Jesus rose from the dead because he was a zombie.
Jesus isn't the zombie. We, who have already died, will be.
Jesus rose from the dead as proof that us believers in Christ will be saved. He gives us hope that we will rise like him and meet him in the air when he returns.
As for zombies and why they are so popular, I think it's because all the non-believers who have died in the past will rise from their sleep (dead) to be united with their dead bodies so that "every eye will see" when Jesus returns a second time to take his revenge. It will be when all the non-believers will get their proof of God they've been crying for.
To me, the greatest thing an atheist ever said was God would have to prove to every non-believer living as well as in the past, i.e. dead, that there is a God. I used to think the non-believers would find out in hell, but no, it was already written in the end times prophecy everything will be settled on Earth. How could God answer an atheist demand from the present in the past already in the Bible? If I was an atheist, then that would convert me right there.
Bible verses about Dead Will Rise Again
www.openbible.info