The Surprising Truth About Army Of The Dead's Zombie Horse

"Army of the Dead" has promised a whole undead menagerie. The trailer for the upcoming Netflix action-horror film shows off a "Tiger King"-influenced zombie tiger, and according to Screen Rant, that's not the only animal that writer-director Zack Snyder brought back from the dead — the film also has a zombie horse. We haven't seen any images of Secreterrorit yet, but we've learned something very interesting about it.

"Army of the Dead," which hits Netflix on May 21, stars Dave Bautista as Scott Ward, the leader of an elite team of bandits who enter the quarantine zone of Las Vegas during a zombie virus outbreak in order to rob a casino vault. The mission, of course, does not go according to plan, and they have to fight their way out of a city overrun with brain-hungry creatures, including "Alphas," which Snyder describes as "an evolved version of zombies" that can think and perform simple tasks, as well as run super fast. And this particular zombie virus can affect animals, meaning we're in for some undead beasts the likes of which we've never seen. Some of them, like the tiger, were brought to life via CGI, but you might be surprised to learn that the horse was actually present on-set, done up with practical effects. Here's what we know about the zombie horse in "Army of the Dead."

According to Screen Rant, producer Deborah Snyder says the zombie horse is a real horse that's had special effects makeup applied to it. The undead ungulate was designed by practical effects master Gabe Bartalos, who has been creating special effects makeup for horses for over 20 years, starting with a zombie racehorse for artist Matthew Barney's "Cremaster 3" in 2000 (via Art21).

No horses were harmed in the zombification process, according to Deborah Snyder. "We found that, with the horses, especially when they train them, they put a lot of blankets on them for comfort, or they'll put it on their head, like the blinders, so it actually calms them down," she said. "So we built this nylon suit and then we put appliances on the horse. It was really fun."

There were some definite challenges in working with a zombie horse, however. They were shooting in the summer in New Mexico, and nylon is not known for its breathability. "So we had to have short times where we could shoot with him, and then the horse had to be wet down and we didn't expect that part of it," Snyder explained.

It sounds pretty cool. After learning of this zombie horse, the next question that arises is naturally whether an alpha zombie can ride it. We'll have to wait and see what happens when "Army of the Dead" hits Netflix on May 21.