Fast Zombies are no fun at all. Your supposed to have an advantage, because they're ZOMBIES dadgummit! I don't think the good Lord would make a fast Zombie anyway.

 

Since I really don't enjoy crapping my pants, I still think fast zombies suck.

 

Slow zombies make more sense, regardless of the type of zombie in question. Voodoo zombies, popularised during the first half of the 20th century, were supposed to be people who had their souls stolen. As such these zombies had little drive, their only motivation being to serve their master. It's been said these zombies could have been made by poisoning, causing a near-catatonic state but with full consciousness. This renders all but the slowest movement impossible for the zombie.

Zombies of the modern-day horror genre are corpses risen from the dead. It stands to reason that such corpses didn't move so fast in real life, and the grave wasn't kind to the muscle, bone, and connective tissue they're made of. If they tried to move faster than healthy living people they'd break down even further with joint dislocations, broken bones, and pulled muscles.

I know this is where the fast-zombie folks will say "but it's MAGIC!" The discussion then becomes how much "magic" you want to rely on: just re-animation or full-blown rehabilitation, which implies regeneration, which means zombies shouldn't die unless you fully incinerate them.

 

Fast zombies are bad because they are hard to hit.

Slow zombies are funner to own.

 

Zombies aren't suppossed to win - they can use surprise or trickery but speed just isn't suppossed to be a zombie characteristic!

 

Here is the deal. In every instance of fast zombie usage in movies or otherwise the zombies themselves were never actually dead. They were either infected with some type of virus while alive or became zombies through some sort of magical transition. In the strictest sense of the word this makes them not valid zombies. A zombie, in the strictest sense of the word is ".. is purportedly a dead person whose body has been re-animated. " - Wikipedia.

The first appearances of zombies in film portrayed them as slow moving re-animated corpses that dig themselves out of their own graves to feast on the living. This implies that while zombies have superhuman strength (probably due to the lack of any working nerve pain receptors) they are severely atrophied from being dead, and thus have jolting forced movements.

So, basically this boils down to, fast 'zombies' are not actually zombies, but more of infected human cannibals. So the argument is moot... Everyone go home.

 

The main strength of the zombie is not in its movement speed or really anything physical other than imperviousness to pain. But in large masses of flesh eating monsters, strength in numbers. They dont need to be fast, all they need is numbers and the kind of determination that comes from being an undead people eating machine.

 

Bah, fast zombies are no zombies at all.

Fast zombies seem to just be a way of increasing movie profits by doing something new with what is a time-tested stereotype. Not good, just new.

Classic zombies are great, unthinking hordes of brain-eating, moaning monsters. Fast zombies are just silly, screamy things.

 

Fast zombies are just stupid; what are the chances that an almost decomposed body would be able to run fast? Slow zombies add to the horror scenes; they're a lot scarier.

 

Being a film maker myself, and having created a full length Zombie movie, I must present my opinion here.

The classic zombie will never be defeated, for numerous reasons:

First: The slow Zombie provides for the ultimate cinematic experience. A buildup involving increasing masses of the undead, who are slowly but surely surrounding you is superior to out of nowhere attacks by raging lunatic zombies. The slow Zombie is also cinematically superior with the use of the Zombie walk. Seeing a few slow Zombies marching towards you allows for you to see their features. This makes you scared stiff, not because they're going to "get you", but because you can see the hideousness of what might get you!

Second: It gives you a chance to escape. Running away from lumbering crowds of Zombies is the greatest adrenaline rush one can experience. If there's still hope, there's still a reason to have a movie.

Third: Slow Zombies allow for more comical opportunities. We all know the classic "confuse the Zombie for a drunk guy" routine. Let's face the facts here folks, slow, immobile and stupid is the perfect combination for comedy.

Fourth: Slow Zombies allow for more creative kills. It's nearly impossible to take a lawnmower into a crowd of Olympic speed Zombies, and even harder to have a good shotgun kill when the Zombie is flying at you breaking the sound barrier.

Fifth: Nothing will ever defeat the Zombie moan. These fast Zombies sound like dying cattle, which is all good in my book, if they are of course cattle Zombies. Insane high pitched screams do not belong in the decaying vocal chords of a Zombie.

Sixth: Fast Zombies destroy the ability for there to be super Zombies. If every single Zombie can run a four minute mile, what's the chances that one of them will be muscular and invincible? Slow Zombies allow for that "crap-your-pants" moment when you see a massive behemoth Zombie stumble around the corner dragging an elephant by its trunk.

