Planet Zombie 1: How I Came to Love Zombies

I remember when I was about ten years old. I saw the movie Night of the Living Dead and it turned me into a paranoid kid. I thought that everyone walking outside our house was a possible zombie. From that day onwards, I was terrified of zombies. Being swarmed by zombies was my worst fear until Resident Evil.

Resident Evil (the game, not the movie) changed my views of zombies. Since I had the power to shoot them down, they totally lost their terrifying appeal on me. My fear of zombies took a complete u-turn. I don't fear them anymore. Instead, I played almost every zombie-themed game, watched every movie or TV show, I think Marvel Zombies is one of the best Marvel Sagas I have ever read, and I've watched the on-line series Xombie (until they stopped making it). Heck, I even have a zombie tribe MTG (Magic the Gathering) deck.

Zombie-themed, survival horror games gave me the courage to fight off my fear of zombies. On top of the list is the Resident Evil series then followed by the rest. There's House of the Dead that I usually play in the arcades. There's also Oneechanbara, Left 4 Dead, Zombies Ate My Neighbors, Teenage Zombies Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys, and let's not forget Plants Vs. Zombies.

The movies I've seen are; Night of the Living Dead (this was the first), Dawn of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Resident Evil (this time, the movies), 28 Days Later (almost a zombie movie), 28 Weeks Later, Zombieland, Zombies of Mass Destruction (very funny movie), I Am Legend (again, almost a zombie movie), Zombie Strippers, Onechanbara (this one's Japanese and it also happens to be a game) and quite a few more.

I've also watched the anime series High School of the Dead. Trust the Japanese to make a zombie story where the zombies just appeared. No particular origin. The students use their skills to survive the onslaught of zombies; gun-geek, kendo master, spear specialist. This series was full of zombie killing action.

Lately. A new TV series was brought to my attention by a friend of mine. It's a TV show with the title The Walking Dead. And yes, it's zombie-themed. So far I've seen six episodes and I can't wait for the seventh. It's just your ordinary, run-in-the-mill zombie survival story but with the characters with character. Not just the basic kill and survive that we usually see in movies. The zombie-fan should definitely watch it.

Zombies. They're not real (hopefully) and they're not all that bad once you get to know them.