The Official Rules of Zombie Horror

[Avatar Roku]

As far as I'm concerned, all this "oh, they're running, they aren't real zombies" stuff is trash. Why can't the zombie genre be expanded?

Oh, and even if you don't think running zombies can be zombies, they definitely are in L4D for one reason: Zoey lampshaded it. "I'm calling zombie bullshit! They aren't allowed to be that fast!"

 

[Fenring]

I find it odd that I noticed this thread the same day I got Day of the Dead from Netflix. Anyway, I can't think of anything that involves zombies and doesn't feature someone with a British accent.

 

[mooncalf]

Rule # Whatever: The bitten character will be assisted up to the moment of their turning zombie.

It does seem to happen in alot of zombie movies. They're bitten, they're getting sick and slowing everybody down, but they still get to hang out with the living until the last minute, when they can either make a heroic sacrifice or be destroyed while trying to kill a survivor.

As for fast Zombies. In "Return of the Living Dead" (1985) a Zombie makes a flying tackle on a fleeing paramedic, a classic Z-Movie moment. Sure it's scarier in a film if they're implacably slow, but in an FPS game? Not so scary at all.

 

[Graham]

-snip-

When I say it's a game breaker, I mean that, head shot only zombies would be impossible to beat, especially the running variant, and especially in a L4D type of game where they come at you 30 at a time.

I totally agree. L4D was more concerned with being fun and visceral rather than being accurate to zombie mythos. What would be interesting, for us hardcore zombie nuts, would be a game where the zombies could only be killed by headshot and were slow moving.

I think the only way to make this challenging and fun would be to incorporate zombie endurance into the equation, so play sessions would have to last a very long time in between safe zones with emphasis on survival rather than fast paced gun-fun. It could probably work as an MMORPG.

 

[Arsen]

Watch out for that ONE silent movie zombie.

 

[Sylocat]

Something I've always wondered: If the black guy always dies first, why are there no black zombies?

 

[Celd]

Something I've always wondered: If the black guy always dies first, why are there no black zombies?

My god...now that you have said that I think I've only seen a total of 5 black zombies.
Sadly...I dont have the answer. T_T

 

[Sylocat]

Something I've always wondered: If the black guy always dies first, why are there no black zombies?

My god...now that you have said that I think I've only seen a total of 5 black zombies.
Sadly...I dont have the answer. T_T

Whoops... I made a mistake.

Popular myth states that the black guy always dies first, but this is a misconception. In truth, the black guy usually dies second. The first one to die is almost always either The Smart Aleck or someone who actually deserves it: the evil fast food manager, the crabby high school principal, etc.

 

[Celd]

Something I've always wondered: If the black guy always dies first, why are there no black zombies?

My god...now that you have said that I think I've only seen a total of 5 black zombies.
Sadly...I dont have the answer. T_T

Whoops... I made a mistake.

Popular myth states that the black guy always dies first, but this is a misconception. In truth, the black guy usually dies second. The first one to die is almost always either The Smart Aleck or someone who actually deserves it: the evil fast food manager, the crabby high school principal, etc.

Now im gonna have to go watch a bunch of horror films to see if that is correct.

 

[Knight Templar]

This is a very improtant rule that Left 4 Dad had broken, you never actually call them zombies, but they can be reffered to as ghouls.

No they can't, they are infected.

 

[Clashero]

The two love sick teens ALWAYS die. Also, the blonde, the jock and their best friends are on the meal ticket.

This, so much this.

Also, I'd add that there is always one character who is bitten, but doesn't reveal it until later.
And of course, as was said earlier, they MUST be killed by "removing the head or destroying the brain".
Oh, and zombies usually don't wander off on their own. Lone zombies are very rare, while couples being just uncommon (I can remember just one, that being the fat bloke with the girl in Shaun of the Dead)

 

[Bachanomon92]

1. Zombies move incredibly slow. [exception: unless you are made by Valve]
2. Zombies feel no pain.
3. Zombies only need the brain to survive. (they can't die from the failure of other organs. e.g. suffocation, drowning, kidney failure, etc.
4. In the event of a zombie uprising, useful weapons and equipment will magically pop up wherever there are survivors)

 

[Mr.Banaynay]

1. Zombies move incredibly slow. [exception: unless you are made by Valve]
2. Zombies feel no pain.
3. Zombies only need the brain to survive. (they can't die from the failure of other organs. e.g. suffocation, drowning, kidney failure, etc.
4. In the event of a zombie uprising, useful weapons and equipment will magically pop up wherever there are survivors)

normally rule 2 would apply but in the first few days of being infected the zombie would still feel pain because their bodies would still be partly active

