The 50 Best Zombie Movies of All Time – Paste Magazine

Heres a film truism that everyone can agree upon: George Romeros 1968 Night of the Living Dead is probably the most influential and important zombie film of all time. It codified an entirely new meaning for the term, which is ironic, given that the word zombie never actually appears in the movie, where the creatures are typically referred to as ghouls. But regardless, NOTLD catapulted the Americanized idea of zombies past their Haitian voodoo origins and into the cultural consciousness as dead bodies come back to life or otherwise reanimated, who fed upon the living. Few films in any genre can claim to be so influential. But is it the best zombie movie of all time?

Despite its classic, definitive imagery, and despite everything it contributed to the history of horror cinema, its not as if Night of the Living Dead is a flawless film. It can be slow, a bit dated, and is limited by its minimal budget in more ways than one. With the historical record taken into account, its a great film. But its simply not the greatest zombie movie of all time, if were being objective.

What, then, even makes for a great zombie film? Are they determined more by great human characterization, or by the utilization of the zombies themselves? Whats more important: A unique setting, or great practical effects? Gore and mayhem, or wry social commentary? Black comedy, or genuinely frightening suspense? Each can make for valid, classic examples of zombie cinema. And please, lets not debate what is and isnt zombies. We all know that the infected of 28 Days Later arent Romero-style zombies, but the construction of the film is 100 percent zombie movie. Likewise with many other entries on the listits about intent and presentation, not whether the creatures fit within a very specific guidelines.

So without further ado: Here are the 50 greatest zombie movies of all time. The list could easily have been longer, and we trimmed quite a few classics just to get down to 50. Will we reach 100 next year? Whos to say?

Director: Victor Halperin

Where else could we begin? White Zombie was the first feature-length zombie horror film, and the first popularization of the Hollywood concept of Haitian voodoo zombies, decades before the modern George Romero ghoul. As a public domain staple in just about any cheapo package of zombie films ever assembled, its easy to find White Zombie todayyou can simply breeze through its 67-minute runtime on YouTube, if you want. Bela Lugosi, only a year removed from Dracula and reveling in his celebrity as one of Universals go-to horror performers, plays a witch doctor, who is literally named Murder because the studio was still a few years away from discovering subtlety at this point. The Svengali-like Lugosi ends up using his various potions and powders to zombify a young woman who is engaged to be married, attempting to bend her to the will of a cruel plantation owner, and well, its pretty dry, wooden stuff. Lugosi, predictably, is the one bright spot, but you had to start somewhere. After White Zombie, voodoo zombie flicks popped up occasionally in Hollywood for years, most of which are currently in the public domain today. And of course, the film also inspired a certain musical project from Rob Zombie. Youll find it prominently on some best zombie movie lists, but lets be realthis isnt a film that most audience members would get much out of watching in 2016. It gets the #50 spot of honor almost solely for historical significance.

Director: Lloyd Kaufman

As a Troma movie, Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead promises a few staples. It will be extremely trashy. It will be violent. It will have no boundaries and no sense of good taste. The real question is the same one you ask with every Troma film: Is it boring? Here, the answer is most certainly not. Billed as a zom-com musical, its even a little bit clever in its social satire of consumer cultureyou know, in an obvious sort of way. But is that really why youre watching a film about zombie chickens that come to life in a KFC-style restaurant built on an ancient Native American burial ground? I didnt think so. Watching a Troma movie is about embracing the gore, scatological humor and low-production values and simply appreciating some mindless storytelling. Poultrygeist, as a result, is just 103 minutes of bloody, gory, raunchy insanity.

Director: Ken Wiederhorn

Despite the influence of NOTLD, that film took some time to gestate and gain cache in the cultural consciousness before a huge wave of significant American zombie movies bloomed in the late 70s and especially the 80s. Arriving shortly before Dawn of the Dead exponentially raised the popularity of zombies as horror antagonists, Shock Waves might very well be the first of all the Nazi zombie flicks. Its honestly a dreary, slow-paced film through most of its run, following a group of lost boaters who end up on a mysterious island where a sunken SS submarine has jettisoned its crew of zombies, a Nazi experiment. Hammer Horror icon Peter Cushing appears as a badly miscast and addled-looking SS Commander, the same year he was sneering at Princess Leia in Star Wars: A New Hopehard to believe! There have been, by my amateur count, at least 16 Nazi zombie movies since this pointcertainly more than one might realizewhich makes this one fairly significant at least for combining the portmanteau of great film villains first. Films like the Dead Snow series ultimately owe it all to Shock Waves.

