I’m not talking about cocktails.

I’m talking about the horror movie monsters.

Now, it should be noted that I don’t know much about zombies.  I have a horror of horror movies.  I will only watch one if an actor I particularly like has needed a job badly enough to do a horror movie.

I know they’re called the Undead.  I’ve heard they eat brains.  (Really?  And we like this?)  I know that they are reanimated corpses.  (Ugh.)

I did once see From the Dead of Night (because I like Lindsay Wagner).  It didn’t shed any light on our pop culture fascination with zombies.  It wasn’t even that scary.  I mean, I was able to turn the light off that night and go to bed without any hesitation.

Maybe they weren’t very good zombies?

I don’t know.  But I am wondering today about why zombies have become so popular.  Surely, someone has done a study on this phenomenon?  Is it our fear of death manifesting in another, albeit creepier, vision of an afterlife?  Is it some metaphor of a civilization gone numb and “dead” and controlled by outside forces (Facebook?).

It’s undoubtedly a current craze.  Witness this infographic that made the rounds in 2009, “How to Write for the American Theater.”  Matt Slaybaugh’s tongue-in-cheek flow chart does give prominent place to zombies.

What is it with zombies?  Does anybody know?