half a whiff of dodgy radiation gain an unprecedented vigour for brains.

You might be right about the PhD subject. We're clearly wasting our time with this software nonsense.

Zombie sheep?!!

My wife and her friends were once chased away from a Welsh mountain-top near here by an extremely aggressive sheep. I scoffed at this and called them a bunch of wimps. Now I'm not so sure...

I definitely need more brains to figure out all this zombie business. More brains....

That's Welsh sheep for you. Let em keep their tails and they think they own the place.

chris webster wrote: . . . an extremely aggressive sheep. . . . .

Was it a ewe or a tup?

Campbell Ritchie wrote:Was it a ewe or a tup?

Yes.

Dunno really as I wasn't there and my wife and her friends are Londoners and probably didn't check for horns or undercarriage as they fled in terror.

But Tim's revealed the truth about Killer Zombie Sheep so I'm going with that as the most plausible explanation...

Horns (or more precisely antlers) don't help on sheep. They are not moose but both ewes and tups have horns or none depending on breed. Undercarriage is a more reliable check.

An aggressive tup is quite capable of attacking and killing people, and it is unusual for ewes to become aggressive, unless they thought the people were a threat to a lamb. Did your missus have a dog with her?

I don't care if the zombies are fast or slow, but Resident Evil: Retribution took it way over the top with zombies that ride motorcycles and shoot machine guns. What a piece of crap that movie was.

I think a distinction should be made between zombies and infected. For example, 28 days later wasn't a zombie film. The people in it are "infected with rage" - they are not the reanimated dead. In fact, by the end of the movie the infected can be seen dying off.

Jelle Klap wrote:I think a distinction should be made between zombies and infected. For example, 28 days later wasn't a zombie film. The people in it are "infected with rage" - they are not the reanimated dead. In fact, by the end of the movie the infected can be seen dying off.

Great, now we have to worry about Classic Zombies (reanimated dead) versus Neo-Zombies (not exactly dead but really rather grumpy) as well...

chris webster wrote:Great, now we have to worry about Classic Zombies (reanimated dead) versus Neo-Zombies (not exactly dead but really rather grumpy) as well...

They're only MOSTLY dead, which means still partially alive...

chris webster wrote:Great, now we have to worry about Classic Zombies (reanimated dead) versus Neo-Zombies (not exactly dead but really rather grumpy) as well...

Well if you have seen the movie Warm bodies (that's the name I think) then I would say Classic zombies have further classification to ponder .

Amit Ghorpade wrote:Well if you have seen the movie Warm bodies (that's the name I think) then I would say Classic zombies have further classification to ponder .

Just checked up on Warm Bodies on IMDB and it seems we now have to worry about Drippy Teen Zombies as well. I blame the vampires. When I was a lad, vampires were 100% evil creatures, usually played with suave and demonic elegance by Christopher Lee and some strategically placed ketchup sachets. Now there's all these teen books and movies making vampires out to be Misunderstood Troubled Adolescent Drips Who Just Want To Be Loved. Boo hoo. Makes me want to reach for my trusty stake and crucifix.

chris webster wrote: . . . Christopher Lee and some strategically placed ketchup sachets.

In those happy far‑off days they hadn't invented ketchup sachets and had to make do with proper glass bottles. Remember? The sort you have to hit 27 times before the tiniest drop of ketchup goes onto your plate and then half the bottle goes over your trousers. That probably explain all the SFX from Hammer House of Horror.

. . . Misunderstood Troubled Adolescent Drips Who Just Want To Be Loved. . . .

But some of them are quite pretty. Which is why the horror film is gradually turning into a sort of soft porn

chris webster wrote:I blame the vampires. When I was a lad, vampires were 100% evil creatures, usually played with suave and demonic elegance by Christopher Lee and some strategically placed ketchup sachets. Now there's all these teen books and movies making vampires out to be Misunderstood Troubled Adolescent Drips Who Just Want To Be Loved. Boo hoo. Makes me want to reach for my trusty stake and crucifix.

Twilight shall never be forgiven. Not. Ever.

Campbell Ritchie wrote:

. . . Misunderstood Troubled Adolescent Drips Who Just Want To Be Loved. . . .

But some of them are quite pretty. Which is why the horror film is gradually turning into a sort of soft porn

Some of the Hammer Horror films I remember suggest that's not all that recent a development.

Matthew Brown wrote: . . . Some of the Hammer Horror films I remember . . .

I don't admit to remembering those films.

Campbell Ritchie wrote:

Matthew Brown wrote: . . . Some of the Hammer Horror films I remember . . .

I don't admit to remembering those films.

For example, http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karnstein_Trilogy

Don't remember those; there other however I don't admit to remembering

chris webster wrote:I was watching "Zombieland" on TV the other night (great fun), and I noticed that "I am Legend" was on another channel at the same time, and "Shaun of the Dead" on yet another channel. Zombies all over the TV schedules.

This prompted me to wonder, when did zombies get so fast? In older movies, zombies were usually a bit rubbish, shuffling along and groaning out demands for "More brains". Unless you were cornered, you could mostly escape at a brisk walk.

Since "28 Days Later" (at least) movie zombies are typically super-speedy predators with herculean strength and only occasionally shedding their own digits, limbs or major organs at random. Much more scary.

So does anybody know when the first fast zombies appeared?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=zombie+bullshit

chris webster wrote:Just checked up on Warm Bodies on IMDB and it seems we now have to worry about Drippy Teen Zombies as well.

They also skeletons which I am not sure are zombies or just dead.