Have I ever mentioned how much I liked 28 Days Later? No? Ok.I really liked 28 Days Later. While not a zombie movie in the strictest sense, it still has to be considered a part of the genre.
That said, I'm not sure that it needs a sequel. That right, a part deux. From Fox's new TEEN division, Fox Atomic. The sequel, titled 28 Weeks Later is being produced by Danny Boyle, Alex Garland, and Andrew Macdonald. Apparently it takes place six months after the outbreak, and here come the Americans to reseed life into Britain or some such thing.
I'm all in favor of zombie outbreaks on film (not so much in real life though), be it due to rage, t-virus, alien invasion, whatever. All for it. More zombies. However, I am NOT in favor of sequelizing every movie that makes a couple bucks. Sometimes, sequels are fine. Resident Evil, Underworld, I liked the sequels. They continued the stories in a way that it didn't feel like they were just cashing in.
On the other hand, I've yet to realize why we needed a second Blair Witch movie or Day of the Dead 2: Contagium. Or the first House of the Dead, the sequel was a lot better, we should have skipped the first one.
It just seems like all the time and "creativity" being used on sequels and remakes could be better spent on creating new characters and stories. This is where I think Romero really did it right. The characters are different each movie and though they've been made over about 40 years, it's much less time in the actual timeline of the zombie outbreak. The premise is the only real interconnected thing between the movies. It's just different people as we go along this alternate reality.
Or the sequels to Alien. Those worked, mostly. Well, for me. I'm probably in the minority having actually liked Alien Resurrection. So, sure, some sequels have worked out well. Others have been Episode I. It's a mixed bag. I just worry that Hollywood rushes into making sequels too often to movies that don't need them. It is possible to tell a story sometimes in the course of a single film. It's not like there's a huge rush to make Saving Private Ryan 2 or The Next Independance Day.
Sequels just generally seem like an easy way out of making something worth watching.