Director: J. R. Bookwalter

The story behind The Dead Next Door is one of those cases that is arguably more interesting than the film itself: It was produced by Sam Raimi, using a portion of the proceeds hed made on Evil Dead II, to allow friend J. R. Bookwalter to direct the low-budget zombie epic of his dreams. Raimi, for whatever reason, is credited as an executive producer under the name The Master Cylinder, while Evil Deads Bruce Campbell pulls double dutynot on screen, but as a voiceover for not one but two characters, because the entire film has seemingly been redubbed in post. Unsurprisingly, this lends The Dead Next Door an air of dreamy unreality, and thats before weve even mentioned that this film was SHOT ENTIRELY ON SUPER 8, rather than 32 mm film. What you have in The Dead Next Door, then, is something unique even for this genre: A grainy, low-budget zombie action-drama, featuring a combination of cringe-inducing amateur acting performances and touches of unexpected professionalism, all at once. The story revolves around an elite team of zombie exterminators stumbling on a zombie-worshiping cult, but youre not watching this one for plot, youre watching it for the gore. Seemingly made as an excuse to just practice blood effects and practical decapitations, The Dead Next Door sometimes feels like a backyard attempt to replicate the demented bloodletting seen in Peter Jacksons Dead Alive, except with genre references that are so on-the-nose you cant help but laugh. Dr. Savini? Officer Raimi? Commander Carpenter? Theyre all here, in a zombie film that feels like it was never meant to be seen by anyone but the directors family members. Still, theres an odd charm in that level of shoddy intimacy.

Director: Marc Price

When youre making a zombie movie, ambition and ingenuity are definitely worth some points, because so many hundreds of zombie films have lazily shuffled into the discount bins of DVD resale stores over the course of the last few decades. And so yes, Colin does earn itself some points for originality, even though its extreme micro-budget and execution are often hindrances. Marc Price set out to direct a zombie flick for essentially nothing in 2008, and he did so by casting it entirely from the perspective of one zombie, the titular Colin, who gets wounded by his zombie roommate before reanimating. Venturing out into the world newly born as one of the undead, he ambles down streets and develops the requisite taste for human flesh. The story weaves its way through some human characters seen in briefsurvivalists, looters and even Colins sister, who likewise meets a tragic end. Its well-shot considering the limitations, but pacing is unsurprisingly a problem, as much of the itinerant wandering feels like padding to reach feature length. Still, Colin actually does pull off a nice little arc for the character that ends by giving more meaning to how he became a zombie in the first place. Its another film that would likely benefit from a more professionally shot, budgeted and cast remake, but its still appreciably unique as is.

Film: Marc Foster

I really, really struggled with whether this film deserved to be included on such a list, but ultimately felt like I couldnt deny it some kind of acknowledgement. The problem: World War Z is one of the worst adaptations of great source material that the horror genre has ever seen. Max Brooks 2006 book is a landmark piece of zombie fiction, notable for considering aspects of the zombie apocalypse that most authors would never even start to fathom, from What happens to astronauts in the international space station? to Will it ever be possible to make root beer again, after the apocalypse? The film, an in-name-only adaptation, chose to ignore that wealth of rich source material as too difficult to film, and instead tells a story about a UN investigator, played by Brad Pitt, jet-setting around the world in search of a cure or biological agent to fight the zombies. In telling its own story, its a somewhat interesting action-horror film, with a novel twist on the movement of its zombies, which pile up on each other and flow as a hive-like swarm of army ants. Still, its so hard to overlook all of the amazing individual stories from the World War Z source material and see them condensed down into a more by-the-numbers Hollywood blockbuster. The films main point of interest is its sheer budget and scale, which one rarely sees in modern zombie films, and that does provide a certain amount of novelty and value. If you were able to simply change the title to something other than World War Z, half of the grievances immediately drop away, and youre left with a pretty serviceable, uniquely big-budget zombie epic.

