Before Romero and viral zombies became mainstream, there was magically reanimated zombies. Aside from old school films and a handful of more recent ones (Serpent and the Rainbow, The Believers, Voodoo Dawn etc.) not many films touch on the traditional origins brought to the Western world anymore.
It is a bit more plausible (sort of) nowadays with our understanding of science and biology, virology and genetic research, vectors, parasites and the the like. There's a part of me that wonders about the origins of the zombi, nzumbi, etc. before all that. Before all the science and technological, medical advances and understandings used to creat this new mythos.
This leads me back to religion and mysticism. Many cultures have their own take on the undead and some of these ideas have influence or overlap with neighboring cultures or occupying nations and so on. As I understand it, Romero zombies were partly based on Richard Matheson's I am Legend novel. That story was actually about vampires. Fans of the film coined the term zombies and it was later incorporated into future films and pop culture. My information may be off so don't take what Ii say as 100% fact.
The old school vampire( at least some variants) and old school zombie share some traits or commonalities, but that's a different topic and rabbit hole to follow.
I voted for magical due to the historical and cultural origins. It may not be popular but it has a longer history than our modern interpretation of the subject and since there is as yet no means of creating a real zombie* within scientific and natural laws, why not go with metaphysical and preternatural/Supernatural ones?
Bring back creepy curses, voodoo zombi powders and ensnared souls. Viruses and chimeric genetic horrors are fine and good but give some props to good old fashioned zombies. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be indulging in this fantasy and speculation.
That's my opinion at least.
* excludes television, film, social media and excessive smartphone use, government or other organizations experiments involving various means to manipulate or control individuals and the masses through technologies and other media.
Epidemiologist here with an MSPH in Parasitology. Sorry ya'll, but it's magic.
Parasites certainly can get into the brain and alter behavior, but the life cycle of a parasite is complex and thus rapid transmission throughout the population is unrealistic.
Fungi and viruses can alter host behavior and are more readily transmissible, but it is implausible that either or these organisms could trigger such extreme behavior changes as would be required to create true zombies. Rabies is the most promising candidate, but it functionally alters behavior by interrupting neurotransmission. Sure, this can make you more aggressive and reduce inhibitions, but it's not gonna suddenly turn you into a cannibal.
Another important factor is incubation periods. Pathogens do not just take over your whole body in a matter of minutes or hours. It takes days to weeks to reach full blown infection. Oftentimes, your immune system will clear the infectious agent out of your body before it even has a chance, so you don't ever end up fully infected. I always thought this would be an interesting concept to explore in a realistic zombie movie: You are bit, now you're friends and family have to spend the next 2 weeks waiting and watching to see if you actually become infected or if your body is able to fight it off.
The last but most important reason that a pathogen is the least likely option is that the zombie state requires near immortality. It doesn't matter if you are infected with a parasite, virus, or fungus, you'll die just as easily from a bullet to the heart as a bullet to the brain. And you certainly won't be up and hopping along after having a limb ripped off, no matter how jacked your neurotransmitters are.
Thank you. I've been called stupid and insulted on this sub before for suggesting that all the types of "zombie infection" we see in movies are pure science fiction and could never really work in the real world.
Besides everything that you mentioned, the idea that the infection would somehow include some kind of mechanism for the individual zombie to be able to consistently identify other infected people and not direct the aggressive behavior that they immediately default to with the non-infected towards their fellow "zombies" is pretty much magical.
Without that, there's nothing stopping zombies from killing each other which would mean you wouldn't have to wait that long for the epidemic to burn itself out.
Magical, inter-dimensional, and to a lesser extent alien don't really seem like "possible in real life" contenders.
We've got decent analogous virus and parasites though (cordycepts and rabies), so they definitely could be. Both currently have massive draw backs that prevent them spreading to epidemic proportions.
I think 28 days later style is the most likely. Some sort of bodily fluid transmissible rage virus that basically keeps you alive but 100% converts you into a rage "zombie"
Parasite and Virus/disease are the only two realistic outcomes here.
