Romero zombies

Romero zombies are the undead creatures featured in four of the films by George A. Romero: Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead. These zombies conform to a set of rules regarding their actions, behavior, motivations and cause of re-animation. The specific depiction of zombies in Romero's films has become so widely known that perceptions and depictions of them in other media tend to conform to it.

Process of infection and reanimation
In Romero's Dead series, any human being who dies after the onset of the zombie apocalypse can and will reanimate shortly after death, excluding those who died by massive brain trauma (such as a gunshot wound to the head) or had their brain incapacitated post-mortem. No Romero film has revealed the cause of reanimation, but several have featured characters speculating on possible causes, including radiation from a NASA Space probe and viral infection. The closest thing to any real explanation was in the film Dawn of the Dead when one character comments:

The vague nature of reanimation is allegedly due to Romero being opposed to there being an explanation, in favor of mystery. The length of time between death and reanimation varies, but generally is only a few minutes, up to a few hours.

If a character is bitten by a zombie they will become violently ill and die within three days. The interim till death seems to be dependent on the location and degree of the bite (meaning that bites on or near major arteries or veins will spread the infection much faster than small bites or scratches). Also, massive blood loss caused by one of these bites will speed the death of the victim.

In Day of the Dead a limb is amputated and cauterized in an attempt to stop the infection. The efficacy of this treatment is not revealed, as the character dies of other causes before the infection would have taken effect.

Behavior
Throughout the Romero films, the zombies' only instinct is to feed relentlessly on living organisms, though they do not feed to satisfy hunger or take any nourishment. Specimens who have been completely disemboweled will still desire to feed as long as brain function is present. Zombies will only fight between one another when there is food present.

While most of the personality of the original victim is gone, there have been instances of zombies seemingly recalling memories of their past lives and performing familiar tasks from their former hobbies and professions, as deduced from their possessions carried and uniforms worn. Zombies also seem to return to places and locations that they frequented in their former lives.

When actively hunting humans, zombies readily recognize doors, windows and other ports of entry into buildings and rooms where humans may be hiding and will congregate outside them, attempting to bash in any barricades between them and their food.

Although seemingly incapable of reason, zombies have been shown to be able to learn through a process of trial and error. While zombies have used tools and blunt objects as weapons since the first film, both Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead show zombies using firearms in a limited capacity. The full extent of their learning abilities is unknown, but the process of discovery for them is not unlike that of a toddler. Zombies also seem to have a sense of wonder or amazement, as shown in Land where zombies were transfixed watching fireworks in the sky, to the point where humans they would otherwise attack could walk by within arms' reach without fear.

The films include a few examples of what can only be described as emotion in zombies. Zombies most readily express lower emotions such as anger or fear. Higher emotions only come after much training, with ample "food" being provided as positive reinforcement. In all but one case, a reanimated corpse will attack any and all living humans in its immediate vicinity regardless of past ties to said individuals. The lone exception would be , who seemingly did not attack Dr. Logan when given the opportunity.

Romero has stated that the rules of zombie behavior and weaknesses are not necessarily consistent throughout his films. In Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead the zombies are afraid of fire, whereas in the later films they are not. By the fourth film the zombies demonstrate memories and communicative skills. Another inconsistency is that in Night and Dawn the zombies have no capacity to recognize each other or living humans, while in Day Bub shows the ability to recognize humans he first met after becoming a zombie, and by Land several zombies demonstrate recognition of both humans and other zombies.

Locomotion
The movement of all zombies is typically a slow, shuffling walk with poor balance at best. It has been theorized that the reason for this slow pace is due to rigor mortis and decomposition. When nearing their prey, zombies typically advance with outstretched arms. Zombies that cannot walk due to damaged or missing lower limbs will crawl towards their prey. Some zombies have shown to be capable of short bursts of speed once food is within reach, though it is unclear as to the extent of or what triggers this ability.

Characters more than an arm's length away from a Romero zombie will easily be able to outwalk one and avoid their advances, although their slow gait can allow them to sneak up on prey undetected. The zombies have been shown to lunge once in close proximity of a target and will ferociously bite and claw at anything in their grasp. Zombies have been observed using doors, stairs and even ladders in some films, but they usually have trouble with such obstacles due to their lack of fine motor control.

