With the ’28 Years Later’ sequel, our love of zombies can’t be killed

Our love of zombies just won’t die. It’s more than you can shake a severed finger at, with countless zombie movies, games, comics, websites and TV shows.

For instance, AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” which ran from 2010 to 2022, spawned a franchise with spin-offs “Fear the Walking Dead,” “The Walking Dead: World Beyond,” “The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon” and the anthology series “Tales of the Walking Dead.”

It’s exhausting! Good thing zombies don’t need sleep. But I’m just as guilty. My feature-length zombie comedy/drama, “The Dead Can’t Dance” (2010), had a nice festival run and is still being written about on streaming service websites. My twist was that a virus breaks out and turns everyone into zombies – except Native Americans. Society lives on because of them (there will be a special 15th anniversary screening at my AlterNative Film Festival, to be held in Wichita in November).

Now comes “28 Years Later” at the movies (opening wide on Friday, June 20). It’s a direct sequel to the groundbreaking “28 Days Later” (2002), which starred Cillian Murphy (years before he won an Oscar for “Oppenheimer”), was directed by Danny Boyle (years before he won an Oscar for “Slumdog Millionaire”) and written by Alex Garland (years before he was nominated for an Oscar for “Ex Machina”).

Not much is known about “28 Years Later” except that Murphy, Boyle and Garland are all returning, with Ralph Fiennes and Aaron Taylor-Johnson joining the cast. This film also apparently pretends the previous sequel, “28 Weeks Later” (2007), never happened and could be the start of a new trilogy.

I really liked “28 Days Later” and how ferociously scary its zombie creatures were. Before, it seems like we had only seen the slow and bumbling zombies (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Here are some of my other favorite zombie movies:

“Shaun of the Dead” (2004) – A hilarious, heartfelt zombie comedy with slick direction and a sharp script by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright. “You’ve got red on you!”

“Night of the Living Dead” (1968) – George Romero’s groundbreaking classic launched the modern zombie genre with powerful social commentary.

“Zombieland” (2009) – A fast-paced, funny zombie romp with great chemistry between Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson. Make sure to double-tap!

“Dawn of the Dead” (2004) – Zack Snyder’s tense and stylish remake features strong performances and chilling set pieces in a mall under siege.

“Warm Bodies” (2013) – A surprisingly charming zombie rom-com that reinvents the genre with wit and heart.

“Dawn of the Dead” (1978) – Romero’s original mall-set satire blends horror and biting commentary on consumerism.

“Army of the Dead” (2021) – Snyder again, this time with a wild, heist-meets-zombie flick in post-apocalyptic Vegas.

“World War Z” (2013) – Despite production issues, this global-scale thriller delivers intense action and suspense.

“Dead Snow” (2009) – Gory, goofy fun with Nazi zombies terrorizing med students in snowy Norway.

“Dance of the Dead” (2008) – A scrappy, low-budget teen zombie flick where high school geeks save prom night from the undead.

Reach Rod Pocowatchit at rodrick@rawdzilla.com.