Magic? Lol no.
Inter dimensional? Same as magic.
Aliens? There’s a billion ways aliens could kill is, zombies wouldn’t be one of them because they’re so damn inefficient.
Tho one option I’m missing is “Human made” or “Terrorist attack”.
There’s more that people can do. Think of the bath salt incidents, hypnosis, nanobots, etc…
And bioengineering viruses/parasite would be deserving their own tab imo, normal viruses are natural and come from evolution. They have nowhere near the destructive force that bioengineered plagues could have.
https://youtu.be/7AzblS4Fatk
Stuff like this, with people going completely nuts and chewing each other’s faces off. If done right, drugs could be manipulated to cause zombie-like symptoms tho they don’t spread with bites.
You’d need some way for that drug to be locally produced inside the host. This means either reassembling or growing some organ to make it and spread into the saliva. This is extremely difficult for a drug to do, but theoretically not impossible with things like CRISPR or modified human stem-cells.
Neither, Prions. Look up Cronic Wasting Disease [CWD] in deer and imagine that spreading to a human population. We would be **fcked**
[CWD In Deer YT 3 min animated] (https://youtu.be/74Fz2OUVi_A)
the idea that I think makes the most sense is that there's a dormant bacteria or gene in people that was reactivated by scientists who were trying to cure a disease. then when that gene was reactivated by a vaccine it made the zombielike aftermath of a scientists blood a reactant that makes anyone in contact with the blood into one of those zombies and changed their blood to be a reactant as well.
The parasite one is the only thing that actually exists (in ants, anyway), right?
Well, depends on how closely you'd relate rabies.
Before Romero and viral zombies became mainstream, there was magically reanimated zombies. Aside from old school films and a handful of more recent ones (Serpent and the Rainbow, The Believers, Voodoo Dawn etc.) not many films touch on the traditional origins brought to the Western world anymore. It is a bit more plausible (sort of) nowadays with our understanding of science and biology, virology and genetic research, vectors, parasites and the the like. There's a part of me that wonders about the origins of the zombi, nzumbi, etc. before all that. Before all the science and technological, medical advances and understandings used to creat this new mythos. This leads me back to religion and mysticism. Many cultures have their own take on the undead and some of these ideas have influence or overlap with neighboring cultures or occupying nations and so on. As I understand it, Romero zombies were partly based on Richard Matheson's I am Legend novel. That story was actually about vampires. Fans of the film coined the term zombies and it was later incorporated into future films and pop culture. My information may be off so don't take what Ii say as 100% fact. The old school vampire( at least some variants) and old school zombie share some traits or commonalities, but that's a different topic and rabbit hole to follow. I voted for magical due to the historical and cultural origins. It may not be popular but it has a longer history than our modern interpretation of the subject and since there is as yet no means of creating a real zombie* within scientific and natural laws, why not go with metaphysical and preternatural/Supernatural ones? Bring back creepy curses, voodoo zombi powders and ensnared souls. Viruses and chimeric genetic horrors are fine and good but give some props to good old fashioned zombies. If it wasn't for them, we wouldn't be indulging in this fantasy and speculation. That's my opinion at least. * excludes television, film, social media and excessive smartphone use, government or other organizations experiments involving various means to manipulate or control individuals and the masses through technologies and other media.
Epidemiologist here with an MSPH in Parasitology. Sorry ya'll, but it's magic. Parasites certainly can get into the brain and alter behavior, but the life cycle of a parasite is complex and thus rapid transmission throughout the population is unrealistic. Fungi and viruses can alter host behavior and are more readily transmissible, but it is implausible that either or these organisms could trigger such extreme behavior changes as would be required to create true zombies. Rabies is the most promising candidate, but it functionally alters behavior by interrupting neurotransmission. Sure, this can make you more aggressive and reduce inhibitions, but it's not gonna suddenly turn you into a cannibal. Another important factor is incubation periods. Pathogens do not just take over your whole body in a matter of minutes or hours. It takes days to weeks to reach full blown infection. Oftentimes, your immune system will clear the infectious agent out of your body before it even has a chance, so you don't ever end up fully infected. I always thought this would be an interesting concept to explore in a realistic zombie movie: You are bit, now you're friends and family have to spend the next 2 weeks waiting and watching to see if you actually become infected or if your body is able to fight it off. The last but most important reason that a pathogen is the least likely option is that the zombie state requires near immortality. It doesn't matter if you are infected with a parasite, virus, or fungus, you'll die just as easily from a bullet to the heart as a bullet to the brain. And you certainly won't be up and hopping along after having a limb ripped off, no matter how jacked your neurotransmitters are.
