When “Twilight” became popular – and ruined modern young adult literature – everyone knew the vampire craze had begun.

Slews of terrible movie knockoffs and dreadful supernatural romance novels spun lazy tales of eternal love littered with angsty immortals and their idiotic crushes.

People begged for the vampire and werewolf phase to end.

We got what we wanted in the revival (pun intended) of an old favorite supernatural monster: zombies.

And let me tell you, when it comes to the undead, you can’t have one zombie; it has to be an apocalypse.

Zombies infected everything (pun intended) and every major medium catered to the undead.

At first it seemed really fun and great that the undead had come to save us from sparkly vampires, with the big difference being that these new zombies didn’t abandon their mythology for a more marketable persona; zombies were still brain-hungry monsters without remorse, reason or souls.

Which isn’t to say that zombies didn’t evolve. Zombies were comedic figures in “Zombieland” and “Plants vs. Zombies,” but they remained terrifying in “Call of Duty”‘s zombie mode and “Left 4 Dead” while they managed to do something of both in “Dead Snow.” (If you haven’t seen this, put down this newspaper and go watch it. Especially you, Jessica.)

But now here we are in 2011 with every other game featuring zombies: “Red Dead Redemption’s Undead Nightmare,” “Borderlands” and even the straight-laced Japanese mafia series “Yakuza.” And you know what? I love it!

Here’s why. While zombies stay more or less the same in everything, they are like the Nazis in that you are never tired of seeing them die.

Personally, I can blame the lateness of several assignments on my roommates drafting me into a game of “Nazi Zombies” at 2 a.m.

I know that I should tell them “no” and go to sleep but I just can’t; it’s too addicting.

The guys at Treyarch know what we want when they release new “Call of Duty” maps: more zombie maps. The upcoming zombie map will feature Danny Trejo, Sarah Michelle Geller, Michael Rooker and Robert Englund trapped on a Siberian ship with endless amounts of zombies led by an undead George Romero.

They have crafted the map to incorporate everything that makes all of the other zombie maps so much fun.

TV has learned this lesson too, giving us a live-action adaptation of “The Walking Dead” graphic novel series. AMC renewed the show for a second season before the first season even aired because of all the hype that the show was gathering.

“Marvel Zombies” never ceases to be super entertaining and books like “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” are witty and excellent.

But just like real zombies, the trend will decay and fall apart with age and eventually disappear for a little while. That’s the circle of life, or rather unlife.

Hopefully vampires will go back to their evil and murderous ways soon, and I for one am very excited to see the final “Harry Potter” film decimate “Breaking Dawn” at the box office.