The idea of a mother receiving the horrible news of her son's death, and making the wish that he live, only to have her wish granted with horrible side effects could describe either of these stories.
The idea of soldiers returning home from war as "zombies" certainly carries its own interesting commentary.
Yeah, I think it's safe to say that this was pretty heavily inspired by The Monkey's Paw, which is a real classic piece of horror fiction. But as you said, the film carries its own interesting commentary. It makes good use of the general premise of the short story, while crafting something that is entirely its own entity with its own particularities in terms of social analysis.
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