Zombies Post Mortem?

[Ragnarr]

After watching all of the GAR films, the Savini and Snyder remakes, La Horde, Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead, The Walking Dead series et al, I can't help but think of your "average" zombie victim's post mortem. Nearly every zombie flick shows their undead bloodied and partially gnawed on. GAR zombies include not only those that were obviously attacked, but also those already dead such as drug overdose undead, funeral parlor undead, hospital cadaver undead, etc. which makes reasonable sense given that any death in the GAR universe will create a zombie. But in the other zombie universe flicks, the undead are zombies because they have been bitten. My puzzlement is that if a living character is taken down by a group of zombies, why do the zombies never seem to eat every last morsel of their victim? Why take a couple of bites and then move on? I can allow for a few victims escaping the ghouls after taking a few hits (bites) and dying at some later point in time, but surely this would not be the case for the majority of victims.

[Rancid Carcass]

One of the radio/TV broadcasts in Dawn mentions that only 5% of the human body is available as food, and that the body is usually intact enough to be mobile when it revives. I'm also under the impression that zombies eat only relatively fresh kills, not sure where I heard that though. They may be dead but they're still picky! Perhaps some parts of the human body are the equivalent of Brussel Sprouts... lol.

[bassman]

One of the radio/TV broadcasts in Dawn mentions that only 5% of the human body is available as food, and that the body is usually intact enough to be mobile when it revives. It's shocking that as many times as i've watched Dawn, i've never picked up on that. As for the thread question - How else will they keep the special effects guys employed?

[blind2d]

Brussels' Sprouts are actually good if you cook 'em right, but there's no saving cauliflower... But yeah, isn't it interesting? Humans don't taste good to animals, but zombies are the exact opposite, it seems... and yeah, well, I dunno... I guess just one zombie on one human, he wouldn't eat enough to make the body immobile... but a group on one, like the bikers in Dawn? Yeah, they're not gettin' up... *ponders more* We need more zombie ponies...

[Andy]

Its one of GAR's contradictory moments, the news reporter in dawn does indeed state that zombies only consume around 5% of the human body and it is usually mobile when it "revives" yet 9 times out of 10 when you see zombies get hold of a human in GAR's movies, they completely rip them to bits. dawn bikers, captain rhodes, Flyboy to an extent.. they mutilate him but their stopped by the lift doors but the still try..

[rongravy]

Its one of GAR's contradictory moments, the news reporter in dawn does indeed state that zombies only consume around 5% of the human body and it is usually mobile when it "revives" yet 9 times out of 10 when you see zombies get hold of a human in GAR's movies, they completely rip them to bits. Maybe they are all each trying to get their 5%... At the same time!!!

[Ragnarr]

The only consuming 5% of the victim thing would answer any mobility questions for an average pack of ghouls. The crawling legless zombie in the first episode of TWD and also the super athletic legless zombie in Dawn04's parking garage scene both suggest that some zombies prefer their victim's dark meat (legs). I suppose that every once in awhile, zombies that haven't fed in a long time would be in a feeding frenzy when they finally got their hands on a living person, and this would help to explain why some victims are completely torn to shreds (ala Capt. Rhodes). I think that's why I like seeing GAR's zombies because his crew apparently puts a little more thought into their post mortem than other zombie flicks. -- -------- Post added at 03:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:05 PM ---------- Maybe they are all each trying to get their 5%... At the same time!!! I think rongravy might have just hit the proverbial nail on the head. Twenty zombies take down a living person. Each consumes 5% respectively. Nothing is left of the victim other than the skeleton, hair, jewelry, shirt, shoes and designer jeans (because no one can run very fast in designer jeans you see).

[Trin]

It's pretty clear that the zombies will only eat fresh kills. They don't touch other zombies and they don't touch corpses. You might even be safe saying that the zombies only eat what is still living, with a little debate over how long a piece of flesh still passes the test after the heart stops. But in any case it's a very short time. As for the observation that most zombies are relatively intact even though we mostly see them rip apart humans, think of it this way.... how much of a person could a single zombie eat of a human before that human died and became unappetizing? For a single zombie that wouldn't be very much, especially as the human is fighting them. Maybe right on target with 5%. Now consider how people likely died in the early outbreak. It wouldn't be to huge masses of zombies. It would likely be that most were bitten by a sole zombie. When the human to zombie ratio was high and the fatality rate wasn't well understood it stands to reason that a LOT of people had minor injuries that led to death. Even the ones who succumbed to death from injuries at the hands of a zombie wouldn't be consumed to any great degree by just a zombie or two. The zombies just don't eat that fast compared to how quickly the body becomes unappetizing. What we tend to see is the scenario when the human to zombie ratio heavily favors the zombies and food is scarce.

[Ragnarr]

It's pretty clear that the zombies will only eat fresh kills. They don't touch other zombies and they don't touch corpses. You might even be safe saying that the zombies only eat what is still living, with a little debate over how long a piece of flesh still passes the test after the heart stops. But in any case it's a very short time. As for the observation that most zombies are relatively intact even though we mostly see them rip apart humans, think of it this way.... how much of a person could a single zombie eat of a human before that human died and became unappetizing? For a single zombie that wouldn't be very much, especially as the human is fighting them. Maybe right on target with 5%. Now consider how people likely died in the early outbreak. It wouldn't be to huge masses of zombies. It would likely be that most were bitten by a sole zombie. When the human to zombie ratio was high and the fatality rate wasn't well understood it stands to reason that a LOT of people had minor injuries that led to death. Even the ones who succumbed to death from injuries at the hands of a zombie wouldn't be consumed to any great degree by just a zombie or two. The zombies just don't eat that fast compared to how quickly the body becomes unappetizing. What we tend to see is the scenario when the human to zombie ratio heavily favors the zombies and food is scarce. The fresh kill perspective would mostly make sense if we exclude GAR movie scenes such as the zombies feeding in the project's basement in Dawn78 (one gnawing on a hand, another on a leg, etc.), and the zombies we see eating a bug (original NotLD) or a mouse (NotLD remake), although I suppose these could be considered fresh kills also. Dr. Logan was doing pretty well with Bub feeding him "army chow" in a bucket (what's the expiration date on that lol). But I agree with you for the most part regarding the living to dead ratio and how it would have a major effect on zombie post mortem.

