The modern zombie is certainly terrifying. But it wasn’t always the fierce, flesh-eating creature we have today. Let’s take a look at how this zombie came to be and where exactly it came from.

The voodoo zombie

The only type of zombie that actually holds some sort of basis in reality is the Haitian voodoo zombie.

Although research has never found any real evidence, it is believed by some that witchdoctors could use a powder to cause severe paralysis that would imitate death.

When the family would bury their “dead,” the witchdoctor would dig up the body and recover them, telling them they are now slaves. This would only work on people who believed in the initial urban legends.

Film began working on this theme as early as the 1930s with “White Zombie.”

The shuffling flesh-eaters

The father of the modern zombie is without a doubt George A. Romero, who wrote and directed the defining 1968 film, “Night of the Living Dead.”

This film grew away from the voodoo themes and brought in radioactive zombifying effects on dead bodies.

This also brought in the idea of the slow moving flesh-eating zombies.

These creatures are still a bit different from today’s horrors, but they were certainly the true beginning for what we have now.

The funny zombies

In real life, zombies would be terrifying and could never be funny. But that didn’t stop us from creating a ton of comedic walkers through film.

This started in the ‘80s and ‘90s with films like “Return of the Living Dead” and Peter Jackson’s “Braindead.”

Of course, we’re still playing with the idea with more recent films like “Zombieland” and  “Shaun of the Living Dead.”

The running dead

Maybe it’s because slow zombies aren’t scary or maybe it was an elaborate ploy to get people to get in better shape in the case of an actual zombie apocalypse. Regardless of the reasons, zombies became really fast in modern films.

This probably started in the early 2000s with “28 Days Later” and the “Dawn of the Dead” remake.

Today, it’s more common than not to have speedy monsters in lieu of the shuffling dead. Just watch “I Am Legend” or “Zombieland.” Quoting the latter, survival rule number one is cardio. Lots of cardio.

The intelligent, romantic? Zombies

It seems that we’re getting bored with zombies as bad guys. The idea that zombies can gain intelligence is nothing new — it was dabbled with in Romero’s 1985 “Day of the Dead.”

But now, they’re even getting mushy (pun intended) with last year’s romantic zombie flick “Warm Bodies.” Having a zombie as a romantic protagonist is certainly a new theme, but it seems like it may be around for a while considering a new film with similar themes is currently under development with Fox Searchlight Pictures.

Zombies have evolved a great deal, even in the last 20 years. Who knows where zombies will go next. Zombie cops? Zombie families? Who knows? Let’s just hope they stay on the silver screen.