Top 10 Modern Zombie Movies – ThoughtCo

I'm a zombie nerd. I debate whether Frankenstein's monster is a zombie or not (he's not because he's made of dead parts and not a single body reanimated from the dead). I couldn't make a list and make no distinction of sub-genres and zombie classifications. So I divided my list into two parts: Old School Zombies, and Modern Zombies. This second part includes films that break the classic George A. Romero rules by featuring zombies that are fast-moving, infected not re-animated, or demonic. But there are still thematic ties that make all of these worth including in any discussion of the genre.

IFC Films

Pontypool serves up a zombie film without zombies. I know how that sounds, but it's true and it works. The innovation is how zombification is spread -- it's not through a virus or a bite or even because there's no more room in hell. The infection, in this case, is spread through language. If you hear an "infected" word, you can become something that's essentially a zombie. You don't die and become reanimated, but your brain ceases to function and you suddenly want to attack those who are uninfected.

This zombification taps into our fear about loss of identity and of some degenerative mental illness, like dementia. Zombies are hollow shells of what we once were and that's what makes them scary. They scare us not only because they pose a threat but also because we fear we might become one. This Canadian film is a unique, must-see entry in the zombie canon.

Dimension Films

Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror is one half of the faux double bill of Grindhouse. Quentin Tarantino provided the other half (Deathproof). At the Comic-Con panel for the film, Rodriguez clearly pointed out that this was an "infected people" film. An experimental bio-weapon ends up turning people into diseased, rotting, ravenous creatures.

Rodriguez delivers a grindhouse splatterfest with plenty of oozing, mangled, and bloody infected people running around and chewing victims up. Gore effects artist Tom Savini has a cameo as a cop who gets torn limb from limb, literally!

Outsider Pictures

Zombies have definitely become more international and diverse in recent years. Japan gave us demonic, John Woo-style zombies in Versus; New Zealand zombified its plentiful livestock in Black Sheep; and Germany went for a fast spreading zombie virus in Rammbock: Berlin Undead. As with Romero's films, Cuba's comedy finds zombies fertile ground for clever political and social satire.

In this case, the zombies are labeled "dissidents" by the government, which also assumes the zombies are covertly funded by the U.S. government. At one point, the title character asks for clarification about why are some zombies slow and others fast. It's a funny acknowledgment of the inconsistency within the genre. The film just misses being a classic zombie film because it mixes slow and fast creatures. The film really displays a Cuban flavor in terms of how the characters react to the zombie apocalypse.

France serves up another international zombie entry. It delivers a damn good and bleakly satisfying take on the zombie apocalypse. It says we get what we deserve or as Shakespeare put it, We but teach bloody instructions, which, being taught, return to plague the inventor.

In this case, a zombie plague comes back to wreak havoc on the teachers of violence -- in this case gangsters and cops. So these zombies might be some bizarre off-shoot of the current social upheaval in France. The film sets the zombies loose within a cop/gangster thriller. The zombies quickly change the dynamics of the story as cops and gangsters join forces to fight the undead. But new divisions soon arise, and alliances are no longer determined by job, race or social status but rather by intelligence and survival skills.

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Top 10 Modern Zombie Movies - ThoughtCo

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero