What Fuels our Collective Obsession with Zombies

Move over ghosts, witches and devils—this is the age of the Zombie! Thanks to blockbuster TV shows and Hollywood hits about these ragged, brain-eating ghouls, zombies have suffused mainstream pop culture. While many scholars attribute our collective obsession with the undead to an innate fascination with post-apocalyptic survival, one thing remains certain: the zombie craze has reached epic proportions.

Zombies have invaded not only film and American television, but also books, video games and our favorite ghoulish holiday: All Hallows Eve. Halloween provides the perfect opportunity to display our intense captivation with these blood-thirsty demons. From drooling corpses to rotting flesh eaters, zombie costumes have taken Halloween parties to a whole new level of fearsome fun. The ultra-detailed zombie masks at The Horror Dome are so realistic you can almost smell the decomposing flesh!

But why do we love zombies so much? What has fueled our morbid fixation with the undead? And who would have ever thought that the gore-fest known as “The Walking Dead” would score more than 13 million viewers – outranking Sunday night football! Zombie movies draw huge crowds. The apocalyptic horror film “World War Z” grossed more than $500 million at the box office, and even garnered rave critical reviews.

Zombie shows let us indulge in our darkest fantasies and see humanity at its worst. Since World War II, the idea of Armageddon, or the end of the world, has rooted deeply in our collective subconscious. Regardless if they stumble, stagger or move with lightning speed, zombies are a frightening nemesis that we can all appreciate.

Here are three compelling reasons we are so enamored with the zombie apocalypse.

There’s something satisfying about watching brain-lusting zombies getting sliced, stabbed, impaled, decapitated and otherwise dismembered by the unlikely hero. Whether the undead are put out of their misery with the swing of a baseball bat or a samurai sword, we can partake in this gratuitous violence without guilt or consequence.

While the walking undead may not be the end of the world as we know it, the culture at large seems to be anticipating some type of disaster scenario that shortens our time here on earth. Perhaps a nuclear war, an infectious pandemic, or hordes of insatiable people-eating corpses.

Our innate interest in survival – both individual and as a community -- in the face of disaster is heightened in post-apocalyptic zombie fiction. We want to be prepared for the worst-case scenario and believe that those who are strong and fight for survival will ultimately prevail.

Our love of all things zombie is great news for anyone looking for a ghastly Halloween costume, straight from a cold, damp grave. Horror Dome has a huge inventory of creepy zombie masks for guys and gals that are sure to scare the mask off any trick-or-treater. Featuring Hollywood studio-quality design, hand-painted details and all the gory trappings of a rotting, animated corpse, these masks are realistic and guaranteed to terrify! Stand out from the horde of walking dead with a zombie mask from the Horror Dome!