They Shoot Zombies, Don't They?

TSZDT: The 100 Greatest Zombie Films

TSZDT: The 100 Greatest Zombie Films

Current Version: May 2019 (5th edition)

The 1,000 Greatest Horror Films: Introduction | #1-#100 | #101-#200 | #201-#300 | #301-#400 | #401-#500 | #501-#600 | #601-#700 | #701-#800 | #801-#900 | #901-#1000 | Full List | Sources | The 21st Century’s Most Acclaimed Horror Films | Top 50 Directors

The main TSZDT list has 55 zombie films. Out of the 7,195 nominations, 281 of those are zombie films. This list may be excluding some films with zombies that are primarily another genre. Find this list on IMDb and iCM.

Night of the Living Dead

1. Night of the Living Dead

George A. Romero

1968 / USA / 96m / BW / Zombie | IMDb
Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne, Judith Ridley, Kyra Schon, Charles Craig, S. William Hinzman, George Kosana


“Night of the Living Dead came out of nowhere, or to be more precise, Pittsburgh, and turned into the most influential horror film since Psycho. George Romero’s remarkably assured debut, made on a shoestring, about a group of people barricaded inside a farmhouse while an army of flesh-eating zombies roams the countryside, deflates all genre clichés. It traded the expressionistic sets of the traditional fright flick for a neorealistic style—Romero’s use of natural locations and grainy black and white gave his gorefest the look and feel of a doc… This was Middle America at war, and the zombie carnage seemed a grotesque echo of the conflict then raging in Vietnam.” – Elliott Stein, The Village Voice

Dawn of the Dead

2. Dawn of the Dead

George A. Romero

1978 / USA / 127m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger, Gaylen Ross, David Crawford, David Early, Richard France, Howard Smith, Daniel Dietrich, Fred Baker


“Dawn of the Dead is one of the best horror films ever made — and, as an inescapable result, one of the most horrifying. It is gruesome, sickening, disgusting, violent, brutal and appalling. It is also (excuse me for a second while I find my other list) brilliantly crafted, funny, droll, and savagely merciless in its satiric view of the American consumer society. Nobody ever said art had to be in good taste.” – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

28 Days Later...

3. 28 Days Later…

Danny Boyle

2002 / UK / 113m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Alex Palmer, Bindu De Stoppani, Jukka Hiltunen, David Schneider, Cillian Murphy, Toby Sedgwick, Naomie Harris, Noah Huntley, Christopher Dunne, Emma Hitching


“From eerie vistas of deserted London to unnerving views of Manchester reduced to burning rubble, this Dogme-driven apocalyptic nightmare from director Danny Boyle is a tense, exciting and terrifying horror. A powerfully iconoclastic Dawn-meets-Day of the Dead hybrid (written by Alex Garland, author of The Beach), this triumphantly executed piece of contemporary horror has genuine shock value with its down-and-dirty violence and disturbing authenticity. Shot on digital video for a documentary feel that is tempered with occasional, unexpected flashes of surreal artfulness, Garland’s compelling story grips on every level as Boyle’s visual concept dovetails perfectly with the atmospheric narrative to produce an engrossing assault on the senses.” – Alan Jones, Radio Times

Shaun of the Dead

4. Shaun of the Dead

Edgar Wright

2004 / UK / 99m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, Nick Frost, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Nicola Cunningham, Keir Mills, Matt Jaynes, Gavin Ferguson, Peter Serafinowicz


“A hybrid of stylish suspense and dry comedy, Shaun Of The Dead tries to do right by all its contributing elements and mostly succeeds. No laughing matter, the zombies come straight out of a George Romero film, lumbering along with a fearsome intensity. Wright directs with an expert sense of rhythm but never lays his technical finesse on with Guy Ritchie thickness; he lets his characters take center stage even after he’s shown he can frame them through a gaping hole in a zombie’s stomach.” – Keith Phipps, A.V. Club

Braindead

5. Braindead

Peter Jackson

1992 / New Zealand / 104m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver, Elizabeth Moody, Ian Watkin, Brenda Kendall, Stuart Devenie, Jed Brophy, Stephen Papps, Murray Keane, Glenis Levestam


“Dead-Alive is one outrageously gruesome set piece after another, a movie in which the human characters are boring but the limbs, eyeballs, and — especially — intestinal tracts have an exuberant life of their own. There are no rules in Jackson’s slapstick carnival of gore. Bodies tear themselves in half; rib cages are ripped from their owners; a murderous monster baby burrows into someone’s head from the inside; the hero plows through a living room full of zombies while wielding a raised lawn mower. Do you really want me to go on? Dead-Alive obviously isn’t for everyone, but it’s the most delirious bloodbath since Re-Animator, the kind of horror movie that makes you want to turn your head — and then dares you to look away.” – Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

I Walked with a Zombie

6. I Walked with a Zombie

Jacques Tourneur

1943 / USA / 69m / BW / Zombie | IMDb
James Ellison, Frances Dee, Tom Conway, Edith Barrett, James Bell, Christine Gordon, Theresa Harris, Sir Lancelot, Darby Jones, Jeni Le Gon


“I Walked With a Zombie is a master class in sight, sound, and suggestion from beginning to end. Jane Eyre’s gothic romance is transplanted to the West Indies, where Betsey Connell (Dee) confronts the power of voodoo. In the film’s most famous sequence, Betsey takes an extended trip through a sugar cane field and encounters the zombie Carrefour (Jones). Tourneur’s images cast an unnerving spell, suggesting that the emotionally frustrated living may be the real zombies.” – Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

Re-Animator

7. Re-Animator

Stuart Gordon

1985 / USA / 105m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, David Gale, Robert Sampson, Gerry Black, Carolyn Purdy-Gordon, Peter Kent, Barbara Pieters, Ian Patrick Williams


“Stuart Gordon doesn’t just push the envelope of good taste with this one; he tears right through it. From the opening scene the gross factor is set at a high level, and it only escalates until it reaches a moment that has remained one of the most infamous in contemporary horror film history. The sheer audacity of this film is enough to justify its cult status, but there is much more to it that has made it one of the best entries in the splatter-film subgenre. Violence and gore will only carry a film so far. What this movie has in its favor is a sharp and witty sense of dark humor. While sometimes campy, the comedy is played seriously by the actors, who never wink or nudge at the camera.” – Felix Gonzalez Jr., DVD Review

The Return of the Living Dead

8. The Return of the Living Dead

Dan O’Bannon

1985 / USA / 91m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Thom Mathews, Beverly Randolph, John Philbin, Jewel Shepard, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Brian Peck, Linnea Quigley


“O’Bannon’s filmmaking techniques are simple and resourceful, with shots following the actors around the room in consistent medium shots as they volley rapid-fire (and quotable) dialogue off of one another. It’s the zombie movie Howard Hawks never got to make, and frankly it’s less Rio Bravo than His Girl Friday with all the ribald humor on display. Well acted, with endearing characters from both the punk contingent and the middle-aged office guys.” – Jeremiah Kipp, Slant Magazine

Day of the Dead

9. Day of the Dead

George A. Romero

1985 / USA / 96m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato, Jarlath Conroy, Anthony Dileo Jr., Richard Liberty, Sherman Howard, Gary Howard Klar, Ralph Marrero, John Amplas


“Though still unmistakably allegorical, much of the irony and parable foreshadowing of the first two films has all but vanished, leaving behind bitterness, lament and cynicism. In a world that seems to drift further and further into a diplomatic declaration of martial law with each and every Presidential address, the overriding voice of Day of the Dead speaks for the universal rage of all displaced peoples, backed into a corner and certain that they are in the oppressed minority. Day of the Dead is the synthesis of all the racial, tribal, social and governmental concerns of the first two films, and Romero’s notions are not pretty.” – Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine

[Rec]

10. [Rec]

Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza

2007 / Spain / 78m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Manuela Velasco, Ferran Terraza, Jorge-Yamam Serrano, Pablo Rosso, David Vert, Vicente Gil, Martha Carbonell, Carlos Vicente, María Teresa Ortega, Manuel Bronchud


“[Rec] softens us up with a gentle prologue in which the crew of a late-night ‘reality TV’ show… make a late-night visit to a fire station. Then comes a call about an old woman trapped in her apartment. When [they] break into the apartment, they are attacked by a shrieking, zombie-like woman in a blood-stained nightdress… The less you know about what happens next the better. Suffice it to say that nothing in the previous work of joint directors Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza prepared us for the nerve-shredding intensity of the ensuing scenes. A brilliantly staged early scare signals that the safety rails are off and, despite an unexpected, last-minute swerve into the supernatural realm, the edge-of-the-seat tension is sustained to the very last second.” – Nigel Floyd, Time Out

Zombi 2

11. Zombi 2

Lucio Fulci

1979 / Italy / 91m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson, Al Cliver, Auretta Gay, Stefania D’Amario, Olga Karlatos


“The Italian goremeister’s breakthrough film features not a single believable character or plot point, no semblance of narrative cohesion or momentum, scraggly editing, horribly dubbed dialogue and a deadening lack of subtext. Yet via a few satisfyingly blood-splattered set pieces and some nice panoramic shots of voodoo-spawned zombies shuffling through a dusty Caribbean shantytown and emerging from the graves of centuries-old Spanish conquistadors, Fulci’s film nevertheless achieves a ghastly sort of brilliance. With close-ups of zombie mouths tearing flesh from victims’ throats, an eyeball being impaled on a shard of wood, and some hilariously unnecessary T&A, Zombie delivers the grisly B-movie goods.” – Nick Schager, Lessons of Darkness

