By zombies, I mean the Romero rising from the dead kind, not the virus inflicted 28 Days Later sort.

I was watching Romero's Land of the Dead last night and thought struck me. Why are these zombies breathing and groaning and grunting? They're dead. But, aha, they aren't dead. They're re-animated dead, the Living Dead, so they can be breathing. But, if they are re-animated dead there is an implication that they are still somehow, in some way, dead. But, how are they dead? They breathe, they make noise, they move around, they eat (though I noticed they never relieve themselves no matter how many brains they scarf down), and they even think on a very rudimentary, primitive level.

So, how are they in any sense dead? Lack of cellular regeneration? Maybe. I suppose if you can evade them long enough they eventually decay to dust. Beyond that, though, I'm stymied.

And that is exactly the point. One definition of life is that it has to have some kind of metabolism. Zombies eat out of instinct (at least according to some movies) but they don't digest the brains. So they are not alive but some organic brain eating machines.

And you really can't blame them for breathing. Even the skeletons in Army of Darkness breathe. And cough. Because of all the dust in their ribcages.

Zombies don't exist. They are a fiction dreamed up by insurance companies to deny potentially-costly coverage to tireless, brain-hungry Americans. Write your congressman and hand-deliver the note in the dead of night, moaning incomprehensibly to indicate your political ire.

while i admit it sucks it's not as crappy as the ones that followed. I sort of enjoyed it in a silly cartoony way, sort of...

Okay, so let's say that they don't digest what they eat. Shouldn't the more successful zombies start bloating up and running out of room to cram in more brains? I mean, I think you'd see one or two zeppelin shapped zombies lying about at some point, right?


Edit: I have to agree as to the questionable quality of the movie. But it was late, and there really wasn't anythnig else on.

"Dad, you just killed Zombie Flanders!"
"He was a zombie?"

Sean of the Dead was on last night. Now there is a good zombie movie.

What you see is completely dead, it is merely a host and vehicle to some lifeform that requires some brain based nutritents and reproduces like a virus or bacterial, with host like controlling abilities of a parasite. It is just the living dead in the title so that you get the sense that the movie is about zombies. And then they just carry the "of the Dead" forward as a series title. So it is a misnomer that they are living dead, the only have some semblance of living even though clearly dead.

Boy am I bored, making up silly stuff :)

plus on the matter of getting rid of what they eat how do you that they don't on occasion throw-up or let 99% of what they eat fall out of their mouth as they eat. Also have you ever checked a zombies pants to see if they are keeping it all in. It could be stuff taking place off camera, when they are hunting maybe the are more focused on getting prey then taking care of other business.

"There's a girl in the garden." I've seen a ton of zombies off camera....wait....I've said too much....

Come on its trash nothing more. Scary trash (the first ones) maybe but still trash.
How could they digest anything...remember the scene with the woman moaning for more brain....she hasn't anything left to
digest something as the lower part of her body was missing.

This reminds me of a bit in marvel zombies, zombie hulk eats someone then turns into zombie bruce banner with a huge distended belly.

The other plot hole is zombies sometimes sneak up on people. How? They have rotting flesh, wouldn't you smell the bastards coming, or at least hear them dragging a limb or moaning.

if you're talking about return of the living dead (which is awesome) then it's silly to try and take it seriously because it's a silly movie.

I haven't seen it, but I'm willing to bet I like Zombie party more.