Once again, they』re everywhere. Roaming the streets in business suits, blood dripping from their chins. Ducking through the city』s parks, dodging bullets fired by the invading army of Somali schoolgirls. Rampaging through an experimental women』s prison. Clawing their way out of graves, on a murderous march to reunite with the Deathbringer.

And so forth.

We』re talking of course about zombies. If you haven』t been paying attention- heaven help you – zombies are back. In films, books and video games, the undead are once again on the march, elbowing past werewolves, vampires, swamp things and mummies to become the post – millennial ghoul of the moment.

「We』re really seeing the day of the zombie,」 said Con D』Auria, the executive editor of Leisure Books, a publisher of horror titles. 「Until three years ago they were really unseen. Them they just seemed to pop up everywhere. As a monster it』s speaking to people.』』

This month Thunder』s Mouth Press will publish 「Monster Is Land」 by David Wellington, a zombie novel set in Manhattan. This summer Max Brooks, the author of the successful 「Zombie Survival Guide: Complete Protection Form the Living Dead.」 Will publish 「World War Z: An oral History of the Zombie War」 (Crown). One of the best- selling titles in recent years at Leisure Books has been 「the Rising,」 Brian Keene』s novel about smart zombies. Even Stephen King has gone zombie: his latest novel, 「Cell,」 is about a throng of Bostonians who are turned into zombies when a mysterious pulse emanates from their cellphones and scrambles their brains.

Zombies have been marching through theaters as well. A remake of the legendary zombie film director George A. Romero』s 「Dawn of the Dead」 was well received in 2004. after a 20-year hiatus from making zombie classics like 「 Day of the Dead」 and 「 Night of the Living Dead,」 Mr. Romero himself released his fourth, 「 Land of the Dead,」 Last year, ahead of smaller zombie flicks like 「zombie Honeymoon」 and 「shadow: Dead Riot.」

And then there are zombie games: video, online and board games galore, like Urban Dead and, of course, Zombies 1,2,3,3.5 and so on.

In zombie circles – and yes, there is such a thing as zombie circles, just check out All Things zombie. Com for an introduction – The return of zombies to popular culture, in films like 「28 Days Later,」 may be linked to the anxieties produced by the September 11 terror attacks.

There is a debate these days about the newfound popularity of the ghoul.

Most zombie zealots seem to agree that the zombie renaissance has something to do with the anxieties of life after September 11.

「People have apocalypse on the brain right now,」 Mr. Brooks said.
「It』s from terrorism, the war, natural disasters like Katrina,」 he added. Several zombie aficionados said there was a zombie-like quality to the spread of the bird flu.

「They go hand in hand with apocalyptic scenarios,」 Mr. Brooks said. 「You can』t have one zombie you』ve got to have millions of them. Society has to be breaking down. And zombies aren』t in conventional horror settings. Zombies find you. The sun comes up, and they』re still there. You call the cops, and they『re still there. They create a chain reaction of societal collapse,」

Bryan Smith, the author of 「Deathbringer,」 agreed. 「It speaks to the underlying fear that a lot of people have,」 he said, 「that the whole world can suddenly go crazy.」