How Zombies from TV and Movies Have Changed into Superhuman Monsters

  • Zombies originated in Haitian Folklore, and have been featured in stories for hundreds of years.
  • With “Night of the Living Dead,”George Romero created the foundation for today’s media zombies.
  • Over the last 100 year, zombies have evolved from something spiritual into human-killing beasts.

This mythology, which originated from Haitian folklore and has seen significant evolution over the past 100 years in television and film.

This transformation began with George Romero in 1968. “Night of the Living Dead,”The first to feed zombies the desire for human flesh.

Syfy premiered a new show that puts zombies right back where they belong, and it was titled “Zombies Return to Where They Began” “Day of the Dead”The series is named after George Romero’s original zombie movie. The series pays tribute to Romero’s zombies while also highlighting how much their lives have changed by making the zombies more grotesque.

Haitian folklore is the source of zombies

Night of the Living Dead

Unaided, the dead rise unaided from their graves for a first time in “Night of the Living Dead.”

Image Ten


The History Channel website reportsAccording to Haitian folklore, zombies are thought to have originated in Haiti. They are believed that they were reanimated as mindless and soulless creatures by a Bokor (voodoo sorcerer).

The West was brought in early zombie movies, which continued the myth. “White Zombie,”It is often referred to as the first zombie movie. This all changed with “Night of the Living Dead,”George Romero directs, the beginning of the transformations of zombies onscreen.

Romero’s 1968 movie, and the sequels that followed it, showed that the zombies had no agenda or controller other than their need to eat human flesh. Romero created key zombie traits like the awkward walking and shambling of the zombies.

Romero cannot be held responsible for certain traits, such as brain-eating. This was introduced in the horror comedy “The Return of the Living Dead”1985

Zombies were first introduced in 21st-century movies.

Resident Evil

“Resident Evil”One of the most popular game adaptation movies.

Constantin Film


Romero’s films showed that people could become zombies no matter how they were bitten. The idea of a virus that causes zombies, was first introduced in 1992. “Dead Alive,”It is becoming more common to see this explanation as a reason why the undead continue to grow and exist.

After the success of “Resident Evil”And “The House of the Dead”The late 20th century saw a revival of interest in the undead. Andrew Garland, author behind “28 days later”Credit “Resident Evil”Particularly, to revive the zombie genre following its 1996 release.

“Sometimes ’28 Days Later’ is credited with reviving the zombie genre in some respect, but actually, I think it was ‘Resident Evil’ that did it because I remember playing ‘Resident Evil,’ having not really encountered zombies for quite a while and thinking: ‘Oh, my God, I love zombies! I’d forgotten how much I love zombies. These are awesome!'” Garland According to the Huffington Post, 2015

The film adaptation of “Resident Evil”In the 2000s, was followed by box-office successes “28 Days Later”Zack Snyder’s “Dawn of the Dead”The zombie virus was remade and cemented. “The Walking Dead”This is one of few recent zombie stories that keeps the zombies from getting too slow.

The appearance and behavior of zombies has changed, both in terms of their looks and in TV and movies.

Day of the Dead

Syfy’s recent zombie shows and movies have shown that zombies are more monster-like. “Day of the Dead” reboot.

Sergei Bachlakov / DOTD S1 Productions / SYFY


While zombies change their looks in movies largely depends on the technology and materials used for makeup and other effects, there are huge differences between monster-like zombies seen in movies. “The Walking Dead”as well as human-like zombies, as seen in “Train to Busan.”

Todd Masters is an Emmy Award-winning makeup effects artist. He worked on the most recent “Day of the Dead”Insider learned from Syfy that while make-up artists are trained to deal with different types zombies, they don’t usually have the money.

“[‘The Walking Dead’ makeup team] really put a lot of time and effort into [zombies] because they have the time and the budget. We did not, and so it kinda pulled us away from that look,”Masters spoke of creating the look for zombies in “Day of the Dead.” “We were really looking to like Italian zombie movies. It’s kind of not designed. They’re messy, and they’re drippy and there’s fizzy shit going on.”

21st-century zombie stories are a new trend that mixes other genres with the trope of the zombie.

Santa Clarita Diet

Recent zombie TV shows have shown that zombies can pass for human beings in some cases. “Santa Clarita Diet.”

Lara Solanki / Netflix


It was not so much about how zombies behave that the 21st century saw its evolution. Zombies are instead being introduced into other genres like zombie comediesIt was established in 1985 by “The Return of the Living Dead,”Zombie love stories, which began with 1993 “My Boyfriend’s Back.”This was seen in many zombie movies over the past 20 years. “Shaun of the Dead”And “Warm Bodies.”

You can watch TV shows like “iZOMBIE”And “Santa Clarita Diet”This was made even more humane by making zombies the main protagonist in the fight against the urge to be monsters.

This is all you need. “Army of the Dead,” Which is one of the Top 10 Netflix Original Movies Ever.The most advanced zombies in history. “Army of the Dead”This not only combines the heist genre and zombies, but also allows them to communicate with one another almost like an animal pack.

the walking dead season 11 walkers

Over the eleven seasons of “The Walking Dead,”The walkers have been seen in various stages of decay by the public.

Josh Stringer/AMC


Zack Snyder directed the movie and told Insider that he was particularly interested in making his zombies. “sympathetic.”

“I liked this idea that the zombies aren’t just killing us, they’re here to replace us in some way … like eventually there could just be a planet of the dead,”Snyder spoke.

The next stage of evolution looks like making the undead humans again. This trend is similar to that seen with other iconic monsters such as vampires and aliens.

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