Zombie Movement Mechanics

(Image is from issue No. 162 from The Walking Dead comic book series)

One of the most iconic aspects of zombie television, such as The Walking Dead, and Fear of the Walking Dead, is zombies tend to move at a numbingly slow pace. Even when they move with more alacrity, such as in Z Nation, the pace is just slow enough to allow humans to avoid them or to kill them for the most part. This makes sense from a production aspect -- too many fast moving zombies, means the killing off of too many fan favorites, too quickly. But in the "real world" of television zombies, it just does not seem to be a completely accurate portrayal zombie movement mechanics. Indeed, the question is: why would a zombie move so slow?

To answer this question, we need to consider what exactly does a zombie do. The general idea found in almost all zombie television formats is that once a person is turned into a zombie, they or it has one primary desire: to feed. Moreover, once a food source is found and caught, a zombie tends to continue feeding on it without limit until it is entirely consumed. With nothing more to feed on, the zombie returns to a semi-conscious state until another feeding source happens by or it is killed. We also know that a zombie feels no pain. Chop a hand off, a zombie does not even blink. Remove a leg, a zombie will nevertheless crawl with their hands or whatever appendage they have left towards their food source. In other words, a zombie's desire to feed outweighs and overrides all other considerations. From this, we can understand that a zombie's desire to feed is both unlimited and all-controlling. Once a food source is found, nothing matters at all but to get the food source and feed. The only means of ending this is to kill the zombie by shooting or stabbing it in the head. Lastly, we understand the zombie logic, at least in terms of obtaining food is fairly logical. It operates under the principle, get to the food source in the most direct route, whatever that may be.

Speed, or the fear of speed, is a particularly human reaction. Zombies are dead and should have no concept of speed or tiredness. Moreover, even if they did feel tired, as explained above, when a food source is near, the desire to feed would supersede any other feeling. Because tiredness is not a factor, neither should speed. A zombie should move at the fastest speed possible to get to the food source in the most direct way. Accordingly, when they see “food” there should be nothing stopping them from running a fast as they can; over, across, and through anything in their way to get to the object of their desire, right?

The illustrative model for this theory is Zack Synder’s 2004 remake of the George A. Romero classic, Dawn of the Dead starring Ving Rhames, Sarah Polley, Jake Weber and Mekhi Phifer. In that film, the only time zombies moved slowly was when they were in their semi-conscious non-feeding mode. Once a food source was found, however, they literally stopped at nothing to obtain the desire of their dead minds. Unlike in The Walking Dead, herds of zombie's could not be passively lead in slow motion, in one way simply by gunfire and explosions. Rather a herd would be more like a roving swarm of hornets hurtling after you without pause or limits with the only difference between the first zombie and the last one only being how their body type affects their physical activity.

Personally, I think, zombie television should portray more of this zombie-like aspect. While it might mean more character kill-off, it would surely raise the terror/excitement level, especially during those slow Walking Dead episodes when you're wondering; why am I watching this show again?

What do you think?