how would a real zombie holocaust happen?

[kar98k]

theres all these crazy different explanations in movies how zombies come about
-bioweapon
-virus
-radiation
-apocalypse (religious)

how would a real one happen?

[livingdead7]

Well, 2 of those sort of go together, and are the only remote possibility of it happening. A biologicial weapon...some kind of virus...getting lose before it's controllable ( if it ever can be )

[Guru ofthe Dead]

Personally I would say that radiation would be the cause just because it does so many different things to the body. Also who knows what kind of Area 51 stuff is being tested.:cool:

[kar98k]

well... the only way that zombies could actually take over is of course people wont recongnize the outbreak for what it is and then by the time the government mobilizes it will be too late, there will be too many zombies

http://www.soldier-of-fortune2.de/images/skins/111-1.jpg

[livingdead7]

well... the only way that zombies could actually take over is of course people wont recongnize the outbreak for what it is and then by the time the government mobilizes it will be too late, there will be too many zombies

http://www.soldier-of-fortune2.de/images/skins/111-1.jpg

Doesnt really matter. No matter what caused it, whether radiation or virus, is their really any way of stopping it? Even if you know whats going on, theres nothing that can be done. If its radiation, then anyone who dies is coming back...no way to stop the end int hat scenario. If its a virus...possibly...but highly unlikely. Who knows...maybe the bird flu will mutate into a virus that brings people back after death...

[Danny]

im have no religion and even apocalypse is the most realisticly likely one in my opinion.

[kar98k]

Doesnt really matter. No matter what caused it, whether radiation or virus, is their really any way of stopping it? Even if you know whats going on, theres nothing that can be done. If its radiation, then anyone who dies is coming back...no way to stop the end int hat scenario. If its a virus...possibly...but highly unlikely. Who knows...maybe the bird flu will mutate into a virus that brings people back after death...

you're right there about radiation, there would be no way to stop that, but what about virus, if there were to be a virus, i think that there would be a fighting chance of stopping it if the right measures were taken

[livingdead7]

The problem with having a fighting chance with a virus is how slimt he line is between a chance and apocalypse. If you catch it early..and I mean REAL early, and you get a miracle...like noone infected taking off..then you'd have a chance. But in all honesty..if you were on a army/air force or whatever base and a virus got out...you'd run...as would most people. Thats why it would be near impossible to stop.

[general tbag]

if jesus can rise from the dead, it can happen. of course jesus wasnt wanting to eat people upon returning.

i find ' the rage ' a more acceptable scenario in our time. a labratory type disease that escapes and or mutation of some kind . that why i liked 28 days later as it a possible scenario.

radiation possible, burt unless we undercover other unearthy material, i think with things like hiroshima and chernobyl the affects of radiation on people or dead have reached there limits.

[ngm231]

I d have to go with radiation

[livingdead7]

I'll tell you the truth...I WILL cause it. I've spent my entire life homing my mental and psychic abilities. I've resurrected birds, mice, even a person. When the time is right...I'll put on Yngwie Malmsteen's Black Star, and with a look of evil satisfaction, I shall unleash my hate and resentment for mankind upon you all...

[livingdeadboy]

I think it would be some sort of Natural Virus, like the flu or whatever. It would just be something spawned out of mother nature, almost like a bizzare form of evolution or something like that.

[general tbag]

The problem with having a fighting chance with a virus is how slimt he line is between a chance and apocalypse. If you catch it early..and I mean REAL early, and you get a miracle...like noone infected taking off..then you'd have a chance. But in all honesty..if you were on a army/air force or whatever base and a virus got out...you'd run...as would most people. Thats why it would be near impossible to stop.


i love the stand mini series for that point exactly.



I think it would be some sort of Natural Virus, like the flu or whatever. It would just be something spawned out of mother nature, almost like a bizzare form of evolution or something like that.

mother nature is quite the thing , we are nothing but ants to her. yet for ants we keep slapping her around .with our pollution.