Dellamorte Dellamore

12. Dellamorte Dellamore

Michele Soavi

1994 / Italy / 105m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro, Anna Falchi, Mickey Knox, Fabiana Formica, Clive Riche, Katja Anton, Barbara Cupisti, Anton Alexander, Pietro Genuardi


“The cemetery itself is a triumph of production design, an inhabited world with curious nooks and crannies (the Ossuary, Gnaghi’s cellar in the watchman’s house). It’s also a representation of Francesco’s state of mind, and the essence of the movie rests in the ways he discovers to break away from it. Gory and playful, darkly humorous and flippantly bleak, Soavi’s film is a joyride through a sullen state of mind. After Francesco takes his revenge on the world outside, and sets himself to escaping from the life he’s made, Dellamorte Dellamore finally offers up its own definition of madness.” – Bryant Frazer, Bryant Frazer’s Deep Focus

...E tu vivrai nel terrore! L'aldilà

13. …E tu vivrai nel terrore! L’aldilà

Lucio Fulci

1981 / Italy / 87m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Catriona MacColl, David Warbeck, Cinzia Monreale, Antoine Saint-John, Veronica Lazar, Anthony Flees, Giovanni De Nava, Al Cliver, Michele Mirabella, Gianpaolo Saccarola


“It is something of a perfect horror movie. The genre, as I have argued and others have argued before me, is all about the interruption of the quotidian by the uncanny; horror, that is, is the presence of inexplicable danger in the face of the most banal kind of normality. It’s hard to think of a better way to describe The Beyond than “inexplicable”, the plot rolls along so capriciously and arbitrarily.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

White Zombie

14. White Zombie

Victor Halperin

1932 / USA / 69m / BW / Zombie | IMDb
Bela Lugosi, Madge Bellamy, Joseph Cawthorn, Robert Frazer, John Harron, Brandon Hurst, George Burr Macannan, Frederick Peters, Annette Stone, John Printz


“White Zombie’s canvas is too condensed to achieve absolute greatness but the mastery of mood and emotion on display suggests a work that has been fully realized within its own boundaries, elevating itself above its particular minutiae and into the realm of myth. Through its own ravishing simplicity, the film achieves the near-operatic.” – Rob Humanick, Projection Booth

Dawn of the Dead

15. Dawn of the Dead

Zack Snyder

2004 / USA / 101m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell, Michael Kelly, Kevin Zegers, Michael Barry, Lindy Booth, Jayne Eastwood


“Like Romero’s pulpy progenitor, there’s a fair share of laughs, including a sequence where zombies are picked off from long distance based purely on their spurious resemblance to celebrities. Most of all, though, this is about zombie-crunching action, from the initial, tense opening – including a stunning pre-credits sequence in which we follow Polley through the beginnings of the unexplained plague – to a final kick-ass third in which our heroes load up with weaponry and souped-up trucks and head out to face the zombie holocaust. It’s here that the controversial decision to eschew the lumbering zombies of lore and go for fast-moving vicious bastards really pays off, generating a genuine sense of fear and revealing this for what it really is: a pared-down homage to Aliens.” – Empire Magazine

The Plague of the Zombies

16. The Plague of the Zombies

John Gilling

1966 / UK / 91m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
André Morell, Diane Clare, Brook Williams, Jacqueline Pearce, John Carson, Alexander Davion, Michael Ripper, Marcus Hammond, Dennis Chinnery, Louis Mahoney


“Plague of the Zombies plays the sort of inventive games with the concept of zombification that you rarely see now that the zombie movie has become a fully-fledged sub-genre. Brought back to life by Caribbean witchcraft, the white eyed, grey skinned creatures of the title sit somewhere between the voodoo-revived corpses of 1940s Val Lewton and the living dead to come of George Romero and his imitators. The mystery here is not what is happening – a pre-title sequence confirms voodoo is at work in this small Cornish town and reveals who it’s being used on – but why local people are being systematically led to their deaths and transformed into undead shells of their former selves.” – Slarek, CineOutsider

Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti

17. Non si deve profanare il sonno dei morti

Jorge Grau

1974 / Italy / 93m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Cristina Galbó, Ray Lovelock, Arthur Kennedy, Aldo Massasso, Giorgio Trestini, Roberto Posse, José Lifante, Jeannine Mestre, Gengher Gatti, Fernando Hilbeck


“Even if judged on style alone, the film would be a triumph; though not much different from your typical lurching creeps, these zombies wheeze and moan like no other, a simple audio gimmick that is blatantly manipulative but absolutely creepy, not the least for its relative subtlety. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie artfully builds its atmosphere of spiritual (and social) unrest with its gliding cinematography, and the thrills pile up faster than any of its potential flaws or abandonments of logic. Though no Halloween or Carrie, this little gem is not unlike an undiscovered wine, long ripening and ready to be savored.” – Rob Humanick, Projection Booth

Zombieland

18. Zombieland

Ruben Fleischer

2009 / USA / 88m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin, Amber Heard, Bill Murray, Derek Graf


“You could argue that the film is really about ‘family’ or ‘friendship’ or ‘romance’ or ‘finding acceptance’, because these are the elements that make up life, and thus, are the building blocks of most stories. But, life in Zombieland isn’t exactly life at all. Our four protagonists struggle to find normalcy in their situation, and although they succeed to a certain degree, it is only once they learn to accept (and enjoy) the disemboweling of their undead enemies. No, this film is not some Michael Haneke-esque lecture condemning audiences for enjoying the violence within. It is a celebration. It’s nice to see a movie in which the very fabric of society falls apart, yet humanity still soldiers on; not through feats of extreme bravery or powerful self-sacrifice, but through a sense of humour.” – Simon Miraudo, Quickflix

Night of the Creeps

19. Night of the Creeps

Fred Dekker

1986 / USA / 88m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jason Lively, Steve Marshall, Jill Whitlow, Tom Atkins, Wally Taylor, Bruce Solomon, Vic Polizos, Allan Kayser, Ken Heron, Alice Cadogan


“The film builds up slowly and inevitably explodes in to a zombie free for all that’s still boiling with terror and incredible scenes of gore and grue. The performances are fantastic, especially by Tom Atkins as Detective Cameron, and Steve Marshall as the quick witted JC. “Night of the Creeps” is an almost forgotten eighties gem, and one that sports a sick and twisted ending that deserves to be seen, mainly because it lays seeds for a great sequel that we never saw. Still a ball of a zombie film, director Fred Dekker offers his own take on the zombie, while also paying tribute to fifties science fiction and slasher films along with a clever script, and original concept. “Night of the Creeps” is an entertaining horror romp and one that deserved a sequel.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed

La noche del terror ciego

20. La noche del terror ciego

Amando de Ossorio

1972 / Spain / 101m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Lone Fleming, César Burner, María Elena Arpón, José Thelman, Rufino Inglés, Verónica Llimera, Simón Arriaga, Francisco Sanz, Juan Cortés, Andrés Isbert


“The film is not, of course, flawless; like just about every other genre film made on that continent in that time period, the plot is too flimsy to withstand even a slight breeze of scrutiny (there’s a whole entire subplot involving Virginia’s ultimate fate that is of nearly no value to the story whatsoever), and most of the characters are die-cut from cardboard, although Bet is surely a more rounded figure than we often see in these films, and reasonably well performed. But honestly, no sane person goes into a film like this for the story. They go for the atmosphere, the terror, and the zombies, and all three of those things are in peak form here. As the kick-off to the European zombie film, Tombs is just about the finest example of the form that I have ever seen.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

Dead of Night

21. Dead of Night

Bob Clark

1972 / Canada / 88m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
John Marley, Lynn Carlin, Richard Backus, Henderson Forsythe, Anya Ormsby, Jane Daly, Michael Mazes, Arthur Anderson, Arthur Bradley, David Gawlikowski


“Part of the reason that Deathdream has captivated audiences throughout the last thirty years is the understated and creepy way in which it unfolds. Although evident from the first few scenes, the film never explicitly reveals that Andy is actually dead until more than halfway through, adding a level of ambiguity to his sinister actions. This charges the film with a sense of mystery and encourages the audience to piece together the plot themselves. Although effective as a flat-out horror film, Deathdream was also one of the first films to be critical of the Vietnam War, focusing on the lingering effects of the conflict on soldiers returning to America. The stress disorders and drug addiction that many veterans experienced are alluded to, but more importantly, this film is filled with sense that the war has changed not only Andy, but the entire country. Ormsby’s screenplay portrays Andy as the ultimate corrupted innocent, a survivor (although not in the strictest sense of the word) of an experience that literally left him dead inside.” – Canuxploitation

The Walking Dead

22. The Walking Dead

Michael Curtiz

1936 / USA / 66m / BW / Zombie | IMDb
Boris Karloff, Ricardo Cortez, Edmund Gwenn, Marguerite Churchill, Warren Hull, Barton MacLane, Henry O’Neill, Joe King, Addison Richards, Paul Harvey


“Warner Brothers zaps Boris Karloff back to life with a plot device torn from the headlines so he can exact vengeance on a group of racketeers… The Film Daily reported that for The Walking Dead’s premiere at the New York Strand the lobby display was comprised of several still photos of the Lindbergh Heart scene from the movie, accompanied by real newspaper clippings triumphing the actual invention… The Walking Dead is run-of-the-mill gangster stuff with a horror twist but an exemplary performance by Boris Karloff, who always gave heart and soul to his work, that boosts its status in both genres. It’s a must for Karloff fans and will be enjoyed by those who love both the Universal monsters and Warner Brothers gangsters.” – Cliff Aliperti, Immortal Ephemera

Dead & Buried

23. Dead & Buried

Gary Sherman

1981 / USA / 94m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, Dennis Redfield, Nancy Locke, Lisa Blount, Robert Englund, Bill Quinn, Michael Currie, Christopher Allport


“However, Dead and Buried isn’t great simply because it’s a little unique; instead, it works because it’s just a solidly entertaining film featuring good performances and a sense of spooky mystery that pervades the entire thing. A morbidity that’s both sort of grim and cheeky hangs in the air; the stark violence is off-set by the presence of the quirky mortician and other folksy, small town charms. There’s a sense that something is just a bit off from the moment a photographer is savagely set aflame by a mob that seemingly materializes from nowhere. The film hides its cards well as more, similarly bizarre events happen that allow you to begin connecting the dots; it plays its best, most twisted hand last, though.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, The Horror!