Director: Amando de Ossorio

A young woman, riding a zombie horse, being pursued across a field in broad daylight by a bunch of sword-wielding Templar zombie knights, also riding zombie horsesthats something that happens in this movie. Tombs of the Blind Dead was quite successful when released in its native Spain, a key film in that countrys early 70s horror boom, in which restrictions on sexuality and violence loosened to be comparable to the giallo films of Italy. Director Ossorio questioned whether it should be considered a zombie film, as its revenants seem to be vampiric at times as well, but its really splitting hairs. The film follows some (quite dumb and impulsive) vacationers who end up in the abandoned ruins of the evil Templar monastery, awakening the blind dead, who can locate you by hearing your heartbeat. Its a slow movie, and not quite on par with some of the Italian classics from Fulci and co., but is memorable for the great production design, sets and skeletal zombies, who, as Ive already pointed out, ride freaking zombie horses. It also features a delightfully unexpected ending involving the slaughter of an entire train of innocent people.

Director: Matthew Kohnen

Theres no escaping that in the post-Shaun of the Dead era, indie zombie comedies piled up like so many bodies at the morgue after a zombie outbreak. Many of them are terrible, but occasionally you do get one like Aaah! Zombies! that is a pleasant surprise. The film uses a similar told from the zombies point of view structure to what you see in Colin, but with a clever, comedic twist: The zombies are conscious and unaware that theyre zombies. Rather, a group of slacker friends believe that theyve become super soliders thanks to a confused military private whos also become zombified. This is achieved through differing perspectives: When we see things from the zombies point of view, the film is colorized and their dialog is audible. When we see things from the perspective of human characters, the film is black-and-white, and the zombies are lumbering and uncoordinated. Our zombies, then, are something like unreliable narratorswe mostly see from their perspective, but were quickly made aware that their perspective is incorrect, which is the main source of humor. Im making this film sound a bit more cerebral than it actually is, thoughwhat one should expect from Aaah! Zombies! is simply some over-the-top slapstick humor, cartoonish zombie violence and silly character actor cameos. It gets a decent amount of mileage and laughs out of a decidedly indie budget.

Director: Pupi Avati

People who are casually acquainted with Italian horror cinema tend to know the greatsLucio Fulci, Dario Argento, etc. But if you find a Pupi Avati disciple, then you know theyve probably done their homework. Another horror and giallo director in the mold of Fulci or Bava, Avatis most celebrated work is Zeder, a quite strange sort of horror-drama with another unique perspective on the idea of zombie movies. The films macguffin is the idea of K-Zones, which are mystically imbued places where, if you bury the dead, theyll return to life. The problem is, theres more than a little bit of Pet Sematary in this films DNA, and the dead come back to life with some serious attitude issues. In reality, it comes off a bit like a blend between Re-Animator and Pet Sematary, telling the story of a young novelist who is trying to unlock the mystery of the K-Zones and how they work, as if theyre Ras Al Ghuls Lazarus pits in a Batman comic. Its a well-shot, moody film that is light on the zombie gore and violence, but oddly memorable in its images.

Director: Marcel Sarmiento

The 2000s was a decade of taboos falling, but zombie sex is still probably a bit much for many audiences. And yet, thats pretty much the entire central theme of Deadgirl, certainly one of the most WTF zombie films that has come along in recent memory. You have to give it to the writersno one had really drawn up an entire film about the sexuality of the undead before this. Unfortunately, its compulsory sexuality, as the deadgirl character in question is discovered by a handful of teenage boys, most of whom spend the majority of the film arguing over who gets to rape her next. The film wants to ask some kind of moral question about what would you do?, but considering that one half of the options involve necrophilia, the question doesnt seem as complicated as the script would like it to be. The film is effectively creepy and gross, as you might imagine, and makes the list simply for suggesting an application for zombies that hadnt been explored in this depth in the 40 years between this film and NOTLD. Like it or hate it, any and every instance of zombie sex in the future will always be compared to Deadgirl in some way.

Director: Jonathan Levine

It would be easy to cast this Nicholas Hoult rom-zom film aside as simple teen fluff, but Warm Bodies is more entertaining than the serious horror geek might expect, and if your significant other isnt so fond of exploding heads or people being torn apart in typical Romero-esque fashion, this film might be exactly what youre looking for. Hoult plays R, a rather morose zombie whose days are spent endlessly wandering a defunct airport with hundreds of his brethren as the last vestiges of his humanity slip further and further from memory. That is, until he sees Julie (Teresa Parker) for the first time, and his cold, dead heart inexplicably begins to beat once again. What follows is something of a Romero and Julie situation, as were combining star-crossed zombies with the threat of Julies dictatorial father (a I heard there was a paycheck here to be collected John Malkovich).

