One of the reasons why zombies have become such timeless movie monsters is the fact that the entire concept is so incredibly simple. You have to get bitten by a vampire bat and go all goth to turn into Dracula, and becoming Frankenstein involves some bad luck and a lightning storm. But the primal fear that death may not be as final as we originally thought doesn't require the same kind of suspension of disbelief as Brendan Fraser fighting a Sand Mummy. Zombies strike so much fear because they're so deceptively simple, and the 28 movies, in particular, play off that idea that zombies (or the Crazies, if you prefer that term) could be anyone. Your friends, your mom, the guy next door. Hell, they could even be you.
The Crazies in the 28 movies may not be traditional zombies -- it's more of a virus that fills living humans with unlimited rage and a taste for flesh -- but they still tap into that same primal zombie fear of the "dangerous other." The horror movie genre is often the best barometer of our fears as a nation, and zombies have always been most popular in America when, as a country, we're most scared of an enemy who looks just like us yet doesn't have the same moral code. Zombies became huge in American pop culture during both the Cold and Vietnam Wars, when it wasn't such a stretch to go from Commie to Zombie. It's equally easy to jump from terrorist to walking dead, which could explain the current zombie resurgence in US culture. Granted, a lot of the renewed popularity is the result of some very talented filmmakers, like Edgar Wright and Danny Boyle, exploring the zombie world, but it doesn't hurt that Americans are currently more paranoid than ever, ready to board up our windows and grab a shotgun at a moment's notice. Just as growth in female sexuality drove the vampire mythology and a new crop of serial killers drove the slasher genre of the late '70s and '80s, it's when we truly fear the people around us that zombies start coming back from the dead.
