Romero insists that "zombies can't run"
George A. Romero, the cinematic legend and creator of the popular zombie genre insists that despite what you may have seen in the 28 Days/Weeks Later films, the remake of his own Dawn of the Dead and last year's blockbuster I Am Legend that actually"zombie's can't run". His reasoning; Their ankles would break. Well after all, he did tell us that when there is no more room in hell, the dead will WALK the Earth. The comments come after Romero's latest two pictures Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead which feature his typically methodical paced walking dead have clearly not captured the imaginations of the horror geeks and critics quite like the new breed of films from other film-makers. Audiences don't have the patience these days to be dictated to with zombie films and it's partly down to Romero's own fault as he has clearly ran out of new themes to explore in his series and is happy churning out the same old, same old. Romero's "dead" flicks are always more concerned with social and political undercurrents than they ever were about jolting and shocking audiences like today's bunch (although sometimes, especially in his first movie - they sure did, to me at least). Racism, consumerism, media frenzies, fascism and dictatorship make up just a few of the themes that are disguised in his horror movies over the decades but the recent movies in the genre that he hasn't directed are all about shock and the disaster of the situation and concept itself, which is more akin to today's audience. They are no holds barred movies with little time for anything else but characters trying to survive in a messed up situation. It's this kind of fast paced adrenalin that fans would much rather cue up to see a 28 Months Later than a Diary of the Dead 2. Only in parody, would modern day movie-goers be happy to see a walking zombie as in the brilliant Shaun of the Dead...
