Zombie Life Expectancy

[RICH8472]

The older "living dead" movies said they would never die and that eating brains wasn't for nurishment, but to stave off the pain of being dead. YES! it hurts to be dead!

The first 2 are among the best zombie films out there, avoid the sequels like the living death itself though.

Tar man is the greatest zombie ever.

[Cattaclysmic]

Yeah, I don't understand why you're trying to apply logic to fantasy.. That is the ENTIRE POINT of fantasy, it's not real.. See how that works? The more logic that gets applied, the less fantasy it is.

Because much of zombie movies are science fiction not fantasy

[Callace]

The first 2 are among the best zombie films out there, avoid the sequels like the living death itself though.

Tar man is the greatest zombie ever.

Off-topic, but I think Dawn of the Dead 1978 is the all-time best portrayal of zombies.

[RICH8472]

Off-topic, but I think Dawn of the Dead 1978 is the all-time best portrayal of zombies.

Absolutely, thats my fave zombie movie. You cannot discount the remake though, pretty good even though i hate the idea of fast zombies.

[Romeo83x]

Well, technically zombies without sustenance shouldn't be able to roam indefinately since that would violate the first and second law of thermodynamics. The same reason perpetual motion machines are impossible.

P.S. Unless they get energy from sunlight or some shit.

P.P.S. Actually, I would pay money to see a movie where zombies are energized by sunlight.

[Callace]

Absolutely, thats my fave zombie movie. You cannot discount the remake though, pretty good even though i hate the idea of fast zombies.

I thought it was a cash grab. The production was good, but I didn't like that they single-handedly created over-the-top zombies.

---------- Post added 2012-05-13 at 09:06 PM ----------

Well, technically zombies without sustenance shouldn't be able to roam indefinately since that would violate the first and second law of thermodynamics. The same reason perpetual motion machines are impossible.

P.S. Unless they get energy from sunlight or some shit.

P.P.S. Actually, I would pay money to see a movie where zombies are energized by sunlight.

Maybe the virus induces some sort of photosynthesis mechanism? 0.o

[fizzbob]

About 2 seconds, the time it takes for them to get shot in the head and overwhelmed by organized police/army forces.

"hi, i'm a large storm you may remember, they called me Katrina. I was responsible for a major US city being totally shut down, dead bodies floating down the major streets, people trapped on houses for days and major stores being looted into oblivion. Hell, the Red Cross even stole $7,000,000 because of the chaos i created, and i'm just water and wind"

-hurricane katrina


people rarely deal with catastrophe as well as history remembers.

[Shadowbane]

I can't remember where it was from or who said it but regarding typical zombies, it's worse in winter than it is in summer since they decay quicker in summer and are better preserved in the cold during the winter. Might have been a story in the book of zombie stories I got.

[Cattaclysmic]

I can't remember where it was from or who said it but regarding typical zombies, it's worse in winter than it is in summer since they decay quicker in summer and are better preserved in the cold during the winter. Might have been a story in the book of zombie stories I got.

but their blood circulation would be worse in the winter - zombies arent exactly know for self preservation

[Frazzle.d]

I liked the imaginative explanation given by the Zombie Survival Guide book. The fictionary zombie causing virus causes almost all carrion and even bacteria to avoid said walking corpse, so the decay is very gradual. It also goes on to give more 'case examples' of zombies being preserved or trapped in various places until they were unwittingly released after hundreds of years.

Truly enthralling stuff.

[Romeo83x]

"hi, i'm a large storm you may remember, they called me Katrina. I was responsible for a major US city being totally shut down, dead bodies floating down the major streets, people trapped on houses for days and major stores being looted into oblivion. Hell, the Red Cross even stole $7,000,000 because of the chaos i created, and i'm just water and wind"

-hurricane katrina


people rarely deal with catastrophe as well as history remembers.

That's just americans being americans.

Disaster in USA:
*massive rioting and looting (yay, free tv-s for everyone!!!)
*extensive chaos, suffering and loss of life
*scam artists instantly start robbing money

Look at the japanese earthquake / nuclear power plant disaster.

Disaster in Japan:
*supermarkets start handing out free food, water and blankets
*civilians organize volunteer aid stations
*overall order and support

[Cattaclysmic]

That's just americans being americans.

