A History Of The Undead

A history of Western culture’s fascination with undead creatures in film and television. Are you a fan of the undead? Watch lots of mummy, zombie and vampire movies and TV shows? Have you ever wondered if they could be “real?” This book, A History of the Undead, unravels the truth behind these popular reanimated corpses. Starting with the common representations in Western media through the decades, we go back in time to find the origins of the myths. Using a combination of folklore, religion and archaeological studies we find out the reality behind the walking dead. You may be surprised at what you find . . .

The zombie phenomenon is unique in Western popular culture. From its origins in the voodoo beliefs of Haiti, it has become a key ingredient in today's cinema, popular literature and comics. With one simple premise - that the dead rise again, to feast on the living and turn them into zombies - the undead have inspired a huge variety of artists to explore ideas of survival, morality, fear, humour and horror. ZOMBIES! is the first book to take a wide look at the whole phenomenon, from low-budget cult movies to long-running comics and best-selling humour novels. With stunning imagery, and an authoritative and entertaining text from one of the world's most distinguished experts on the genre, plus a foreword by master of horror, George A. Romero, this tome will appal and delight the reader in equal measure.

In Undead in the West: Vampires, Zombies, Mummies, and Ghosts on the Cinematic Frontier, Cynthia J. Miller and A. Bowdoin Van Riper have assembled a collection of essays that explore the many tropes and themes through which undead Westerns make the genre’s inner plagues and demons visible, and lay siege to a frontier tied to myths of strength, ingenuity, freedom, and independence. The volume is divided into three sections: “Reanimating Classic Western Tropes” examines traditional Western characters, symbolism, and plot devices and how they are given new life in undead Westerns; “The Moral Order Under Siege” explores the ways in which the undead confront classic values and morality tales embodied in Western films; and “And Hell Followed with Him” looks at justice, retribution, and retaliation at the hands of undead angels and avenger. The subjects explored here run the gamut from such B films as Curse of the Undead and Billy the Kid vs. Dracula to A-list features like From Dusk ‘til Dawn and Jonah Hex, as well as animated films (Rango) and television programs (The Walking Dead and Supernatural). Other films discussed include Sam Raimi’s Bubba Ho-Tep, John Carpenter’s Vampires, George Romero’s Land of the Dead, andSergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West. Featuring several illustrations and a filmography, Undead in the West will appeal to film scholars, especially those interested in hybrid genres, as well as fans of the Western and the supernatural in cinema.

Our team of crack historians has uncovered the truth you never learned in school: the living dead have walked among us since the dawn of time. In this collection of gruesome tales from throughout the ages, the ravenous undead shamble through bloody battlefields, plague-ridden cities, genteel country estates, and dusty frontier towns. They emerge from foggy cemeteries, frozen barrows, loamy bogs, cursed mines, and gore-spattered operating rooms to prey on the living. But these zombies don't just eat people. They help painters and writers save their faltering careers. They unwittingly push humankind on the quest for fire. They topple evil capitalists and their corporate empires. They fight crime. They fall in love. Join us on a journey into our zombie-filled past... Neither history nor the living dead have ever been this exciting!

Add a gurgling moan with the sound of dragging feet and a smell of decay and what do you get? Better not find out. The zombie has roamed with dead-eyed menace from its beginnings in obscure folklore and superstition to global status today, the star of films such as 28 Days Later, World War Z, and the outrageously successful comic book, TV series, and video game—The Walking Dead. In this brain-gripping history, Roger Luckhurst traces the permutations of the zombie through our culture and imaginations, examining the undead’s ability to remain defiantly alive. Luckhurst follows a trail that leads from the nineteenth-century Caribbean, through American pulp fiction of the 1920s, to the middle of the twentieth century, when zombies swarmed comic books and movie screens. From there he follows the zombie around the world, tracing the vectors of its infectious global spread from France to Australia, Brazil to Japan. Stitching together materials from anthropology, folklore, travel writings, colonial histories, popular literature and cinema, medical history, and cultural theory, Zombies is the definitive short introduction to these restless pulp monsters.

Unlike some other reproductions of classic texts (1) We have not used OCR(Optical Character Recognition), as this leads to bad quality books with introduced typos. (2) In books where there are images such as portraits, maps, sketches etc We have endeavoured to keep the quality of these images, so they represent accurately the original artefact. Although occasionally there may be certain imperfections with these old texts, we feel they deserve to be made available for future generations to enjoy.

Rediscover the precursors to and the cultural and historical ancestors of the modern-day vampire—the most powerful of all the forms taken by the undead—in this hauntingly illustrated volume. The idea of a supernatural being with a neverending, insatiable appetite for blood or human viscera has plagued the human mind for centuries, appearing in mythology and folklore from all corners of the world. Why were people of the past so concerned with such a creature? What worries and anxieties about human nature and existence could conjure up such a monster? Those of us in the present day are no less fascinated, taking these tales and reinventing and revitalizing them to embody our fears and desires in equal turn, ensuring that these undead beings will truly live on forever. Vampires explores the imagination, stories, and culture of these bloodthirsty creatures of the night by reintroducing the very first beliefs of vampires across a wide variety of cultures and geographic regions. Learn the history of your favorite monsters and their characteristics such as: Shroud Eaters: German vampires who feed on their burial shrouds, other corpses, psychic energy, and human flesh Strigoi: Medieval vampires from Slavic folklore. One story associated with them may have been the origin of vampires drinking blood from their victims' throats. Jiangshi: An undead revenant from China. They are said to derive their supernatural powers from the moon, so are at their weakest during the day or on a new moon. Dhampirs: Monsters, or misunderstood? The children of vampires and humans, Balkan folklore suggests that dhampirs make the ideal vampire hunters, as they can eliminate vampires with any tools at their disposal. and more! Featuring intricate illustrations, this ghoulish handbook looks back to the folklore throughout the centuries of the undead. Find the vampires you never knew existed and reveal the history of the undead.