Zombies
Zombies have long been favored by nerds as their monster of choice, but recently, these brain-craving cannibals have hit the mainstream.
Thanks to hits like the recently released "Zombieland," it's now cool to crack skulls open like walnuts for their juicy, delicious insides.
This pop culture phenomenon began with George A. Romero. In 1968, Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" hit theaters with success and scared nearly everyone who saw it.
"Night of the Living Dead" is the defining flick of the zombie genre and is directly responsible for the success of zombies in movies and video games.
The 1970s saw one heralded zombie movie in the entire decade, Romero's second look at a zombie apocalypse–1978's "Dawn of the Dead."
"Dawn of the Dead" features Romero's grisly take on the dead rising to eat the living. The result is a colorful gore-fest and a great zombie movie.
In 1983, one portrayal of the undead pushed pop culture into hysteria: Michael Jackson's "Thriller." This 14-minute music video featured the dancing undead clapping and shuffling along to the insanely popular Jackson hit "Thriller."
Zombies helped change music videos forever, and Michael Jackson's "Thriller" proved that zombies had become mainstream in 1983.
The zombie phenomenon isn't just the result of movie and music video success either. Video games have had a large impact on the undead too.
In 1996, Capcom's "Resident Evil" hit the original PlayStation to critical and commercial success. The game features zombies and lots of them. Your job is to uncover the conspiracy behind the Umbrella Corporation amidst a zombie horde.
More recently video game developer Valve has had gamers try and survive the zombie apocalypse with "Left 4 Dead," a shooter that tasks players to work together to survive the flesh-eating hordes.
Whether you realize it or not, zombies have infected the mainstream. If you spend this Halloween watching "Dawn of the Dead" or mowing down waves of zombies in "Left 4 Dead," you've been infected by zombie hysteria, too. Embrace the infection. Try some brains. You might like how they taste. t&c;
Vampires
As millions rushed to see "Twilight" when it came to theaters and "True Blood" on HBO, it is no secret that vampire tales are one of the favorite folklore-based stories of our time.
However, the successes of modern vampire flicks have a lot of debt to pay from history.
Long before our favorite vegetarian vampires took the screen, Bram Stoker brought the story of blood drinkers to the forefront with "Dracula," in 1897; but even before Stoker there was John Poidori's 1819, "Vampyre."
Hollywood began to discover ways to make Stoker's novel a gold mine for film. "The Vampire," made in 1913, is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, surviving vampire on screen.
"Nosferatu," 1922, signified a major break for vampire movies. It took a different look from Stoker's depiction and created Dracula to have a more corpselike and animalistic appearance.
"Dracula" the movie, released in 1958 and starring Christopher Lee, followed Stoker's plot closely, using gore, seduction and sexuality to illustrate the characteristics of vampires.
Recently vampires have seen a huge resurgance in popularity, almost entirely thanks to the pop culture juggernaut "Twilight."
"The Twilight Saga" is a series of books that chronicle the love story of human Bella Swan and vampire Edward Cullen.
With the books becoming incredibly popular, it was only a matter of time before the books were turned into movies. Despite middling critical reviews, "Twilight" was a huge commercial success, and the sequel "New Moon" is a hotly anticipated upcoming release.
Along with "Twilight," HBO has a popular series called "True Blood." Set in a universe in which vampires live among humans and drink synthetic blood, "True Blood" follows main character Sookie Stackhouse who is a telepathic waitress who falls in love with a vampire.
Trying to cash in on the popularity of vampires is "Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant," a movie that focuses on a teen who becomes a vampire. It has been a flop critically and commercially.
Although there may still be a fear of night-dwelling blood drinkers, they remain a popular attraction for many of us, especially around Halloween. t&c;
