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The thought of an undead force slowly hunting down living flesh is terrifying. An unstoppable army of former mothers, fathers, sons, and daughters coming out of the grave with nothing more than an instinct to feast on human blood. A slow moving zombie is more menacing and far more realistic.

Slower zombies pose a far bigger threat in film. It's the idea of an undying army of the living dead slowly approaching, constantly increasing in size with each death, going through any and all terrain at any cost to reach the living that is scary. Just when you think the last is gone, thousands more might be making their way in your direction, spurred on by the sound of gunshots or screams.

Fast zombies pose no real surprise. They rush up and immediately make themselves known. While jump scares are very effective when used correctly, fast zombies only allow for repeated jump scares and gore. Both lose their efficacy the more they are abused in a film. While slow zombies are less predictable, fast zombies quickly become boring.

For realism, slow zombies can't be beat. How is it that corpses, lying buried under six feet of dirt for years, suddenly have more mobility than their living counterparts? It just doesn't make sense. A slow moving zombie matches with the deterioration of the body upon death. It's not just the skin that begins to break apart in the coffin.

It just might be possible that slow zombies may not move slow enough, at least to start. As the remaining muscles and joints continue to be used, the speed could potentially increase, but zombies most certainly could never regain their former mobility from life. For posing a bigger threat, being less predictable, and more realistic, slower zombies will always be more effective.

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