It Came from the Water: The Rise of the Polish Vegan Zombie

Xawery Żuławski’s It Came from the Water (2022) offers a Polish contribution to global eco-zombie narratives by linking the rise of the undead to the pollution of the Baltic Sea. Through this local ecological lens, the movie reshapes traditional zombie tropes and introduces the vegan zombie, a figure embodying sustainable consumption. The article demonstrates how Żuławski transforms the undead into a source of cautious ecological hope, blending Poland’s environmental anxieties with international genre conventions to explore possibilities for sustainable human-nature engagement.