I am the Zombie Master and I will be fielding your questions. We will use our time together to better prepare ourselves for the impending doom of a zombie invasion. My hope is to correct any misinformation that has made its way out there so that there will be no confusion on the battle field.

In the process there will be a few rules. I will not tolerate any form of disrespectful behavior in class. There will be only one warning given with expulsion to follow. Remember that we are all here to learn and that is impossible in a hostile environment.

You in the back row. Yes, you with the lady on the right that has the cloudy distant stare, the rotting teeth, and the decaying skin. No, that is my stepmother-in-law. The other right. Yea. If you could take your pencil and ram it in the eye socket hard enough to puncture the brain then we can get started. Thanks. 

FreakyCreepieChic (has her hand up for question) Zombie Master why can some Zombies move better than others?

Good question. There a few factors that play a part in this. The main factor however is the shape that the body is in at the time of death and the amount of time that has lapsed between death and zombification. A fresh body will be more mobile than say one that has been dead for a few years and decay has set in.

Another factor is the form of zombification itself. A zombie formed by demon possession, i.e. Evil Dead, will be more active than say one formed by unknown contamination by a space probe because of the form of control. 

Thank you for clearing that up for me. (hand raised again for question) I know this might sound a bit silly but has there every been Zombies reanimated by a ghost (spirit) not demon possession?

FreakyCreepieChic(has her hand up again) Now this is really an out there question but has there ever been just a town of Zombies that function as normal humans? I mean they do what we (humans) normaly do, like have a job, drive a car etc? I think this would so awesome to see.

That would still fall under the Zombus Demonicus genus of zombies because it would be labeled as a possession.

By the true definition of the term zombie and by all that is holy, no. It would be awesome to see if I needed target practice.

There are children zombies in the original Dawn of the Dead and who can forget Karen (Kyra Schon) from Night of the Living Dead. Honestly, I believe that the lack of them in film has more to do with "public acceptance" rather than anything else. Amazingly, even though we do not have a problem watching zombies eating human flesh and heads being blown away we do have a problem watching a child being put down as one.

This is a study that has been going on for several years and is ongoing but there has been no definitive answers one way or the other. It is actually a combination of all three but they have been observed more often sniffing the air after hearing the noise of the non-infected. However, people have been able to get around zombies by not being noisy. It is rare but it has happened.

Happy zombie day master! (ì`m such a suck up). now to my question: i've been a zombie for a while now and all those delicious soldiers have started making me fat, do you think i should start eating vegetarians? (sorry i just couldn't resist) the real question: only the flesh/brain eating living deads count as zombies, or the blood craving ones (like in "i am legend" or "damn nation", still waiting for the movie) also apply? (apologies if my english its not good)

Happy Zombie Day to you too. I am not fond of vegetarians myself, to bony (yuk,yuk). Sorry about that.

Although "I Am Legend" was a main influence of Romero for NOTLD, Matheson's novel was about vampires hence the blood craving. Now if you watch something like "Zombie Lake" you will see blood craving zombies so I would suggest that there are a few out there but they are rare.

BTW, I am still waiting on a true movie version of "I Am Legend" but I don't think it will happen.

(Hand raised in the air waving wild and crazy) I have a question. I know Zombies have to eat brains because they hurt, however what would happen if a non-Zombie ate Zombie brains? Do they turn into Zombies or do they just get indigestion?

First of all, remember that you are talking about the O'Bannon zombies (Return series). That being said, you bring up a very interesting question. I would hypothesize that the Trioxin would get into the system of the non-zombie and eventually turn them.I believe I have a little Trioxin left from a previous experiment. I just need to pull out my list of people....

Oh, excuse me. Uhmm... I have to go do something. I will get back to you when I have a definitive answer.

There's no disrespect intended for the zombie master here but for the first question posted on the forum (Zombie Master why can some Zombies move better than others?) The Zombie master seems to have neglected the very real effects of rigor mortis. The physical situation of the body after death is not to be ignored but most reanimations happen no more than an hour after death. Rigor mortis sets in after three hours and lasts almost 72 hours. It's really nothing more than a chemical change in the muscle tissue. A certain biochemical is released with the metabolic cycle of your body that releases the natural tension on your muscles. When metabolism stops the chemical isn't released in to the muscles and they stiffen up. The way one zombie moves as compared to the other probably has more to do with the time of death than anything. On another thought this leads to various inaccuracies in the movement of extras in the movies.

