History Main / ParasiteZombie

* The "Infected" from ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' are hosts to a particularly virulent strain of the ''Cordyceps'' fungus. Note that while the fungus [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps does exist]] in Real Life, it does not affect humans: the fungus in the game is a mutant variant that does.

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* The creation of the [[ComicBook/GreenLantern Black Lantern Corps]] in the ''ComicBook/BlackestNight'' storyline sees wide swaths of DCU characters being transformed into zombies by Black Power Rings. They are nearly unkillable, vaporizing them proves to be only enough to stop them for a few seconds. Also, unlike most other kinds of zombies, these zombies are massive dicks who like to [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech point out all the flaws and shortcomings of the people they are attacking]] while they are attacking them.
* ''ComicBook/WormwoodGentlemanCorpse'' is actually an extra-dimensional alien larva that can use human corpses as puppets. Unlike most examples, he's a fairly moral individual with no interest in reproducing himself in large numbers or attacking random humans.
[[/folder]]

* In Mira Grant's ''Parasite'' the title parasite is a genetically engineered tapeworm used to keep people healthy that mutates [[spoiler: and moves from the gut to the brain]]. Unfortunately when this starts happening millions of people across the world have them inside them.
* The Walkers in Literature/JoeLedger's ''Patient Zero'' are humans that were infected with a combination of prions, parasites, and viruses that shuts down parts of the body while keeping other organs working.

[[caption-width-right:274:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CP30zgAw2o "HGAAAAAAAAAAAAA EM PLEH...PLEH DOG HO...HGAAAAA"]]]]

* YES, Real Life! Scary as it sounds, there are certain parasites and other critters that can take over another critter, making them effectively their own personal zombie. See Wiki/TheOtherWiki for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior-altering_parasite a list of examples]].

* Piper form ''WebComic/{{Intragalactic}}''. She's actually a large, leech-like parasite driving around a woman's corpse. The parasite is completely sentient; and has a GuiltComplex [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone from killing it's host]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'': Averted in the first game, where the Parasite ability only serves to give you permanent vision of an enemy unit. The second game has the Infestors, who mind-control units via a bif fleshy tentacle implanted in the target's brain (including, somehow, vehicles and spaceships).
* ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'': humans infected by The Many have been taken over by worm-like creatures known as annelids. The annelid controls the human body, but it's clear that the actual human is still alive and partially conscious, as many of the infected will actively shout at the player to run away from them, or beg to be killed. In later stages of infection the human host's mind appears to disappear completely as their body is mutated into first a "[[LightningBruiser Rumbler]]" and finally a Psi-Reaver.

* ''Webcomic/{{TREVOR}}'': This is [[spoiler: Terry’s]] fate after [[spoiler: Trevor]] gets ahold of him.

* ''Film/{{Nightwish}}'': Someone who was previously killed shows up again without explanation. It turns out that his body was taken over by alien parasites who need human bodies to germinate their young.

* The Far Shore area of ''VideoGame/BrutalOrchestra'' is plagued by fish that are inhabiting corpses and puppeteering them to attack you. One of the NPCs speculates on how they figured out how to do this.

* ''Film/{{Slither}}'' similarity to ''Night of the Creeps'', it features alien slugs that enter into their victim's orifices (either human [[RaisingTheSteaks or animal]]) and are controlled by a HiveMind.

* ''Film/{{Nightwish}}'': Someone who was previously killed shows up again without explanation. It turns out that his body was taken over by alien parasites who need human bodies to hibernate their young.

** The X-Parasites in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' are something like this, consuming both the memories, appearance, and abilities of their hosts. Though instead of keeping the original form of the victim, they morph into a clone with whatever abilities the X want from them or previous victims.

* YES, Real Life! Scary as it sounds, there are certain parasites and other critters that can take over another critter, making them effectively their own personal zombie. See TheOtherWiki for [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavior-altering_parasite a list of examples]].

--->'''[[TheStinger YABBA,]] [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 MY ICING! GAAAAAAAAAAA!!]]

----

* ''VideoGame/BugFables'' has [[spoiler:in Snakemouth Labs the zombie bug enemies, the failed results of a group of Roaches that experimented with Cordyceps in an attempt to find eternal life without the Eternal Sapling.]] It also has a rare heroic example in [[spoiler:Leif]].

%%* ''Film/{{Slither}}''.