Pontypool

24. Pontypool

Bruce McDonald

2008 / Canada / 93m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly, Hrant Alianak, Rick Roberts, Daniel Fathers, Beatriz Yuste, Tony Burgess, Boyd Banks, Hannah Fleming


“Scriptwriter Tony Burgess knows that by entering the world of cinematic zombiedom, he has a responsibility to comment, to satirise – to not just tear open and chew on but also engage the mind of his characters and audience. He does this via a stunning reveal as to the nature of the ‘plague’ that has corrupted the collective mind of society (a clue is in Mazzy’s role as a lowbrow social commentator). In the hope of curing the population of its new-found fleshy hunger, Mazzy unleashes a last-gasp broadcast that is a wild, frenzied meld of brilliant scripting and tour-de-force acting. Spouting nonsensical gibberish at an electrifying pitch, Stephen McHattie throws himself into the film finale with wild abandon and it is a sight to behold. Horror fans may gripe at the lack of blood-&-guts (though a couple of moments keep the ‘that’s gross!” factor high). Fuelled by committed acting, tight direction and a wonderfully focused script, Pontypool proves a winning combination of shuddery suspense and intelligent observations.” – Simon Foster, SBS

28 Weeks Later

25. 28 Weeks Later

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

2007 / UK / 100m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau, Catherine McCormack, Idris Elba, Imogen Poots, Mackintosh Muggleton, Amanda Walker, Shahid Ahmed


“Coincidence or not, the visual aesthetic and energy of Fresnadillo’s film bears a striking resemblance to Cuarón’s — both use a pallette of dull and desaturated colors, as if the colors itself were weary of the worlds they’re inhabiting. Fresnadillo’s camerawork, like that in Children of Men, is jittery, so restless and panicky, in fact, that you think it might burst forth from the screen. It’s the director’s deft and sylish hand with this material that makes 28 Weeks such a refreshing jolt, plying a genre routinely deadened by sub-par slasher-fests. The exhilaration evident in the smartly-cut action sequences, the glances at pathos in the sequences of loss, betrayal, guilt, and abandonment underscore Fresnadillo’s considerable directorial powers; the man is taking his job seriously and at full-steam, never condescending to it.” – Jay Antani, Cinema Writer

Night of the Comet

26. Night of the Comet

Thom Eberhardt

1984 / USA / 95m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Robert Beltran, Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Sharon Farrell, Mary Woronov, Geoffrey Lewis, Peter Fox, John Achorn, Michael Bowen, Devon Ericson


“The easiest way to describe a popcorn flick like Night of the Comet would be to call it a mash up between George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978) and John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club (1985). The wacky offbeat sensibility of Night of the Comet is a joy to behold. For genre fans, it’s easy to fall in love with a farcical 80s sci-fi horror movie with zombies. It’s the whimsical warmth of Thom Eberhardt’s direction that gives this movie its heart. It’s obvious he’s a genuine fan of B-movies. Like other cult classic B-movies there is more to Night of the Comet than its wacky sense of humour. It contains genuine terror. An electric piece of cult cinema, Night of the Comet is a classic! ” – Curtis Owen, My reviewer

Paura nella città dei morti viventi

27. Paura nella città dei morti viventi

Lucio Fulci

1980 / Italy / 93m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Christopher George, Catriona MacColl, Carlo De Mejo, Antonella Interlenghi, Giovanni Lombardo Radice, Daniela Doria, Fabrizio Jovine, Luca Venantini, Michele Soavi, Venantino Venantini


“With its fog-shrouded settings and doomy score by Fabio Frizzi (built on a heartbeat-aping bass throb, and more than a little reminiscent of the soundtrack of Dawn Of The Dead), this is a tremendously atmospheric film. And the gore setpieces are simply jaw-dropping – particularly the one where that dead priest’s baleful gaze causes a young woman to spew up all her internal organs (at length) – that’s one hell of a Paddington Bear hard stare. Watching actress Daniela Doria with her mouth jammed full of sheep guts, you understand how Fulci gained something of a reputation for having a sadistic attitude to his cast. Whilst not as outlandish as The Beyond, undoubtedly Fulci’s finest fever-dream, City Of The Living Dead is still startlingly crackers.” – Ian Berriman, SFX Magazine

Night of the Living Dead

28. Night of the Living Dead

Tom Savini

1990 / USA / 92m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Tony Todd, Patricia Tallman, Tom Towles, McKee Anderson, William Butler, Katie Finneran, Bill Moseley, Heather Mazur, David W. Butler, Zachary Mott


“The idea of remaking the classic “Night of the Living Dead” would certainly seem like sacrilege to many fans. Yet the resulting movie stands on its own merits as a taut if slightly sterile horror film… Zombie films always suffer in critical terms. But what this boils down to, just as the original does, is a classic siege situation. Tempers fray, fear builds, the final stand-off looms and this movie exploits the form well, with some real tension building among some fine shock moments. Some purists will not condone this remake, but there’s little denying that this is a better horror film than most made in the 1990s.” – Almar Haflidason, BBC.com

Evil Dead

29. Evil Dead

Fede Alvarez

2013 / USA / 91m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jane Levy, Shiloh Fernandez, Lou Taylor Pucci, Jessica Lucas, Elizabeth Blackmore, Phoenix Connolly, Jim McLarty, Sian Davis, Stephen Butterworth, Karl Willetts


“Evil Dead is relentless. Once it starts, it never lets up. It becomes a constant barrage of gory fun, and in the spirit of the original, Alvarez and his team use make-up and real-world special effects rather than relying solely on CGI. Another distinctive and key part of the original series were the off-kilter and exaggerated camera angles. Alvarez adopts the film language of Raimi’s films, adds more to the bag of tricks, and keeps the sardonic attitude without necessarily being slapstick.” – Eric Melin, Scene Stealers

Busanhaeng

30. Busanhaeng

Sang-ho Yeon

2016 / South Korea / 118m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Yoo Gong, Soo-an Kim, Yu-mi Jung, Dong-seok Ma, Woo-sik Choi, Sohee, Eui-sung Kim, Gwi-hwa Choi, Terri Doty, Jang Hyuk-Jin


“Crucially, [director] Yeon has come up with a take on zombies that is rooted deep in the genre but still feels innovative. Like Romero’s undead, these are an inescapable evil spreading across the world to offer a sly commentary on our modern society… Yeon establishes himself as a gifted action director: one mid-journey stop at an apparently deserted station turns into a terrifying set-piece that’s among the year’s best. But it’s a slow struggle through carriages full of infected people to reach a stranded loved one that really stands out… In the end, Yeon goes back to the human story and delivers a surprisingly emotional climax. It may seem like a shift of tone, but maybe family ties were the point all along.” – Helen O’Hara, Empire Magazine

The Crazies

31. The Crazies

Breck Eisner

2010 / USA / 101m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Timothy Olyphant, Radha Mitchell, Joe Anderson, Danielle Panabaker, Christie Lynn Smith, Brett Rickaby, Preston Bailey, John Aylward, Joe Reegan, Glenn Morshower


“Don’t be afraid of the horror remake stigma here; be afraid of The Crazies’ constant, electric hum of dread. Be afraid of the unpredictable bursts of violence and well-earned jump scares. Be afraid of director Eisner’s unexpected mastery of the material — he seems to have been a standout horror filmmaker-in-waiting all this time, and The Crazies shows that off in a huge way. He understands timing and mood and how important a good score is to a horror film (Mark Isham’s synth score is noticeably great, like a quiet callback to John Carpenter’s way of scoring horror). He gets the actors to take the material seriously, he’s not afraid to go bleak and nasty, and he knows how to build suspense (a talent too rare in studio horror).” – John Gholson, MovieFone

Planet Terror

32. Planet Terror

Robert Rodriguez

2007 / USA / 105m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodríguez, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Jeff Fahey, Michael Biehn, Rebel Rodriguez, Bruce Willis, Naveen Andrews, Julio Oscar Mechoso


“Planet Terror – Robert Rodriguez’s contribution to his Grindhouse collaboration with Quentin Tarantino – is a first-rate homage to the schlocky, sleazy B-movies of decades past, loading on the gore, clichés, and self-referential dialogue like there’s no tomorrow with a cascade of influences from John Carpenter, James Cameron, George A. Romero and Lucio Fulci (just to name a few), all the while topping off its gimmicky (though totally effective) construction with countless scratches, blips, audio/visual inconsistencies and even a carefully placed “missing reel” in its loving ode to the almost lost end-of-the-line theater experience.” – Rob Humanick, Projection Booth

Land of the Dead

33. Land of the Dead

George A. Romero

2005 / USA / 93m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento, Robert Joy, Eugene Clark, Joanne Boland, Tony Nappo, Jennifer Baxter, Boyd Banks


