Best kind of Zombie stories?

[HalfEatenSurprise]

I find zombie stories that leave the initial cause of the outbreak either sketchy or unknown to be the most engrossing.

For instance, this may have something to do with why I found 'Cell' by Stephen King to be such a let down, also because it was shit on a whole.

However, I suppose there is the odd zombie saga where I'll let them off with spilling the causes of the outbreak -
e.g. Zombieland, due to making it sound rather comical, satirical even.
e.g. Resident Evil - Because it gives you somebody other than the zombies to despise.

I have dabbled in my own zombie tale writing - neither tale reveals the source of the outbreak. Neither tale focuses or addresses the possibility of a cure either.

I love zombies. They're awesome.
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The greatest zombie outbreak 'causes' scenario has got to be in Shaun of the Dead.

Spoiler

It is presented in sketchy news excerpts. You only get to hear a bit of the story, which suggests that the findings are perhaps only speculation. it gives you enough to wonder exactly how it might have come about, without tearing you away from ol' Shaun's struggle to survive.

One of my top 10 favourite films. Just so you know :S

 

[Konshentz]

Alice is one of, if not the worst, characters ever created. I feel like this could use it's own thread. A place to list all the reasons Alice was awful. Haha.

But yes, without Alice & the terrible movies.... Resident Evil was not supernatural. At least not any parts I can remember. And that's how zombies should be. Scientific.
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For instance, this may have something to do with why I found 'Cell' by Stephen King to be such a let down, also because it was shit on a whole.

I disagree. The book was great & a nice spin on the whole zombie story.

 

[HalfEatenSurprise]

Alice is one of, if not the worst, characters ever created. I feel like this could use it's own thread. A place to list all the reasons Alice was awful. Haha.

But yes, without Alice & the terrible movies.... Resident Evil was not supernatural. At least not any parts I can remember. And that's how zombies should be. Scientific.
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I disagree. The book was great & a nice spin on the whole zombie story.

Must have gone against my taste or something. I just found the zombies to be a little underwhelming -- and the causes of the outbreak didn't impress me much either. It seemed he was having some kind of gripe at modern communication or something, yet I just could not see the point of it.

I mean, it was supposed to be horror, yet it wasn't scary. Perhaps he was hoping to frighten people enough to stamp their Nokias to bits. Didn't quite grab me that way. Heck, I don't need no impending zombie apocalypse to make me do that, I have enough signal trouble as it is. But that's me I suppose.

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Although, I can to an extent agree with you on the whole Alice part - although I do like the Resident Evil (The first one anyway), I do find her character to be a little bit jarring as far as plot goes. I can understand the desire to have some hot, kung-fu queen in the flick, but to integrate her as a main character in the story... Perhaps they could have swapped her with Rain, and had Rain simply shoot her way through the outbreak like the 'soldier' she was supposed to be. -- Or Rain out of Mortal Kombat - Heck, that'd be awesome.

Mortal Kombat vs Zombies: The Movie.

I hope someone makes that. Have 'em eat Shao Kahn. Have Scorpion rippiing limbs off, although he is a bit of a zombie himself. Have a zombified Jax eat Shang Tsung. It'd be a riot... -- And the cause of the outbreak could be that the Tarkatan warrior Baraka cuts his arm on something and it gets into the water and mixes with some stuff they've been dumping in the sea in Underworld, and then when a bunch of MK guys sit down for their fish supper they all drop dead and turn and overthrow the portal keepers and well --- you get the gist... ahem... :S

 

[AnitaKnapp]

I'm drawing a blank here. I wasn't aware of supernatural causes to becoming a zombie. Guess I've only seen the scientific type stuff...unless I have forgotten something.

What are examples of supernatural reasons?

 

[Unity]

I'm drawing a blank here. I wasn't aware of supernatural causes to becoming a zombie. Guess I've only seen the scientific type stuff...unless I have forgotten something.

What are examples of supernatural reasons?

Zombies really started in the realm of fantasy before sci fi, I think. Necromancers, Sorcerors, etc. raising the dead to do their bidding. It almost always involves magic.

A comical example would be from Army of Darkness:

Spoiler

A book called the Necronomicon is used to raise the dead...and Ash just can't get the words right when trying to cast a spell from the book.