Zombies were first found in Caribbean mythology.
Origin
Zombies were first found in traditional, African myths when dead people could be revived by a bokor, or sorcerer. The zombies do not have free will, however, and do the bidding of their resurrector. They also feature in traditional Haitian beliefs in a similar manner.
Appearance
Zombies retain their bodily shape after death. However, because they are dead, all biological activity within their bodies has ceased, resulting in decomposition of many cells and organs, causing them to appear rotted. Whenever injured, they don't react to pain as a living person would, and a lost limb rarely hampers them.
In Popular Culture
Zombies are prominent in popular culture, particularly in the horror genre of media.
Films
- Real zombies appear in the 1998 direct to video film Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, in which they are the zombies of people who have been drained by the werecat antagonists, and (unlike other zombie portrayals), simply try and warn the gang. They all manage to rest in peace when the werecats are killed.
- In the "Resident Evil" film universe, the zombies encountered are the result of a virus created by a corporation. The zombies look and function like regular zombies, but later zombies, as a result of further development of the virus, become faster, stronger and smarter.
Television
- A zombie band appears in the Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated episode Dance of the Undead.
- Zombies also appear in The Walking Dead. They are responsible for the near extinction of humans, as they hunt and devour any animal or human they find. Because of this humans survive by staying in small communities and creating safe havens that zombies, or walkers, cannot get in to.
Video Games
- An enemy in Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Swamp is the Zombie Bandido, which behave like normal zombies.
- Zombies are in all Scribblenauts games.