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Phoenix
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Well considering that zombies, traditionally, hail from voodoo, there is some belief that powerful drugs are used by a voodoo "sorcerer" to place a person into a near-dead state and then to rob them of their senses and make them susceptible to suggestion. This would make them a drug-controlled, though very living, human that would need medical attention, not chainsaw wounds, and they certainly wouldn't mass invade.
Now barring the drugged out person, yes, many cultures have a belief in the undead rising from the grave or being reanimated by some sorcerer as a slave. These kinds of zombies don't tend to participate in invasions. Historically they're rather rare to see. I would assume that since they're worried about a zombie invasion that they're concerned with the zombie as it is in pop culture, horror movies, and video games. That would generally be one of three types:
1) Pathogenic zombie. This is the Resident Evil version, where some contagious element exists in the zombie, where the zombie is capable of "infecting" those it comes in contact with, usually through an open wound, such as a bite mark. This would be the most serious threat for mass invasion as anyone coming in contact with the zombie could be zombified. Head shots are a must, as this kind requires a disruption of the brain to cause neurological activity to cease so that the zombie cannot function. Bad news is, even if you live through it, you might come in contact with the pathogen at any time, and risk later infection and/or transmission. Chainsaws would almost certainly cover you with pathogenic zombie kibble, so you'd be better off with snipers and expert marksman, machineguns, lots of ammo, and flamethrowers are a must for "crowd control".
2) Live Undead. This would be Night of the Living Dead. Corpses would be somehow reanimated, either by some supernatural or unknown physical process. Depending on whether people killed by the zombies would be automatically reanimated themselves or not, this could be the second most serious threat for contagion factor, simply because while wounds would be insufficient for zombification, getting killed by zombies would mean you join their ranks. The question of what state of decomposition and how much physical strength the zombies would have would be of concern. How much flesh is required for the zombie to reanimate, and how long after death can they be raised? If it is indefinite, then skeletal remains technically would not be zombies - they would just be undead, and how they would function without any muscles and nerves would be of question. Also, most caskets in the United States are sealed in concrete vaults underground, with a great deal of earth shoveled over them. Gone are the days of the wooden box and shovel-toting grave digger. They use backhoes to dig graves now. The zombie would have some trouble getting out of the grave, or being exposed to whatever it is that makes dead people into zombies, assuming it's not some kind of permeating energy field. So depending on what can reanimate and the area of effect of the zombification power, it's hard to say how many zombies would get up and moving. Once people start dying, then the problems really start. Since these kind of zombies aren't contagious, chainsaws and bladed weapons would be very useful, especially if these kind of zombies fall into the Evil Dead category where full body dismemberment could be the only sure way to stop them. Definitely the messiest invasion.
3) Alien parasitic organism. Completely up in the air on this one. You have headcrabs, body snatchers... could be from a dimensional rift, or mass bombardment from space. This kind of invasion could vary from an ELE to a small, containable outbreak. If it's microbial and mass distributed everyone's screwed, so no further comment is necessary. If it's something like headcrabs, I think those old German spiky helmets might come in handy. Something like crabs would have an initial shock factor but the crabs and zombies would be easy to spot. A well armed populace will fare better than an unarmed one for certain, but with sufficient police and military response it's stoppable.
4) Possessed (Former Humans). This is not classic zombification, but a kind of mass demonic possession ala Doom. This would be less a threat for contagion after the initial takeover, but very dangerous as the zombies would be under an intelligent, malevolent control and not just ruled by some autopilot hunger instinct. The zombies themselves would be more easily killed, being not true undead and still governed by the laws of biology, though they may possess supernatural strength and other powers inherent in the possessing entity, such as perfect night vision, extra sensory perception, etc. If they can pick up and wield weapons that's even worse. Who would be a candidate for zombification is up in the air, though people with a very strong spiritual faith and virtuous character would have a greater chance of resisting possession, while the depraved would probably be immediately taken over. There might be other unknown factors involved in the possession process. The area of effect would depend on the number of evil entities available to take people over along with how many and how widespread the portal origins would be, and the contagion factor would be dependent upon whether more keep "coming through" or if the spirits possessing any killed former humans can repossess or if they lose their potency and their power dissipates on this plane after their host body is killed. Of course, this kind of invasion might be the worst of all, since it would imply some breach in the fabric of dimensions separating this world from some Dimension of Pain, and thus the possibility of invasion of more powerful beings following the initial possession outbreak, leading to a true Hell on Earth. Unless the portal closes quickly, I think you'd need more than just chainsaws for this one. Paging Mr. Doomguy?
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