Horror cinema has long had an affinity for the undead. Watching the dearly departed rise again from the grave in a search for the living gives moviegoers everywhere a morbid thrill. Zombie movies are known for being terrifying and intense, loaded with a hearty dose of gore, and, at their best, focused on the human characters as they try to make sense of the natural order being turned upside down and survive their new world.
The zombie movies of the past featured slow, lumbering creatures. The more modern era introduced a faster, more voracious zombie, chasing their human counterparts to feast on them. The movies on this list will leave any casual movie watcher excited, scared, and possibly a little queasy. These are the zombie movies that never end. They begin by gripping the audience in a stranglehold of suspense and not letting go until the last frame. Let’s take a look at these ten zombie movies that will keep viewers on the edge of their seats.
10 28 days later
Danny Boyle’s 2002 apocalyptic thriller 28 days later rewrote the book about what zombie movies could be, with wild people infected with a virus called Rage that drives them crazy. Starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris and Brendan Gleeson, Boyle’s film is set in London and follows Jim (Murphy), a London bicycle courier who has just woken up from a coma to discover that the city is now a disaster zone. The streets are empty, the silence is unsettling, and he doesn’t know that the infected are watching.
The film’s opening scenes in arid London filled with abandoned cars and empty buildings are shocking as the audience tries to understand what happened with Jim. Fierce and almost unstoppable, the infected chase their prey like wild beasts. Filmed with smaller digital cameras, 28 Days Later feels more intimate and direct than other big-budget zombie films, putting audiences right in the middle of the thrilling action.
9 Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Visual stylist Zack Snyder made his directorial debut with this 2004 remake of Dawn of the dead, based on the 1978 original. The story is essentially the same: zombies have taken over and a group of survivors (Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell) take shelter in a mall. While George Romero’s original movie was an allegory for how American consumerism built a culture of zombie-like behaviorSnyder turned to make his film more action-oriented.
There are moments of levity peppered throughout, including a montage of the survivors trying to enjoy themselves in the massive mall, trying on clothes, making food and using the zombies in the parking lot for target practice. Ty Burrell’s Steve, a pompous jerk who delivers many a dry one-liner, is also a source of the film’s humor. These moments are for naught, however, as the film is propelled by intense chase sequences, thrilling escapes and extremely gory murders.
8 28 weeks later
Spanish filmmaker Juan Carlos Fresnadillo was hired to bring a new perspective to the post-Rage virus world for the zombie sequel 28 weeks later. In this sequel to the 2002 horror thriller, Fresnadillo bursts right out of the gate with a gripping opening scene where Don (Robert Carlyle) narrowly escapes with his life from a horde of the infected. London is slowly rebuilding and trying to regain a sense of normalcy after the madness of the viral epidemic. Re-infestation occurs and chaos resumes as Don fights his way through the chaos, as do his children, Tammy (Imogen Poots) and Andy (Mackintosh Muggleton).
Fresnadillo stages a spectacularly gory helicopter action scene that proves that sequels should always pile on the carnage. The film also focuses on the psychological and emotional price the survivors must pay living in this unprecedented time, but never skimps on the gore and guts that horror fans love.
7 World War Z
Brad Pitt stars in the 2013 zombie action movie World War Z. Director Marc Forster puts the audience right in the middle of the action in the intense opening sequence where Gerry (Pitt) and his family find themselves in the jammed traffic of Philadelphia before all hell breaks loose. The city is overrun with the undead, who run through the streets and jump on cars trying to eat. Gerry is a former UN investigator and he is using every bit of information he can gather to unravel the mystery of where this plague started and how to stop it. In an epic action sequence, Gerry is in a Jerusalem quarantine zone to meet an Israeli intelligence agent when a huge stream of zombies climb over the wall they built to protect them. The zombies act like ants and pile on top of each other to reach the top of the wall. From start to finish, the action and suspense move at a frantic pace.
6 Planet terror
Directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino teamed up in 2007 to deliver Grindhouse, a schlocky thriller double-film consisting of Tarantino’s Death Proof and Rodriguez’s Planet terror. In Planet Terror, a group of survivors battle mutated zombies rampaging through their Texas town. While incredibly gory, this movie is also over the top and funny, putting a twisted comedic spin on a zombie apocalypse.
