From the Living-Dead to the Un-Dead

Non-human characters such as zombies, vampires and Frankenstein’s monster exist on a fuzzy border between life and death, between the physical and the metaphysical. They also have a long history in popular dramatic entertainments. Hundreds of zombie movies have been produced since director Victor Haperin’s film White Zombie was released in 1932. The undead, blood-sucking vampire has appeared in plays and films across the globe since Charles Nodier’s play Le Vampire, melodrame en trois actes opened on the Paris stage in 1820. Dr. Frankenstein’s creature first appeared on stage in 1823, just five years after the publication of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818). Soon to follow were further stage adaptations, musicals, films, television series, and cartoons of this iconic creature.