the Zombie, running out of ideas?

The zombie by no means a modern creation of cinema. it has existed in early films, literature, even certain religions for some time. The original popular appearance of the zombie was in Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" in 1968 but the term "Zombie" was produced in later movies for a creature which didn't have a definitive name. The zombie is gaining momentum in popular culture rivaling the continuing fascination of vampires however what makes and continues to terrify about the idea of the zombie is its possibility. The connection to the reanimated undead through disease, biological or chemical influences is a horrifying reality of a unrelenting monster who just wants to eat our brains.

I recently watched the 2009 movie of "Autumn", sorry to say not a very good movie, and as so many recent cinema incarnations the populace by unexplained disease was transformed into flesh eating zombies. Way before the ending credits appeared the wheels in my head turned and questions formed: have the created forces behind movies run out of origin ideas for the zombie? or is the creation of the walking dead through disease an easy explanation?

I went through my memories of films and did notice that either the creation wasn't explained or a virus was to blame. What happened to all the creativity which could inspire such thoughts of an apocalyptic catastrophe? As i have mentioned certain religions believe in the creation of a zombie, such as voodooism, used as a servants. The 1984 movie "night of the comet" introduced an interesting concept of a comet which passed too close to the earth turning the majority who did not die into zombies. In 1988 Craven attempted to reintroduce zombies back to their voodoo roots with "the serpent and the rainbow". Another 80's movie, which title escapes me, had a small town zombified by alien slugs similar to 2006's notion in "slither".

There are so many unexplored creations for a mindless violent undead character which doesn't seem to be leaving our movies houses anytime soon. if writers and directors have decided and made them faster, smarter, even more motivated can't we give them a unique birth into the world of horror cinema once in a while?