Zombies and their variations

ShowerInspiration · Jun 12, 2009

In one of my WIP there is a part where the MC stumbles into an abandoned insane asylum where the dead have been infected, typical zombie flick, but I'm not sure about the undeads movement, I don't know how they should walk, fast or slow. Arms raised, arms flailing, eyes, no eyes.

I know in 28days later they are fast but again IMO they are not real zombies but humans infected with rage. Anyways, I have also seen movies where the zombies are slow but come in huge mobs. Some movies they have their hands raised in a grabbing motion others they keep them at their sides, or in some occasions they just don't have arms lol.

But I'm not sure which variation YA would find most scary (well I don't think people are scared of zombies anymore) but more realistic I guess you can say.

Leasie · Jun 12, 2009

If i had to choose I would say Mobs, slowish, arms flailing, and a mixture of eyes and no eyes.

misa101 · Jun 12, 2009

I would make them neither shamble or run. A determined walk would scare me more. Something that exudes "you can try to stop me but it won't work" kinda like the walk the school bully had when he was coming up on an easy target, just one step away from a swagger.

Danthia · Jun 12, 2009

They're your zombies, make them do whatever works best for your story. Maybe even give readers something new, since as you said, we all know zombies now. Maybe these crawl or scramble on all fours.

Leah_Michelle · Jun 12, 2009

ShowerInspiration said:
In one of my WIP there is a part where the MC stumbles into an abandoned insane asylum where the dead have been infected, typical zombie flick, but I'm not sure about the undeads movement, I don't know how they should walk, fast or slow. Arms raised, arms flailing, eyes, no eyes.

I know in 28days later they are fast but again IMO they are not real zombies but humans infected with rage. Anyways, I have also seen movies where the zombies are slow but come in huge mobs. Some movies they have their hands raised in a grabbing motion others they keep them at their sides, or in some occasions they just don't have arms lol.

But I'm not sure which variation YA would find most scary (well I don't think people are scared of zombies anymore) but more realistic I guess you can say.

I think that not following the cliche of zombies would be more terrifying. With all the zombie movies out, and most of them acting all the same, it would terrify me more to not know what they would do next.
It seems to predictable if they are slow moving mobs.

YAwriter72 · Jun 12, 2009

Oh man, if they got on all fours and ran like dogs *shiver*

Leah_Michelle · Jun 12, 2009

YAwriter72 said:
Oh man, if they got on all fours and ran like dogs *shiver*

Wild animals scare me. I live in the middle of no where, about 20 minutes outside of a town, and I'm terrified to go outside at night because of the bears and mountain lions that prowl around my property every once in a while.

Seeing a zombie all ducked down low and moving quickly towards me would probably make me faint.

YAwriter72 · Jun 12, 2009

Leah_Michelle said:
Wild animals scare me. I live in the middle of no where, about 20 minutes outside of a town, and I'm terrified to go outside at night because of the bears and mountain lions that prowl around my property every once in a while.

Seeing a zombie all ducked down low and moving quickly towards me would probably make me faint.

Exactly!!! Me too! I would be far more freaked out over that than some undead guy rambling towards me moaning.

MattW · Jun 12, 2009

They could crab-walk like from The Exorcist. That's creepy, but been done.

Or a stumbling, drunk-live walk that is clumsy but still capable of surprising speed and accuracy.

YAwriter72 · Jun 12, 2009

MattW said:
They could crab-walk like from The Exorcist. That's creepy, but been done.

THAT is by far the most disturbing thing I've ever seen. It still gives me goosebumps.

Red.Ink.Rain · Jun 12, 2009

They did that in The Unborn too. *shiver*

Elidibus · Jun 14, 2009

Wait! I have one!

Have them moving slowly at first. Then have their eyes pop open. Have them raise their hands and move as fast a predatory cats searching for prey. And have them slash with their arms. Zombies have notoriously bad table manners.

At least that's what I would do.

Repartee · Jun 14, 2009

The all-fours, reverting back to animalistic [is this even a word?] movement is my favorite. The steady walk is also creepy, but not quite as creepy.
Movement should be NQR, not herky-jerky and not smooth. Think of tendons and ligaments degraded, but still solid enough to work. Everything is rough but still efficient.
No eyes, or have them be clouded over. Knowing something is looking at you, and seeing you, and yet it has no eyes is pretty damn creepy.
Not grabbing unless they're close. Think of wild animals, say, the big cats. They don't make big movements unless they're sure the prey is close enough.
Rudimentary intelligence, almost all of it your most basic animal instincts. Smart enough for basic problem solving, i.e. opening regular doors, but no way to figure out something like a keypad.