[Yojimbo]

Dr. Logan was doing pretty well with Bub feeding him "army chow" in a bucket (what's the expiration date on that lol). As far as I remember, Logan was having success with bub by rewarding him with choice bits of human flesh (like parts of the soldiers in the bunker who had passed away) and was not relying on the canned "beef treats" that the army provided as C-rations. The Ampalas character was not having any success feeding the ghouls the C-rations. I walked away from DAY with the implication that the ghouls would not touch anything but fresh human flesh, and that Logan had success with Bub because he was "rewarding" good behavior with real treats that Bub wanted, i.e. fresh human bits. This is inevitably what got Logan machine gunned to death - he butchered the fresh corpses of Army dudes because he needed the fresh human treats to fool Bub into behaving for the fresh rewards.

[Ragnarr]

As far as I remember, Logan was having success with bub by rewarding him with choice bits of human flesh (like parts of the soldiers in the bunker who had passed away) and was not relying on the canned "beef treats" that the army provided as C-rations. The Ampalas character was not having any success feeding the ghouls the C-rations. I walked away from DAY with the implication that the ghouls would not touch anything but fresh human flesh, and that Logan had success with Bub because he was "rewarding" good behavior with real treats that Bub wanted, i.e. fresh human bits. This is inevitably what got Logan machine gunned to death - he butchered the fresh corpses of Army dudes because he needed the fresh human treats to fool Bub into behaving for the fresh rewards. Noooo, what I meant by "army chow" was "army (men) chow". It was a tongue-in-cheek sort of comment m'friend. I was implying that it was not fresh kill meat (the corpses were recently killed but certainly not fresh) and that Bub still ate it.

[Wyldwraith]

Here's the part I have a problem with, Forget the niceties of feeding do/don't(s), in almost every significant zombie movie we see the underlying "Zombies feel no pain, so they exert themselves 110% in the pursuit of warm human flesh, regardless of the damaging consequences to their own forms" mechanism used constantly to explain how Zombie A overpowers Big Healthy Adrenaline-Spiking Dude B. If we follow this to its logical conclusion: Ie: In the course of a close-quarters hand-to-hand struggle with a maniacally persistent undead body taking bite-sized chunks out of the victim at each and every opportunity....it DOES NOT MATTER what or how much an individual zombie does or does not eat of an individual victim. If the zombie was able to bring the victim down, enough damage will have been down to musculature and/or connective tissue to leave even the victims of 1 on 1 attacks relatively mangled when they reanimate. Bottom line, all us guys have at one point or another taken the largest bite anatomically possible out of a burger/other sandwich at some point....now look at just how big a "bite wound" one of these Big Bites really is. Yes yes, human flesh isn't as easy to take that kinda bite out of as a medium-rare burger, but that evens out when you take into account the zombie isn't limited by the primary factors preventing us from taking bigger bites. 1) Pain: Either from our jaws, gums, or damage to our teeth. Or 2) Fear of, or the actual experience of choking on what was just bitten off. I trust you can see where I'm going with this. Give even one zombie "quality time" of any duration in excess of 60-90 seconds with a freshly slain individual, and the logical result will be 20-50 maximum-anatomically-possible chunks bitten out of the victim's flesh. Most likely from the victim's extremities owing to the greater ease of getting bicep tissue between one's teeth than lower gastrointestinal tract. For all the disembowelment "money shots", that sort of behavior is really more something one expects from zombie pack on lone human predation. Finally, forget the % of individuals brought down immediately by the zombie who is going to be the proximate cause of their demise. How many cases of "warm body scavenging" from all the car wrecks, looters being shot, etc etc etc, would there be? This is where dismembered zombies like Bike Zombie Torso from TWD, or Legless Zombie Gymnast from the Dawn Remake come from. Not results of pack-feeding, just uninterrupted 3-5 minutes of all-they-can-eat feeding by a lone zombie taking advantage of the ever-increasing mortality rate from non-zombie-related factors as society breaks down in tandem with the increase in the number of roaming undead. Edit: Note: As support for my position, I refer you to the Dawn Remake. Look at the damage Janitor Zombie who-died-by-broken-croquet-mallet did 1 on 1 to a victim of relatively equal size. Enough that despite the door being left open, the now-reanimated former food item/victim was sufficiently non-ambulatory as to be exactly where we last saw him immediately before TV salesman's fight with Janitor Zombie when CJ comes to cap him in the head hour(s) later.

[Ragnarr]

Dammit! Now I'm going to have a difficult time trying NOT to think of zombies feeding the next time I'm eating a hamburger! lol I never stopped to think that the legless zombies we see with TWD or Dawn04's parking garage might have become so due to accidental dismembering rather than by zombie attack. Nice observation, although we cannot be certain that an accident was the actual cause. The victim could have just as easily been trying to escape a group of zombies by climbing under something and the zombies were able to catch hold of his legs. My "some zombies prefer dark meat" observation may just hold true afterall.