Seventh: Zombies are made of decaying flesh people. It's idiotic to think that deteriorating tissue can hold up to that much pressure. Fast Zombies are not anatomically possible.

When the Zombies attack in real life, call me.

 

ZOMBIES SHOULD NOT BE FAST IF THEY WERE SOME OF THE GREATEST HORROR MOVIE WOULD BE SHORT BESIDES WHEN PEOPLE ARE BEING ATTACKED BY ZOMBIES THEY SHOULD HAVE A CHANCE TO MOUNT THEIR DEFENCES THIS MAKES FOR A BETTER BATTLE AND GIVES THEM ACHANCE

 

Fast zombies leave no room for suspense. Zombies are slow because their bodies are decomposing and muscle tissue is deteriating and blood is not flowing to the muscles. Plus the reason zombies are scary is they want to eat you alive and they're coming at you in massive numbers. Plus they could be your family, imagine your family or lover now trying to murder you.

Slow Zombies Fast Zombies.

 

This argument is lacking anything that remotely resembles logic.

He states that the Zombie would push its body far past the limits of a 'regular' human body, but ignores the fact that a Zombies body is decaying. It is rotting to pieces, turning to jello, falling apart, it is dead for chrissake.

My argument is supported by examining the basic process of rigor mortis. After death, the body undergoes a chemical change which makes the muscles nearly impossible to move. If a Zombie can "push itself to the limit", the limits would not be to far, considering they can hardly manipulate their bodies.

Furthermore, Romero outlines in "Day of the Dead" the process of decay that occurs within the brain. The cortex rapidly deteriorates, causing a massive weakining of the limbic. Unless they can prove that the brain stem is the ONLY part of the brain that must be functioning to cause activation of the sympathetic nervous system, as well as proving that the nescessary neurons would still be functioning in EVERY part of the Zombie's body, they can hold no neuroscientific ground in this debate.

I'll also argue that it is impossible for endorphins to even function properly due to the tissue deterioration that also affects neurons. Even if only one single neuron is absent, it makes a difference in that the synaptic gap is widened to inhibit the neuro transmitters from accessing the dendrites of the next neuron.

 

Zombies have their advagtage in shear numbers. Once you are bitten, you become one. 10,000 zombies are an incredible force based on size and the fact that they are relatively hard to kill.

Shoot a man in the shoulder and he is out of the fight.....shoot a zombie anywhere but in the head and he still comes after you.
Slow Zombies are bad enough

 

Slow zombies don't need pace to scare the living sh*t out of you.

I don't know how many times I've played Half Life 2 and heard a fast zombie scream and run at me *yawn*.

However running around a corner and shooting something and then turning around to see a zombie attacking you is the best.

Zombies are meant to be slow.

 

The horror of zombies are that they are slow and stupid, yet in large numbers they will still "getcha" and there is nothing you can do about it.

My favorite thing about zombie movies is the "nightmare" feeling that comes from trying to flea from an overwhelming force of slow, stupid creatures that you SHOULD be able to escape from. But. All they have to do is pin you down and bite you... and you are one of them.

Thats all.

 

The zombie genre boils down to man vs man conflict. its ultimately about co-operating and not falling victim to pettyness, bickering, and other human weaknesses. if you work together and act reasonably then the zombies aren't supposed to pose that much of a threat. once the bonds with your fellow survivors fails then the zombies move in for the kill. thats what makes the zombie genre so good. its always in the end about man surviving with others and getting along - the threat from the actual zombies is only present if/when the survivors engage in petty conflict and lose sense of priorities.

that is why slow zombies are better. they maintain the man-vs-man conflict setup for zombie movies which ultimately provides a better story and more character development.

fast zombies turn the genre into just a monster-fight which may be action packed, would be lacking in all other departments.

 

that is completely untrue. zombies are undead humans and therefore cant stretch their abilities any farther than a normal man, unless of course the zombies are on steroids

 

FAST ZOMBIES!? F THAT!!! I NEED TIME TO RE-LOAD MY AK!

 

Fast zombies are to fast and could easily kill you but slow zombies can be killed easily. but a smarty fasty zombie is bady

 

Slow zombies are the real rush. Sure fast zombies are a great shock but really a slow zombie has long term effects because you know it will eventually catch up to you.
Plus! Fast zombies are more like individuals they never gather into huge hoards of the undead, where as slow zombies do. Pretty f**king scary to me.

