I’ve always found the zombie debate amongst horror fans quite interesting as it offers a glimpse at people’s personalities. The debate I’m talking about is which zombies are better and scarier.

There are those who will always choose the zombies that were born out of George A. Romero’s imagination. I’m talking about the recently dead who have been revived to feed on fresh human flesh. These zombies also could be distinguished by their slow-moving nature with speed only a consequence of stumbling forward when prey is near. These are the zombies which made the genre itself so popular and so widely imitated since Romero first introduced them in the 1968 horror classic, Night of the Living Dead. While slow and easily avoided their numbers alone is the danger. The fact that not just those bitten turn into zombies, but anyone who dies whether by natural or unnatural cause makes them scary. This literally means that death itself has died and anyone who dies and not found immediately returns as a threat to the group.

The second type of zombies which have made a major renaissance in the last decade are the running zombies. Running zombies are not really new since Italian horror filmmakers during the 80’s used them frequently and were really made popular by the horror-comedy franchise of Return of the Living Dead their ability to scare lies more towards the fact that they’re fast. They’re not slow-moving and not easily avoided. It’s their very lively movements which puts the scare into people. The one consequence of the running zombies have been those using them to create a cause for the zombie. Whether it’s a biological/viral weapon gone amok or something supernatural (Brian Keene’s zombie novels uses this).

The third type is a combination of the two where the zombies are not slow moving, but can get up to speed when really motivated. These types also have a tendency to have intelligence beyond mere primal. They’ve retained either a modicum of their former brainpower or all of it. Enough so that they can talk, create plans to trap and/or even organize beyond the hive-mentality of the Romero-type. These kind of zombies have been relegated to novels and short stories. While still not prevalent in films they do provide genuine scares due to the fact that intelligence of the surviving humans stop being an advantage when fighting against zombies.

My choice has always been the Romero-type since they remain the most frightening in the most existential way possible. There’s no reason why people should lose to them yet in every film and story using the type these zombies always end up prevailing in the end. The other two I like as well, but bring up too many reasons of why losing to them is a possibility even with the advantages resting mostly on the survivors.

I’m sure this debate will continue to rage amongst horror fans and I’m sure it will get heated at times.