The idea of a reanimated corpse reached Western audiences through William Seabrook's 1929 book The Magic Island, which described Haitian voodoo. Early Hollywood films such as White Zombie in 1932 used those stereotypes, with mindless servants controlled by a sorcerer. George A. Romero's 1968 Night of the Living Dead, made cheaply in Pennsylvania, gave the genre its familiar form: slow, relentless ghouls who want to eat the living. Its story of strangers trapped in a farmhouse, with a Black protagonist, also made the film a social allegory. The creatures are explained as irradiated, reflecting Cold War fears of nuclear anxiety and the unrest of the time.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.