Still, the best things in Warm Bodies arent necessarily the romantic aspects, but the amusing camaraderie between its characters. R has what amounts to a zombie bro, played by Rob Corddry, and their minimalistic, coworker-esque small talk is a highlight that is nicely integrated into the plot as the other zombies begin experiencing some of the same awakenings as R. Likewise, Julies own teenage existence in a heavily gated, walled survivalist community is the sort of thing you dont often get a chance to see in more serious, horror-centric zombie fiction. All in all, Warm Bodies is a pleasant surprise that will appeal to the romantic comedy enthusiast and the zombie buff in equal measure.

Directors: Jonathan Milott, Cary Murnion

Cooties, for whatever reason, didnt get a lot of play and attention when it was released in 2014perhaps in the five years since Zombieland, the market had just come to regard zom-coms with a degree of been there, done that. But it deserves a look for the remarkably strong cast aloneElijah Wood as your lead, a substitute teacher who is backed up by The Offices Rainn Wilson, Jack McBrayer of 30 Rock and Allison Pill of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. The bevy of teachers run afoul of a swarm of pint-sized zombies, students who have been turned into the undead by a food-borne virus in their cafeteria chicken nuggets. The jokes, then, do tend to boil down to the unusual nature of seeing children as the aggressors and adults running for their lives, or hacking their way through a crowd of zombies who come up to their navels. One thing Cooties does rightits zombies retain a degree of their own innate personalities, which means they on some level still act like kids. Which means that we get zombie children frolicking on the playground halfway through the film, playing jump rope with someones intestines. Its an uneven comedy, but one that builds to a pretty satisfying conclusion.

Director: Tommy Wirkola

Youd be surprised just how many nazi zombie movies there truly are out therethe earlier mentioned Shock Waves may have been the first, but theyve never stopped being made since, with the highest profile version from recent years being Dead Snow and its shark-jumping sequel, Red vs. Dead. The first Dead Snow, though no masterwork, is the better film because it at least partially tries to hit the horror audience instead of abandoning it for full-on horror-comedy camp. A group of students camp out in a remote, snowy cabin in Norway and unwittingly revive a regiment of Nazi zombies by appropriating their Nazi goldpretty standard stuff for the genre. The attempts at humor and characterization are so-so, but the FX and action work are top-notch for an indie feature, with great costuming for the zombies and lots of explosive bloodletting, especially as it builds to a ridiculous conclusion. Go in with low expectations and just enjoy the blood n guts.

Director: Umberto Lenzi

If you love ludicrous foreign horror cinema, and especially batshit crazy Italian zombie movies, then Nightmare City is like the holy grail of your subgenre. Because this movie is insane. Its zombies are irradiated and pizza-faced, with ridiculous makeup and a compulsion to drink blood like theyre vampires, because the radiation is destroying their own red blood cells. Theyre unique for zombies in the sense that they retain some cognitionenough to pretend that theyre uninfected until theyre within range of people to kill. And oh, how they kill! These zombies are armed to the teeth with knives, axes, even machineguns. I repeat: This movie features machinegun-firing zombies, priestly zombies, doctor zombies and even zombies that are implied to have somehow flown and landed a large military plane on their own. Add to that a delightfully wacky English dubbing, full of awkward pauses, strange voices and philosophical ramblings, and you have the birth of a camp classic on your hands. Nightmare City stars Mexican actor Hugo Stiglitz (yes, the inspiration for the character in Tarantinos Inglorious Basterds) as a rogue news reporter who races across the countryside with his wife, trying to evade the ghouls as she rambles continuous about the futility of the human experience. It all builds to one of the most laugh-out-loud conclusions youll ever see in a zombie film, and I wouldnt dare spoil it. Suffice to say, Nightmare City is Euro-trash zombie cinema, but its GREAT Euro-trash zombie cinema for your next weird movie night.

Director: James Gunn

Its funny to think that the director of a mega-smash like Guardians of the Galaxy got his start with a B-movie zombie/aliens homage, but thats what James Gunn gleefully unleashed via Slither in 2006. It suffers just a little in terms of originality because the parallels are extremely obvious to another film on this list, 1986s Night of the Creeps, but its a fun film in its own right. As in Night of the Creeps, the action revolves around a sort of alien parasite that arrives on Earth and unleashes a horde of parasitic slugs that turn the infected into what are essentially zombies. This time, however, the slugs are controlled by a leadera sort of hive mind in the form of Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (and of course, The Walking Dead) veteran Michael Rooker, the philandering husband of Elizabeth Banks character. The casting is one of the strongest things the film has going for it, with Fireflys Nathan Fillion in a hero role and an appearance from Jenna Fischer as well, only a year into The Office. Equal parts funny, gory, and very, very slimy, Slither never strives to be much more than sleazy entertainment. It knows its place and plays its role very well.