* ''VideoGame/{{MGCM}}'': According to Kamisaman, [[spoiler:Zombified Magical Girls a.k.a. heroines' Zombified Selves]] in Demon's Tower dungeon, are [[spoiler:heroines' alternate selves]] who are infected by Earworms (a [[PuppeteerParasite parasitic fungus]] from Demon Realm). Earworms infect the hosts' brains through their ears and gradually corrupt them into zombies, both physically and mentally.

* ''Manga/CellsAtWork'', being an AnthropomorphicPersonification of the cells of the body, has quite possibly the most literal depiction of this trope--viruses, the most fundamentally basic parasite. They latch on to the heads of cells, causing the equivalent of a ZombieApocalypse.

* ''Film/TheLastDaysOnMars'' (2013). An expedition discovers proof of life on Mars; unfortunately it's a fungus-like growth that infects the DwindlingParty and [[RecycledInSpace makes them act exactly like zombies]].
* ''Film/{{Nightwish}}'': Someone who was previously killed shows up again without explanation. It turns out that his body was taken over by alien parasites who need human bodies to hibernate their young.

* Taken in Creator/JimButcher's ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series are created by the Vord sending small creatures to kill and take over hosts. They're faster and stronger than they were when alive [[spoiler:and the Alerans can use furycrafting.]]

* In Mira Grant's ''Parasite'' the title parasite is a genetically engineered tapeworm used to keep people healthy that mutates [[spoiler: and moves from the gut to the brain]]. Unfortunately when this starts happening millions of people across the world have them inside them.
* In ''Literature/TheBeyonders'', the goma worms were created by an ancient wizard as revenge on any who dared violate his tomb. The worms are tiny creatures which drink blood. They can burrow into and infest a human body, turning it into a PlagueZombie who is compelled by the worms to drink blood, preferably human blood. To make matters worse, goma zombies are virtually indestructible, as the worms knit the bodies back together given time. Luckily for the world, they were specifically bred with certain weaknesses. They can't abide water, don't care for sunlight or extreme temperatures, and can be killed by fire.
* The Literature/BasLagCycle has the Handlingers, magical disembodied hands that parasitise people and turn them into zombies.
* In David Wong's ''Literature/ThisBookIsFullOfSpidersSeriouslyDudeDontTouchIt'', Spiders from another dimension that are invisible to most people infect their human hosts by crawling into their mouth or... another cavity, and fuse with them. They then take over their bodies and morph them into monstrous forms.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Voldemort creates a variant by reanimating a corpse and leaving his serpentine {{familiar}} to occupy its insides and lay in wait for the heroes.

* The MonsterOfTheWeek from the ''Series/DoctorWho'' special "The Waters of Mars" is explicitly stated to be a water-borne parasite.
* The pilot episode of ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' involved the Bane, aliens who turned humans into zombies with a parasitic life form that took the form of a sports drink.

* ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsII'' has Spider Drones, which are Hollows whose bodies have been taken over by the spiders that overran Brightstone Cove Tseldora. The spider legs are latched on to the backs of the Undead by their fangs and most of their legs, ripping away the skin on the stomach and chest, while one limb punctures the body through the back of the neck, dislocating the jaw so it can poke out from the mouth.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' has plague-bearing individuals with creepy crawlies in their heads who are certainly not zombies, despite having loads of zombie tendencies. The main difference between the Plagas-infected Ganados and the T-Virus zombies seen up to that point are their ability to work together and plan strategies other than "shamble forward and attack", as demonstrated near the start of the game when the player has to HoldTheLine against a horde of them, where they start getting inventive on how to get at you. Compounded in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', with improved Las Plagas, making them even more aggressive, and with a boost in strength and speed, to boot. Later on, they know how to wield assault rifles.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has the spore carriers, which were once humans who were infected by a fungal disease. After the disease kills its host, the fungus takes over the body and causes it to attack people and spread more spores.

* ''Franchise/DeadSpace'': Necromorphs. Shooting them in the head just annoys them. You have to shoot off a limb or three. This is because they "operate" due to a very virulent virus that animates and mutates its victims, however it only affects dead flesh[[note]]If the body has no limbs, it's of no use to the virus, so it stops[[/note]]. However it takes effect very quickly (as in: immediately) and a bite ''does'' have a high chance or turning a person into a Necromorph...not because of any sickness, but because said bite has probably taken the head off their shoulders.
* ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'': humans infected by The Many have been taken over by worm-like creatures known as annelids. The annelid controls the human body, but it's clear that the actual human is still alive and partially conscious, as many of the infected will actively shout at the player to run away from them, or beg to be killed. In later stages of infection the human host's mind appears to disappear completely as their body is mutated into first a "[[LightningBruiser Rumbler]]" and finally a Psi-Reaver.
* ''VideoGame/DeadRising'' features a subversion: a group of mutated wasps lay their eggs in humans and deposit the zombification virus to ensure the host's immune system doesn't kill the egg, although the zombies themselves can still spread the virus through bites.

