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In this day and age, zombies are an integral part of our horror genre. Whilst they may make for a good movie, zombies are renowned for being rather pathetically slow. You could walk away from them and they wouldn't catch you. Whilst I can appreciate a good thriller where the suspense is built incrementally, I feel zombie movies often lose their edge when the pace is lacking.

If you were to compare slow and fast zombies, compare the movies "Shaun of the Dead" and "I Am Legend" respectively. Ignore the fact that the former is comedy horror, and the latter is not. If you were looking for a sweating-palm, edge-of-your-seat movie, then "I Am Legend" would win hands down. The faster zombies are less predictable, more frightening and indeed more interesting. There is a greater window for frightening and entertaining the viewer if they are not able to predict what happens next.

Movies in the horror genre are competing on elements of gore, thrill, originality, special effects and scripts. There is, in my opinion, always more excitement to be had with fast-paced zombies. The movie "28 Days Later" also featured fast zombies. The fact that they were fast, quiet and inventive made for better quality viewing, and I think this promoted an increased interest from viewers to see the follow-up movie, "28 Weeks Later". A further increase in pace in the sequel led to many people considering it to outweigh the original "28 Days Later".

We've come a long way from zombies being green and stumbling painfully slowly towards the victim with hands outstretched. Today's viewer demands more excitement, a higher thrill, and a unique storyline. The concept of a zombie must change to keep up with the demands of today's entertainment.

A good old horror flick can be well worth watching for entertainment value and nostalgia, but I do believe there is a lot to be said for a movie that is frightening and intriguing, unpredictable and has a unique quality. It's a natural progression to speed up zombies to keep the regular viewers tuning in. Today's storylines cannot afford to rely only on previous concepts. New ideas and perceptions are potentially limitless. I say use them for a new generation of zombie madness!

Learn more about this author, A Morris.
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