Finally…

The academic paper that you've been waiting for! Zombie guru, George A. Romero, teams up with Columbia statistician, Andrew Gelman, as they seek to answer the question that plagues us all:

How many zombies do you know?

Using indirect survey methods to measure alien attacks and outbreaks of the undead.

Abstract:

The zombie menace has so far been studied only qualitatively or through the use of mathematical models without empirical content. We propose to use a new tool in survey research to allow zombies to be studied indirectly without risk to the interviewers.

The text is actually funnier than the abstract, including some great lines. ("But mathematical models [of zombie outbreaks] are not enough. We need data.")

The first zombie film that really hooked me wasn't actually a Romero original, but Zack Snyder's "remake" of Dawn of the Dead. Perhaps the best opening 15 minutes of a film you're likely to see. And if we're talking zombie humour (though I suppose all of Romero's films are tinged with dark laughs throughout), then I'm scoring Shaun of the Dead way above Zombieland.

The Winchester