Crab-walk. I'm shivering right now. My overly-vivid imagination is showing me exactly that.

I'm the girl who grew up watching her mom play Resident Evil, lol. I have a lot of zombie experience.

If you're not a gamer, find someone who'll play Fatal Frame for you. Mom played it once, while I watched. Scared the shit out of me, and her, and nothing scares her, ever.
Very good for creepy moments, although I don't think there were any zombies. . . still, might help with the insane asylum vibe, just 'cause it's so damn creepy.

ETA: wow. This post got long.

ShowerInspiration · Jun 14, 2009

Ah! sorry... Just remembered my first Resident Evil game lol. I've played Fatal Frame among a few zombie games. The thing is, in my dreams with zombies they are mostly charred black. As if caught on fire and walked right out. They're always coming at me in huge mobs, moving fast, some with their legs blown right out, crawling on all fou...twos.

But I think I'm going with crabwalking. After your posts I remembered my copy of F.E.A.R and decided to play it. That whole crawling on the ceiling thing? *shudder*

Repartee · Jun 14, 2009

ShowerInspiration said:
But I think I'm going with crabwalking. After your posts I remembered my copy of F.E.A.R and decided to play it. That whole crawling on the ceiling thing? *shudder*

OMG. I'm shivering again. Charred is good, it's always creepy if you know there's no way in hell they could survive that kind of burn.

ShowerInspiration · Jun 14, 2009

Exactly! I end up shooting them in the forehead with a nail gun, always. That's how my dreams end lol. Ok here's kind of a weird question, do you ever get kind of, flashes, where your walking down the street and you suddenly see the undead crawling out of every corner, building or whatever? Or is that just a sign I need to go back to the shrink lol

Repartee · Jun 14, 2009

ShowerInspiration said:
Exactly! I end up shooting them in the forehead with a nail gun, always. That's how my dreams end lol. Ok here's kind of a weird question, do you ever get kind of, flashes, where your walking down the street and you suddenly see the undead crawling out of every corner, building or whatever? Or is that just a sign I need to go back to the shrink lol

No, but I had a nightmare a few months ago about a little blond girl climbing into a clawfoot tub full of water in an empty white room and electrocuting herself with a hair dryer.
How's that for unbalanced?

ETA: Oh, and the woman in the chair, in the same room, looking up at me and smiling while the left side of her face caught on fire.
Yeah. I never said I was normal, lol. My imagination is vivid and twisted.

ShowerInspiration · Jun 14, 2009

That's weird lol. Death is a recurrent theme in most of my dreams. I don't consider them nightmares, nightmares used to scare me. Now I call them dreams because I find them rather pleasant.

BTW, dreaming of electrocution means unfair judgment or treatment. Just thought I'd let you know that lol.

Repartee · Jun 14, 2009

ShowerInspiration said:
That's weird lol. Death is a recurrent theme in most of my dreams. I don't consider them nightmares, nightmares used to scare me. Now I call them dreams because I find them rather pleasant.

BTW, dreaming of electrocution means unfair judgment or treatment. Just thought I'd let you know that lol.

Interesting. A lot of my dreams have to do with death, too.
I can see where I thought [and still do, to some extent] I'd been judged and treated unfairly.

ShowerInspiration · Jun 14, 2009

See? Dreams don't lie my friend lol

Repartee · Jun 14, 2009

So how about the dreams you don't remember, but scare you so much you wake up sitting up in bed, shaking and covered in sweat?
Is that something about my past that I don't want to face, which is why I can't remember the dream? That makes a lot of sense, especially since I've been having those kind of dreams less and less lately, the more I embrace my motto.

Repartee · Jun 14, 2009

lol, did I scare you away? I'm harmless, really.

ShowerInspiration · Jun 14, 2009

The reason you can't remember your worst dreams is your brain makes it look and feel so real that you have the same reaction asleep than you would awake, be it scream or curl into a fetal position. And by moving or talking, you take energy or "importance" from the part of your brain that helps you remember thoughts or in this case, dreams.

ShowerInspiration · Jun 14, 2009

No you didn't scare me away, Im on my PSP and it's the equivalent of typing on the cell phone, slow and cumbersome lol

Repartee · Jun 14, 2009

ShowerInspiration said:
The reason you can't remember your worst dreams is your brain makes it look and feel so real that you have the same reaction asleep than you would awake, be it scream or curl into a fetal position. And by moving or talking, you take energy or "importance" from the part of your brain that helps you remember thoughts or in this case, dreams.

I'm totally coming to you about every weird dream I have, lol.

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