Nowadays one can hardly keep up with the plethora of flesh-eating monsters shambling their way into our lives through to television screens, movie theaters, books, and necromantic rituals. With the return of The Walking Dead looming large on the television landscape on October 10 and the digital release of the summer camp screamfest Nerdist Presents: The Hive on September 28 (which you can pre-order now), it’s becoming more and more of a necessity to be able to tell the difference between the ever-increasing types of zombies permeating pop culture. Fortunately for you, today’s episode of The Dan Cave is the easily digestible taxonomy for which you have been waiting. From the creeping horrors of George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead to the rage virus-infected maniacs of 28 Days Later to the hive mind nightmare-beasts of Nerdist Presents: The Hive and beyond, today’s episode will give you a working knowledge of the undead and things that go bump in the night. Who knows, when the apocalypse finally comes, you might just be ready for it — provided it’s reliant on preexisting pop culture tropes, that is.

What other zombies are worthy of study? What are your favorite zombie stories? What would your weapon of choice be in the zombie apocalypse? Let us know in the comments below.

Nerdist Presents: The Hive is available digitally everywhere on September 28. You can pre-order it now on iTunes.

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Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of 100 Things Avengers Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. You can follow him on Twitter (@Osteoferocious) even after the dead begin to walk the Earth.