Writing Prompt: A zombie story in a world where Resident Evil and Night of the Living Dead exist.

Bramandin

Bramandin

Science fiction fantasy
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It seems that in a lot of zombie stories, there somehow isn't any popular mythology or speculative fiction about the dead walking around and attacking people.
 
If you're going that direction, then think about Ash and the Army of Darkness. Zero sense or reasoning at all, but a lot of campy fun! :)

But in regard to what you are looking at, Resident Evil and Night of the Living Dead are going with a genetically altered virus/gene approach as you probably know.

From a mythology point of view, I think the closest creature would be a vampire? I only say that because both need to consume humans; blood/flesh, in order to keep living. Maybe take it in that approach?

I'm a little out of my relm on this so forgive me if I'm not going in the direction you're thinking.
 
THX1138 said:
If you're going that direction, then think about Ash and the Army of Darkness. Zero sense or reasoning at all, but a lot of campy fun! :)

But in regard to what you are looking at, Resident Evil and Night of the Living Dead are going with a genetically altered virus/gene approach as you probably know.

From a mythology point of view, I think the closest creature would be a vampire? I only say that because both need to consume humans; blood/flesh, in order to keep living. Maybe take it in that approach?

I'm a little out of my relm on this so forgive me if I'm not going in the direction you're thinking.
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I don't intend to use this prompt for myself.

Surprisingly, I'm not much of a fan of vampires/zombies, save for a story where the vampires are time-travelers. I have read a bit of the lore and it seems weird to have a world without a vague "dead start walking" myths even if the background mechanics aren't explained. Somewhere in the East, they have hopping zombies because of rigor mortis. I think in Europe, a zombie/vampire distinction is relatively modern. I'm also not sure what makes mummies special instead of being lumped in with zombies.

I think it would be funny to have someone who grew up on "headshot stops them" lore and really they're a mushroom zombie where you have to completely destroy the thing to stop them.

My favorite type of zombie was one where they just used a paralytic to trick someone into thinking they were dead/undead.
 
Your mushroom zombie sounds good! And afterwards, you could have a mushroom zombie risotto... :)

Mummies are more cognitive and self-thinking; their soul is back in the body. Whereas zombies are soul-less, I believe, and are more impulse driven.

Have you seen the movie Cemetery Man? It's a dark and very bizarre movie. There are zombies in it too. Kind of hints towards your mushroom idea.
 
THX1138 said:
Kind of hints towards your mushroom idea.
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I'm a little surprised that you haven't heard of Cordyceps because I thought those were getting popular in pop culture. :) You're one of today's lucky 10,000.

Thanks for the explanation about why mummies are different than zombies. I guess mummies are just angry at intruders or just for being woken up while zombies want brains/flesh.

I'll have to look into Cemetery Man.
 
THX1138 said:
I forgot about those. After I looked it up, I remembered about Cordyceps from a nature documentary from awhile ago. :sneaky:
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We'd go crazy if we could access everything that we know. I keep forgetting really basic stuff that keeps biting me in the tendies.
 
Bramandin said:
We'd go crazy if we could access everything that we know. I keep forgetting really basic stuff that keeps biting me in the tendies.
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You might want to check out Conan The Road of Kings by Karl Edward Wagner. There is group od undead warrior's called the Final Guard. Its aloe very good sword and scary novel. :cool:(y)
 
The undead corpses actually trace their roots to Haiti and Haitian Creole traditions that have their roots in African religious customs. According to Haitian folklore, the book Race, Oppression and the Zombie recounts, zombies are the product of spells by a voudou sorcerer called a bokor.
 
Return of the Living Dead is also worth a watch. It's quite funny in an 'Evil Dead' kind of way, but there's a clear rationale behind why what is happening is happening.
 
nixie said:
The undead corpses actually trace their roots to Haiti and Haitian Creole traditions that have their roots in African religious customs. According to Haitian folklore, the book Race, Oppression and the Zombie recounts, zombies are the product of spells by a voudou sorcerer called a bokor.
Click to expand...

Yep, I figure that modern zombies got their origin from there. Strigoi being used as the basis for vampires and Moroi sound like ghouls.
 
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