“The ideas fly as fast and furious as the body parts, but brilliantly Romero never stoops to obvious, dialogue-driven harangues, instead opting to submerge his conceit- that is, a divided society where zombies reflect our own political complacency – in the forgotten stuff of subtext. The gore is amped up appropriately from earlier films, and provides a literal cross-section of destruction and dismemberments; some of them exist for sheer thrill value, but Romero, unlike many of his style-stealing disciples, knows that substantive storytelling is the key to evoking true dread, not a coroner’s checklist of body parts.” – Todd Gilchrist, IGN Movies

Død snø

34. Død snø

Tommy Wirkola

2009 / Norway / 90m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Vegar Hoel, Stig Frode Henriksen, Charlotte Frogner, Lasse Valdal, Evy Kasseth Røsten, Jeppe Beck Laursen, Jenny Skavlan, Ane Dahl Torp, Bjørn Sundquist, ørjan Gamst


“I’m not going to bother here with the argument that tremendously over-the-top gore like this is or isn’t a wicked thing, or a guilty pleasure, or balls-out fun; when I’m watching a movie in which the filmmakers are plainly loving their gore as much as Tommy Wirkola plainly loves gore, that is what I am going to respond to. Dead Snow is a movie made with a childlike glee for the material, which translates into marvelously playful geysers of blood. It’s all so much fun, made with a minimal level of contempt for the characters that makes it far unlike so many American horror films, and for this reason the comedy in the film (which is a horror-comedy more than it is a horror film with comedy relief) actually works, better than the comedy works the vast majority of English-language horror. This is the sprightliest movie about mowing down revenants with a chainsaw that you are are ever likely to see.” – Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy

Fido

35. Fido

Andrew Currie

2006 / Canada / 93m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
David Kaye, Jan Skorzewski, Kevin Tyell, Andy Parkin, Lynn Pendleton, Gary Slater, Taylor Petri, Glenn Richards, Raphael Kepinski, Carl-James Kalbfleisch


“[The] set-up sounds like an amusing premise for a mild little low-budget spoof, but FIDO is much more than that: it’s a full-blown social satire with zombies at its center. Equal part LASSIE, old TV sit-coms, and 1950s movie melodramas, the film pokes fun at contemporay society in the tradition of the old TWILIGHT ZONE series – by hiding its commentary in another time, another place. It’s not very scary; it’s not even always hysterically funny. But its satire is always sharp as steel, cutting through the facade of happy, everyday “normality” with almost as sting as David Lynch’s BLUE VELVET.” – Steve Biodrowski, Cinefantastique

The Crazies

36. The Crazies

George A. Romero

1973 / USA / 103m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Lane Carroll, Will MacMillan, Harold Wayne Jones, Lloyd Hollar, Lynn Lowry, Richard Liberty, Richard France, Harry Spillman, Will Disney, Edith Bell


“The underlying cynicism and despair about individual initiative and governmental intervention reflect the social insecurity of the period when The Crazies was released. The senseless prolongation of the war in Viet Nam and the decay of urban centers gnawed at the public mood, leading not to renewed social activism, but to the self-defeating narcissism that typified the latter years of the ‘70s. Romero’s horror films—like those of John Carpenter, Wes Craven, and David Cronenberg—illustrated a mood of entropy. The monsters these directors conjured may have been figments of their imagination, but they drew attention to very real horrors. And, at a time when SARS and terrorism exercises are daily news, the fabricated panic of The Crazies feels more than a little close to home.” – David Sanjek, Popmatters

Diary of the Dead

37. Diary of the Dead

George A. Romero

2007 / USA / 95m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Michelle Morgan, Joshua Close, Shawn Roberts, Amy Lalonde, Joe Dinicol, Scott Wentworth, Philip Riccio, Chris Violette, Tatiana Maslany, Todd Schroeder


“Diary may initially struggle to get up to speed as it reprises business from the earlier films, but Romero has lost none of his wild inventiveness. This film has more left-field weirdness and edgy suspense than Land, with unexpected characters (a deaf, dynamite-throwing Amish farmer), grim jokes (the zombie birthday clown who bleeds when his red nose is pulled off) and horror scenes you have never seen before (in a crowded, gloomy warehouse, amid reserves of gasoline, a single, hard-to-find zombie mingles with jittery, well-armed folk). It turns out that despite decades of experiment, there are still spectacular new ways of killing zombies on screen (a slow acid-dissolve of the skull), while presenting state-of-the-art make-up effects vérité-style recalls the impact of the gruesome intestine-gobbling scene in 1968.” – Sight and Sound

[Rec]²

38. [Rec]²

Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza

2009 / Spain / 85m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jonathan D. Mellor, Óscar Zafra, Ariel Casas, Alejandro Casaseca, Pablo Rosso, Rafa Parra, Pep Molina, Andrea Ros, Àlex Batllori, Pau Poch


“The story being depicted elaborates on the original scenario and is endlessly intriguing. We only got a taste of the virus’ demonic nature in the original and here, that concept is expanded in a frightening manner. This is no longer the story of crazed infected humans running around biting each other’s faces off; it’s a terrifying tale of deadly people being influenced by a demonic source… Balagueró and Plaza really know what they’re doing. The continuation of their story is what keeps you intrigued, but it’s the eeriness and constant need to be prepared for what’s lurking around the corner that makes this film downright as horrifying as it is relentless. REC 2 it isn’t as good as its predecessor, but only finds itself a notch below, making it an enjoyable and honorable sequel” – Perri Nemiroff, CinemaBlend

Resident Evil

39. Resident Evil

Paul W.S. Anderson

2002 / UK / 100m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Ryan McCluskey, Oscar Pearce, Indra Ové, Anna Bolt, Joseph May, Robert Tannion, Heike Makatsch, Jaymes Butler, Stephen Billington, Fiona Glascott


“This science-fiction cannibal zombie adventure does not dislodge George Romero as czar of the Living Dead but does implant Paul Anderson (Mortal Kombat, Event Horizon) as a possible franchise horror director. The story about genetics experimentation and corporations that think they are above the law offers a balanced blend of high-tech conspiracy and low-tech flesh munching… The gruesome action borrows Cube’s slice and dice laser and The Matrix’s combat special effects while bloodied Dobermans from Hell and rotting humans chomp at the gorgeously stone-faced Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Element), the ever-pouting Michelle Rodriguez (Girlfight) and their male entourage.” – Mark Halverson, Sacramento News & Review

Bride of Re-Animator

40. Bride of Re-Animator

Brian Yuzna

1989 / USA / 96m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Claude Earl Jones, Fabiana Udenio, David Gale, Kathleen Kinmont, Mel Stewart, Irene Cagen, Michael Strasser, Mary Sheldon


“Bride of Re-Animator is among the most gleefully disgusting films of all time, a splatterfest leavened by liberal doses of macabre good humour (“My god, they’re using tools!”) that, in sort of an odd way, speaks to the inappropriateness of the whole enterprise. Moments of mordant hilarity aside, what works in the picture works extremely well (namely the old-school special effects, and Combs), and if Bride of Re-Animator lacks the intimate cohesion of the first film despite its desire to resurrect a feeling of doomed love, it at least isn’t coy about ladling out the goodies.” – Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central

King of the Zombies

41. King of the Zombies

Jean Yarbrough

1941 / USA / 67m / BW / Zombie | IMDb
Dick Purcell, Joan Woodbury, Mantan Moreland, Henry Victor, John Archer, Patricia Stacey, Guy Usher, Marguerite Whitten, Leigh Whipper, Madame Sul-Te-Wan


“I’m one of the few people that still seems to enjoy traditional voodoo zombie movies – which are few and far between – just as much as recent infected zombie movies. King Of The Zombies (1941) is one such movie, the first zombie-comedy ever made and, even after all these years, it’s still one of the best. It remains… the only zombie movie ever to be nominated for an Oscar, and I’m confident you’ll feel it’s ninety minutes of time well-spent… Directed by prolific filmmaker Jean Yarbrough, King Of The Zombies became a major inspiration for reluctant ghost-chasers from Abbott & Costello to Shaggy & Scooby Doo” – Nigel Honeybone, HorrorNews.net

Le notti del terrore

42. Le notti del terrore

Andrea Bianchi

1981 / Italy / 85m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Karin Well, Gianluigi Chirizzi, Simone Mattioli, Antonella Antinori, Roberto Caporali, Peter Bark, Claudio Zucchet, Anna Valente, Raimondo Barbieri, Mariangela Giordano


“Sure, the plot is paper (or should I say slasher) thin, but the direction is competently done. It’s not as artistic or well done as a Fulci film, but there’s a very guerilla, hand-held style that captures the mayhem effectively. Veterans of Italian cinema will notice a lot of other staples here, like the use of long, drawn-out takes, dramatic zooms, and weird voice dubbing. If you’re not use to Italian horror, the dubbing will throw you off at first, but believe me, this film doesn’t come close to offering the weirdest in that respect (anyone that remembers Bob from House by the Cemetery can attest to that). Once you get used to it, however, it really becomes part of the charm. You also get some signature, upbeat music that’s almost a staple of these Italian films; the horror music cues, however, sound like 60s stock music that further contributes to the bizarre Night of the Living Dead vibe.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, The Horror

Shock Waves

43. Shock Waves

Ken Wiederhorn

1977 / USA / 85m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Peter Cushing, Brooke Adams, Fred Buch, Jack Davidson, Luke Halpin, D.J. Sidney, John Carradine, Don Stout, Clarence Thomas, Sammy Graham


“Director Wiederhorn allows his camera to act almost voyeuristic as it creeps through the trees to spy on the zombies that pop up from the murky water. They are presented as paranormal specters that are silhouetted by the blinding sun reflecting off the water. At times, we see them from an extreme distance, marching in formation and turning to barely acknowledge their gaunt commander as he pleads with them to stop their meaningless slaughter. It was these scenes that made me fall in love with Shock Waves, the film just subtle enough while every once in a while, getting right in our faces so we can see its soggy decay. We never see any scenes of mass carnage, the zombies preferring to drown their victims instead of gnawing at their flesh and sucking on their entrails. That fact that the film remains eerily tranquil throughout, never getting frantic or hurrying is what really makes this film such an effective little adventure.” – Steve Habrat, Anti-Film School

