History Main / ZombieGait

* Justified with the TechnicallyLivingZombies of ''Literature/{{Elantris}}''. The Elantrians don't need to eat or breathe, but they don't heal and their wounds cause them constant pain, so the sane ones all move very slowly and carefully to prevent everyday dangers that normal people can shake off, like tripping, scraping, and splinters.

Zombies usually shuffle around with both arms out in front of them, groaning "[[BrainFood Braaaaaains]]" or something similar.[[note]]The groan depends on the zombie; vegetarian zombies usually say "graaaaaains", for instance, while zombie plumbers say "draaaaaains", zombie jockeys say "reeeeeeins" (or [[TheHyena lots of hideous laughter]], [[VideoGame/Left4Dead2 depending on the species]]) theoretical physicist zombies say "braaaaaanes", masochist zombies say "paaaaaains", and vampire zombies, though rare, are known to say "veeeeeeins". It's normally brains, though. [[GratuitousFrench Or]] [[FanFic/AllHeEverWanted Cerveeaauuuux.]][[/note]] Aside from the groaning, this is not unique to zombies. [[{{Mummy}} Mummies]] usually do this as well, and even FrankensteinsMonster has been seen to lurch in this variety of the UnflinchingWalk.

-->-- '''Jason Creed''', ''Film/DiaryOfTheDead''.

* The [=ReDeads=] of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'' franchise (most notably ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime'', ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', and their reincarnations, Gibdos, in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'') walk slow as molasses, usually accompanied by a low groan, and then they let out a paralyzing shriek before they [[PersonalSpaceInvader latch onto Link, slowly draining his health until you can shake them off.]]

* ''VideoGame/Doom3'' features a wide array of zombies, most of which fit this trope perfectly (minus the "braaaains"). A few are faster than the rest (speed shambling) and usually either wield chainsaws or have been set on fire, but otherwise exhibit similar behavior. Zombie Commandos move quickly (no shambling), don't moan or grunt, and often wield guns and hide behind cover; however, they're closer to actual demons than zombies, given that they burn away after dying.

** Watashi from ''[[VideoGame/FatalFrameIVMaskOfTheLunarEclipse IV]]'', who stumbles like this towards the player when hostile.
** The dolls that attack you in ''[[VideoGame/FatalFrameVMaidenOfBlackWater V]]'' limp around slowly as they move towards you. Fortunately, they have low health.

** In ''Film/{{REC}}'', the infected are extremely fast thanks to a virus that is part biological, part DemonicPossession.

* Averted in the tag/LARP-combo game ''LARP/HumansVsZombies'', where the "zombies" are just as agile as the humans they hunt. Nevertheless, zombies who've been hunting nonstop will often exhibit this trope fairly straightly as exhaustion and leg straining catches up with them.

* The [[spoiler: ghosts of people you killed]] in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'' during [[spoiler: the Sorrow's battle]] do this.
** The Skulls from ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain The Phantom Pain]]'', [[Franchise/StarTrek Borg]]-like cyber zombies, also do this. [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] as well; when they spot you the can run fast enough to keep pace with a horse, but their stance doesn't change. Instead they speed up the zombie gait like they're on fast forward.

* ''VideoGame/{{Outbreak}}'': The zombies in ''Outbreak: The New Nightmare'' have the typical outstretched-arms walk.
** Same for the zombies in ''Outbreak: The Nightmare Chronicles''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' features a wide array of zombies, most of which fit this trope perfectly (minus the "braaaains"). A few are faster than the rest (speed shambling) and usually either wield chainsaws or have been set on fire, but otherwise exhibit similar behavior. Zombie Commandos move quickly (no shambling), don't moan or grunt, and often wield guns and hide behind cover; however, they're closer to actual demons than zombies, given that they burn away after dying.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', being a show about zombies plays with this. While an average zombie can only shuffle or, at most, break out at a disjointed jog, and therefore be outrun, the main problem is they ''do not get tired''. In late season 2, [[spoiler: Andrea]] is overcome with exhaustion and jumped by a single [[NotUsingTheZedWord walker]], after being forced to fight and flee for hours on end.

* Non-zombie example: in ''Series/QuatermassAndThePit'', when Sladden the drill operator falls under the Martian influence he walks with a weird lurching gait, the idea being that he's trying to replicate the Martians' tripedal locomotion with only two legs.

[[quoteright:231:[[Webcomic/BugMartin https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bugmartin_zombiegait.jpg]]]]

[[quoteright:215:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zombie-gait_5584.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:215: A brisk walk is your best defense.]]

* The dance for 2PM's song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKtvDv7eykg "Heartbeat"]] combines ZombieGait with MarionetteMotion.

* The zombies in ''Series/IAmNotInfected'' exhibited the traditional ZombieGait until recently, which stopped them from being threatening. Lately they've learned to run.

* Brain-dead patients or very fresh corpses will occasionally display what's called the "Lazarus sign" if the spinal cord's reflex centers are electrically stimulated. They don't stand up and walk, but the arms extend in the manner of this trope, and may then draw up to the chest in a folded position. It's reminiscent of what you'd see if a horror-movie {{Mummy}} returned to its sarcophagus after a ZombieGait stroll.

However, [[CatapultNightmare Night terror]]s (aka pavor nocturnus) add some features of traditional zombies to the mix, as a sufferer may suddenly bolt upright, wander clumsily and aimlessly while sobbing, murmuring or [[TheScream screaming]] [[WordSaladHorror incomprehensible words]], and on occasion will violently lash out at anyone trying to stop them.

*** The [[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1990 1990 remake]] actually lampshaded this when Barbara suggests that she and everybody else should just make a run for it because of how slow the zombies were.

* ''VideoGame/GingerBeyondTheCrystal'': The undead frogs in Crater Peaks and its levels all walk, and run after Ginger, with their arms outstretched.