Response to Zombie Question

I never have really understood what made zombies so popular. Im not really in the bandwagon on that one. They seem to just represent the people that wander around mindless and souless in their human bodies. Also they are there supporting the threat of a terribly disease that could possibly overtake our world at some point. It almost seems like it could actually happen at some point. A terrible disease that causes bodies to reanimate or to destroy you, causing you to become one of them. They are also a creature that one doesn't feel to strongly toward and can be used in humorous slaughter. Such as in Pride and Prejudice or in many other zombie movies or books such as Shaun of the Dead, my favorite zombie movie.