The Lasting Appeal Of Zombie Movies

Though monsters have held us in their thrall since the dawning of the age of cinema, few monsters have been as popular as those portrayed in zombie movies. For a variety of reasons, these undead creatures have been popular for generations and seem to have a peculiar appeal that resonates even into modern times. There have been many attempts at explaining this phenomenon, but no single explanation can account for the diverse audience these types of films draw.

The monsters

The idea of zombies is nothing new, of course. They have had their place within the voodoo religion, where they were traditionally thought of as dead people who had been raised into a state of animation against their wishes. Far from the fearsome creatures seen on the big screen, those monsters were merely animated drones that did the biding of their creator. The concepts of cannibalism and brain-eating would come later.

The movie version

On film, zombies were still animated corpses, but they soon gained new powers and motivations to ensure that they were even more frightening than the drone-like voodoo versions. In many of the earliest films featuring zombies, the creatures were portrayed as slow-moving but relentless hunters whose sole driving impulse was to feast on human brains.

Later movies expanded on this simple concept, and added to the desire for brains an insatiable huger for human flesh. Some films even went so far as to provide the creatures with increased speed and even some semblance of organized intelligence, undoubtedly to enhance the threat they posed to the films' protagonists.

What they mean to us

Given the simplicity of the film formula for almost every movie featuring zombies, these creatures must have some deep effect on the minds of viewers. After all, hardly a year goes by without at least one new entry into the genre, with many of them being little more than poorly disguised remakes of previous films. The truth of the matter is that zombies have always represented something more than the mindless, shambling behemoths that they seem to be.

From the earliest days, zombies have symbolized a variety of human worries: from the faceless threat of communism in the Forties and Fifties to the desire for a break from conformity in later years. In recent decades, the zombies have reflected a fear of viral plagues and radiation, and those twin threats have featured prominently in many of these monster films.

Therein lies the true attraction of zombies and films featuring the creatures: their very nature provides a broad blank canvas upon which every viewer can paint his or her own unique fears. Teenagers may often see their own fear of being isolated played out in the movie as heroes are forced to find creative ways to hide form the undead menace, while older audiences find their own deep fears reflected in the waves of zombies that fill the screen.

One thing is for certain: the world of entertainment will continue to need antagonists that draw viewer interest, and zombies will probably always be able to fill that need. Because of that, it seems likely that zombie movies will continue to be a popular form of entertainment into the foreseeable future.


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