Zombie Sequels & Remakes

In the world of horror there have been many genres that have left their mark from vampires to werewolves to even the mummy but none have been as influential as the zombie sub-genre. Held as one of the only original sub-genres of the cinema (as vampires and werewolves and the rest were first adapted from source material whereas the zombie film seems to have been crafted strictly for the cinema) zombie films hold an allure unlike any other genre. They present an all too human quality that other sub-genres lack since the undead represent former loved ones and more shockingly ourselves.

The genre seems to come and go through the ages with varying degrees of popularity but none so much as now which is why this is the perfect time to take a look at some of the best remakes and sequels to some of the best zombie films the genre has to offer.

Presented in alphabetical order we will first take a look at the recent sequel 28 Weeks Later (2007), which by all accounts improves on some of the problems of the first film and creates more suspense and unnerving moments. This film of disease-infected people is part of the new wave of zombie films in which the victims are still alive so some of the more traditional elements of the zombie film do not apply although it is apparent that the zombie is the creature from which the infected derived. The first film was such a success with audiences that this sequel was rushed into production. This film does sport some of the best action-horror sequences of any recent horror film with the pessimistic ending befitting a George A. Romero zombie film.

In Army of Darkness (1992) Ash (Bruce Campbell) returns to battle the deadites that have sent him back in time. Unlike the previous two films in the series, this film is more comedy than horror but some of the sequences are pulled straight from an EC Comic book and this film ends one of the most interesting of horror film series to ever come about. The same can be said of Creepshow 2 (1987), which although is not completely a zombie film it does present an undead hitchhiker in one of the stories and the spirit of a Native American in another. Both films are in the EC Comics style and provide just as many laughs as horror elements.

In Bride of the Re-Animator (1990) we get the comedy and we get the extreme graphic nature that plagued the original film. We also get Jeffrey Combs back as Herbert West who still hasn’t learned his lesson about reanimating the dead. The fun thing about these films is that the zombies here talk and move just like regular people. They’re just a little dead. This makes for one of the more interesting series in the genre (as there have been another film in the series Beyond Re-Animator with a proposed fourth film in the works).

Now we come to the films that have had the most profound effect on the genre which are the films of George A. Romero who crafted Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985). Both films represent a continuation of the zombie outbreak with Dawn taking place just after the outbreak with a small group of people trapped in a strip mall and Day with a group of scientist and military personnel trapped in an underground bunker long after the outbreak has taken its effect on the world. Both films strived to be more than just your typical zombie film by commenting upon the decades in which they were produced. They were relevant then and the same holds true to this day and a lot of the basic conventions of the zombie genre we owe to these films and to Romero himself.

When we take a look at the remakes of some of Romero’s films we see a modern day sensibility that makes them relevant to today such as the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead which Romero wrote making it a film more in the tradition of the feminist mode with a main character who will not just stand still and be complacent. Although this film follows the basic plot of the original film, its sensibilities are vastly different creating an entirely different experience then its predecessor. In the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead the same can be said as the zombies take on a more ferocious temperament and are fast moving and extremely dangerous. The suspense is high and the film is a thrill-a-minute extravaganza. Both the originals and the remakes of these films are a testament to the malleability of the genre no mater what decade they were produced in.

In The Evil Dead II (1987) the grounds for both a sequel and remake can be seen as this film takes the events of the first film and represents them while also expanding upon what happens next after the first film’s conclusion. This film also was a vast change in direction for the series as the tone changed from hardcore horror film to comic book horror (of which would be greatly elaborated on in Army of Darkness). By the mid-‘80s more comedy was placed in horror films due to the popularity of the masked killers in slasher films and some of those sensibilities seem to have rubbed off on other genre films.

This includes the final film in this series which is Return of the Living Dead Part 3 (1993) which was a mixture of the story of Romeo & Juliet wrapped in a gore-filled zombie film played tongue in cheek (but not in the same way as say Return of the Living Dead Part 2). It also sports some effective special effects and production design better than the previous film and is more closely associated with the original film. Plus director Brian Yuzna has a knack of far exceeding audiences expectations with the countless films he has directed (which includes the above mentioned Bride of Re-Animator).

Although there are many more films that could be included on this list, this is just a sampling of the zombie films and franchises that has made the sub-genre what it is today. It is an ever evolving sub-genre that has its ups and its downs yet always finds a way to return from the grave.