With viewers' appetites for zombie drama showing no sign of abating, American running shoe brand Brooks has cashed in with an amusing twist on the genre.

Created by Leo Burnett Chicago and directed by Furlined's Bjorn Ruhman, "The Rundead" is a three-minute zombie film in which the walkers -- who get around with that well-known stilted gait, limping and stumbling and groping -- suddenly get a new lease of life after chasing a runner into a running shoe store.

Having all donned pairs of Brooks sneakers, they slowly start to transform, and are soon tearing up the highway. There are some very funny touches -- such as when they start hanging on to a truck where a terrified guy has just gone to hide, and it turns out they're just stretching. As they head out to open country to clock up some miles, they even stop to pat a little girl's cat and place a snail back on a leaf. The film ends with the message: "Running makes you feel alive."

The spot -- which looks as if it was great fun to make -- features special effects makeup by Academy Award-winning artist Dominie Till, and Brooks CEO James M. Weber puts in a cameo as one of the undead. We're wondering where the zombies will head next -- they must be famished after putting in all those miles!