Psychomania

44. Psychomania

Don Sharp

1973 / UK / 85m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Nicky Henson, Mary Larkin, Ann Michelle, Roy Holder, Denis Gilmore, Miles Greenwood, Peter Whitting, Rocky Taylor, Robert Hardy, Patrick Holt


“It remains an iconic, idiosyncratic anomaly in a creepshow category overrun by reanimated bodies and rotting monsters. Sure, fright fans like their zombies hobbled and hungry, patrolling the countryside for available brains. All the members of The Living Dead want to do is cause trouble and “blow some squares’ minds”. While it may have been intended as nothing more than double feature filler, a 90 minute companion piece to something more substantial, it actually wound up doing what few horror films can – it set itself apart from the rest of the paranormal pack. Cinematic scares are often predictable at best. While it avoids many of the basic bone rattling moves, Psychomania is still one memorable fright flick.” – Bill Gibron, Pop Matters

Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things

45. Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things

Bob Clark

1973 / USA / 87m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Alan Ormsby, Valerie Mamches, Jeff Gillen, Anya Ormsby, Paul Cronin, Jane Daly, Roy Engleman, Robert Philip, Bruce Solomon, Alecs Baird


“Many people have written this film off as, like I mentioned above, campy, but there’s something deliberate in the tone that the director crafted for this film. He loaded the script with silly lines and inside jokes that you would traditionally hear when in close quarters with a theatrical group such as this one, yet offsets that harmless scenario with the hauntingly macabre idea of a group of kids desecrating a cemetery and then walking off with one of it’s inhabitants to just goof off with it. I think the combination is both fun and demented and I enjoy those ingredients each and every time I view this film. The characters are so off the wall and have such different personalities that you just enjoy listening to the ridiculous things that come out of their mouths. There’s enough one liners and quotable lines in this one that it’s hard to get bored and that’s not including the hauntingly vibrant soundtrack.” – Jay Shatzer, The Lucid Nightmare

Versus

46. Versus

Ryûhei Kitamura

2000 / Japan / 119m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Tak Sakaguchi, Hideo Sakaki, Chieko Misaka, Kenji Matsuda, Yuichiro Arai, Minoru Matsumoto, Kazuhito Ohba, Takehiro Katayama, Ayumi Yoshihara, Shôichirô Masumoto


“All in all, “Versus” delivers on its one basic promise: action, and tons and tons of action. This movie has, for lack of a better word, style. It is obviously a low-budget film, since there are barely any special effects of the computer variety, but many of the old-fashion practicals and gallons and gallons of fake blood variety. It’s gore at its finest, and it’s quite fine, let me assure you. Gorefiends will pray their eyes don’t fail them during the viewing.” – Beyond Hollywood

Zombi Holocaust

47. Zombi Holocaust

Marino Girolami

1980 / Italy / 84m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Ian McCulloch, Alexandra Delli Colli, Sherry Buchanan, Peter O’Neal, Donald O’Brien, Dakar, Walter Patriarca, Linda Fumis, Roberto Resta, Franco Ukmar


“The writing is so weak and flimsy that you wonder why they bothered to begin with… But the beauty is that by the end of it, you won’t care. Everyone knows that it’s going to be exploitative but you will never guess at how badly. From having lead actress Alexandra Delli Colli get stripped full-frontal and placed onto a large sacrificial rock (which looks suspiciously like the one Ursula Andress got strapped to in The Mountain of the Cannibal God) to the copious amount of intestines on display, Zombie Holocaust punches for the lowest common denominators to hook its audience. Combining the two bloodiest sub-genres going promised that Zombie Holocaust would be a messy ride and it was certainly that. From open skull brain surgery to a zombie getting a motor boat propeller right to the face, there are plenty of gory set pieces on display.” – Andrew Smith, Popcorn Pictures

Quarantine

48. Quarantine

John Erick Dowdle

2008 / USA / 89m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jennifer Carpenter, Steve Harris, Jay Hernandez, Johnathon Schaech, Columbus Short, Andrew Fiscella, Rade Serbedzija, Greg Germann, Bernard White, Dania Ramirez


“Spotlights constantly flashing into the building’s windows from buzzing helicopters, police sirens wailing outside, and blaring bullhorn announcements create an relentless feeling of discomfort. The constant drone nearly irritates. And a lack of light — the electricity is cut to the building — coupled with the hand-held camera’s narrow field-of-vision give us an extreme sense of claustrophobia. Despite its lack of originality, the film’s script is actually quite tight and plays a huge part in the effectiveness of the film. The writers managed to avoid the oft-traversed pitfalls that slap the viewer back to reality with situations that don’t seem real… or with people who don’t behave as we’d expect. Here we’re totally convinced and find ourselves completely absorbed in the tragic situation at hand. Especially in a post-911 world, it’s not unrealistic to think we could find ourselves abandoned by authority. Now more than ever, we realize that every man for himself can be the difference between life and death.” – Frank Wilkins, Reel Talk

Blue Sunshine

49. Blue Sunshine

Jeff Lieberman

1978 / USA / 94m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Zalman King, Deborah Winters, Mark Goddard, Robert Walden, Charles Siebert, Ann Cooper, Ray Young, Alice Ghostley, Stefan Gierasch, Richard Crystal


“The fantastic thing about Blue Sunshine is that it’s not some grungy, low-wattage chiller hanging on numbing shock value to entertain the masses. Instead, Lieberman scripts up something displaying a little restraint, turning the wrath of bald madmen into a tasteful thriller of sorts, highlighting Jerry’s clumsy attempts at detecting and evading. The majority of the movie is devoted to the wanted man gathering critical clues, trying desperately to understand what’s behind the sudden rash of murderous behavior. The investigative aspects of Blue Sunshine are actually semi-compelling, resembling a crisp television production from the 1970s (even including a cameo by Alice Ghostley), keeping tensions brightly lit and emphatically performed. Not that the central mystery behind the drug makes a whole heap of sense, but the director sells the rising anxiety with confidence, pulling the viewer into this odd world of emotional outbursts and heated interrogation.” – Bloody Disgusting

Les raisins de la mort

50. Les raisins de la mort

Jean Rollin

1978 / France / 85m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Marie-Georges Pascal, Félix Marten, Serge Marquand, Mirella Rancelot, Patrice Valota, Patricia Cartier, Michel Herval, Brigitte Lahaie, Paul Bisciglia, Olivier Rollin


“If you appreciate Rollin’s gothic, sexually provocative films, you should love this, his most suspenseful and accessible production ever. Even if you aren’t a Rollin fan, you may like this. The apocalyptic story moves along at a much faster clip than the ordinary Rollin sex-vampire art film, and like “Night” it features an ending that doesn’t sell out. It’s also one of Rollins’ most chillingly beautiful films: He makes incredibly effective use of ancient French buildings. Seeing an army of Romero-esque ogres (one carrying a severed head) shuffling around them at night is wonderfully chilling.” – Lucius Gore, eSplatter

Return of the Living Dead III

51. Return of the Living Dead III

Brian Yuzna

1993 / USA / 97m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Kent McCord, James T. Callahan, Sarah Douglas, Melinda Clarke, Abigail Lenz, J. Trevor Edmond, Jill Andre, Michael Decker, Billy Kane, Mike Moroff


“While it isn’t as gleefully excessive as the previous year’s Dead Alive, Return of the Living Dead III is an incredible display of body horror and splatter. Yuzna’s always been a sort of poor-man’s Cronenberg, but he’s hit some incredible highs during his career, with this being one of them. Not content to merely create nondescript, shambling zombies, Yuzna embraces the franchise’s legacy of unique designs. Tarman might be absent, but he’s not completely missed, as Yuzna conjures up a fun array of creatures, including one that has an elongated spine after his head is almost severed from its body. The accompanying eviscerations, impalements, and, (of course) brai(iiiiii)n eating are messy and gooey, so it’s a great practical effects showcase.” – Brett Gallman, Oh, The Horror

ParaNorman

52. ParaNorman

Chris Butler & Sam Fell

2012 / USA / 92m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Kodi Smit-McPhee, Tucker Albrizzi, Anna Kendrick, Casey Affleck, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Leslie Mann, Jeff Garlin, Elaine Stritch, Bernard Hill, Jodelle Ferland


““ParaNorman” creeps and crawls out of the mind of writer/co-director Chris Butler, a storyboard artist who honed his skills on Tim Burton’s “Corpse Bride” and Henry Selick’s “Coraline.” It’s no wonder, then, that when Butler receives free rein to tell his own story, he comes up with a spooky, creature-infested campfire story laced with valuable lessons about teamwork, responsibility, courage and the celebration of our inner outcast… After a creaky start, “ParaNorman” comes to life once the dead rise. Zombies stomp, trees throw dagger branches, purple-faced clouds loom, and this roller-coaster ride through an expertly crafted house of terrors culminates with an unfortunately busy finale” – Sean O’Connell, Washington Post

Juan de los Muertos

53. Juan de los Muertos

Alejandro Brugués

2011 / Spain / 92m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Alexis Díaz de Villegas, Jorge Molina, Andros Perugorría, Andrea Duro, Jazz Vilá, Eliecer Ramírez, Blanca Rosa Blanco, Susana Pous, Antonio Dechent, Eslinda Núñez