[Eyebiter]

I'd vote for Genetic Engineering gone wrong

Don't think it's possible?

Did you know researchers in China have spliced DNA from a young boy into rabbit eggs?
http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/GEessays/boyDNArabbiteggs.html

Genetic engineering can spread food allergies to other foods
http://online.sfsu.edu/%7Erone/GEessays/GEF%20Allergies.htm

GM genes 'can spread to people and animals'
http://online.sfsu.edu/%7Erone/GEessays/gmgenesspread.html

Human proteins have been produced for the first time in genetically modified rubber plants
http://online.sfsu.edu/%7Erone/GEessays/treeoflife.html

Researchers have inserted a rare class of human antibodies that attack human sperm into geneticially modified corn
http://online.sfsu.edu/~rone/GEessays/contraceptivecorn.html

[Andy]

theres all these crazy different explanations in movies how zombies come about
-bioweapon
-virus
-radiation
-apocalypse (religious)

how would a real one happen?

ive added a poll for you :p

[Mike70]

i would have to go with a virus. i can imagine a virus that could cause basic brain acitivity to continue even after the infected subject was "dead". a virus that as it works its way through the host would cause electrical activity in the brain that would, in a sense, reanimate the host by causing the neurons in the brain to continue to fire. i think this would explain why it is passed on through bites/bodily fluids. if it were caused by radiation i think that - 1) it would effect everyone equally both living and dead because of exposure 2) radiation tends to ionize things (stripping electrons from molecules in cells - that is why it gives folks cancer/radiation sickness, etc.) so i don't think radiation would just effect dead bodies 3) radiation would not adequately explain how it is passed on through bites - face it if it were caused by radiation why would simply getting bitten pass it on? it acts like an infection, so it probably is an infection.

[Andy]

i would have to go with a virus. i can imagine a virus that could cause basic brain acitivity to continue even after the infected subject was "dead". a virus that as it works its way through the host would cause electrical activity in the brain that would, in a sense, reanimate the host by causing the neurons in the brain to continue to fire. i think this would explain why it is passed on through bites/bodily fluids. if it were caused by radiation i think that - 1) it would effect everyone equally both living and dead because of exposure 2) radiation tends to ionize things (stripping electrons from molecules in cells - that is why it gives folks cancer/radiation sickness, etc.) so i don't think radiation would just effect dead bodies 3) radiation would not adequately explain how it is passed on through bites - face it if it were caused by radiation why would simply getting bitten pass it on? it acts like an infection, so it probably is an infection.

maybe its a virus, like say birdflu, which has been mutated by radiation :rockbrow:

[Mike70]

maybe its a virus, like say birdflu, which has been mutated by radiation :rockbrow:


that is certainly a possiblity and a good idea. but the underlying cause is still a virus. i would give radiation as the sole cause more weight if it weren't for the fact that bites pass it on.

on sort of the same note - does anyone in any of the 4 films get infected from bodily fluids or blood- without being bitten? off the top of my head i can't remember if they do. i don't think romero ever explored that part of the pathology. if they did get infected from blood i think that would cinch it for me. obviously bodily fluids (at least saliva) can pass it on.

[creepntom]

when there's no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth :)

[p2501]

realisticly, 28 days later completely answers this question far better than i can.



on sort of the same note - does anyone in any of the 4 films get infected from bodily fluids or blood- without being bitten? off the top of my head i can't remember if they do. i don't think romero ever explored that part of the pathology. if they did get infected from blood i think that would cinch it for me. obviously bodily fluids (at least saliva) can pass it on.

Johnny is infected but it's never explained how. in both versions he lacks any clear marks indicating he was bitten or chewed on post mortem.

likewise Ben in the remake has the same issues.

:rockbrow:

[AcesandEights]

theres all these crazy different explanations in movies how zombies come about
-bioweapon
-virus
-radiation
-apocalypse (religious)

how would a real one happen?

