Lions and vampires and zombies oh my!

Okay, when did zombies become such a big thing?

I mean, I quit reading fiction for a while, and now when I dive back in it seems every other horror story is about some plague that wipes out most of humanity, turning them into zombies, and the survivors have to fight them to survive . . . granted, it can make for a dramatic story but it's been done. It's sort of like a sports movie--there are really only so many plots to that one and they've all been fleshed out and done to death. Pardon the pun.

Don't misunderstand. I don't have a problem with it. I just don't get the fascination. People must be buying it or the films wouldn't get made and the books wouldn't get published otherwise.

It does seem to be an excuse for a really hairy-chested story with lots of explosions and gunfire and that sort of thing, which I can certainly understand. And I don't mean "hairy-chested" in the literal sense, as I know many of the films have women in the starring role--which is another thing I think is positive about this whole thing. Though I don't especially care for these things myself.


So, somebody out there explain that one to me. Why do you dig this sort of thing? I'm not asking you to defend yourself--you are perfectly entitled to dig it if you do--I just want to know why it's so appealing.