Zombies: The Perfect Movie Monsters

The wretched decaying bodies.  The dead.  They come back to wreak havoc on the living.  The mangled and the twisted.  The stench of death is enough to make one sick and although they can't truly capture that smell on film, they certainly have the guts, literally, to make you sick just watching.

That is of course their intent.  If you love horror or movie monsters, nothing can be better than to watch people survive an apocalyptic scenario such as a zombie outbreak.  You ask why are they the best?  But maybe you'll tell me why they are the worst.

First the typical zombie is weak.  They are slow and although they have one weakness, they can be taken out quite easily.  Well, a simple blow to the head can knock their brains out.  And that is a small part of their brain that does all the work.  Where we use all of our brain.  The zombie uses very little.

But what they lack in ability, they make up for in numbers.  The more there are the more dangerous they are.  Also, some can be quite quiet.  Don't let them sneak up on you.

The scariness of a zombie comes from the scenario itself.  The spread of an incurable disease that no one can stop.  The loneliness that comes when all of the people around you are dead and/or undead.  Having to find shelter, survival tools, food, and water.  Then there are the people that you have no idea that you can trust.  In this scenario there is every possible nightmare.  Like I said, loneliness, possible betrayal, starvation,  exposure to the elements, dangerous people, unexpected noises, and changing into someone you don't want to be.

Oh yes, you will become someone else when zombies are around.  If you were a giving person, expect to be betrayed, unless you make good choices.  Choices you would wish you have not had to make.  You might become uncaring.  You might start to care only for yourself.  You might be a monster.  You may kill innocent people just to get what you need.  When something occurs that changes everything around you, that changes your situation, you will become someone you weren't before.

So what are the best zombie movies and shows to watch?  Well, of course, there's "The Walking Dead."  Of course you may be already watching that or know someone else that does.  "Zombie," which is one of the more gory ones out there is a great choice.  There's a scene in which a woman has her eye pulled into a wooden splinter from her door by a zombie that's after her.  Later, her body is being eaten by zombies and you see almost every detail.

In video games, there's the ever popular "Left 4 Dead."  There's a good first person survival RPG called "Dead Island."  But look them up, there are more coming, they never end just like the zombies.  They keep coming.

But what do I like about zombies?  I like that they don't die in more conventional means.  You can blast them about, pound them, and cut them up, but they still live.  They're just like Jason Voorhees.  Jason only bests them, because he himself just keeps coming back no matter how many times you kill him.  Stabbing right in the head doesn't even kill him.  So, if it wasn't for him, zombies would be the best, but I guess he's just one guy.  Zombies are millions.  Yes, it's that they never end.  Jason's just one dead man, but zombies are many and forever.  So, just be careful of the super zombies.

Now there's a "what if" scenario for you.  What if the virus in question that turns the dead into the undead were to evolve or to mutate?  What if zombies got faster and stronger?  What if they became just like us?  Anything just to make them scarier.