Thread: Help with Zombie Idea

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A couple of years ago I had a Zombie themed party. The guests who followed the theme and came as zombies mostly just went with grey faces and blood...

I was a baby zombie complete with bloody stuffed bunny
We had a Don Johnson zombie (miami vice era)
an indiana jones zombie
and another zombie....

For my make-up, I went with grey/white with a big latex cut that I bought at the local costume shop.


Here's the link incase the image doesn't show Tammy Lane's Photos | Facebook

Tammy Lane's Photos - Halloween Party 2007 | Facebook

I think that the smell from rotting the clothes would enhance the effect. But if you don't like it, you can seal the clothes with shellac or something. I think Scotchgard would work without making everything stiff. As for the blood, while it definitely makes it more gory, I don't think it's too realistic. One of the things they do in embalming is drain the blood. Actually they replace it with embalming fluid. The only blood on a zombie would be from its victims.

Originally Posted by Pat-f

... As for the blood, while it definitely makes it more gory, I don't think it's too realistic. One of the things they do in embalming is drain the blood. Actually they replace it with embalming fluid. The only blood on a zombie would be from its victims.

This assumes all zombies were entombed. Not so in most of the modern zombie genre. If we are going with the Romero flesh-eater and it's cousins (which most people are) the first zombies would be those in morgues awaiting embalming, hospital beds, or at home.

That first wave bites and gnaws and the numbers increase geometrically, so within a few hours, most zombies would be people who died violently and never even had the inspection of a coroner, much less the services of an undertaker.
Also, not all countries embalm like we do, and some of us either do not embalm (some orthodox faiths) or they opt for "green burial", i.e., no embalming, an enviromental coffin of card or wood, a natural fabric shroud, burial within 72 hours, etc.

If you are going for the grave-exploding, crypt-escaping undead, then yeah, no blood, just decay, but most people are going for the modern version, and they can be extremely gory. Their blood AND others are in abundance.

Zombies 101 Cool!
Thanks for the informative post on Zombies, I didn't realize there were different types. I tend to prefer the rotten just escaped from the grave ones myself.

Originally Posted by Pat-f

Zombies 101 Cool!
Thanks for the informative post on Zombies, I didn't realize there were different types. I tend to prefer the rotten just escaped from the grave ones myself.

You and me both. I'm an old school "back from the grave" type myself. But when it comes to zombies, you gotta ask yourself which kind these days.

The old days when they were just Haitian sugar cane slaves are over. The word came to be used for any magically animate corpse, or the vengeful revenant come calling from the local boneyard. When Romero filmed "Night of the Living Dead" in 1968 a new type entered the mythos. They were more ghoul than true zombie, but the word was quickly adapted. You may not agree (and you wouldn't be alone - I prefer accurate usage of 'the zed word') but it's the way things are.
The old classics have company now, lots of stumbling, shambling company.

Yeah, Zombies appear to be in vogue this year. I've ordered a whole rack of Zombie related DVD's for our First Prize Treats this year, including a Joe Piscopo Cop/Buddy Flick called "Dead Heat". Yeah, a Cop flick that features a Zombie as one of the partners. There's a big budget film being released just before Hallowe'en called "Zombieland". Leave it to those of us on Halloweenforum.com to be "cutting edge"...

I have a rather ambitious yard display that I'm brainstorming ideas on how to build. I call it "Zombie Feed". In my scene a dozen or so zombies will be trying to make their way over to a pair of zombies who are fighting over a poor girl whom they've just about torn in half. Some of the zombies will be crawling, some will be walking and some will still be trying to get out of the ground. But I don't want to hijack this thread, so I'll start my own for it.

Yeah, honestly, I was born in 1986, grew up in the 1990s.... so while I do have an appreciation for the old school zombie, my favorite and one that I most often think of is more like the modern ones that are recently killed...aka resident evil stylization zombies. Blood/guts all the way with some nice chewing/claw marks, tear some stuff by hand where it looks like someone really did try and grab it off you.... as a matter of fact, my roomie already agreed to wear the scrubs and let me try to rip off some, so for more realism.

Great pics guys! I can't make wounds look realistic no matter how hard I try *hangs head in shame*

I think this is my favorite look for a zombie.