Director: Jorge Grau

The U.S.A. is the first nation one tends to associate with zombie cinema, likely followed by Italy, perhaps followed then by countries such as Britain or Japan. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, then, is an interesting outlier combining the resources of multiple film industriesits a Spanish-made zombie movie, filmed in Italy and set in England. In this one, the living dead are brought up from the ground by a sonic radiation machine designed to kill insectsthe results, suffice to say, are not quite as intended. Its an interesting mix of American zombie tropes and hard-to-place foreignness that moves a little slow but features some appreciably moody imagery. The zombies, however, look great, and the restored copy on horror streaming service Shudder right now is a wonderfully high-quality version of the film in particular. Its a somewhat underappreciated entry in the zombie annals that you wont find in just anyones collection, but worth a look, especially if youre into 70s Spanish horror or want to branch out from the Italian zombie movies of directors such as Lucio Fulci.

Director: Wes Craven

You can thank Wes Craven for an unexpected revival of the voodoo-style Haitian zombie in 1988s The Serpent and the Rainbow, an unusual film based on the real-life accounts of an ethnobotanist who studied the roots of the zombie legend and the various potions and powders supposedly used to create zombies in Haiti. These are beliefs still accepted on some level in various communities today, but the film itself is far from grounded, and ventures into a rather outlandish caricature of voodoo beliefs. It makes for some memorable imageryhairy monsters, victims being buried alive, waking up screaming; voodoo magic causing scorpions to materialize inside your throat; a mans scrotum being nailed to a chair. (Wish I was joking on that last one, but Im not.) The Serpent and the Rainbow is a pretty effective reminder of why films such as I Walked With a Zombie freaked people out so effectively more than 40 years earlier, and proof that its probably still possible to make a voodoo zombie movie that takes itself semi-seriously and aims to scare.

Director: Alejandro Brugus

What is it about zombie films that compel small-time filmmakers to dream big? Juan of the Dead is billed as Cubas first feature-length zombie film, and its a remarkably confident piece of work from director Alejandro Brugus. It has some similarities with a more sober-minded Shaun of the Dead beyond the titlethe main character is also a slacker with a slob of a best friend, but the tone is much more impoverished and street-level than the middle-class boredom of Shauns life. Juan of the Dead brings back some of the political verve to zombie cinema, with many Cubans assuming that the communist countrys zombie issues have something to do with capitalist dissidents. Juan, our hero, attempts to profit off the panic and confusion by starting an enterprising small business: For a fee, he and his crew will come to your home and dispose of your zombified loved ones. Of course, it eventually spins out of control, and his family and friends get wrapped up into the militarys larger fight against the zombies. Its a well-balanced film that hits just enough horror, comedy and emotional notes, and one that raked in plenty of independent film awards. There are individual moments that distinctly recall George Romeros films in a way that goes well beyond simple imitation. Juan of the Dead stands ably on its own.

Director: Jacques Tourneur

I Walked With a Zombie is the second film overseen at RKO by producer Val Lawton, who produced a memorable run of low-budget but artful horror flicks in the early 40s that included the likes of Cat People and The Ghost Ship. Far more atmospheric and less hokey than White Zombie, this film is a good example in general of the Hollywood systems refinement from the early 30s to early 40s, even with its low budget. The story revolves around a young nurse who travels to the Caribbean to care for a patient who may or may not be affected by zombism, which draws her into a mystery surrounding a local voodoo cult. The cults zombie enforcer, Carre-Four, seen in the above photo, is one of the most iconic early images of a voodoo zombie, rocking the cliche monster carry pose of an unconscious woman. If only he was actually in the film more, it might be considered as a real classic today, but its still about as good as the voodoo zombie films of this time period get. There are some really spectacular individual shots in this film that chillingly play with intense shadows and the towering Carre-Fours gaunt frame. I Walked With a Zombie might be the first historical zombie film with imagery likely to stick in your memory for years.

