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What are the top ten best zombie movies? This is the list that will answer that question (for this site anyway!)
Let us define our terms for the “zombie movie” briefly before moving to the list. For inclusion here, the movie must be primarily about zombies and/or include zombies as main characters and drivers of the film’s events. No purist elements applied, as I have read some lists that excluded great zombie flicks because of a minor technicality. Here we are using solid common sense judgment. Some of our concerns are the obvious – how scary are the zombies, how gory is the movie, does it have some plot and action or is it 100% B movie, and most importantly, does it make for good watching?
Now, with no further adieu, on to the list:
1) Dawn of the Dead (Remake 2004)
This remake of one of the early zombie classics is our winner and a standout in the category. The zombies in this movie are nightmare inducing… Fast zombies, oh my God. And not just fast, but loud and screechy and somehow invincible seeming even though they can be killed with brainshots like almost all good zombie movies allow. As if they weren’t freaky enough as unstoppable but slow undead eating machines, now they can chase you and run every bit as fast as you can. These fast, hungry, screeching monsters are deserving of every bit of #1 movie love as they can be given. There are lots of good interesting scenes here that both pay homage to the original while giving it some of its own personality.
From the opening scenes in which the action starts and the world comes crumbling down with a panoramic wide shot of a zombified death spiral until the somewhat ambiguous ending scenes of despair this one will keep you riveted and watching in fear. Like all good zombie movies, it includes the requisite amount of humor and one liners that allow for tension relief, but expect thrills and chills as a viewer.
2) Night of the Living Dead (Original 1968)
The original that launched the genre which should automatically get it into the top 5 of any best zombie movie list. While the special effects cannot compare to the modern-day films on this list the sheer originality and ground breaking nature of this movie to the zombie genre move it to the #2 spot.
This is a solid zombie tale that lays the groundwork for some of the “zombie rules” of the genre. This movie will have you looking around your home to see if you could defend yourself during the zombie invasion.
Some of the gruesomeness of the original will be mild to our jaded 21st century eyes, but the gore factor was high for the time. If you haven’t seen this one, go watch it and pay homage to the founder of the genre.
3) 28 days Later
Another one of our top picks includes crazed fast zombies. In this zombie apocalypse movie we get to see virus induced zombification. Scary and fast paced, this one is a thrill a minute almost from start to finish. With an apocalyptic feel to it, it does end on more of an upbeat note as it appears that the end of the zombie apocalypse is near. (This idea is challenged in the followup movie 28 weeks later)
4) Shaun of the Dead
A true pure parody movie that is one of the better zombie movies out there. Playing on the Dawn of the Dead title, this movie follows a couple of guys trying to live through the Zombie apocalypse and have fun doing it. Full of funny scenes, two of the best are the unique zombie kill with phonograph records and a nice example of “playing zombie” that gets them through a rough spot without being noticed. This one ends on a humorous note without an end of the world and with a society that is “reintegrating” zombies into the mainstream.
5) Zombieland
The Zombie Rules movie. This fun and sometimes intense flick follows a couple of zombie hunters and the ladies they meet up with on a cross country trip in which numerous zombie rules are discussed and put to the test. Including sub plot lines like Woody Harrelson’s characters search for Twinkies this movie both reinforces and skewers some of the sacred cows of the zombie genre. Many good zombie kill examples in this one. The over the top zombie attack antics of Harrelson’s character compared and contrasted with the avoidance strategies employed by Jesse Eisenberg provide for great fun chemistry throughout the movie and are what really keep things going.
6) Planet Terror
This great half of the Grindhouse release is a fun and exciting zombie action flick by Robert Rodriguez with plenty of campy action and humorous parts. Released in conjunction with the Quentin Tarantino movie Death Proof, Planet Terror includes some really cool action and some fun kill scenes including the classic Rose McGowan machine gun in place of her artificial leg scene. It may be worth watching just for that for any fans of campy horror which is pretty much what Rodriguez intended with this creation.
7) Dead Alive/Brain Dead
This Peter Jackson (later to be the Lord of the Rings Director) zombie movie is an over the top bonanza of zombie fun and horror. With tons of slapstick comedy in zombie form this movie is a classic in the zombie genre. There are numerous memorable zombie scenes and some amazing zombie kill scenes (including the famous lawnmower kill scene). If you want to see a blood and gore fest then this one is moved to the top of the best zombie movies list. This one is a solid classic anyway but on that score, it is usually considered to be the goriest movie ever made.
8.) Dead Girl
The awesome indie film Dead Girl stands out on this list in that it has only one major character that is a zombie (and eventually one more maybe near the end) but it is worthy of inclusion on a best zombie movies list for its originality and transposition of the standard zombie movie fare.
Dead girl to a large degree transposes the zombies attacking humans mythos of a zombie as a human that has been altered of all rational thought and flips it so the the lone zombie is victimized by the humans and brings out the worst in human nature.
Two teenagers with troubled lives stumble upon a “dead girl” in an abandoned medical facility and there begins a strange tale that is both fascinating and disturbing to watch. The choices that must be confronted by the young people in this film and what those choices mean about them and what it means about the viewer watching the film make this one of the more thought provoking movies on this list. That doesn’t mean it isn’t still scary as it has its standard horror movie aspects, but its main appeal is at the psychological horror level. By far the darkest psychological horror on this list, Dead Girl is an intense movie to watch.
9) Return of the Living Dead
Another of the movies on the list that leans heavily to comedy and horror both. This film takes as its start that the original Night of the Living Dead was real and one of those zombies is in storage. While looking into this, the zombification process is restarted, and thus starts the action fast and furious. One of the earliest (if not the first) movies to introduce fast and action oriented zombies that didn’t just shuffle along. Starting out with more of the zombie comedy action it moves along more and more into horror and gore until by the end the transformation is complete. This one is very fast paced with lots of zombie action of all types. Chasing, eating, killing, and being killed. It has it all with gore and blood aplenty. These zombies plan and talk to try to get victims so they can get more brains which is a level of planning not often seen from movie zombies.
10) Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
This one is an oldie but goodie that came out closer to the original Night of the Living Dead than many on this list and owes a lot to that movie, but also stands on its own. These zombies are created by an experimental farm machine that emits a radiation that creates the undead. This one is not as heavy on the zombie quantity as some of the others, but it incorporates a lot of mystery elements in the beginning and then moves firmly into horror zombie territory. Lots of good gore and other zombie fare here. Watch this one for a more classic horror experience with buildup of the horror rather than some of the modern in your face action found in Dawn of the Dead for example.
So, there is our top ten best zombie movies list. There were several other good movies that were contenders that didn’t quite make the list, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t good as well.
Add your thoughts in the comments. Agree 100%? Great. Your favorite was left off? Let us know where we went off course compared to your recommendations.