Basic Trope: A really, really slow transformation.
- Straight: John is bitten by a zombie, but it takes a whole week for him to completely turn into a zombie.
- Exaggerated: John only finishes his transformation a whole year after he is bitten by a Zombie.
- Downplayed: John finishes the transformation within twenty-four hours, screaming in agony the whole time.
- Justified: John was only infected with a single particle of The Virus.
- Inverted: John is bitten by a zombie and immediately becomes one himself.
- Subverted: John seems to be taking a long time to transform, but is then bitten by another zombie and proceeds to transform twice as fast.
- Double Subverted: ...only to have Alice inject him with the last of the anti-virus, which isn't enough to eradicate the virus but at least slows the transformation sequence enough to possibly find more anti-virus.
- Parodied:
- A side screen shows a panel of grass growing faster than John's transformation.
- Title Card: "...Fifteen years later, John was a zombie."
- Zig Zagged: Transformation at the Speed of Plot: Depending on the situation, victims either transform into zombies slowly or quickly.
- Averted:
- The transformation is finished in a matter of minutes.
- Transformation is not a plot point.
- Enforced:
- John is a character in a TV series and the writers are told they have to stretch out his transformation so he can be bitten during one Sweeps week and transform during the next.
- The material used for the transformation sequence doesn't react well to abrupt forces, so the sequence is kept slow to prevent the costume (as opposed to the character) being torn apart by the sequence.
- Lampshaded: "Geez, when will it all be over?"
- Invoked: Dr. Crazystein designs the zombie plague to be slow-acting For the Evulz.
- Exploited:
- The slowness of the transformation gives John enough time to find a cure to the virus.
- Because there are No Zombie Cannibals, John now has free reign to move about among zombies without danger to himself and uses it to help fellow survivors.
- Defied: Dr. Crazystein designs the zombie plague to be quick-acting so it's more efficient.
- Discussed: John notes that Dr. Crazystein's sadism and "genius" is a double edged sword, even with Zombie Infectees, it allows people like John to either commit suicide or be killed before they turn.
- Conversed: Toma and Mira note that while the slow transformation in their favorite zombie show makes for good drama, it strains belief that a full blown zombie apocalypse came about despite everyone turning slowly, since it would give the government, army and people more time to understand the threat and respond.
- Deconstructed: The plague stops quickly because people can be easily killed before they turn into zombies.
- Reconstructed: An uninformed infectee is a Typhoid Mary and can still zombify people. Additionally, even if they are detected, few are willing to harm their infected loved ones, and many become Zombie Infectee or naive Zombie Advocates.
- Implied: The movie is paced frenetically with action, but background references in newspapers and TV show it actually takes place over weeks between bites / infection and outbreak.
- Plotted A Good Waste:
- The plot makes John a jerk at the outset, and his slow transformation makes viewers begin to feel sympathy for him as he struggles to find a cure while protecting his daughter, and makes his eventual sacrifice to avoid endangering her more poignant.
- Alternately, his unrepentant jerkassery grows worse post transformation and makes the audience feel relief when Mary kills him before he transforms in order to save the group.
- Played For Laughs: John's transformation takes so long, he starts joking that he's had shorter hangovers, and that's he's feeling peckish for brain-burgers, or that his friend Bob has too few brain cells to be at risk when he turns. Bob returns the favor by waking him up every morning with "Are you dead yet?"
- Played For Drama: John's struggles with his oncoming death— and the fact he might kill his friends and family— are incredibly sad and tragic. It gets worse when he discovers that zombie instincts are kicking in and he's developing a Horror Hunger for human. And worse, indulging it seems to slow the transformation, cue moral dilemma.
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