The zombie revival shows no signs of stopping.
George Romero kicked off the zombie craze with Night of the Living Dead. Sure, there were zombie movies before then, but they tended to be the “stand around and look creepy” type of zombie. Romero's movie gave us the “hungry for brains” zombie.
Zombies may be overcome by different monsters for awhile – aliens, vampires, sparkly vampires- but then tend to come shuffling back into the mainstream. They've even found their way into the classics of literature – Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.
Zombies come in all shapes and sizes these days. On TV, you have regular zombies (The Walking Dead), zombies trying not to be zombies (BBC's new show In the Flesh), zombies-called-something-else (Game of Thrones).
On the big screen, there was the recent Warm Bodies (emo zombies!) and the upcoming World War Z (Brad Pitt vs. zombies!)
But does our love of zombies say something about where we're at as a nation?
A Clemson researcher says that could be so.
English professor Sarah Lauro says that interest in zombies rises when people are dissatisfied with society as a whole.
The Associated Press reports Lauro has been researching “zombie walks,” where people gathering in groups as lurch about like zombies while dressed in tatters. She said the events originated in Canada but began becoming popular in the United States after the start of the Iraq War.
She could have a point. Night of the Living Dead was released in 1968, while America was fighting the North Vietnamese.
In fact, some film critics have said that the movie was not only a reaction to the war, but that the film was actually about the war and its horrors.
Speak Out: What do you think? Is Lauro right or off-base? What does our love of zombies say about us? Does it reflect the times?
Tell us in the comments!