Of all the horror movies, the zombie genre is definitely the one that you have to pay attention to.  In this day of constant war, political upheaval, economic disaster, and bird strikes, what says apocalypse better than chopping the head of your loved ones to keep from joining the legions of the undead?

Much to my wife's dismay I've started studying all of the zombie lore and am compiling a list of things that are nearly universally accepted as the zombie laws.   With this in hand you can at least have an idea of what you are going to be up against.

1. Zombies can be your mother, your brother, your drinking buddy, but they are no longer your friend.
2. They carry a virus that is spread by their bite.  The virus comes from outer space or more likely - the government.
3. They can only be stopped by dismantling their brain or severing their head from their body.
4. Zombies feast on human flesh and won't stop until they've consumed every last living human.
5. They have no emotion or feeling.  You can't reason with them or tame them (see Fido).

It's pretty much that simple.  There are rules that many tales hold in common. For instance, they move slowly and are easy targets.  However, more recent tomes such as I am Legend and 28 days later have surmised that they are much more agile than earlier seers have predicted. 

I hope that armed with this knowledge you won't panic when the dead break down your door.   In future segments I'll give you tips on survival.  Lets hope I get to write them before those well meaning scientists destroy our future.