“Cuba’s first zombie flick gives a twist of rum-soaked lime and shuffle-stepped tango to the social satire of George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, while also observing the post-modern metacinematic savvy of Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead. For when Brugués is not using the revenant deceased as a prism through which to affectionately lampoon half a century of Cuban history, he is either pastiching everything from the shark-on-zombie action of Lucio Fulci’s Zombie Flesh Eaters to the priest who likes to ‘kick ass for the Lord’ in Peter Jackson’s Braindead, or having his characters pose such daftly crucial genre questions as why, when it comes to the post-millennial living dead, ‘some are fast and some are slow.’” – Anton Bitel, Little White Lies

Deadgirl

54. Deadgirl

Marcel Sarmiento & Gadi Harel

2008 / USA / 101m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Shiloh Fernandez, Noah Segan, Candice Accola, Eric Podnar, Jenny Spain, Andrew DiPalma, Nolan Gerard Funk, Michael Bowen, David Alan Graf, Susan Marie Keller


“A good deal of the effect of “Deadgirl” rests on the atmospheric widescreen cinematography by Harris Charalambouse, which belies what must have been an extremely low budget (the long tracking shots in which the camera prowls the underground tunnels beneath the asylum are honestly gripping), and Phillip Blackford’s editing, which isn’t afraid to take things slowly, though in the action moments it’s appropriately swift and abrupt. Effects-wise, the picture is hardly state-of-the-art, and in fact the level of gore is pretty modest compared to the avalanche of blood and innards that fans of torture-porn are accustomed to. The fact that it’s relatively subdued by modern standards may, in fact, limit the movie’s popularity among the gross-out crowd, at the same time that its storyline turns off more mainstream viewers. That would be too bad, because “Deadgirl” is, despite some weaknesses, a surprisingly effective character study dressed up as a grisly horror movie.” – Frank Swietek, One Guy’s Opinion

El ataque de los muertos sin ojos

55. El ataque de los muertos sin ojos

Amando de Ossorio

1973 / Spain / 91m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Tony Kendall, Fernando Sancho, Esperanza Roy, Frank Braña, José Canalejas, Loreta Tovar, Ramón Lillo, Lone Fleming, Maria Nuria, José Thelman


“Director Ossorio amasses a bunch of familiar genre faces and puts them in grave danger, killing them off one at the time in a plot eerily similar to one by a certain John Carpenter from 1979. The reliance on mood and fear in TOMBS is replaced with action and gore in the RETURN. There are some things that improve on Ossorio’s first, but overall this energetic sequel finishes a close second behind it. ATTACK is to TOMBS what ALIENS was to ALIEN. A highpoint in European horror and, like its predecessor, a must-see for horror enthusiasts.” – Brian Bankston, Cool Ass Cinema

Incubo sulla città contaminata

56. Incubo sulla città contaminata

Umberto Lenzi

1980 / Italy / 92m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Hugo Stiglitz, Laura Trotter, Maria Rosaria Omaggio, Francisco Rabal, Sonia Viviani, Eduardo Fajardo, Stefania D’Amario, Ugo Bologna, Sara Franchetti, Manuel Zarzo


“Both the crypto-zombies of Nightmare City and the film itself are fast-paced sons of bitches without so much as a whisper of a thought inside their heads… the afflicted zombies aren’t really undead; it’s just their blood cells that have been paralyzed by radioactivity, hence the need for the zombies to constantly refresh their supply with fresh plasma. In that sense, the creatures in Lenzi’s film are more like anti-charismatic vampires. As one character points out late in the film, humanity reaps what it sews, and the terrified populace has no one to blame for the chaos that ensues but themselves… it does manage to suggest society surprised to find itself on the verge of chaos and annihilation. In practice, it feels like Planet Terror‘s disaster movie-derived uncle.” – Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine

Mulberry Street

57. Mulberry Street

Jim Mickle

2006 / USA / 84m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Nick Damici, Kim Blair, Ron Brice, Bo Corre, Tim House, Larry Fleischman, Larry Medich, Javier Picayo, Antone Pagan, John Hoyt


““Mulberry Street” is an ideal example of what can be done with a small budget, and amongst the better zombie flicks in years. Similar to “28 Days Later” in style and tone, it could almost serve as a prequel to Danny Boyle’s modern day masterpiece, if his infected were plagued by an unknown virus transmitted through the city’s rat population. The afflicted would also have to slowly acquire the characteristics of the rodents as the sickness took effect as well, sort of like living dead were-rats… It’s also a heart breaker. I’d grown so very close to this ragtag team of misfits in the opening scenes, I found myself crestfallen for the first time in ages by the trappings of horror conventions. I knew they all couldn’t possibly survive.” – Rob Getz, HorrorNews.net

Wild Zero

58. Wild Zero

Tetsuro Takeuchi

1999 / Japan / 98m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Guitar Wolf, Drum Wolf, Bass Wolf, Masashi Endô, Kwancharu Shitichai, Makoto Inamiya, Haruka Nakajo, Shirô Namiki, Taneko, Yoshiyuki Morishita


“Anyways, for Wild Zero, you can easily see the influences of George A. Romero’s Trilogy of the Living Dead movies throughout this film – from the way the zombies behave and look to some familiar scenes and ideas being thrown up. Unlike Romero’s films, this one does not have any type of satire or social commentary, but just plain craziness, brainless action and Rock ‘n’ Roll! You can expect an abundance of over-the-top action sequences, gore, explosions, tacky situations, lame dialogue, clichés, computerised zombie blasting, dazzling special effects and flamboyant characters! There really is never a dull moment to be had. So just switch off your brain and enjoy the ride!” – Scum Cinema

La horde

59. La horde

Yannick Dahan & Benjamin Rocher

2009 / Germany / 90m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Claude Perron, Jean-Pierre Martins, Eriq Ebouaney, Aurélien Recoing, Doudou Masta, Antoine Oppenheim, Jo Prestia, Yves Pignot, Adam Pengsawang, Sébastien Peres


““La Horde” thankfully knows where its audience lies and its sole intent is to bring us as much gore and grue as possible while delivering on the action set pieces, and both counts are thankfully plentiful, which is why “La Horde” is one of the more memorable zombie romps I’ve seen in the past few years. It’s an action horror film with its head in the right place, and I loved it for that. For folks who can appreciate the modern take on the zombie culture, “La Horde” is an entertaining action horror film with thrills, chills, and gut munching that will whet the appetites of anyone looking for a good time. While it’s no masterpiece, it’s filled with tension and terror and a solid execution that will keep it on the good side of zombie enthusiasts all the way through.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed

The Dead Pit

60. The Dead Pit

Brett Leonard

1989 / USA / 95m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jeremy Slate, Cheryl Lawson, Stephen Gregory Foster, Danny Gochnauer, Geha Getz, Joan Bechtel, Mara Everett, Jack A. Sunseri, Frederick Dodge, Nettie Heffner


“Maybe I’m being too kind to a movie that (it turns out) was written in one week, but even if I didn’t know anything about [director] Brett Leonard coming into it, I’d still feel his direction brings a lot to what could have been a standard zombie outing. Besides an expert handling of the usual horror movie techniques – panning down to reveal a sinister person, things popping up subtly just outside the frame of tracking shots – Leonard really thinks about his shots and gives them epic, big budget movie treatment. And he is not afraid of the wide-angle lens. The Dead Pit is basically Brett Leonard’s take on a Nightmare on Elm Street style horror film, which is a good pairing” – John Cribbs, The Pink Smoke

Zombie Strippers!

61. Zombie Strippers!

Jay Lee

2008 / USA / 94m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jenna Jameson, Robert Englund, Roxy Saint, Penny Vital, Whitney Anderson, Jennifer Holland, Shamron Moore, Jeannette Sousa, Carmit Levité, Johnny Hawkes


“How could you resist a movie set in the nightmare America of George W Bush’s fourth term that shows porn superstar Jenna Jameson reading and claims to be a zombie-and-stripper packed update of Eugene Ionesco’s 1959 play about alienation, conformity and fascism, Rhinocéros?… a brutally unsubtle but nonetheless cleverly layered exposed-breast-fest of a satire of the objectification of women where shotgunned zombie skulls explode with a frequency matched only by the gleefully ponderous dropping of highbrow literary references” – Steven Wells, The Guardian

Return of the Living Dead Part II

62. Return of the Living Dead Part II

Ken Wiederhorn

1988 / USA / 89m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Michael Kenworthy, Thor Van Lingen, Jason Hogan, James Karen, Thom Mathews, Suzanne Snyder, Marsha Dietlein, Hanala Sagal, Jonathan Terry, Dana Ashbrook


“Even though the tone is a bit different from the original, the effects and overall look of the film is still intact. The zombie makeup and designs are just as grotesque as before, with decaying bodies and rotten faces looking especially devilish, while the atmosphere is locked in that foggy haze from right out of a nightmare. It’s interesting to see that same kind of visual potency that the original was able to conjure up, is intact in the sequel, and it’s a nice touch that lends to the credibility of the series. As before, the zombies in this flick talk and do all sorts of silly things, but the balance of horror and comedy is just close enough that it doesn’t throw the film into a confusing mess. In the end, the film is just a fun ride that shouldn’t be taken seriously, yet appreciated for its entertainment value.” – Jay Shatzer, The Lucid Nightmare

Dead Heat

63. Dead Heat

Mark Goldblatt

1988 / USA / 86m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Treat Williams, Joe Piscopo, Lindsay Frost, Darren McGavin, Vincent Price, Clare Kirkconnell, Keye Luke, Robert Picardo, Mel Stewart, Professor Toru Tanaka


