Zombies .. I have a curiosity some of you might be able to answer ...

[Atticus]

This is a great thread and have been following it with interest.... not wanted to hi-jack it but whilst I have so many learned ones in the room "When did vampires first start getting destroyed by sunlight, in the original the Count is meerly weaken by it"

One article I read attributes that to the original "Nosferatu" movie. As you point out, in Stoker's "Dracula" the Count could move around in daylight but did not have all of his powers.

In "Nosferatu" the vampire is killed because he stays too long feeding on the female lead and does not make it back to his coffin. He doesn't dramatically burn up, but the coming of dawn kills him. I need to watch it again, I don't fully remember that sequence.

[Melnibonean]

Hehe, I don't think even the writer of twilight could make zombies sexy, and that's what makes something mainstream. You'd have to get Orlando bloom with fake stitches and green paint to make zombies really "mainstream." as long as the fad stays within the nerd/heavy metal cover art area I'm fine with it.

You need Anne Rice to write a novel from the Zombies' point of view.

Also, lets not forget the Zombie episode of the Night Stalker. Kolchak had to fill its mouth with salt, sew its lips shut and lop its head off to kill it.

Edited May 11, 2010 by Melnibonean

[Wombats]

For the longest time, 'the dead rising' was almost universally about Vampires and the like, but I'm curious when the vamps became the sideshow and when zombies became the main course

This is the bit that gets me.

Once upon a time the person to be feared was a vampire:

- Unholy, recanting god and a non-conformist

- Sophisticated

- Not just supernaturally powerful but competent in general

- Passionate to the point of folly

- Overcome with faith, purity and occult knowledge (stakes, garlic, etc.)

Now the fear is of a multitude of zombies:

- Conformist, lobotomised automatons

- Limited, only really a danger through numbers or naivety

- Lacking emotion beyond base instincts or simple hatred

- Overcome by ingenuity, only after the dopey survivors have been eaten to demonstrate a point.

It seems like a complete reversal.

The enemy is not a stranger who is going to come along and destroy the status quo.

The enemy are the dreary fools next to you who'll lull you into sleeping through your own life.

Incidentally, this thread's direction is really cool.

I thought I knew where the word vampire came from.

I just saw a different facet to Nathan's post.

Back on the rails