WHAT IS A ZOMBIE? PART THREE: TOXIC ZOMBIE
The Toxic Zombie
These are the guys in which the Zombie Parody was born. These are the guys that roam around muttering things like “brrraaaiiiinnnnsss”, and “send more brains”, and “get the damn screwdriver outta my head!”. The Toxic Zombie is something created from a government experiment gone wrong. Back in the late 50’s and early 60’s the government stuffed these bodies into canisters and decided to store them in different places throughout the world. The toxins that built up within those canisters kept the corpses “alive”.
One such movie depicted this very scenario, Return of the Living Dead. It was campy, but a moderate success that spawned more than one sequel. The Toxic Zombie is the origin of zombies craving brains instead of any fleshy substance.
Usually the Toxic Zombie will shamble about, but is easy recognized as it is in a constant state of “wet”. That is, it is constantly dripping ooze and toxins. It also takes top consideration when spreading the “zombie effect” to other species. You don’t hear much about zombie birds, or zombie dogs, or zombie elephants, but if you do hear of them, it is as a direct result of the Toxic Zombie.
Toxic Zombies don’t usually move very fast, but they are strong. As with other forms of zombies they can be killed with a shot to the brain. However… Their influence does not end there. There is something far more sinister in their composition. When you burn a Toxic Zombie, the toxins can actually accumulate in the rising smoke and spread out over an area, pray it does not rain, for if it does, those toxins can be brought down with the rain and seep into the ground to “infect” more dead (this is something we actually saw happen in Return of the Living Dead Part II.
The origin of the Toxic Zombie has never been clear, perhaps it was a failed government experiment, or perhaps it wasn’t a failure… Perhaps they captured a Romero Zombie, shoved it into a barrel and in that barrel it began to rot and mold and melt.
The Toxic Zombie should not be confused with one that is created by a virus. The Viral Zombie is a different beast, but one we will get to in a couple of weeks! Stay tuned!