“This is an interesting little, sometimes-overlooked film that really brings innovation to the genre. I must say too, this is a personal guilty pleasure of mine as well… The effects are actually very well done throughout Dead Heat and we get some surprisingly good zombie and gore scenes. Joe Piscopo is one of the elements that holds the film together most (hmm, never thought I would say those words!) with his constant one liners and smartass remarks. Treat Williams on the other hand takes the lead very well and is entertaining enough on his own. There is plenty of excitement and twists and turns to keep anyone entertained, especially if you love awesome 80s cheese!” – Ronnie Angel, Best Horror Movies

Zeder

64. Zeder

Pupi Avati

1983 / Italy / 98m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Gabriele Lavia, Anne Canovas, Paola Tanziani, Cesare Barbetti, Bob Tonelli, Ferdinando Orlandi, Enea Ferrario, John Stacy, Alex Partexano, Marcello Tusco


Sugar Hill

65. Sugar Hill

Paul Maslansky

1974 / USA / 91m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Marki Bey, Robert Quarry, Don Pedro Colley, Betty Anne Rees, Richard Lawson, Zara Cully, Charles Robinson, Larry Don Johnson, Rick Hagood, Ed Geldart


“Sugar Hill is a compulsively watchable movie; while there’s none of the gore or tits that mark other great exploitation films of the era (and which could have easily fit in here), the general oddness of the proceedings more than makes up for it. The voodoo zombies also feel fresh in our walking dead saturated culture. Most of all I love the idea of Marki Bey’s one at bat being such a fun and diverting movie, filled with surprisingly family-friendly meanness.” – Devin Faraci, Badass Digest

The Battery

66. The Battery

Jeremy Gardner

2012 / USA / 101m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jeremy Gardner, Adam Cronheim, Niels Bolle, Alana O’Brien, Jamie Pantanella, Larry Fessenden, Kelly McQuade, Eric Simon, Ben Pryzby, Sarah Allen


“The problem with most modern zombie films is that the writers forget that the humans should be the centerpiece of the film, and not the zombies. Director Jeremy Gardner’s “The Battery” is the prime example of how to handle this kind of genre entertainment with a low budget. Rather than flood the screen with zombies, the monsters are used sparingly and for great moments of terror and memorable scenes, while Gardner focuses primarily on character, building two complex and unique people we can love and hate, in many ways.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed

The Dead

67. The Dead

Howard J. Ford & Jonathan Ford

2010 / UK / 105m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Rob Freeman, Prince David Oseia, David Dontoh, Ben Crowe, Glenn Salvage, Dan Morgan, Julia Scott-Russell, Laura Jane Stephens, John Dunton-Downer


“THE DEAD, amazingly, makes zombies scary again. Not just creepy, or disgusting, but genuinely threatening and authentically chilling. British directors, the Ford brothers, have pulled the zombie genre kicking and screaming, back into the realm of real fear. Finally these most beloved of monsters are no longer the subject of ridicule that we’ve seen them become in recent years. These aren’t background threats or comedy material, these are the living fucking dead, endlessly hungry for your warm flesh and unrelenting in their singular pursuit.” – Kyle Scott, The Horror Hotel

World War Z

68. World War Z

Marc Forster

2013 / USA / 116m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale, Ludi Boeken, Matthew Fox, Fana Mokoena, David Morse, Elyes Gabel, Peter Capaldi


“Gone are the slowly stumbling zombies of earlier generations, replaced by a frantic horde who dive, tackle and bite like a snarling biblical horde of rats, a mass of bodies that wail and gnash teeth, thrashing insatiably in search of human flesh. And although plenty are slaughtered by Pitt and company, the gory details are spared, Foster wisely playing this as thriller rather than splatter. With all the action, there’s little time for character development or heart, but Pitt holds his own as an hero with a mission to save the world. And given what he goes through, it’s just as well he’s more indestructible than the average zombie.” – Simon Weaving, Screenwize

Warm Bodies

69. Warm Bodies

Jonathan Levine

2013 / USA / 98m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Analeigh Tipton, Rob Corddry, Dave Franco, John Malkovich, Cory Hardrict, Daniel Rindress-Kay, Vincent Leclerc


“Once you get past the zombie mythology issues, the script is cleverly written, and does make a lot of valid points on the lack of interconnectedness in today’s society. There is also that Romeo and Juliet parable (note the main characters names) that is wisely alluded to directly in a certain scene, rather than looming over, wanting to be noticed. Levine’s film even features notable cinematography, which is somewhat rare in a film of this ilk… the color saturates and fades as along with the film’s current emotional level. While this is an obvious choice, it certainly works here. Yes, this film has it’s issues, and a lot of its logic is hard to swallow, but its notable performances and direction strengthen its sweet, but not cloying, thesis.” – Caitlin Hughes, Film School Rejects

Dance of the Dead

70. Dance of the Dead

Gregg Bishop

2008 / USA / 87m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jared Kusnitz, Greyson Chadwick, Chandler Darby, Carissa Capobianco, Randy McDowell, Michael Mammoliti, Mark Lynch, Justin Welborn, Mark Oliver


“It’s difficult if not damn near impossible to really pull off homage. You have to forgo the obvious and create a living breathing entity that can stand wholly on its own. If you don’t do that, you’ve cut off half of your audience before they ever see the first five minutes of your magnum opus. What writer Joe Ballarini and Director Gregg Bishop (THE OTHER SIDE) accomplish is the very nearly impossible—a fully functional film that delivers the laugh-a-minute but heartfelt humor of AMERICAN PIE with the furious gore of 28 DAYS LATER. The film never gives up it’s horror to service its comedy and in the same respect it waters down the laughs in order to up the tension.” – David Harley, Bloody Disgusting

[REC]³ Génesis

71. [REC]³ Génesis

Paco Plaza

2012 / Spain / 80m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Leticia Dolera, Diego Martín, Ismael Martínez, Àlex Monner, Borja Glez. Santaolalla, Emilio Mencheta, David Ramírez, Miguel Àngel González, Ramón Agirre, Xavier Ruano


Resident Evil: Afterlife

72. Resident Evil: Afterlife

Paul W.S. Anderson

2010 / USA / 96m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Spencer Locke, Boris Kodjoe, Wentworth Miller, Sienna Guillory, Kacey Barnfield


“Inventive ideas, dazzling 3D and spectacular production design elevate this fourth in the franchise to a juicy bite above the average zombie movie. Paul W.S. Anderson, who directed the first movie (and wrote the script for the others) is back in the driver’s seat and uses technology in an exciting way, making us feel as though we are encapsulated in a video game… Highlights include an indestructible giant zombie with a sack-enveloped head wielding a mega axe, Alice’s heart-stopping leap from a sky-scraper and bizarre zombie dogs, whose faces eerily split into two, revealing a grotesque double set of canines.” – Louise Keller, Urban Cinefile

La orgía de los muertos

73. La orgía de los muertos

José Luis Merino

1973 / Spain / 91m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Stelvio Rosi, Maria Pia Conte, Dyanik Zurakowska, Pasquale Basile, Gérard Tichy, Aurora de Alba, Eleonora Vargas, José Cárdenas, Giuliana Garavaglia, Carla Mancini


“Anyone wanting an introduction to seventies Euro-horror could do a lot worse than Orgy Of The Dead, which manages to encapsulate almost all of the themes that dominated that very strange sub-genre of film. Set in an unidentified 19th century European village, the action features some highly suspect aristocrats, much running around in secret passages, sex, violence, and lots and lots of highly exploitable elements that ultimately prove to have little if anything to do with the plot. First and foremost amongst these is Mr Euro-Horror himself, Paul Naschy, aka Jacinto Molina, stepping away from his endless portrayals of werewolves to play Igor the necrophiliac.” – Liz Kingsley, And You Call Yourself a Scientist!

La morte vivante

74. La morte vivante

Jean Rollin

1982 / France / 86m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Marina Pierro, Françoise Blanchard, Mike Marshall, Carina Barone, Fanny Magier, Patricia Besnard-Rousseau, Jean Berel, Jean-Pierre Bouyxou, Véronique Carpentier


“Language aside, Francoise Blanchard dedicates herself to the part of Catherine so completely, that the story works. You’re not scared of Catherine; you’re scared for her – disturbed by the concept of being self-aware enough to realize that you’re dead and that there may be no escape from a life of feeding on other humans. It’s rich material for a horror film, and this is one Rollin movie that’s a more satisfying genre effort than what we’re used to from the director. Typically, Rollin’s films combine gothic horror visuals with avant garde arthouse sensibilities. Living Dead Girl is a more straight-forward, dedicated horror effort – more thoroughly plotted, more exciting, more gruesome, and more unsettling than Rollin’s typical vampire work, while still feeling unmistakably like a Rollin film.” – John Gholson, Horror’s Not Dead

Wasting Away

75. Wasting Away

Matthew Kohnen

2007 / USA / 90m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Matthew Davis, Julianna Robinson, Michael Grant Terry, Betsy Beutler, Colby French, Richard Riehle, Jack Orend, Joel McCrary, Tracey Walter, Oren Skoog


“The unique conceit of the film is how it switches between two points of view. The so-called “real world” is presented in black-and-white, an homage to classic monster movies, where people run away when they see what appear to be mindless zombies slowly marching down the road. Then there are the “zombievision” scenes, presented in color. In these scenes, the audience perceives the zombies as relatively normal. From the perspective of the zombies, everyone else is moving and talking quickly and is afraid of them… the juxtaposition between the two points of view is the source of some great laughs, and the film gets the most from its one-note joke before it can wear out its welcome.” – John Latchem, Home Media Magazine

