BatChao

So, it is pretty hard to find 1-on-1 zombie attacks... probably because zombies usually always attack in hordes. And it looks like zombies are depicted both ways:

At 00:27, she gets attacked by a single zombie. Despite being some sort of highly trained military commando or whatever, she is easily taken down and can't fight the zombie off (who is not only decayed enough that it can't stand upgright, but originally was probably some weak and skinny scientist type). It's not only until someone else comes and helps that she can get the zombie off (and I'll admit, it was pretty easy for him to pull her off). Had Michelle Rodriguez fought the original, human scientist 1-on-1, hand to hand, it can be assumed she would have pummeled her into the ground with no problem.

Here's the opening to Dead Rising. At about 3:08, the zombie catches the door handle as it is swinging full speed shut and manages, with one hand, to pry it back open. The zombie is about average adult male size. If that same guy (and even some huge Arnold-sized guy) had tried to catch a car door swinging shut with nothing but one hand, his fingers would have been crushed easily. This zombie is pretty well decayed and is still able to do what is basically impossible for any normal human.

Another similar 'catching the door' type display of strength. At 0:23, a zombie that looks relatively fresh (besides his missing arm, which was probably torn off), charges forward and is able to stop the door from closing with one hand and wedge his stump in there for added leverage. Then he proceeds to out muscle Ving Rhames and pry the door open with a stump and one hand. You'll notice that Ving is putting his entire body into closing the door, and while the zombie looks like he was a relatively fit guy before dying, Ving is obviously bigger and should have been able to slam the door closed with no problem, especially since he's pulling the door closed with his entire body weight versus the zombie's arm and chest muscles.

It's a little hard to find videos of this since most playthrough videos are of people being awesome at games, but in most zombie games (Resident Evil, Dead Rising), if the player is grabbed by a zombie, it takes some effort to push the zombie off. While the zombie is eventually pushed off, there is some visible struggle. About the same amount of struggle, I'd say, as if a normal, alive person grabbed the player. But this is a half-decayed zombie we are talking about, which should (logically) have less strength than a normal person due to having less muscles and stuff like that. Nonetheless, it exhibits roughly the same strength as a normal person.

I think mebbe we are talking about different things now... I am talking about zombies just being stronger than their equivalent human. Potentially *much* stronger. I'm not saying that they have Superman strength or something. True, with your training, you might be able to escape, but it would be harder to escape than if normal human me grabbed you (taking into consideration that I was *just* zombified and had not decayed much yet).

I am on the side of equal strength. The 50% decay was an average that I'd say most zombies portrayed in games, movies, etc are at about 50% decay. Meaning their muscles and tendons or whatever are at about 50% of what they were when they were alive. However, in most media, when a typical zombie grabs a person, it seems to exhibit the same strength that a normal, living person has. So the victim usually has to struggle to get loose. And this is with ~50% decay. Following that line of logic, a 'fresh' zombie (just zombified with little to no decay) should be able to exhibit stronger than normal strength since he has more muscle/tissue/whatever.

As Fobwashed said, the initial comparison was sparked when I said if I just became a zombie (one of the first zombies), and I walked up to him, he would think I was just kidding around, allowing me to get in close and chow down. He said once I got in close and started grabbing for him, he'd know it was zombie time and act accordingly, which I replied that once I started grabbing, it'd be too late because once a zombie grabs you, it's pretty much game over (in a 1-on-1 situation). This is due to what I would think is 'enhanced' strength of a zombie. Of course, logically, zombies should be weak as hell due to decay (shouldn't even be able to stand, let alone grab), but I was just saying... as they are portrayed in most media, zombies show higher than normal strength than that of a comparable human. A frail, crippled, old man human wouldn't even be able to grab a cup of coffee, but when zombified, that same old man will be able to grab onto and hold well a normal adult person. Same for children. I'm not saying they have 'super strength' like Spiderman or anything. They are just stronger than a normal human wold be.

I gotta say I agree with Athadam's point, but point 2. Which is funny because I Fobwashed is going with point 1 (the 'realistic' zombie).

I started writing a movie script in college too! Hahaha. Never finished it. :P

But, this is a sweet pic. Thanks, dood!