Shamblers or sprinters?

Romero introduced us to the modern zombie archetype; reanimated corpses with an insatiable hunger for warm human flesh. He portrayed them as slow moving, emotionless, automatons. More recently zombies have been given new talents, such as the ability to run!

What's your take on this? Do you think it would be physically possible (within the realm of zombies ever being "real" to begin with) for them to run? Would mankind even have a chance at survival if zombies could run? Do you have a preference between the two types?

In my opinion, I don't believe in the more modern version of the running capable zombie. The body is dead and whether the re-animation stems from a virus or (as I like to write about) a parasite there will be a huge effort just to make a decaying corpse walk at all. Balance and coordination, along with the chemicals for muscle movement would be severely limited. In the long run though, since we are talking about fiction it all boils down to personal preference. I favor the slow moving horde of shambling cadavers, one zed alone isn't much of a danger...a group of them is deadly. If all were capable of fast movement and the capability of being able to run at full speed for eternity then I really don't see how much of a zombie story could be written as any character going outside their safehouse would be an instant death sentence. Just my opinion though. Would love to hear yours!

I prefer the shamblers too. Thanks for your input!

Shamblers are awesome but only give so much room to write about. If you mix the types with a reason for each you almost pu t10k words into explaining the difference.

Word count shouldn't dictate the reason for explaining the difference, LOL! But I get it. My friend and former mentor, Zach Recht (Plague of the Dead, Thunder and Ashes, and the upcoming Survivors) uses a combination of both shamblers and sprinters in his books, and his explanation is excellent!

I am reading Tim Long's "Beyond the Barriers" right now and his explanation of sprinter/shambler differences is astonishing. I have to give him mucho creativity points for it. As far as my personal preference I stated once in another place that shamblers are great for reading since it helps build up a plot, but in the movies a good sprinter builds and sustains excitement from beginning to end capturing the younger generations’ (and us older farts who get distracted by shiny things) imaginations quickly and keeps them hooked.

Agreed. I'm old skool myself, and prefer the shamblers but there are all sorts of ways to portray zombies. Actually with any monster/fictional character the sky's the limit! Just make sure it is well done, because I've noticed in recent years that readers are far more knowledgable, and what slipped by as an explanation decades ago will no longer be acceptable to readers now. I blame Google, LOL!

Google is the true monster.

I'm a fan of shamblers. There just seems to be something extra creepy about slow-moving zombies. However, I don't have a problem with a few runners here and there. It would seem like fresher zombies would have more mobility and then slow down as time passes by and they become more decomposed and rotten.

Running or shambling the really scary ability is if they can climb and work door knobs. Dexterity in a horde would be horrendous.