Freddy Rodriguez stars as El Wray, a man with a mysterious past and a quick trigger finger who comes to the rescue of his former lover, go-go dancer Cherry Darling (Rose McGowan). McGowan is a scene thief in the film, as an unintentionally hilarious and jaded dancer who loses a leg but has it replaced with a machine gun. Cast of Rodriguez’s big-budget gorefest also includes Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Bruce Willis and Naveen Andrews.
5 Zombieland
From Jesse Eisenberg’s second Columbus lists the rules for surviving in the world during the zombie uprising, audiences already know that this isn’t your typical zombie movie. The opening credits themselves feature a lot of blood, spilling in slow motion from the mouths of the undead monsters. Columbus is joined in the film by Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) and sisters Wichita (Oscar winner Emma Stone) and Little Rock (Abigail Breslin) as they drive across the country, hoping to find a safe place away from the undead and their appetites .
Director Ruben Fleischer delivered a hit with this zombie comedy. Zombieland offers an expert mix of horror and hilarity, thanks to the cast’s expert comedic performances and an amusing cameo from Bill Murray. Eisenberg and Harrelson, in particular, have great comedic chemistry. The zombie effects are suitably brutal, the action is extreme, and there’s non-stop laughter.
4 Train to Busan
The blood-curdling Korean zombie thriller Train to Busan came out in 2016 and is a modern classic of the genre, possibly even the best zombie movie of all time. Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) is a divorced workaholic businessman who plans to take his daughter Su-an (Kim Su-an) to live with her mother in Busan. Once aboard the high-speed train from Seoul bound for his ex-wife, Seok-woo must muster all his courage to protect his daughter, as a viral plague begins to spread rapidly throughout the train, turning the passengers into bloodthirsty savages. The train is overrun with the infected undead, leading to many an intense chase scene through the claustrophobic environment of each train car.
Gong Yoo’s performance is remarkable, portraying Seok-woo as a reluctant hero who overcomes his own selfishness. The film rushes by with gory horror and thrilling action. The movie was a huge hit in Korea, spawning a franchise of movies.
3 Overlord
Overlord, set in World War II, is a genre mashup of revisionist history and zombie action thriller directed by Julius Avery and produced by super producer JJ Abrams. In this ultra-violent zombie flick, a group of paratroopers, including Private Boyce (Jovan Adepo) and Corporal Ford (Wyatt Russell), land behind enemy lines on a mission to destroy a radio tower used by the Nazis, housed in an old church. However, what the crew finds in the church is as wicked as it gets. Cadavers are reanimated as part of Nazi experiments to create a new breed of perfect super soldier, with gruesome results. The squad must fight for survival against the undead creatures.
The film is an explosive gorefest, with the action sequences expertly staged and kept on pace. It underperformed at the box office, but is still a blood-curdling zombie movie from start to finish.
2 REC
A found footage horror film from Spain, REC has become a beloved entry into the zombie genre. It tells the story of a reporter named Ángela Vidal (Manuela Velasco) and her cameraman Pablo (Pablo Rosso) who ride along with a group of firefighters while responding to a call in a building. That building happens to be the site of a viral outbreak that turns anyone exposed into brutal zombies. Trapped inside, Ángela, Pablo and the residents must fight the infected to survive.
Co-writers and directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza create chaos and immerse the audience in it. The shaky camera movements and close-ups place the viewer in the middle of the action and force him to experience the terror up close. This movie was a hit with some calling it one of the most realistic zombie movies ever made. It was also the start of a successful franchise, with the production of four REC films.
1 resident evil
In 2002, director Paul WS Anderson adapted the Capcom zombie video game resident evil in a movie starring Milla Jovovich and Michelle Rodriguez. The film follows Alice (Jovovich) who wakes up with amnesia in an abandoned mansion. Alice is detained by commandos and taken to the Hive, a secret underground laboratory facility. The Hive belongs to the shadowy Umbrella Corporation, which advertises as a medical technology company, but in fact makes money from genetic experiments and bioweapons. The lab’s entire staff has been transformed into flesh-eating creatures, including zombie Dobermans. Alice and the team must face them, as well as the evil AI trying to kill them, called The Red Queen, if they are to escape the Hive.
The movie contains some creative kill scenes, especially the scene with the laser protection system. Jovovich as Alice became an instant action icon, playing the role in all six films in the hugely popular franchise.