Director: George A. Romero

Land of the Dead is the last film in George Romeros seminal zombie series that anyone is likely to recommend you seek out and watch. That isnt to say that his following Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead are bad films, per se, but as Romero aged and the zombie genre became only more popular, he was no longer really able to offer a perspective that seemed truly unique and vital. Land of the Dead, thankfully, does build off the strength and continuity of his previous two films, Dawn and Day of the Dead, which helps it immensely in projecting the right tone. Chronologically, its the last Of the Dead movie, and it shows us the furthest extent of the zombies evolution in Romeros eyeswhereas in Day of the Dead we discovered that certain zombies could remember and be trained, here we see more or less sentient zombies actually in leadership positions, leading the attack on a walled version of the city of Pittsburgh. Dennis Hopper, playing a perfectly Hopperian role, is the evil plutocraft ruler of said community, lounging in the luxury high-rise Fiddlers Green while the rank-and-file live in squalor on the streets. Being Romero, you expect a certain degree of social commentary, and here hes obviously tackling the wealth gap and class division, although its not quite as subtle in its delivery as his previous films. Still, the movie always LOOKS good, and it contains just enough of Romeros rebellious spark to make it a worthy addition to the series. Its not on the same tier as his first three films, but few zombie movies are.

Director: Thom Eberhardt

Night of a Comet is thoroughly B-movie in budget, but you can feel it yearning to be a bit more. Its an able mash-up of 50s 80s sci-fi tropes, all jumbled together and viewed through the lens of 80s teen culture. When a comet passes close to Earth, exposure to some form of radiation literally vaporizes almost everyone on Earth, turning them to dust. Those few who got partial exposure instead become zombies, although this film is notable on a zombie list for being one of the least zombie-heavy. Its a film that often feels like a big action scene is approaching, but never quite arrives. Thats not a criticism, as what you get instead is a character-driven, frequently funny, quirky little story with great art direction that evokes an abandoned Los Angeles. Protagonist Reggie in particular is like a parody of the 80s nerds perfect womana gorgeous but overlooked girl obsessed with arcade game high scores, who also knows comic books better than her unappreciative doof of a boyfriend. In the end, it often feels like one of the several everyone has disappeared episodes of The Twilight Zone, except set in 1984. Odd tidbit: Co-star Kelli Maroney went on to appear in the very amusing Chopping Mall two years later in 1986, which also happened to feature her firing Uzis in a mall.

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Planet Terror is what happens when someone sits Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino down in a room and says Make a zombie movie. Make it goofy. No plot. Budget is not an issue. Have fun. And so we got this film, one half of their combined double-feature Grindhouse, a yarn about destructive zombie/mutants created by a biological weapon to terrorize the southwestern countryside. Subtext? Social commentary? Robert Rodriguez laughs at these concepts. Planet Terror is just wanton, tasteless destruction in the name of fun, and its really good at being that kind of film. Youve got a colorful cast of rogues with intersecting storylines, from Rose McGowan as the go-go dancer who ends up with a machinegun prosthetic leg, to the heroic Mexican drifter, to Josh Brolin as a sadistic doctor treating the outbreak. Hell, youve even got Michael Biehn from Terminator and a short Bruce Willis cameo, before they end up, you know dead. Short on plot, the film quickly devolves into an all-out explosions-and-guts firefight, although the violence is all so comical and unrealistic that youre not meant to take any of it seriously. The film is simply parody of cheap zombie movies, ironically done up with way more resources and effects than any of the movies its parodying. Both this and its attached brother film, Death Proof, deserved to make far more at the box office. How Grindhouse managed to make only $25 million box office, a month after 300, a film with roughly the same audience, made $456 million, Ill never fully understand. But Planet Terror deserved better.

Director: Marvin Kren

One of the coolest things about Rammbock is that it knows its own limitations and doesnt attempt to stretch itself past the natural confines of its story. Its an indie German feature film that is only 63 minutes long, but director Marvin Kren was rightit really doesnt need to be a moment longer, and as a result its blissfully free from padding. The story revolves around Michael, something of a deluded sad-sack who was recently dumped by his girlfriend. His unannounced visit to return her keys just so happens to coincide with the citywide outbreak of a zombie virus, which leads to Michael and the various apartment/tenement dwellers being confronted with a wave of aggressive zombies pounding on their doors. In setting, one cant help but compare it to a sort of zombie Rear Window, as the various residents converse and call back and forth to each other, or simply observe each others lives. Were also given an unusual twist on zombie physiologyin this universe, mere infection doesnt necessarily mean death and zombification. Rather, its possible to survive infection if emotions can be suppressed but strong emotions will trigger the full transformation into a zombie. The very low budget is consistently apparent in the dull-looking visual palette and single location, but Kren gets the most out of his actors in a zombie movie that is also surprisingly gore-less. And at only 63 minutes, it never has to worry about overstaying its welcome. Rammbock is a lean, mean little zombie story that does just enough differently from the template to be memorable.

