I saw the term "alien zombies" in the title and thought it weird. In a fictional story, there is no need to make aliens into zombies because aliens can be as weird and dangerous as the plot needs them to be without bring the zombie trope into it. But then I read the article, which has a lot of examples of space zombies, many that I've seen. In TV, it's a way of introducing a new concept into a series that already takes place in space. In standalone films, it's a way of explaining how zombies happen: a novel microbe infection from space. But there are practical reasons, too.
The appeal of putting a zombie in a spaceship for a TV show is easy to see. Zombies are a cool and instantly recognisable monster. Spaceships are a cool and instantly recognisable setting. What’s more, while your production values may vary, zombies on a spaceship is a pretty damn cheap concept to realise on screen. Zombies are just however many extras you can afford with some gory make-up. All you need for a spaceship is some suitably set-dressed corridors and maybe a couple of exterior model shots if you’re feeling swish.
And as with the zombie apocalypse genre as a whole, the audience instantly and instinctively understands “the rules” of a zombie story, allowing you to focus on your characters and the solutions they come up with.
However, there are problems with making a classic zombie movie work in space. Den of Geek takes a look at the concept, how it's been done before, and how it clashes with our expectations of a zombie story. -via Digg