I was on Twitter the other day, being my usual goofy self, when a thought struck me: nobody ever bothers to explain why zombies want brains. To be clear, I know that not all types of zombies do just want brains. Some just want to eat people meat, no matter which part. But it's part of zombie canon that they just can't get enough braaaaiiiiinnnnssssss.
So I started musing aloud why this might be. Many Twitter friends chimed in with their thoughts, but one in particular hit me like a thunderbolt: Zombies want brains, but destroying their brains is the quickest way to kill them.
I suddenly realized that it's the brain that keeps zombies animate! Take away their brain, and they die the second, permanent death. So maybe there's something in the brain that makes them come back to life, and it's why they want more brains... to get more life, or to extend what they already have.
How is it that no one (to my knowledge; I'm happy to admit that I haven't seen every single zombie movie out there) has bothered to explain this? Because I can tell you that it not only solves this worrying aspect of the zombie biology, but also points the way forward to my writing a zombie novel of my very own.
Now, Universal Soldier aside, my idea is this: Scientist identifies and isolates the thing in brains that makes zombies reanimate. He then creates a serum that the government uses to create an army of soldiers that can keep fighting despite loss of limbs and the suffering of normally fatal wounds. From there it can go in any one of many different directions, but it's somehow telling that after decades of trying to put together a novel, I've only just now hit upon something that interests me and has the potential to be something different.
What's this got to do with movies, you ask? Absolutely nothing.
JAMES&LEIGHANNA 2 years ago
Roy Bilyeu 2 years ago
Rody-.... 2 years ago
Blackest Breed 2 years ago
Angel Princess 2 years ago
RIZ 2 years ago
Tristan Aufdemorte 2 years ago
Coraje187 2 years ago
Lt Col Kilgore 2 years ago
Richard sanders 2 years ago
10 of 13Morei would love to write a zombie movie, i think the reason they want brains is because. killing a zombie u kill the brain, maybe they r territorial and go for the brain first and then the rest of you. my movie zombies would be solitary creatures and kill each other too.i love zombies!
..hmm looks like your writing the next Return of the Dead script, lol. (I like the George A. Romero zombies better, but Return of the Dead 3 has to be the best of that series)
hope everyones watching "The Walking Dead" on AMC (its sweet)
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That sounds really kool
never heard some one talk about zombies like that
bt yes that all sounds ABOUT RIGHT..
oh n dont zombies eat brain to gain knowlege
i think that is another way zombies r..
kool pic too.. =)
RoAD
An interesting idea. Here is a link that I have found useful and entertaining, I hope it is the same to anyone who reads this. http://www.cracked.com/article_15643_5-scientific-reasons-zombie-apocalypse-could-actually-happen.html. Good luck with the story and stay prepared for the.. zompocalypse...
Interesting. The Zombie Survial Guide is a great book about Zombies, and what you wrote made me think of a great Zombie movie its called Dead Snow. If you haven't read that book or seen that movie, you should totally check them out!
Ahh, yes, Richard had the exact same scene in mind as I did. The old, decomposed, half-woman lying on the table with her spinal fluid dripping out was the one zombie that explains it all.
Zombies need brains cause there all jealous cuz we can speak nd do tons of things that would be impossible 2 a zombie so they want brains for revenge. ..Dr.Twizted..
In Return of the Living Dead they say they eat them because of the pain of being dead and the brain has something in it to take the pain away.
First of all, in response to the zombies wanting brains thing, to my knowledge the only zombies to ever want to specifically eat brains are the zombies in Return of the Living Dead. In those films, the zombies are much different than traditional. The zombies in the Return of the Living Dead series cannot be killed unless their bodies are completely destroyed, simply destroying their brain does nothing, and their severed limbs still move on their own. In the first Return of the Living Dead film, at one point the protagonists are able to capture one of the zombies, at which point the zombie itself tells them that the act of eating brains takes the pain away of being dead. It really has nothing to do with biology of a zombie, nor does it have to do with the general idea of a zombie...
....A traditional zombie is one that goes for any living flesh. The reason for this being, the virus that is carried by hosts and spread through bites and scratches from the hosts kills off everything about the host. Literally kills the entire body, and keeps the brain dormant. At the same time the virus then starts to take control of the brain, specifically the amygdala. The amygdala is the part of the brain responsible for our most primitive impulses, thus the only thing on a zombie's mind is survival and to eat. They don't even NEED food, but their amygdala tells them to continue to eat, even after their stomachs have busted open and overflowed with partially digested flesh. This is why you have to destroy the brain. It is unaware of any of its body parts, it doesn't need to breathe, digest, nor does it need to have bloodflow. The only part that's actually functioning is the brain, that's why a zombie will continue to try and eat you even after you've chopped the head off. ....
....Second of all, as for your soldier theory, they tried that. It was called the T-Virus, and it was the main goal of the Umbrella Corporation in the Resident Evil series. We all know how THAT went.......
....Simply put, this virus is not something we want to fabricate or attempt to control for our own gain. No matter what, it WILL go wrong, and it WILL destroy us all. ....
....Keep your blades sharp, and your guns ready to go, because when they do come there won't be time to think. You should also pray it's the slow acting version of the zombie virus, not the one that turns people into zombies within 20 seconds. Because if the latter is the case, it'll be about 10 times worse than the traditional zombie...
..I think it was in "Return of the Living Dead" that a zombie says; " Eat brains to take away the pain of being dead". Must be that the living dead can feel themselves rotting and brains act like morphine...