 

[Calax]

1. Zombies move incredibly slow. [exception: unless you are made by Valve]
2. Zombies feel no pain.
3. Zombies only need the brain to survive. (they can't die from the failure of other organs. e.g. suffocation, drowning, kidney failure, etc.
4. In the event of a zombie uprising, useful weapons and equipment will magically pop up wherever there are survivors)

I wonder how the zombies would be able to move if you snapped their spines... that said number 4 is frighteningly dead on

I also want to add that somehow there will always be a woman who's rescued (I guess the makers always want there to be the possibility of repopulation?)

 

[AssMeister]

Come on guys... what makes a zombie a zombie is that you have something that was once human, maybe someone you loved, that is now a vile, soulless wretch. The point is that when you look at a zombie you are looking at a gross perversion of humanity. Something that isn't right. Something... evil...

That is why this "anti-running zombie" crap is just rubbish. Either way you are looking at something that horrifies you because on the surface it looks human, but in reality it's only thought is to disembowel you.

But that is the "zombie" itself. The real distinction between walking/shambling and running zombies is the emotion they trigger. "Original" zombies cause dread, hopelessness, despair, and panic (at the last seconds before death). Mostly dread. Running zombies cause dread when they're not around, but mostly panic and terror.

Not so much the creature that is different. On the whole, you have something that vaguely resembles a person, but on the inside there is no soul. Only malice or the need to feed or kill.

But realistically, no one could survive a running zombie outbreak. Which is sad, because that is the one that is more likely to happen some day (not that either will, lol...).

 

[dontworryaboutit]

I actually like the view the graphic novel series "The Walking Dead" takes by making it a virus that is not only transmitted by bite but also upon death regardless of situation.

Adds a whole new layer of depressive pointlessness to it.

And if it's a film, Ving Rhames will be in it.

 

[quiet_samurai]

People usually die for sheer stupidity, like reaching out a previously locked door to grab some unimportant thingy on the ground only to be bitten by the zombie hidden behind said door. Usually the survivors all die because of another survivors stupiduty/greed/fear/laziness. The count usually starts off around a dozen at the most and by the end there is usually only one or a few.

My remedy: just kill everyone around you leaving only yourself is a sure way to survive.

 

[dontworryaboutit]

People usually die for sheer stupidity, like reaching out a previously locked door to grab some unimportant thingy on the ground only to be bitten by the zombie hidden behind said door. Usually the survivors all die because of another survivors stupiduty/greed/fear/laziness. The count usually starts off around a dozen at the most and by the end there is usually only one or a few.

My remedy: just kill everyone around you leaving only yourself is a sure way to survive.

That's when you get injured and die thinking "Damn...shoulda seen that one coming."

 

[Asher1991]

People usually die for sheer stupidity, like reaching out a previously locked door to grab some unimportant thingy on the ground only to be bitten by the zombie hidden behind said door. Usually the survivors all die because of another survivors stupiduty/greed/fear/laziness. The count usually starts off around a dozen at the most and by the end there is usually only one or a few.

My remedy: just kill everyone around you leaving only yourself is a sure way to survive.

That brings up the wonderful paradox of you now being a stupid/greedy/fearful/lazy douchebag. You were stupid for killing off your friends and fellow survivors, greedy for wanting the whole "living" thing exclusive to you, afraid of dying, and didn't want to expend the effort of surviving as a group. You will die in 5...4...3...2...ZOMBIE!

Seriously, the zombie apocalypse scenario shows the monster in much the same way that the film Aliens did. The actual villain is humanity's distrust of one another and greed, and the zombies are merely a catalyst that demonstrates this. Romero's films were a visionary social commentary more than anything else. Therefore, as a rule, zombies must have some tongue-in-cheek humor about pop culture or where society is heading when they appear.

 

[quiet_samurai]

People usually die for sheer stupidity, like reaching out a previously locked door to grab some unimportant thingy on the ground only to be bitten by the zombie hidden behind said door. Usually the survivors all die because of another survivors stupiduty/greed/fear/laziness. The count usually starts off around a dozen at the most and by the end there is usually only one or a few.

My remedy: just kill everyone around you leaving only yourself is a sure way to survive.

That's when you get injured and die thinking "Damn...shoulda seen that one coming."

Touche my good man.....