now i want a pizzas

Great thread! Some interesting points made throughout.In my eyes,a zombie(post Romero) is a creature who has come back from the dead by whatever means and craves flesh.Living flesh.This is an important distinction when discussing rage victims like those in the aforementioned 28 Days Later versus the films that i consider Z movies,like Night of the Living Dead and Re-animator.This is not a rule set in stone or anything like that.Just a matter of personal taste and opinion.I think that unless we are talking about Voodoo Zombies who were often still alive but in a death like state,a Zombie is corpse who comes back to life with a serious need to feed on delicious people beef.As V said a page or two back,this marks the difference between a ghoul and a zombie.

The "reality" of a voodoo zombie- whether it's a person in a death like state, is debatable. People have doubted the veracity of Wade Davis' claims. But the LEGEND of the voodoo zombie was that a person died, and was then revived by a voodoo priest. Thus- the defining characteristic of a zombie- folklorinc, pre or post Romero, is that of a reanimated corpse- whether it feeds on flesh or not.

And it was Doc who made the distinction, not V- and he's still wrong. A reanimated corpse is a zombie- whether it eats flesh or not. His flesh eating does not make him a ghoul. A ghoul is a demon.

My apologies for the mix up on the one remark.
Any re-animated corpse is a Zombie?That's a reasonable opinion,but to further muddy the waters..is it still a Zombie if its a combination of various dead peoples body parts? For instance,Frankensteins monster?

No- which is why Re-Animator doesn't fill the bill.

Actually, some reanimated corpses are revenants.

Ok Nev,I follow your point.Just for clarification some of the re-animated in Re-animator are whole bodies.Just shoot some green stuff in them and watch em go! I'm guessing you are talking about some of Dr.West's more..ahem.. "peculiar" experiments.

I was under the impression that voodoo zombies aren't dead, reanimated people, but people who have been thoroughly hypnotized and 'brainwashed' and are kept as slaves by their voodoo masters.

So many technicalities on this one word! Although, I do definitely see why doc is arguing his point. So many little things like that bug me.

But we all know what we mean!!!

I've got to side with NE on this one, but the definition of what a zombie is certainly seems like fickle ground. There are countless cases of people being revived from the the dead, be it drowning victims or what have you; but it is the eating of 'human' flesh and the fact that their hearts aren't pumping that really seem to define what a Zombie is. Once these certain ground rules can be established, many-if not all- questions could be answered with logic and reason.

I still say if surviving the Z-war is your goal, move as far North as you can. Any creature without a pulse will turn into a popsicle at or around 32 degrees F or 0 degrees C (and below). Ice sculptures aren't scary.