Who, in their right mind, would like to miss this movie? Not me, for sure! And if it's not just my mind playing tricks on me, I think I saw a zombie in there! Yess! This movie seems like an unavoidable one! Hooray for March!

On another, quite unrelated spin, I've been having this problem to solve lately: what is a zombie? Or, what is it that makes a zombie... a zombie?

I've spoken with Marianne, a good friend of mind, about this and we have yet to reach a complete conclusion. Are zombies simply dead walking from their graves? Would a vampire count as a zombie?

I need to build some kind of rules that define what a zombie is, if I'm to link and evaluate zombie-related things.

So, what I have for now is:

  • They are animated corpses but they need to have a good percentage of flesh on them. We're not talking about animated skeletons here. They can't be 100% preserved either.
  • They're contagious, somehow (usually through their bite)

And I have quite a few questions...

  • Are mummies a kind of zombie? I'd say yes.
  • Are vampires a kind of zombie? I'd say no.
  • Is Jason (from Friday the 13th) a zombie? I'd say yes.
  • Are all zombies brainless? I'd say no.
  • Is the sole objective of a zombie to eat brains? I'd say no.

I'd like my zombie definition to be able to consider a good number of interpretations of zombies. The talking zombies of Dead Alive, fast zombies, slow zombies, etc.

So, send your comments and let me know what you think makes a zombie... a zombie. I need that data.