MovieChat Forums > 28 Days Later (2003) Discussion > Did The Walking Dead Copy this Movie?

Did The Walking Dead Copy this Movie?

posted 12 years ago by pawson-nick
31 replies | jump to latest

sorry if this has already been covered.

i had first seen this movie long ago when it first came out as a kid and man was i terrified, but i just rewatched it for the first time and after becoming a big The Walking Dead fan, it dawned on me that TWD seems to have ripped this entire movie, which i wouldn't be surprised about at all.

wake up in a hospital during a zombie outbreak
saved by some people
goes to find family
word of a cure/safe haven
go to the safe haven, find nothing and *beep* goes awry

the first season of TWD seems, to me, to be a direct rip from this movie. it doesn't make me like either any less, just it's interesting to see how you can totally rip something, tweak it a bit and become hugely popular.

[–] DeadandBuried81 9 years ago

Not to mention the similarities to Selena and Michonne

www.thecultofhorror.blogspot.com

[–] crissttigaldames 9 years ago

Come on, The waking up in a hospital to find civilization has ended to a zombie (or zombie like) apocalypse pretty much has to be a rip off. It's too obvious.

PS: The walking dead comics came AFTER this movie's release.

[–] tanerarchibald-207-976692 9 years ago

the walking dead is based off of a comic book series by robert kirkman, all of the first season is virtually how the comic plays out, Robert Kirkman has stated that he was inspired by many of the classic zombie films such as George Romeros dead trilogy, this film and others, both the film and the walking dead have incredibly effective openings so I dont see the issue, if something is done well it does not matter how cliche it is.

[–] dltcwebb-184-63055 8 years ago

TWD creator Robert Kirkman and the directors of the show have stated numerous times they have been inspired by many zombie shows and have paid homage to them by including similar storylines in TWD graphic novels and TV show. So yeah they did rip off some aspects of 28 Days Later, as well as NotLD, DotD, etc.

[–] MrBook_ 8 years ago

Pretty much all these zombie and zombie-type stories are just copying George Romero's zombie movies, particularly the original Dawn of the Dead. It's such a specific subgenre that it's barely a subgenre at all, more a small collection of story elements, themes, and imagery that appear in every single iteration. The band of armed survivors barricading themselves against the zombies, the military imagery, the hospital scenes, the inevitable scene where they raid a store for food and supplies, having to take people out when they get infected, and of course the theme that the living/uninfected people are at least as bad as the zombies... it's all just rehashing Dawn of the Dead over and over again.

Hell, the entire idea of hoards of zombies (or infected living people in this case, though the difference is superficial) rampaging around killing people was invented by Romero. There wasn't even such a story until he made Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead.

WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD, JACKASS! . .

[–] McQualude (4231) 2 years ago

"wake up in a hospital during a zombie outbreak"

Taken from Day of the Triffids which inspired Romero.