Disaster in USA:
*massive rioting and looting (yay, free tv-s for everyone!!!)
*extensive chaos, suffering and loss of life
*scam artists instantly start robbing money

Look at the japanese earthquake / nuclear power plant disaster.

Disaster in Japan:
*supermarkets start handing out free food, water and blankets
*civilians organize volunteer aid stations
*overall order and support

Dont forget the old people volunteering to clean up the nuclear contaminated areas because "it takes decades for the tumors to develop"

[Dendrek]

The biggest flaw with zombies is that they are somehow completely immune to entropy and that they don't require energy of any kind to exist (in most movies). Even magic shouldn't be able to defy the laws of thermodynamics. And if it can, then zombies are an infinite energy resource. Imagine the possibilities if you could capture one and harness its energy!

Even fiction needs some sense of scientific realism to be truly engaging.

[Slummish]

I don't know about fictional zombies, but I can tell you how it works for my brother. If he doesn't eat Doritos several times a day and drink two or three 2-litre Dr. Peppers, he starts writhing in pain. One time, I locked him in his room for the weekend while we went to the lake. When we came home, he was almost dead. Another couple of days without chips and soda pop and he'd have be a goner for sure.

[Cattaclysmic]

The biggest flaw with zombies is that they are somehow completely immune to entropy and that they don't require energy of any kind to exist (in most movies). Even magic shouldn't be able to defy the laws of thermodynamics. And if it can, then zombies are an infinite energy resource. Imagine the possibilities if you could capture one and harness its energy!

Even fiction needs some sense of scientific realism to be truly engaging.

Magic defies the laws of physics, why not thermodynamics...

---------- Post added 2012-05-13 at 11:49 PM ----------

I don't know about fictional zombies, but I can tell you how it works for my brother. If he doesn't eat Doritos several times a day and drink two or three 2-litre Dr. Peppers, he starts writhing in pain. One time, I locked him in his room for the weekend while we went to the lake. When we came home, he was almost dead. Another couple of days without chips and soda pop and he'd have be a goner for sure.

Well - that could also be because you locked him in a small room with no water and food for a weekend...

[slackjawsix]

That's just americans being americans.

Disaster in USA:
*massive rioting and looting (yay, free tv-s for everyone!!!)
*extensive chaos, suffering and loss of life
*scam artists instantly start robbing money

Look at the japanese earthquake / nuclear power plant disaster.

Disaster in Japan:
*supermarkets start handing out free food, water and blankets
*civilians organize volunteer aid stations
*overall order and support

you have to look at the communities the disasters struck dont generalize

[axeplay]

There seem to be two schools of thought you could follow here. One being that zombies are the result of a virus/plague/man made epidemic. In this case I think the zombism would eventually peak, then drastically decline. The main reason being all sources of food (animals) are pushed to extinction or turned into zombies themselves. Eventually the food supply would run out and the zombies could no longer feed or spread the infection, and eventually go extinct themselves.

On the other hand we have the fantasy realm. Lets suppose undeath is the result of magic. This magic could cause any laws we accept in our world to not apply, and the zombies could perhaps stay in a stable condition that results in them never decaying or breaking down.

This is what happens when I smoke pot and peruse forums.

[Dendrek]

Magic defies the laws of physics, why not thermodynamics...

Then my second statement still stands. Zombies are a source of infinite energy.

I think for the benefit of all man kind, we should work on developing a zombie virus right away! I for one welcome the impending Zombie Apocalypse.

[Mandible]

The older "living dead" movies said they would never die and that eating brains wasn't for nurishment, but to stave off the pain of being dead. YES! it hurts to be dead!

Yes, in return of the living dead. Didn´t see all of the older ones, but so far havent seen them mentioning it in those . On that note "funny" how coherent the corpse they took got all of a sudden.

In regards to them fighting a human - the human would in most cases loose since most of us arent trained to fight, and they arent fighting one on one either. Even as being "dead" they also seem to be stronger than normal humans or using more muscles tearing through flesh (or the people in the films are just made of paper).
You could also put down the question how long would it take before zombies attack each other for food, or exactly what is it they crave if they dont attack each others as humans to keep up.

On a sidenote. People who use tldr when they wrote 3 lines before that should be smacked for lack of faith in other peoples ability to comprehend

[chadwix]

How long do zombies live in fiction that acknowledges some level of realism?

They dont, realism and zombies dont mix.

Zombies are dead, they arent alive.