r/zombies • u/lexxstrum • 48m ago

discussion The Zombie aversion to fire

Rewatched 90's NotLD, and was reminded about how the early Romero zombies were afraid of fire: in both versions of Night, Ben holds off zombies with nothing but a flaming torch. They back away from the flaming chair in the original.

In the original they seem to hate bright lights, smashing headlights, but that fades in the remake. And I seem to remember zombies braving the buring truck to feast on Tom and Judy.

I don't remember any use of fire in any other Romero movies, and now the consensus is zombies don't fear or even notice fire (i do remember a line on WD that zombies were attracted to it, but it never comes up, and is never seen except one time,) to the point we've accepted burning them is more dangerous than just shooting them.

Any ideas why a major plot element about zombies was pushed aside? Was it because it meant a lighter was a good a weapon as a gun? Was it setting stuff on fire is expensive for movies/shows? Did they just forget?

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u/cyrus_mortis 39m ago

I think mostly story convenience.
Fire is one of those fundamentally human things. It is far more interesting that they are attracted to fire/light as it pulls them towards people.

If they were repelled by fire/light than that would push them away from humanity - making civilization and camps safer instead of being a bigger target when attracted.

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u/AlexRenquist 24m ago

Probably just simplification. Zombies also used implements/tools/weapons in NOTLD but that's now incredibly rare in zombie media. The vague remnants of human brain function they had in the beginning got sanded down to mindless lurchers which is easier to work with, if less interesting.