 

Come on, lets all just get along. As posted a short time ago, new zombies fast, old zombies slow, however, rigor, which lasts less than an hour would temporarily cripple new zombies unless they either had a handy chiropractor or say, fell down a flight of stairs.

There are real zombies ya know, all of those folks on crack-cocaine. I live two blocks from Main and Hastings in Vancouver and you have to dodge back and forth just like in the movies, especially if your psychotic.

As would death, virally induced zombification would likely cause stupification not unlike someone on rytalin, prosim or, scopolamine. Tetrodotoxin from the pufferfish and another pharmacoligical from a Tahitian plant can actually give the appearance of death and though the basis for zombie literature and movies, not on topic.

I think the big question herein is how long can a zombie last before breaking down on its own accord. If suddenly everyone was held up in fortifications whouldn't the threat just disapear after 6 months or so?

 

zombies are living dead right? So their flesh and muscles are decaying right?. How can they run fast when their ligaments and muscles necessary for running are decaying? That would be hard wouldn't it?

 

Slow zombies are scarier, because you get a chance to think about it. If a zombie were real(that's an entertaining thought) you would be dead...and you wouldn't know why, because you're dead.

Slow zombies mean you see the rotting corpse of your father coming at you, reaching for your brain, and no matter how much you try to remind him it's you, he still will come for you. Like others have said, there's nothing scarier then a horde of zombies that you should be able to get away from, but somehow, someway, they just keep coming.

Also, the only fast zombies, or zombies that could move with any sort of significant coordination, that were any good, were the Thriller zombies.

 

He has made a fast Zombie, and put them in Resident Evil 1 (GC). At first the zombies are really slow, ie managable. The game takes a scary twist when you start burning the zombies bodies in order to really get rid of them. When all of a sudden one rises off the floor. And runs at you. Not only that, they can run faster than you!!

I almost crapped my pants the first time that happend. Wait, I did crap my pants, which is why fast zombies, are 1000 X better at killing you than slow zombies.

 

Take note that Resident Evil is real life. I mean they did make 2 movies from the real life story of racoon city.

 

by all rights a zombie SHOULD be able to run fast. it doesnt feel pain, and it lacks the inability to reason, so it would push its own body far past the limits of a 'regular' human body, making it faster AND stronger then a person, letalone the would-be zombies found too often in video games and movies.

 

Zombies are supposed to be a challenge. Slow zombies get boring if you are good.

 

After having played Half Life 2, the fast zombies are much scarier and more fun to kill. Sure you can f**k with the slow zombies, but the fast ones... damn!

 

First off, I in no way favor one over the other. I love (virtually) every zombie movie out there regardless of the zombie's speed. Some zombies move fast, some do not. Some like to eat brains and some would even eat animals. To each his own.

The fact is slow zombies were the originals. They are derived from as way back as ancient times and have a history outside of American and European cinema. They are in fact the dead come back to life and it only makes sense that they move slow. They were originally products of voodoo and the sort.

However, the dead coming back to life is much less plausible than a virus causing a person to act maliciously. No one outside of fiction has been able to resurrect dead tissue. However, there are viruses and sicknesses that cause malicious behavior (ex. rabies). It is the idea that what is occurring in the movie to be a possibility in real life that makes the movie that much more enjoyable. The kind of people that would debate over a topic such as this are the kind of people that would love to be in the middle of a zombie invasion. And the closer we can get to a real-life zombie invasion makes it that much better.

 

lets say first off the first zombies(movie wise) were slow. Gorege A Ramoro's "night of the living dead, Dawn of the dead, Day of the dead, and his new Land of the dead" the zombies were all slow. but lets think about what makes a zombie slow, rotting flesh, stiff joints, possibly no legs, but when does this all set in. whats to say a freshly turned zombie cant run and an older zombie limps slowly. that to me makes more sense and a much more scary movie.

 

what if the zombie was just turned and has not stated to decompose could it run then? i think so.