Bub and Big Daddy
Bub is a zombie from Day of the Dead who demonstrated the most advanced abilities of any zombie from the Romero series of zombie films. Dr. Logan gave him the name 'Bub' after his father's country club nickname. Bub became Dr. Logan's guinea pig and demonstrated several behaviors that other zombie test subjects did not. He was capable of several emotions, including fear, friendliness, sadness, even empathy and vengeance. When Capt. Rhodes first entered Bub's cell, Bub recognized his army uniform and saluted him. When given an unloaded pistol, he demonstrated from memory that he could operate the slide and then pull the trigger. When prompted, he was able to make an extremely labored attempt at speech. He believed Dr. Logan to be his friend and was quite distraught upon finding his murdered corpse. He was responsible for the death of Capt. Rhodes. It was proven that Bub was capable of seeing humans as more than just food. Dr. Logan presented Bub with ample opportunities to eat or attack him. Bub once even grabbed Dr. Logan's arm, but decided against biting him and released his hold. Even after shooting Capt. Rhodes he saluted him and walked away with out bothering to join in with the rest of the zombies who began feasting on the remains.

Big Daddy is a zombie from Land of the Dead and also demonstrated unusual awareness. Apparently owning and running an automobile garage before zombification, Big Daddy possessed advanced intelligence from the film's opening scenes. When a passing zombie couple step on the air bell tube outside his garage, Big Daddy walks out to the gas pump and removes the nozzle, only to notice that there's no car present. Noticing a pair of scouts watching him, he grunted to signal the zombie couple, who then started approaching the scouts. A team of soldiers then raid Big Daddy's town and he is the only zombie not distracted by fireworks (which the soldiers use to put zombies in a coma-like and vulnerable state) and attempts to rouse the distracted zombies. When that doesn't work, he then tries to push down said zombies to protect them from the soldiers' drive-by shootings. While grabbing another zombie by the back of the head, the soldiers shoot through that zombie's neck, separating its head from its body. Still holding the reanimated head in his hand, Big Daddy recognizes this zombie's plight and euthanizes him. Big Daddy performs another mercy killing on a zombie engulfed in flames later in the movie. As the movie develops, Big Daddy assumes leadership of the zombie mob and spearheads the attack on the city. He attains understanding of jackhammers and assault rifles upon their discovery (though does not understand the need for a power source or ammunition, respectively). Big Daddy appears to retain some knowledge from his past life; filling the antagonist's car with gasoline and then igniting it with a road flare. Although undead, Big Daddy does not seem to display significant injuries, implying a relatively nonviolent death. Whether there is a correspondence between this and postmortem intelligence is unknown.

Other notes
*Only destroying the brain will result in the true death of a zombie. Decapitation will only render the body immobile; the head will still function and is capable of infecting the unwary.
*Although medical treatment of bites has been shown to slow the death and resurrection of victims, there is no known cure. It might be possible that amputation of the infected limb before the infection spreads to rest of the body may save the bitten person, but the only person this was attempted on died of other reasons before this treatment could be shown to be effective.

Zombies based on Romero's works
The zombies from the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead bear a special mentioning here. Though they function in (presumably, given the little evidence available) much the same way as Romero zombies, they have a few unique qualities all their own.
*The infection is spread only through bites and scratches. It is not shown whether the "virus" (again the cause is never actually shown, but the DVD case suggests that it is a virus) is passed through fluid contact, but it is unlikely seeing as how on numerous occasions characters are essentially showered with blood and are not infected afterwards.
*Unlike the original Dead series, dying will not immediately turn the victim into a zombie. As discussed previously, only bites and scratches will spread the infection.
*The most obvious difference in the two classes of zombies is their movement. The original zombies from the Dead series were only capable of walking at a slow pace with the occasional lunge and burst of speed when prey was close. The remake zombies are fully capable of running at top speed much like those of 28 Days Later. Whether this has something specifically to do with the infection or is just an aesthetic quality introduced by the filmmakers is unknown.
*Romero zombies commonly vocalize with only grunts and low moans. The remake zombies do this as well as emit a piercing shriek or a loud growl when provoked.
* Author Max Brooks gives a comprehensive breakdown of zombie biology in The Zombie Survival Guide though some traits of Romero zombies are not present in ZSG zombies. For example, ZSG zombies have no residual memory or learning abilities.
*The zombies in Shaun of the Dead were clearly Romero zombies.
*The Romero zombies appeared in Waxwork.

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