Famous zombie tropes and their origins.
- The concept of the modern-day zombie originates from the movie Night of the Living Dead (1968), directed by George Romero. The movie is set in Pennsylvania and, due to the film producers’ inability to properly copyright the namesake, is and has been considered public domain.
- Although alluded to in NOTLD, the first instance of brain-eating zombies is attributed to The Return of the Living Dead (1985), a horror-comedy by Dan O’Bannon.
- The idea of running or “Sprinter” zombies first is featured in the 1996 game The House of the Dead. This shooter game, alongside the Resident Evil series, was a huge contributor to renewing interest in zombie-related media.
- 28 Days Later (2002) by director Danny Boyle also features fast-moving zombies. Boyle went into the movie with the intention of subverting traditional zombie tropes of them being lethargic and slow-moving. Boyle however maintains the limp zombies often possess, like a newborn learning how to walk, creating a terrifying effect as they chase down the characters of the film.
- Zombie Zombie (1984) was a video game for the ZX Spectrum, an 8-bit home computer. The plot of the game surrounds getting on a helicopter to flee a zombie-infested city, perhaps inspired by Dawn of the Living Dead (1978.) It is considered to be the first zombie video game.