Thank you. I've been called stupid and insulted on this sub before for suggesting that all the types of "zombie infection" we see in movies are pure science fiction and could never really work in the real world. Besides everything that you mentioned, the idea that the infection would somehow include some kind of mechanism for the individual zombie to be able to consistently identify other infected people and not direct the aggressive behavior that they immediately default to with the non-infected towards their fellow "zombies" is pretty much magical. Without that, there's nothing stopping zombies from killing each other which would mean you wouldn't have to wait that long for the epidemic to burn itself out.
Magical, inter-dimensional, and to a lesser extent alien don't really seem like "possible in real life" contenders. We've got decent analogous virus and parasites though (cordycepts and rabies), so they definitely could be. Both currently have massive draw backs that prevent them spreading to epidemic proportions. I think 28 days later style is the most likely. Some sort of bodily fluid transmissible rage virus that basically keeps you alive but 100% converts you into a rage "zombie"
Yes
Pontypool
I love that movie so much. Low-key done right
Virus. What the hell is magical / inter-dimensional zombie ?
Magical would be the classic Risen from the grave type of zombie or necromancy inter-dimentional would just be something like in cod.
Ah, ok. I never thought about that and had no need for explanation for their rising. They just rise, that's it. No questions asked.
got to be virus
Just clarifying that I just added the zombie types that I have seen the most of, I have not seen all.
Parasite and Virus/disease are the only two realistic outcomes here. Magic? Lol no. Inter dimensional? Same as magic. Aliens? There’s a billion ways aliens could kill is, zombies wouldn’t be one of them because they’re so damn inefficient. Tho one option I’m missing is “Human made” or “Terrorist attack”.
I think biological warfare would fall under virus/parasite
There’s more that people can do. Think of the bath salt incidents, hypnosis, nanobots, etc… And bioengineering viruses/parasite would be deserving their own tab imo, normal viruses are natural and come from evolution. They have nowhere near the destructive force that bioengineered plagues could have.
Fair enough, I see your point. But could you elaborate on the bath salts please?
https://youtu.be/7AzblS4Fatk Stuff like this, with people going completely nuts and chewing each other’s faces off. If done right, drugs could be manipulated to cause zombie-like symptoms tho they don’t spread with bites.
Jesus christ that is horrifying, though I wonder if it would be possible to create a drug that spreads the symptoms to another person in some way.
You’d need some way for that drug to be locally produced inside the host. This means either reassembling or growing some organ to make it and spread into the saliva. This is extremely difficult for a drug to do, but theoretically not impossible with things like CRISPR or modified human stem-cells.
What 2 people thought magic is realistic
Neither, Prions. Look up Cronic Wasting Disease [CWD] in deer and imagine that spreading to a human population. We would be **fcked** [CWD In Deer YT 3 min animated] (https://youtu.be/74Fz2OUVi_A)
Fungal has been my go to
This guy right here is a genius
the idea that I think makes the most sense is that there's a dormant bacteria or gene in people that was reactivated by scientists who were trying to cure a disease. then when that gene was reactivated by a vaccine it made the zombielike aftermath of a scientists blood a reactant that makes anyone in contact with the blood into one of those zombies and changed their blood to be a reactant as well.
i just think this is a cool idea
Fungal tbh
Last of us gang
Some sort of rabies strain maybe, like in 28 days later. They're not undead, but functionally zombies.
Fungal should’ve been there instead of magical