A Brief History of The Running Zombie
The rules of monstrous folklore are much more fluid than most folks seem to realize. For example, if you go back far enough in time, you’ll find there’s virtually no difference between ancient werewolves, vampires, and undead ghouls. The peculiarities like full-moon transformations, sensitivity to sunlight, and infectious bites showed up much later as this multi-generational game of telephone reached modern times.
I was reminded of this fact when I saw the incredible trailer for Danny Boyle and Alex Garland’s long-awaited 28 Years Later, a sequel to the film that originally codified running zombies as a trope in popular culture. With the new movie promising to update the Rage-infected horde for a new generation by adding giant (and possibly intelligent) variants into the mix, I feel that this is the perfect time to look back on the history of running zombies and consider how the zombie genre might continue to evolve in the future.
Let’s Start At The Very Beginning
Naturally, our quest begins back in 1968 with the very first modern zombie movie: George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. While the concept of shambling undead monsters already existed in Haitian folklore and the media inspired by those beliefs, these zombies were created with witchcraft rather than infected by a deadly virus. That’s why the biggest influence on Night of the Living Dead actually came from a completely different sub-genre of horror.
Romero’s undead (which only became known as “zombies” after the fact) were actually inspired by the vampiric antagonists of Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend and its numerous big-screen adaptations. A large-scale experiment in apocalyptic storytelling that has more in common with The Stand than Dracula, the undead hordes of The Last Man on Earth and Omega Man were the real basis for this new generation of cannibalistic ghouls that operated as a collective societal threat.
So what does this have to do with running zombies? Well, despite Romero cheekily remarking that undead ankles would snap if the walking dead should ever choose to sprint, the very first modern zombie actually runs after Barbara at the beginning of the film. Not only that, but this first generation of the undead was already planning ambushes and using simple tools long before the more “evolved” zombies of Land of the Dead. If you really think about it, most of the rules about classic zombies were popularized by the filmmakers who came after Romero, as his initial film was already willing to experiment with the undead by depicting them as less-glamorous vampires.
Zombies Sprint Into the 1980s
Regardless, shambling flesh-eaters became the genre standard for years after Romero’s success. It was only in 1980 that Italian filmmaker Umberto Lenzi would re-invent re-animated corpses by freeing them from the stiff limitations of rigor mortis. Also known as City of the Walking Dead, the Spanish/Italian co-production Nightmare City may not be as fondly remembered as other European Z-flicks (and the director himself rejects the zombie label), but this high-octane thriller was ahead of its time in the way it depicted undead cannibals as intelligent killing machines rather than a slow-moving inevitability—all while borrowing from the same source material that originally inspired Night of the Living Dead.
Telling the story of a nuclear accident that transforms the passengers of a military aircraft into bloodthirsty monsters, Lenzi’s film was initially criticized for its excessive brutality and unorthodox depiction of the undead. Reviewers in the 1980s believed that the emphasis on action made the story too silly to be taken seriously (not to mention the absurd ending). But, it’s precisely the frenetic pace and unconventional antagonists that make this movie so damned interesting.
Decades before Boyle and Garland updated the undead curse for a post-9/11 world that feared terrorism and large-scale pandemics more than spooky graveyards, Lenzi was already telling a story that demystified zombies while also exploring the brutality of decidedly human violence. These zombies run and wield weapons because they represent humanity gone mad. I also find it interesting that the villains of Nightmare City also drink the blood of their victims, with this vampiric touch further connecting them to the apocalyptic nightmares of Richard Matheson.
28 Days Later And A New Kind of Zombie
Nightmare City wasn’t the only pre-millennium Z-flick to feature running zombies, but I think we can all agree that this idea really entered the public consciousness with the release of 28 Days Later, another film that pissed off zombie purists by depicting them as infected people instead of walking corpses. While I don’t think that Lenzi’s film was necessarily an inspiration for Garland and Boyle’s vision of a world-ending Rage virus (though it certainly influenced Robert Rodriguez’s Planet Terror), I’m certain that both projects share a similar origin with two filmmakers aiming to shock jaded audiences by updating a classic monster.
This is also why I think the upcoming 28 Years Later may very well be a turning point for zombie movies as it further deviates from the genre’s superstitious origins and brings us closer to something akin to apocalyptic body horror or maybe even political horror. In the twenty-plus years since the release of the first film, there’s been a whole new cycle of zombie media that has oversaturated the market. So it stands to reason that a new entry would have to change up the formula in order to stand out.
Zombies Go Digital
We’ve actually seen something similar in the world of videogames, with zombies becoming so common that developers were forced to mutate their abilities in order to keep them interesting. It got to the point where it’s not even clear if we should still be referring to some of these things as “zombies”. From the Resident Evil remake experimenting with Crimson Heads to Dying Light introducing super-powered stalkers that pursue you for miles on end, mutated zombies are nothing new. However, what makes me excited for 28 Years Later is the fact that Garland and Boyle seem to be updating their antagonists in order to make a point about humanity’s place in the world.
What Awaits Us In The Future?
Hell, after a real-world pandemic, it seems fitting that a follow-up to 28 Days Later would follow a so-called “new norm” where our old way of life is now obsolete and terror is something you deal with daily. The sequel might also be a case of horror influences coming full circle, as the trailer teases the possibility that the infected are the true heirs to the planet in much the same way that the vampires were in I Am Legend. And just like in the primitive conflicts between Homo sapiens and our Neanderthal cousins, the real horror isn’t necessarily the fact that the enemy is stronger—it’s that they have just as much of a right to be here as we do.
Only time will tell if the new 28 Years Later trilogy will be successful enough to inspire other zombie filmmakers to update their own stories (or maybe spark an entirely new sub-genre of media about infected killers). But the mere fact that we’re still getting new and original zombie movies after almost 60 years is good news in and of itself. So, whether or not you prefer shambling biters over sprinting cannibals, I think it’s safe to say that the future looks bright for zombie fans.
Categorized:Editorials