I don't know, my good friends, but I look around and I see concerned people. Well, let me be the first to offer Zombie Insurance to any of you fine, fine fellows. Don't go a moment longer without knowing how you might ever be able to recoup expenses enough to re-purchase all those comic books you have misered away in your parent's basement :)


As far as most likely...the only thing I see as a "most likely", and I do use that term very loosely, is the viral or genetic route. I also think you guys are making way too many assumptions on the radiation spectrum of the argument. No way to come back from it? Everyone affected? Assumptions. I'm pretty sure deterministic and stochastic radiation effects are not necessarily going to be passed onto successive generations, so that would mean that you'd need a constant or near constant source of radiation to have effects that are guaranteed to last long term (say beyond a generation). Anyway, I just wanted to point out that nothing we're talking about here has absolutes (obviously). For radiation having a longterm effect I'd guess a showering effect that leaves the surface of the earth littered with an isotope with a real nasty halflife.

Meh, I know dickall about science anyway, so someone here will probably be able to give a more informed opinion.

[kar98k]

thanks for the poll andy

i think that 28 days later is the best scenario because i dont know if people could actually rise from the dead, but i think that a virus like rage could definetely happen, especially with all the crazy corrupt sh*t goin on in Bush administration lately. there's definetely some kind of something goin on

[livingdead7]

thanks for the poll andy

i think that 28 days later is the best scenario because i dont know if people could actually rise from the dead, but i think that a virus like rage could definetely happen, especially with all the crazy corrupt sh*t goin on in Bush administration lately. there's definetely some kind of something goin on

Why do ridiculous political beliefs always have to come into play on unrelated message boards? Bahh

[Hawkboy]

Voodoo man Voodoo. I always think that it's voodoo or some evil magic that starts the zombies in the Romero films too.

[deadpunk]

Johnny is infected but it's never explained how. in both versions he lacks any clear marks indicating he was bitten or chewed on post mortem.

likewise Ben in the remake has the same issues.

:rockbrow:

Johnny dies of either a head tramua or broken neck as a result of knocking into the headstone. Ben (in Night '90) dies of multiple gunshot wounds in his shoot-out with Cooper. Both are examples of the dead continuing to reanimate of their own accord, rather than zombies only coming from infection.



on sort of the same note - does anyone in any of the 4 films get infected from bodily fluids or blood- without being bitten? off the top of my head i can't remember if they do. i don't think romero ever explored that part of the pathology. if they did get infected from blood i think that would cinch it for me. obviously bodily fluids (at least saliva) can pass it on.

I can't think of a single example. I've often wondered that myself. There is a scene in Dead Snow that made me ask the same question. In order to avod getting bitten by a zombie, a guy bites the zombie first. He winds up biting out a huge chunk of the zombie's neck. Does he become infected? it never gets answered because he dies before that can happen.

But, it is also a generally held belief that a zombie's scratch can infect the living as well... I don't recall ever seeing a scratch turn anyone in a Romero film. Only bites and death-by-misadventure. And, I only know of one other thing that is reputed to turn it's victims with a bite...Same thing dies only when one of it's specified vital organs is peirced...:shifty:

[Danny]

i retract my previous comment in favour of nature. life finds a way, even a way we find incredibly creepy, such as the Cordyecepts Fungus which creeps the shit out of me:

CCOQ0VU24xw

[Zombie Snack]

wow this thread was brought back from the dead

[deadpunk]

wow this thread was brought back from the dead

I know. I had a thought and found this thread to be related. :)

[zombieparanoia]

I'd think biological cause would have to be the way it starts due to the ability for it to be communicated through bites etc but not just kill everyone outright and allow the newly dead to rise without being bitten so it would have a latent stage or something.

I figure it'll be some kind of bacteria brought back in a mars probe, that'll be our ironic proof of life outside of earth.

[deadpunk]

I figure it'll be some kind of bacteria brought back in a mars probe, that'll be our ironic proof of life outside of earth.

