There has been much debate recently as to the proper mobility to zombies, excuse me, the undead. Ok, so

Run run as fast as you can, you can't catch me I'm the gingerdead man

maybe not so much debate as a bunch of guys who haven’t gotten laid in a year sitting around talking as they wait for the release of Zombie Strippers.

Zombies have primarily been seen as slow moving and lethargic more lethal as a mob than individually. Romero set the bar for this in his original movies and from one side of the spectrum that makes sense. The undead are reanimated corpses, especially the first ones who have to dig themselves out of the grave.

They have limited brain activity and seem to be motivated purely by instinct. Their muscles would be atrophied and rotted from their time being truly dead. Also, they continue to degrade so eventually they would rot down to nothing but bones. Without muscles, the bones don’t move and that would be a horrifying existance.

Modern remakes of Romero’s movies, excluding Land of the Dead, have the zombies not only being incredibly fast, but close to acrobatic. I have seen them run on all fours, climb on the walls and even a newborn zombie booked it like Oprah to an all-you-can-eat buffet.

Once again, I can see how this would have merit as well at least for the newly dead zombies. While the brain power would still be diminished, possibly even similar to a long dead zombie and be totally instinctual, they would still have strong and healthy muscles only beginning to decay. They could be fast and strong because they would no longer have the pain holding them back. They would be free to stretch their muscles to the limit and beyond all for the sake of killing, maiming, etc.

As for the acrobatics, if you take away the pain response and override their regular sensibilities with the instinctual need to hunt and feed then it could make sense. They would have the strength to leap long distances and their hunting mentality would make them like any predator.

So I guess in a way, they are both right. The newly dead, post rigamortis, should be fast moving until their decay gets to the point they become the shambling corpse and then finally a nasty pile of flesh and bone on the ground when their muscles give out entirely. Also, keep in mind I am not a doctor so I could be totally wrong about it, but who cares its my blog anyway.

For me, the shambling corpse will always be the appropriate zombie in movies because of what zombies have come to represent. They are the lazy oblivious culture that is so prevalent in the world. They are easily swayed one way or the other, not caring about the world around them or even themselves. They eat, sleep, work, sleep, eat, etc.

They are the sheep that while individually are not a threat and somewhat humorous, in mass they can change the direction of the political and societal landscape through pure apathy and herding. Romero hit the nail on the head in Dawn of the Dead as the zombies all filed to the one place they were familiar with, the mall.