Zombies : Fear of The Other or Just Plain Fear?

Why are all these zombie films, alien films, and vampire films so popular? Because they play on our fear of "The Other", whatever that other may be : immigrants (usually expressed in alien films), Communism (usually vampires and zombies), terrorists, Muslims, Jews, Protestants, and anything else that stimulates the natural human tendency to be xenophobic. It is the films like K-Pax and ET that express a mutual understanding and coexistence between two similar, yet different peoples (films we rarely see).

Now the big question is not about how they play on our fearful tendencies towards things we don't understand or identify with, but rather : is the fear they impose something legitimate? A biochemist from a neighboring lab of MIT (I suspect Novartis Institute for Biological Research) came into work today and was sincerely worried about zombies; legitimately worried about zombies. He even emphasized his point by saying "And I'm a scientist!" Could there be something to this? Or has he been watching too many zombie films lately?

Sure nanotechnology has produced some great results in the production of materials, renewable energy, pharmaceuticals, and the medical field in general. About two years ago I was at an ASHRAE conference in Charleston, SC and the speaker was discussing nanotechnology and he was particularly excited about a breakthrough in making a virus that can attacks cancer cells. Last I checked this virus is still not 100%, but it will certainly strike a cold chill in someone who has seen I Am Legend (the virus to battle cancer turns people into zombies).

Now people can fantasize all they want about how they want (or actually believe) vampires are real, or zombies and aliens will arise and attack us. But aside from this masochistic wishful-thinking, we know this is just plain silly. So if we are scaring ourselves silly, we are doing one fine job of doing so. Or is it the same xenophobia manifesting itself in a new form? A form we actually invented!