Night of the Living Dead Night of the Living Dead The Return of the Living Dead 28 Days Later Shaun of the Dead The Walking Dead Dead Set Zombieland Clips from AMC’s The Walking Dead and IFC’s British import Dead Set

But is there more to this trend than meets the gouged-out eye? Horror maestro Stephen King once theorized that zombie movies reflect mindless consumerism, making them more popular in boom economic times. Meanwhile, vampire flicks tend to rise when the markets go down like the sun. (More recently, financial columnist Bruce Watson put some meat on that idea, suggesting the US market is not bear versus bull, it's zombie versus vamp.)

Wired did its own data analysis and that theory didn't hold water—or blood. Zombie franchises continued to spike even when the Dow plummeted in 2008, and they've kept going. This can mean only one thing: a zombie bubble. Better TiVo these new shows before the zombie crash.

Chart Credits: Night of the Living Dead, The Return of the Living Dead: Everett; 28 Days Later: Peter Mountain; Zombieland: Blu-ray/DVD Sony Home Entertainment; Dead Set: IFC; The Walking Dead: Scott Garfield/TWD Productions