* The "Infected" from ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUs'' are hosts to a particularly virulent strain of the ''Cordyceps'' fungus. Note that while the fungus [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps does exist]] in Real Life, it does not affect humans: the fungus in the game is a mutant variant that does.
* Squirg Zombies from ''VideoGame/WildStar'' are dead critters who have mutated Squirg (mind-controlling octopi) latched onto their heads. If this sounds bizarre and silly, it's because [[BlackComedy it's intentional.]]
%%* Infested Terrans from ''VideoGame/StarCraft''.
* Zombies from ''VideoGame/ColdFear'' have Exocell parasites nesting in their cranial cavity, which puppeteers their bodies about.

* Most of the monsters in ''VideoGame/CastleRed'' are people that have been infested with the resident EldritchAbomination worms. They more or less behave like zombies, and become more [[BodyHorror deformed and damaged]] as the game progresses, eventually culminating in enemies who are less this and more examples of TheWormThatWalks.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'':
** The aptly named Snake Parasites appear as headless bodies with multiple snakes sprouting from their open neck holes. The first one you see shows exactly how they get this way... with the snakes [[ChestBurster bursting horrifically from the head of a seemingly normal human]],
** There's also the Bloodletting Beast, which at first looks like a "normal" if huge werewolf-like beast. Every time you encounter it, however, the creature gets more and more visibly injured until it's finally missing its head completely. Once it takes enough damage in this state, a ''giant worm'' erupts from the stump to fight you.
* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain'' has the SKULLS Parasite Unit. As the name implies, they're a group of soldiers infected by a parasite that shamble around like zombies... [[LightningBruiser until they see you]], then they reveal the [[SuperStrength powers]] [[{{Intangibility}} the parasite]] [[FlashStep gives them]]. One of their abilities is to turn any other soldiers in their vicinity into parasite puppets who they can command to attack Snake.

* A rare heroic example in ''VideoGame/DeadCells.'' The hero is a Slime fused to a beheaded human corpse at the neck.
** In the Stilt Village, parasite zombies appear as enemies. They spawn a horde of worms on death.
* ''VideoGame/CodeVein'': The Revenants are animated by the BOR parasite in their hearts, which allows them to constantly regenerate despite the parasite technically making them walking dead. However, the parasite needs to be constantly fed with blood or else it will start to erode both their body and mind, causing them to become the mindlessly violent Lost, which are a more straight example of the trope.
* ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'': Averted in the first game, where the Parasite ability only serves to give you permanent vision of an enemy unit. The second game has the Infestors, who mind-control units via a bif fleshy tentacle implanted in the target's brain (including, somehow, vehicles and spaceships).
* ''VideoGame/{{MGCM}}'': According to Kamisaman, [[spoiler:Zombified Magical Girls a.k.a. heroines' Zombified Selves]] in Demon's Tower dungeon, are [[spoiler:heroines' alternate selves]] who are infected by Earworms (a [[PuppeteerParasite parasitic fungus]] from Demon Realm). Earworms infect the hosts' brains through their ears and gradually corrupt them into zombies, both physically and mentally.

* One chapter in ''Manga/TheKurosagiCorpseDeliveryService'' had a variation of Leucochloridiom paradoxum, a parasite that normally affects snails (more details in the Real Life folder). In this case, the parasite infects ''people'', grossly distending their eyes and leading them to climb power poles and other tall structures so birds can feed on their eyes.

* Of particular note is [[http://people.smu.edu/eheise/Leucochloridium_paradoxum.htm Leucochloridiom paradoxum]], which completely turns a snail into its slave. It first fills the snail's body cavities so it can't retract its antennae/tentacles, then forces it to move out into the open where birds can find it. Since the infection also makes the antennae look like tasty caterpillars instead of nasty snail bits, this ensures the bird eats said antennae - and then gets infected itself. Though not mind controlled, of course.