As for children I'd have to agree with the Master (there was also one in 28 Days Later if you consider that a zombie movie, that's still up in the air in some circles). It is hypocritical to not be able to stomach the death of something that resembles a child as opposed to "watching zombies eating human flesh and heads being blown away." At the time of procurement of the video you've bought your ticket. No sympathy for the devil.

P.S. Trioxin? Is that from the 'Zombie Survival Guide'?

(Hand raised waving crazy) I got another question? Do Zombies have a preferred climate? Hot, warm, rainy, cold etc? One more thing I need a hall pass I have to go to the restroom.

 Hi Welcome to The Ossuary, could make your font size just a bit bigger so I can read it better. Thank you.

No disrespect taken. I am always open to added facts to help clarify an answer. You must also add in the fact that depending on the actual cause of zombification, it is not just centered on the recently deceased. References such as "Return of the Living Dead" and "Zombi 2" clearly show the long-term deceased being affected. So Rigor was not ignored as much as just not mentioned. I take the blame for that however.

As far as the Trioxin goes, the question was related to brain-eating zombies which are found in the "Return of the Living Dead" series and within that series it is the chemical Trioxin that causes the zombification.

BTW, Welcome to the class.

Zombies do not care about climate. In World War Z, they are frozen in the winter months up north only to thaw out and resume their flesh eating ways in the summer. Which, btw, is information to hold on to for you guys in the Northern climates.

And yes, but be quick. I don't want you to miss anything.

Question:

Do zombies 'love' and/or 'hate'?

hey ZombieMaster i have one question. why are zombies called 'walking dead' when they're alive (not really ALIVE per say) and they're walking around just like us? we aren't dead and we're walking around.

Answer: They are probably like me in the sense that they 'love' eating and 'hate' not eating.

The term originated from the people who witnessed other people that they were absolutely, positively sure were dead get up and walk around. The name was somewhat fitting and stuck.

thanks ZombieMaster. i will talk to you again when i hve another zombie related question. 

Hey Zombie Master (standing on desk with hand in the air) I was in a morgue today for a Anatomy and Physiology unit test I had to dissect the abdomen of a Cadaver (A+ grade). Afterwards, I was kissing the Porcelain God because of the smell of death. My question is this Why is it that people can't smell a zombie until they have been bitten? I could smell death 3 floors before I reached the morgue.

Zombie Master, is it permissible to refer to rabid humans (a la 28 Days Later or Quarantine) as "zombies," even though they're not dead?

Also, can you tell us where you studied? Do you have a Zh.D. or just an M.Z.? What course of undergraduate studies would you recommend for those of us who wish to do post-grad zombie work?

I was wondering the same thing!

At the end of Lifeforce when all these Londoners who've had there lifeforce stolen are running around creating havoc...are they zombies??  Their lifeforce stolen indicates death...but they dont seem to be feasting on people...just attacking them and stealing their lifeforce(s). So are they vampires or zombies?

Lifeforce is a great movie but they are vampires and not zombies.

I completely know how you feel. A&P is both great and sucks at the same time. Kinda like Jason Goes To Hell. Anyway, I myself think that I, like you, would be able to smell these things a mile away. As far as why the people can't smell one when it is creeping up from behind to take a chunk, I have no idea. I would place it to either shock induced loss of smell (what?) or really stupid people (which I would actually lean more towards since there are so many of them).

No it is not. I will quote from a blog that I wrote;

"A zombie is a reanimated corpse. Whether your flavor is voodoo, toxic substance, cosmic radiation, or some other form of inducing a zombie state, the cause must kill the body before it is reanimated. Films such as 28 Days Later, which I thoroughly enjoyed, and the god forsaken piece of filth that is the remake of Day of the Dead have humans that are not reanimated corpses but rather humans infected by a virus that causes changes while still alive"

As for studies, I have been trained at many places and hold a Zh.D in Corpse Reanimation Theory from the Fulci dept at the U. of M. Undergraduate studies have a mandatory reading list that includes Zombie CSU:The Forensics of the Living Dead, History is Dead, Day by Day Armageddon, and the Max Brooks titles. BTW you can pre-order the follow up to Max Brooks Zombie Survival Guide, Recorded Attacks at Amazon and other fine booksellers. It has a June 2nd 2009 release date.