ER; Zombie Horror

Why are we so afraid of zombie horror?

• "The horror-film appeal of zombies is rooted in an instinctive disquiet at faces that are almost human", says a psychologist, who found that 3000 people were scared of near-human faces

• Research into the "uncanny valley", in the 1970s, shows that although people were more receptive which were more human looking, people were repelled when they tried to imitate humans too closely.

• Stephanie Lay described it as "the sense of unease that accompanies the sight of something almost, but not quite, human".

• This explains why the faces of clowns, dolls and dummies are so often used in horror films.

• This is found more in psychological films than in bloodthirsty films.

• "When people begin to interpret something as a human face, they are left with a sense of disquiet when they come against something that does not match their expectations."

Why people love the Zombie Apocalypse

• People love the zombie apocalypse because they believe they can survive it, because of the way it has been presented to us in popular culture.

• The zombie apocalypse is an attractive fantasy because zombies are presented as easy to beat: slowness, poor co ordination, bad reflexes.

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Why do we love zombies?

• Fans of vampire movies move on to zombie movies.
• The difference between zombies in horror movies and zombies in TV shows is that we are with the characters for a lot longer in TV shows and therefore, we can understand them ignoring the endless zombies, which we would find hard to believe in a movie.
• We love zombies because of the endless possibilities.