28 Days/Weeks Later - Zombies or Not Zombies?

Question

Both 28 Days and 28 Weeks Later often get called Zombies movies, but I'd class Zombies as Undead reanimated corpses.
In the 28 films the monsters are created by a airborn virus that turns the LIVING into the creatures. So is Zombie the correct term do you think?

Answer 1

They are zombies, but not traditional zombies. They fall under the sub-category of "Rage Virus" zombies. Rather than being the slow moving, undead kind of zed, they are quite fast, and still alive. They can be killed by any means one would kill a normal human. Although they are technically alive, the rage virus takes away your humanity and turns you into a mindless eating machine. And there is no cure for the virus, so they can never regain their humanity. Which places them in the "Zombie" class.

Answer 2

Although neither The Crazies or 28 Days Later are official zombie movies, they are quite close to being zombie movies and so often are misquoted as being zombie movies! 28 Days Later (2002) has been out on DVD for longer than The Crazies (2010) so the only assumption I can think of is that people have had more time to be told off for their improper use of the word 'zombie' :) Plus like the others say, in 28 Days Later the infected DO act more like zombies than those in The Crazies so if anything, you'd imagine it would be 28 Days Later that is usually referred to wrongly. I think most people know what a zombie is, but 'zombie movie' is the easiest description for both these films unless you're talking to a fellow movie lover who absolutely MUST get all the terms correct!

Answer 3

Absolutely NOT ZOMBIES. Zombies are dead who have been reanimated . The Infected in 28 Days/Weeks are living and when killed do not get back up. The virus was not airborne however it was passed through blood and saliva.

Answer 4

they are not zombies they just have similarities. they are infected with a virus and are therefore still alive and completely human. they just have a need to kill. zombies feed on the living, the infected in 28 days/weeks are never seen eating anyone, simply biting them (and of course vomiting blood into their faces =) ) like what another answerer said, zombies are reanimated corpses. to be a zombie, the person needs to die first. in the 28 movies, the person simply becomes enraged.

not zombies =)


though i still classify it as a zombie movie

Answer 5

Being a HUGE Zombie fan, I can tell you that they are not Zombies :) I absolutely LOVED 28 days later and cant wait to see 28 weeks later!!!! The people were infected with rage in the first movie. Zombies, in all the movies that I have seen, have one thing in common.... they have to die before coming back to life. this is not the case with this movie. I hope this clears it up for you!

Answer 6

You are correct to be a true zombie you need to die first and then become re-animated. So I think the correct term is infected, this was in fact used in 28 days latter as the way to describe the bad guys.

Answer 7

i guess 28 days later would be a reimagining of a zombie. because the old george romero zombies are a classic, that it will be like copying those zombies all over again. the producers of 28 days later created their own version of a zombie that looks modern and something that fits to the plot of their movie.

Answer 8

I can see why they might be classed as zombies but you're right, it's not really the case.

They are still humans, but they are infected with a virus that makes them appear inhuman - like a zombie for example.

Great films though anyway!

Answer 9

no, i don't think the rage infected people from 28 days/weeks later are infact undead corpses or zombies. In short, they aren't zombies but the context of their origin is simlar to most zombie movies.

Answer 10

The Infected are not traditional movie zombies. Zombies are usually characterized as slow-moving creatures of very low intelligence, having the simplest of motor functions. The Infected still have the same level of mobility as they did before becoming Infected. Additionally, the adrenal gland of an Infected person continually dumps adrenaline in to their system, allowing them to display extrordinary feats of strength and endurance and also to ignore wounds such as explosive amputation of limbs and immolation.

The key difference is that the Rage-infected victims are still living human beings and as such can be killed using standard technologies such as bullets, RPGs, landmines, fire, CBRN technologies, etc.