Director: Michele Soavi

Zombies, and really the horror genre in general, went through something of a lull in the 1990s, outside of genre-savvy offerings such as Scream. In Europe, though, unconventional zombie films did still pop up now and then, of which Cemetery Man is the most notable. The premise itself sounds old-school and spooky: A cemetery caretaker lives with his Igor-like assistant and kills the zombies that occasionally rise from their graves after being buried for 7 days. In reality, though, the film is essentially a horror art-comedy, an experimental and partially plotless, dreamy movie about the protagonist drifting through life without purpose and questioning why he bothers carrying out his duty. He pines after a woman who he immediately loses to zombification, and there are elements that almost remind one of American Psycho in the hopelessness and lack of identity he faceseven when the protagonist tries to commit atrocities and get caught, nobody seems to notice or care. It has the artistic flair and painterly quality of the earlier Italian films on this list, while incorporating some of the humor one might find in Re-Animator, but its moodier and more taciturn. Its a film that tries to do many things at once, and is worth watching if only to shake your head as you consider the versatility of zombies, from simple flesh-eaters to complex symbols of entropy and nihilism.

Director: Benjamin Rocher, Yannick Dahan

The Horde plays a bit like someone in France saw From Dusk Till Dawn and wondered what the format of that movie might be like with zombies instead of vampires. Like the Robert Rodriguez film, we get sucked into a tense crime story first, following a group of police officers as they storm a mostly abandoned apartment high-rise to take down a gang of drug dealers who killed one of their own. And then, 20 minutes in a bunch of zombies arrive! You almost have to admire the total lack of foreshadowingits a unique take on the world has come to an end, because in this story, the world comes to an end while the two sides (cops and drug dealers) are in the midst of a very pitched confrontation. They have no access to information on the wider world, and can only watch as Paris apparently tears itself apart. Naturally, the cops and robbers then need to team up in order to survive, in a strange mix of sadistic humor and emotional turmoil. As for the zombies, they actually look pretty awesome, although their abilities tend to vary wildly from scene to scene. An odd quirk: The zombies actually remove their own dead from the battlefield for reasons never fully explained, a trait Ive never seen in another zombie movie.

Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

28 Weeks Later is an often interesting, often scary, often powerful and often frustrating film for zombie/horror genre geeks. As a sequel to 2002s supremely influential 28 Days Later, its a partial success. It does a wonderful job of transplanting that films nihilistic, hopeless streak of terror and what one person is willing to do to surviveespecially in the masterful opening scene, where Robert Carlyles character abandons his wife while fleeing from zombies in a soul-crushing chase across the fields of England as tears of guilt stream down his face. On the other hand, the films true main characters, his children, arent nearly as interestingnor is the collection of military suits who have locked down England in the post-Rage virus cleanup. The film also violates one of the unwritten rules of zombie cinema, which is, There shouldnt be a main zombie. In this case, when Robert Carlyles Don becomes infected and escapes, it hurts the storys ability to be legitimately suspenseful, as we know the kids arent in any real danger during any of their encounters with the infected, because zombie Don is still unaccounted for. If the audience knows that the script will require this one infected person to be present for a conclusion, then it robs all the other infected of being perceived as legitimate threats. Still, despite all that, 28 Weeks Later is well-shot and full of shocking, gritty action sequences. Its not without its flaws, but certain scenes such as the opener are so powerful that were willing to forgive a lot.

Director: Gary Sherman

Dead & Buried is a thoroughly unusual horror film that revolves around the reanimated dead, but in a way all its own. In a small New England coastal town, a rash of murders breaks out among those visiting the town. Unknown to the town sheriff, those bodies never quite make it to their graves but people who look just like the murdered visitors are walking the streets as permanent residents. The zombies here are different in their autonomy and ability to act on their own and pass for human, although they do answer to a certain leader but who is it? The film is part murder mystery, part cult story and part zombie flick, and it features some absolutely gross creature work and gore from the legendary Stan Winston. Its just a movie with a feel all its own, and one notable for some unusual casting choices. That includes a pre-Nightmare on Elm Street Robert Englund as one of the possibly zombified town locals, and, in a major role, Jack Albertson (Grandpa Joe from Willy Wonka) as the eccentric, jazz-loving town coroner/mortician, who steals every scene hes in. More people should see this weird little film.