 

I am also a fan of most zombies, but the way I see it, there needs to be a good blend of zombies, like what Half-life 2/Ep:1 did with Slow Zombies/Fast Zombies/ Zombine.
I understand the "Holy f**k, I'm doomed." thought process you get from a giant crowd of shambling, rotting corpses, but you can't leave out those "OH JESUS CHRIST WHERE THE FUCK DID THAT ONE COME FROM?!" you get from fast zombies.
Also, both types have their strengths/weaknesses.
According to Max Brooks, in decent conditions (not too hot/cold) a slow zombie could last for several years before it was harmless from complete decomposition. (+)
Whereas, in 28 Weeks Later (surprisingly decent), it was brought up that they died of starvation after a matter of about 6 weeks. (-)
Slow zombies don't think in any way, shape, or form, so killing them individually isn't any kind of problem. (-)
But it varies from fictional entertainment as to if fast zombies can, though, I'd think it uncommon. (-)
In Day of the Dead/Land of the Dead, it showed that slow zombies could be educated/learn on their own. (+)
I've yet to see any fast zombie film where they could learn. (-)
Lets face it, fast zombies are scarier, which is what horror tries to make you feel, scared.
At first, the very idea of walking dead that ate the living was frightening in itself, and the ripping of bodies to pieces/hordes of out slow brain-feasting friends was enough to make us more than a little uneasy, but after a while, once you've seen one crowd of rotting friends/neighbors, you've seen them all.
I liked what the did in the resident evil series (particularly 4), where they mixed sh*t up. So, technically, the experiments, Las Plagas, G-Virus, ect. weren't technically zombies, but still added variety to the slow zombie field.
The only reason I argue for the fast zombies is because nowadays, I don't achieve the same psychological thrill that I used to from post-human cannibals and I must revert to "Lets go down this dark haFUCK OH FUCK SHOOT IT FUCK FUCK FUCK".

And Zombine sucked in HL2: Ep:1, because they threw f**king grenades.

 

A fast zombie has all of the properties of the slow zombie, except it's faster, making the fast zombie better.

A fast zombie would be more dangerous to humans, because speed, the only thing humans have against zombies, they no longer have.

 

Fast zombies get my adrenaline pumping fast. A team of 4 or 5 people with proper weapons could work together and still stand a chance. And they travel in large groups just as the slow ones do.

 

Zombies are fiction. They're purpose is to entertain and scare. Fast zombies are more effective at both. Slow zombies are only potentially more effective for comedy.

 

TALKING LIKE THIS, IN ALL CAPS, MAKES ARGUMENTS A LOT MORE CONVINCING.

 

About a year ago, a colleague and I had this very discussion. At first, I argued in favor of the slow zombies, due to rigor mortis. He, being a doctor, argued against me. Basically, in most zombie movies and books, the change happens quickly, usually only a minute or two after death, and sometimes gradually even before death. Also, if the body is to have motion at all, oxygen would have to go to the muscles, the lack of which is the basic cause of rigor mortis in the first place. Ergo, it stands to reason that there is no cause for rigor mortis to slow zombies, which seems to be the main opposing argument. Together we formed a postulate regarding the beginning speeds vs the speeds over time. At first, the zombie would use it's muscles to their full potential, ignoring the constraints the brain normally imposes. After a short period of time, the muscles would begin to degrade due to the sheer overuse, tearing and destroying the tissue. So, as both theories would be partially true, the degradation model shows far more promise toward truly understanding the problems arising from the living dead, at least if caused by a brain eating pathogen.

 

The brain regulates how much of our muscle power we use at any given time through hormones. Without this regulation, if the zombie could use them at all, there is no scientific reason they could not use them to their full potential. We can't, because if we did, they wouldn't work anymore.

 

Its like the battle of the two video games, Left 4 Dead or Dead Rising. Dead Rising is fun at first... but it gets old. You just run around a mall and kill slow brainless zombies that get in your way. Left 4 Dead is a much more FUN game because the zombies are fast and cunning. It actually makes the game scary. Slow zombies are girly. Sure they are original, but first does not always mean better. For those of you who think that fast zombies are too difficult... well it is more difficult but not impossible. Try playing Left 4 Dead on Expert. At first its impossible but it forces you to be strategic and it makes it more fun and satisfying when you destroy a horde. kill 50,000 zombies in Dead Rising? That involves no strategy and a lot of button mashing. aka BORING, do that in Left 4 dead? dudes got skill. Left 4 Dead sold me on the fast zombies

ps 28 weeks later and zombieland are much better zombie movies than your "slow zombie" movies BORING

 

As a film maker, I agree, slow zombies add for suspense. However, fast zombies have this terrifying angst about them. Their speed gives the audience the feeling of no hope, no survival, and that it could pop out at you at any moment, keeping me on the edge of my seat. Now, I love the older classic slow-moving zombie movies, but I just as well enjoyed Dawn of the Dead (2004), 28 days later etc...

Now, as far as real life zombie outbreak is concerned, I would hope they are slow, we might have a fighting chance then, but if they're fast, who knows!