I think you meant Venus, my good man ;)

[bd2999]

As a biologist the most likely within the rules of nature would be a virus or disease and sort of zombies like in 28 Days Later. More crazy people than undead flesh eating creatures. Simply because bringing something as complex as a human back from the dead just is not possible at any level that we are aware of (you can keep parts alive and mimic brain activity and so on but the whole creature is not moving again).

Those would require some major shift and an apocalyptic scenerio. Or something altogether new.

[deadpunk]

As a biologist the most likely within the rules of nature would be a virus or disease and sort of zombies like in 28 Days Later. More crazy people than undead flesh eating creatures. Simply because bringing something as complex as a human back from the dead just is not possible at any level that we are aware of (you can keep parts alive and mimic brain activity and so on but the whole creature is not moving again).

Those would require some major shift and an apocalyptic scenerio. Or something altogether new.

Okay...I'll be the first one to lay his balls out on the table... Who really watches horror films expecting any sense of reality anyway?!

[Mike70]

Okay...I'll be the first one to lay his balls out on the table... Who really watches horror films expecting any sense of reality anyway?!

a no in regards to horror. a yes in regard to scifi. i give film makers some leeway, since it is all fiction anyway, but don't insult me. if you are going to play around with science in movies at least get the basics right. don't confuse easy things like heat vs. temperature, etc. that sort of stuff displays an ignorance i find hard to ignore.

[deadpunk]

I'm def not okay with them ignoring the simple shit we all know to be true, but as far as raising the dead? So unrealistic that any explanation would be trite anyway. God Bless Romero for saying: This is what happened, no one knows why. Can't contradict what isn't ever explained!

[SRP76]

I will always go with nature/other. Never, ever, EVER a virus. Simply something drastic on the planet that allows electrical reactivation of brains.

If they can make global warming flicks about continent-sized hurricanes and insta-Ice Ages with fools outrunning a temperature drop, I can have my "natural" zombies. So there.:p

[Wyldwraith]

I went with Virus, but only as it was the best category for "Unknown Pathogen".
Given that there are wasps that can hijack tarantula brains and make them voluntarily walk into their own deathtrap, and that there are parasites to make mice want to be eaten by cats and frogs want to be eaten by herons, then I'm open to the idea of a parasite/fungus/mold/mite that evolved a means of rapid propagation by hijacking the human nervous system and making the afflicted hyper-aggressive and very bite-oriented.

After all, aggression is one half of one of the simplest/most primitive parts of our brains. The limbic center has remained relatively unchanged save for variation in size and influence over adrenal/epinephrine (sp?) release for well over 90 million years. It worked for the dinosaurs.

Anyways, while I find it hard to imagine a circumstance leading to true reanimation of a corpse, I can easily imagine an airborne/waterborne pathogen or parasite that is passively carried by healthy individuals, which then becomes active in the event of the body beginning to shut down in a near-death scenario. If brain waves can profoundly change their wave profile when we're simply sleeping, then an evolved organism could change the brainwaves of an unconscious/immuno-compromised victim to cause basic but profound changes in behavior. Ie: Hyper-aggression/predatory behavior.

What I have far more difficulty with is imagining a pathogen that could somehow "mark" and/or otherwise prevent the afflicted from targeting each other as much as uninfected individuals. That level of sophistication implies planning and ability to reason/discriminate. Which is FAR beyond the realm of credence when talking about any microorganism.

That said, it might not matter much if the infected DID attack each other if the "basic programming" was a hit-and-run style bite attack to spread the pathogen, as opposed to cannibalistic ghouls. Since massive amounts of adrenaline is probably what would be keeping these hypothetical infected going for 24-36 hours I doubt that a few bites from other human mouths would inconvenience them much.

Tried and I tried, but I couldn't come up with any reason with the victims of a pathogen could/would become truly cannibalistic. It just seems counter-productive to propogating the disease...

Anyways, just my opinions/thoughts. Your mileage may vary.

[AcesandEights]

my "natural" zombies...

Au naturel?