ATHENS - Hundreds of zombies and other creatures took over the center of Athens on Saturday, spreading horror, shock and awe among locals and tourists.

The living dead began their rampage in the Greek capital's central square for the seventh running of the "Athens Zombie Walk".

"The last two years the turnout at these events has been very big, so it looks like there is a trend," said Yolanda Koliou, coordinator of the event.

"Zombie Walk" started in 2001 in Sacramento, California and quickly branched out to the rest of the world.

It is a parade of the "living dead", where people dress up as zombies and crawl around the city, creeping out passers-by.

"It is the second time we have come here. Last year was good, we scared a lot of people, but this year we are looking forward to scaring many more, having more fun..." said 19-year-old Io, who was covered in artificial blood and fake scars made of liquid latex.

A lot of the zombies' costumes stood out for their originality, wild imagination and impressive special effects, as the target audience of such events is usually fans of horror movies and TV series.

Many are devoted cosplayers.

"My interest in this whole thing stems from my makeup studies and my passion for special effects. That's what I want to work on. But I also like the zombies, the 80s and all that..." Ioanna, yet another bloodstained teenager, explained.

For this year's meeting, the organizers encouraged participants to draw inspiration from TV series such as The Walking Dead as well as from iconic films.

Xinhua