Director: Kiah Roache-Turner

Its nearly impossible to discuss Wyrmwood without making the immediate and obvious Mad Max comparisons. Like George Millers seminal genre classic, this film arrives from a young Australian director with no shortage of style, but in addition to its car-focused post-apocalyptic leanings, the movie also features several other welcome twists on the zombie formula. Youd be forgiven for expecting yet another gritty, low-budget zombie film without any real ambition, but each minute propels Wyrmwood forward into unexpected territory, from the discovery that zombie blood can be used to power vehicles to the second-half revelations revolving around the character of Brooke and the development of latent psychic powers. The movie is many things at once: Scary without being dour, emotional without feeling pompous and gory without completely descending into the violent slapstick of Peter Jacksons Dead Alive or Bad Taste. It features surprisingly compelling characters and develops them without relying on expositionBrooke becomes one of the biggest stars of the film despite being a bound and gagged captive for almost an hour. In general, Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead is the kind of genre idea that many directors could have tackled, but few could have pulled off so stylishly or entertainingly on this kind of budget.

Director: Shinichir Ueda

Director Shinichir Uedas exceedingly clever backstage zombie comedy One Cut of the Dead has been dazzling Japanese genre fans in limited release ever since 2017, but it took a few years for the rest of the world to become aware of what a completely charming film we had been missing. The only thing that holds this particular entry back on a list of the best zombie movies is the fact that its zombies ultimately arent realtheyre actors attempting to produce a single-take, 30-minute long, live broadcast of a zombie short film, something the audience only realizes after the first third of the film has passed. Its the rare case, though, of a story that gets exponentially funnier and more satisfying as it goes on, as its impossible not to get swept up in the shoestring, DIY spirit of the crew as they overcome a series of potential catastrophes behind the scenes of the 30-minute uninterrupted short film weve already witnessed. Everything that seemed odd or stilted about the short upon first inspection becomes a major source of humor in the backstage segments, building to a conclusion in which the sense of joy in having somehow achieved the impossible feels entirely earned. It may not be a zombie movie in the most literal sense of the words, but One Cut of the Dead poignantly captures the creative spirit and adaptability displayed by low-budget filmmakers like George Romero when they were birthing the genre in the U.S.

Director: Jeremy Gardner

The concept of a low-budget zombie drama is one that has become fairly common in the 2010s, likely owing to the influence of The Walking Dead and games such as The Last of Us, which treated zombies or infected more like a set-piece to allow human drama to take shape. The Battery is an extrapolation of this format, a story about two men, a former baseball pitcher/catcher duo, traveling across the country together in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. And as for plot? Thats pretty much it. Its a self-contained film that leans entirely on the performances of two actors, showcasing the ways that two men with vastly different personalities handle the mental strain and emotional challenges of continuing on each day and finding a reason to exist. The zombies are there, but they dont really feel like active antagonists, as it weretheyre more like a constant roadblock and painful reminder of everything these men have lost in their former lives. Its a film that almost mirrors the struggle of just getting out of bed in the morning to tackle another daycall the zombies your neighbors, your coworkers, etc. Thats what zombies have become today: A walking representation of 21st century ennui.

Director: Fred Dekker

Night of the Creeps feels like a bastard child of both Return of the Living Dead (primarily) and Re-Animator tangentially, but its honestly a weirder film than either of them, and thats saying something. Haphazardly blending sci-fi with horror-comedy, its about an invasion of parasitic alien slugs that turn their hosts into superpowered zombies. Directed by Fred Dekker, who would go on to helm the much more family-friendly Monster Squad a year later (which strangely enough, doesnt have any zombies), its a risque, rather tawdry horror film set at a college, and thus often feels like some kind of zombified twist on Animal House. Like ROTLD, its inherent 80s-ness is absolutely off the charts, but it has more of a science-y, lab-based feel thanks to the presence of aliens and a presumed plot to take over the world. In this way, its like the zombies were used to make the kind of 50s-style B-movie that otherwise would have starred alien invaders. They took the monster of the decade, zombies, and substituted them into an earlier style of film, ramped up the sexualization and rock n roll, and a cult classic was born.

Director: John Gilling

Read more from the original source:
The 50 Best Zombie Movies of All Time - Paste Magazine

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero