How to Walk and Act Like a Zombie

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Perfect your zombie walk for your next costume party

Co-authored by Tara Blau Smollen

Last Updated: June 24, 2024 Approved

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Want to commit to your Halloween costume? Hope to win a role in a zombie movie? Learn how to walk like the undead!

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Moving Like a Zombie

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1
Relax your body. Remember that your muscles may not be receiving messages from the brain, and even if they are, they may be too deteriorated to follow commands anyway. Allow your spine to sway this way and that. Keep your shoulders slouched. ^{[1]
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- Keep your arms down. Discard the outdated pose of a zombie walking around with its arms held out straight in front of it. Stick to poses and movements that are unique to zombies, rather than those shared with mummies, vampires, Frankensteins, etc. ^{[2]
  X
  Research source} Forget that you even have arms until you need to use them. Let your arms hang by your sides when not in use.
2
Walk out of step. Avoid even steps. Also avoid creating a pattern out of your uneven steps. Make your steps awkward and erratic.
- Imagine you’re learning how to walk. Watch an infant take its first steps. Notice how jerky and hesitant its movements are. Mimic that uncertainty.
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Trip yourself up. Think of the act of walking as a team sport, with your brain as the coach and each thigh, knee, calf, ankle, and foot as individual players. Now imagine that those players have no idea what their positions are, how to work together, or even how to play the game, and so they’re constantly getting in each other’s way.
When you’re lumbering around aimlessly, think of yourself as a boat adrift in open currents and let them take you where they may; for instance, if the ground under your feet is sloping downhill, follow the easy path and let gravity take you downhill, too. If you’re trying to get from Point A to Point B, move with purpose, but also with a lack of direction, so that you have to constantly readjust your course.
5
”Injure” yourself. Whether you’ve been reanimated after a violent death or been attacked by humans since rising from the dead, consider how and where your body may have been damaged beyond repair. Incorporate that injury into your walk; for example, drag your shattered foot behind you with your forward leg bearing the brunt of your weight, or let your dislocated arm hang loosely by your side, weighing your shoulder down.
- Be consistent. Remember which leg is limping and which arm is useless. Practice walking with each injury until you can stick to it without having to think about it.
- For multiple injuries, practice each one separately until you nail it. Then combine them, one at a time, and practice them together until they feel natural.
When you go after a human, lead with your mouth. Think of the distance that commands have to travel from your brain to your mouth, arms, and hands respectively. Respond to your brain’s command of “Eat those brains!” with your mouth first, since it’s closest. Freak your prey out with a more animal-like attack. ^{[3]
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Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using Your Face to Play the Part

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Keep in mind that your gums and tongue should have decayed as much as the rest of your body. Unless you’re going to dye the inside of your mouth black, hide that pretty pink flesh from view. ^{[4]
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Research source} Keep your jaw relaxed and loose for a more vacant expression, but be careful not to part your lips too wide. ^{[5]
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2
Assume a blank stare. Keep the muscles in your face relaxed, especially those in your eyes, cheeks, and brow. Use your peripheral vision to look where you’re going. Avoid focusing straight ahead, which may cause you to squint and/or crease your brow without you realizing it.
- To give those humans an extra scare, keep your stare blank and your vision peripheral until you finally “notice” them. Then zero straight in on them with single-minded intent.
- Resist blinking. Remember, your brain and body aren’t working right. Minimize involuntary actions like blinking to indicate damage. Disconcert those pesky humans with long, unblinking stares. ^{[6]
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3
Cock your head at an odd angle. Hold your head any which way but straight and forward. Indicate that the wiring between your brain and body are too impaired to hold your head normally. Let it roll around with every step, as if you’re unable to hold it in place at all, or imagine that your neck is broken and hold your head at an unnaturally stiff angle.
- For scary contrast, suddenly straighten your head the instant when some yummy brains catch your eye.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Adopting the Zombie Mindset

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1
Keep in mind that you still have a mind! Act like you’re still capable of thought. Remember that a zombie is reanimated flesh, which includes the brain; the only change is that it's decayed and not working as well as it used to. ^{[7]
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- Impair your thought process. Know exactly what you want (food–or, more specifically, yummy human brains) but be far less sure of how to get it. Pretend that even the simplest tasks require way more problem-solving than normal, including problem-solving! ^{[8]
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Think of how decayed your body is, including all the relays between your brain and each part of your body. Imagine every joint in your body as a relay station that isn’t working right. For every command your brain sends to any part of your body, picture the command traveling down the wire and meeting interference along the way before it reaches its final destination.
Think one thought: “Me want brains!” Focus on your one objective. Move with that one purpose. Ignore everything else.
Since alcohol clouds the thought-process and impairs motor function, drunk people pretty much act like zombies, so study their behavior to mimic later. ^{[9]
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Research source} Notice the way they hardly ever walk straight. Note how they have to constantly stop what they’re doing and rethink how to do it. Also pay attention to what stimuli they fail to react to right away or even notice at all.

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Question

If I twist my leg a little bit when I walk, will it make walking like a zombie a little bit more realistic?

Community Answer

Yes it will. You should try to drag your ankles too. Look at zombie movies and observe the people playing the zombies.

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If a zombie was biting an arm, would the zombie use its arms to grab it?

Monid Zaga

Community Answer

It depends on the type of zombie. (In some movies, zombies are quite intelligent, and in some they act more like animals.)

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Should I pretend to bite people or turn them into zombies?

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As long as you don't actually bite people and these people know who you are, go ahead. Don't get too carried away, though.

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To run like a fast zombie instead of walking like the classic, slower zombie, forget the whole brain damage bit. Although films like 28 Days Later and Quarantine are generally classified as zombie movies, the bloodthirsty creatures they feature aren’t technically zombies, since they haven’t been raised from the dead; usually they’re live human beings who have been infected by some sort of virus. Except for the virus, they’re perfectly healthy, which is why their bodies are coordinated enough to sprint straight after you.

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Remember zombies are not real. So, respect people's consent and boundaries.

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How to Walk and Act Like a Zombie

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Moving Like a Zombie

Using Your Face to Play the Part

Adopting the Zombie Mindset

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