Little details aside like the ghouls in Night using tools and eating bugs, I find it works perfectly as occurring in the same universe.
In Night a comet passes by that might be related to the dead rising, local armed citizens mostly put a stop to the initial wave of ghouls. But the dead keep rising so there are more outbreaks all the time all over, somewhere around a decade later we enter Dawn where society is slowly breaking down due to stupid shit like hoarding of dead loved ones.
Dawn covers the usual territory of the zombie apoc movie, society mostly broken down and plenty of survivors some murderous raiders.
And then to Day almost a decade later, where our protags may be one of the few pockets of humanity left mostly because they had a endless store of food and almost perfect security underground. They have heard no radio broadcasts or seen evidence of other survivors for years. We’re told the zombies decay slower then normal, and will last another 15 years!
I’m ignoring Land and other sequels because I didn’t like them very much
Ah forgot to add that the reason I like the one universe theory is that it would be the most sensible zombie apoc I have seen, in most society goes from normal to shithole in a few weeks tops.
But a slow collapse over almost two decades to the last survivors makes way more sense, especially as supplies run out over time.
It’s open to interpretation. Personally I subscribe to the theory that all of the films take place during different stages of the same zombie apocalypse; you just have to ignore the “cosmetic” differences that arise from being made in different decades. Using this timeline Night & Diary take place on the first night of the outbreak, Dawn takes place 3 weeks later, Day 6-12 months after the outbreak, and Land 3 years after the outbreak.
Night would play out almost the same way if it were set today. Johnny & Barbara turn off their cell phones on the way to the cemetery to avoid their mother’s nagging (missing her frantic calls about news reports), Barbara either drops her phone in the cemetery or leaves in the care when she flees, and the farmhouse is located in cellular dead zone (still common for rural areas). Or maybe Cooper just crashed his car into the nearest cell tower. Dawn & Day would be unchanged except for some minor dialogue tweets (& the soldiers’ behaviour in Day would be less Vietnamish).
Frankly, it never occurred to me that these movies weren’t supposed to be happening in the same reality. Is this actually a debate that happening out there somewhere?
I could be wrong but didn’t Land take place much later than three years? I seem to remember Asia Argento’s twenty-something character saying she had never been out of the safe zone…
Same here. I don’t think it’s the common perception that they don’t. I think most people who would pay attention to the issue think it’s the same continuity. The fudgey-ness of the different decades is forgiven but more or less the Romero movies are all one continuity. Except “Survival of the Dead”… that was a weird fever dream of one of the characters…that’s the only explanation.
Yeah Land takes place much much later than three years.
IIRC she said she’d never been outside the city “since it was a real city” (ie she lived in Pittsburgh when the dead rose & just never left). The 3 years figure is based on the mechanic’s comment about the last time he saw a car brought in. Plus Kaufman’s people can still scavenge viable foodstuffs & drugs (among other things) from towns less than a day’s drive from the city. Granted there’s a lot about Land that doesn’t make sense; like how their social structure works, or cash still being considered valuable. :dubious:
Night/Dawn/Day/Land are all the same universe, though clearly they have continuity issues. Land is much later, but Night and Dawn are both early in the outbreak, despite taking place in different decades.
Diary/Survival are a different universe, and Survival even has direct connections to Diary. Too bad Survival is also a festering pile of goat entrails that makes even direct to Syfy movies look half decent.