Day of the Dead

76. Day of the Dead

Steve Miner

2008 / USA / 86m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Mena Suvari, Nick Cannon, Michael Welch, AnnaLynne McCord, Stark Sands, Matt Rippy, Pat Kilbane, Taylor Hoover, Christa Campbell, Ian McNeice


Dead & Breakfast

77. Dead & Breakfast

Matthew Leutwyler

2004 / USA / 88m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jeremy Sisto, Erik Palladino, Bianca Lawson, Oz Perkins, Ever Carradine, Gina Philips, Zach Selwyn, Miranda Bailey, Brent David Fraser, Diedrich Bader


“While the movie doesn’t fall into the scary movie category it never the less provides some thrills and spools, more claret than a Liberal party cabinet meeting can get through, and a high level of comedy. Yes we’re talking a splatter fest mixed in with a lot of sight gags and one liners rather than an out and out attempt to scare your knickers off you. Director/Writer Matthew Leutwyler knows exactly what he is doing and has this puppy collared and on a leash, if you don’t have a smile on your dial by the end credits then you are pretty much as brain dead as one of the possessed rednecks the movie is littered with.” – ScaryMinds

Dead Set

78. Dead Set

Yann Demange

2008 / UK / 141m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jaime Winstone, Andy Nyman, Riz Ahmed, Warren Brown, Liz May Brice, Beth Cordingly, Chizzy Akudolu, Adam Deacon, Kevin Eldon, Kathleen McDermott


“Vulgar and noisy, and often disgustingly hilarious, Dead Set is the perfect pop-culture poison for those of us convinced the world of Big Brother and its spawn is an endless night of the living dead, turning participants and fans alike into craven zombies. “They’re thick as s–t! As long as we’re still breathing, we’re smarter than them,” says one of Dead Set’s heroes, dismissing the threat outside. But we know better. In this unforgiving and relentlessly chaotic pitch-black farce, humans are their own worst enemy.” – Matt Roush, TV Guide

La noche de las gaviotas

79. La noche de las gaviotas

Amando de Ossorio

1975 / Spain / 89m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Víctor Petit, María Kosty, Sandra Mozarowsky, José Antonio Calvo, Julia Saly, Javier de Rivera, Pilar Vela, Fernando Villena, María Vidal, Oscar Phens


Virus

80. Virus

Bruno Mattei

1980 / Italy / 99m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Margit Evelyn Newton, Franco Garofalo, Selan Karay, José Gras, Gabriel Renom, Josep Lluís Fonoll, Pietro Fumelli, Bruno Boni, Patrizia Costa, Cesare Di Vito


The Video Dead

81. The Video Dead

Robert Scott

1987 / USA / 90m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Michael St. Michaels, Thaddeus Golas, Douglass Bell, Al Millan, Roxanna Augesen, Lory-Michael Ringuette, George Kernan, Rocky Duvall, Sam David McClelland, Jennifer Miro


Thriller

82. Thriller

John Landis

1983 / USA / 13m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Michael Jackson, Ola Ray, Vincent Price, Hanala Sagal


“MTV played mostly music videos in [their] early days, but no one had yet considered the possibility of merging filmmaking and music in the way that Jackson envisioned. With co-producer Jones, Jackson enlisted John Landis… to direct what many believe remains the greatest music video ever. The video would run 14 minutes, essentially a miniature feature film that cost $800,000 to make — an astonishing figure at the time… You watched it for the brilliant music. Kids danced in front of their televisions when Mom and Dad weren’t looking, trying to capture even a fraction of Jackson’s grace and power. And through it all was that heart-stopping plot.” – Mike Celizic, TODAY Entertainment

The Girl with All the Gifts

83. The Girl with All the Gifts

Colm McCarthy

2016 / UK / 111m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Gemma Arterton, Dominique Tipper, Glenn Close, Anamaria Marinca, Paddy Considine, Sennia Nanua, Lobna Futers, Daniel Eghan, Fisayo Akinade, Anthony Welsh


“This fiercely intelligent British chiller from Scottish director Colm McCarthy, whose small-screen credits include Doctor Who, Sherlock and Peaky Blinders, breathes new life into age-old horror tropes, taking familiar fears of zombies, the apocalypse and eerie children and spinning them in surprising ways. Although writer Mike “MR” Carey’s narrative about a fungal plague that turns victims into cannibalistic “hungries” occupies a post-28 Days Later landscape, the central obsessions explored here are closer to the identity crises of Never Let Me Go (both book and film), with a strong underlying strain of the very British weirdness of John Wyndham.” – Mark Kermode, The Observer

Død Snø 2

84. Død Snø 2

Tommy Wirkola

2014 / Norway / 100m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Vegar Hoel, Ørjan Gamst, Martin Starr, Jocelyn DeBoer, Ingrid Haas, Stig Frode Henriksen, Hallvard Holmen, Kristoffer Joner, Amrita Acharia, Derek Mears


“The smartest thing returning director-writer Tommy Wirkola and co-writers Hoel and Stig Frode Henriksen do to avoid the whiff of rehash is broaden the original film’s mix of dark gore and bleak laughs to victim-rich, vulnerable neighboring towns, including the outlandish notion of World War II grudges resettled as zombie melees. The “Red” of the subtitle isn’t a blood-color reference. There’s also a sweetly funny tweak of geekdom in the form of an American trio of movie-zombie nerds — led by Martin Starr — who fly to embattled northern Norway to see and fight “real” zombies in the (rotting) flesh. As bad-taste splatter comedies go, “Dead Snow 2″ is one of the more charitably nutty ones, less about gorging on gore than reveling in how silly the whole genre can be.” – Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

Sun faa sau si

85. Sun faa sau si

Wilson Yip

1998 / Hong Kong / 94m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jordan Chan, Emotion Cheung, Sam Lee, Yiu-Cheung Lai, Angela Tong Ying-Ying, Suk Yin Lai, Tat-Wah Lok, Frankie Chan, Tak Chi Tam, Chi Chuen Chan


“Director Wilson Yip (Teaching Sucks!!) brings us this funny horror flick that takes all expectations and throws them out the window… things never go exactly the way you expect them to, proving for a disconcerting but also strangely affecting movie. The tone switches from comedy to horror to drama in seconds, giving us a ride not unlike the mind-bending HK flicks of the late eighties – except with more current pop culture references… Bio-Zombie is entertaining and interesting, in part due to the actors (Jordan Chan and Sam Lee have good chemistry) and also due to the strangely apocalyptic tone the film takes on. The movie doesn’t head where you think it will, but once it gets there you can see why it did.” – Ross Chen, LoveHKFilm.com

Undead

86. Undead

Michael Spierig & Peter Spierig

2003 / Australia / 104m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Felicity Mason, Mungo McKay, Rob Jenkins, Lisa Cunningham, Dirk Hunter, Emma Randall, Steve Greig, Noel Sheridan, Gaynor Wensley, Eleanor Stillman


“But for all its mood swings and intermittently self-defeating tonal shifts, Undead sure isn’t boring. Indulgent and silly, loud and obnoxious, joyously juicy and pretty darn insane, yes — but never boring. And it’s always great to see a colorfully crazy horror-type flick emerge from other shores. Just in the past few months I’ve been treated to gory delights […] and it’s consistently fun to see the numerous horror conventions tweaked, teased, and touched up from young filmmakers all over the globe. Apparently we all grew up watching the same exact horror flicks, and these young filmmakers, though perhaps a bit rough around the edges, clearly possess a deep, passionate, and appropriately irreverent affection for the genre. Undead might be a huge, loud, stonking mess, but for the most part it is oddly entertaining — and the splatter moments (the ones that avoid the usage of CGI, that is) are suitably, sloppily satisfying.” – Scott Weinberg, DVDTalk

Colin

87. Colin

Marc Price

2008 / UK / 97m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Alastair Kirton, Daisy Aitkens, Leanne Pammen, Kate Alderman, Tat Whalley, Kerry Owen, Leigh Crocombe, Justin Mitchell-Davey, Aiden Largey, Ryan Hunter


Cockneys vs Zombies

88. Cockneys vs Zombies

Matthias Hoene

2012 / UK / 88m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Rasmus Hardiker, Harry Treadaway, Michelle Ryan, Jack Doolan, Georgia King, Ashley Thomas, Tony Gardner, Alan Ford, Honor Blackman, Tony Selby


“Stereotype collides with cliché in Cockneys vs. Zombies, but the impact isn’t as painful as you might imagine. Directed with explosive zeal and good humour by Matthias Hoene, who previously combined ravers and vampires in Beyond the Rave, it’s exactly what you’d expect — and maybe a little bit more. There are these Cockneys, see, who live in London’s working-class East End. They love rhyming slang (“apples and pears” means “stairs”) and also have an alarming fondness for guns and violence. This depiction probably doesn’t delight the London Tourist Board… Some laughs, some frights, loads o’ gore, Lord luv a duck.” – Peter Howell, Toronto Star

Wyrmwood

89. Wyrmwood

Kiah Roache-Turner

2014 / Australia / 98m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jay Gallagher, Bianca Bradey, Leon Burchill, Keith Agius, Berynn Schwerdt, Luke McKenzie, Cain Thompson, Damian Dyke, Catherine Terracini, Meganne West


“Wildly apocalyptic with dollops of silliness, Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead proves to be a splendidly gritty affair, a tale that feels like it’s being told from the back of a jeep as it races away from doomsday on a very bumpy road in Australia… Director Kiah Roache-Turner, working from a screenplay he co-wrote with his brother Tristan Roache-Turner, is conscious of delivering comic relief from the otherwise constant tone of ominous foreboding, a bit like occasional comic eulogies in the midst of a sober funeral. It’s somewhat too jarring at times, inducing a dose of disorientation, but when it scores it lends a welcome, raucous edge to the proceedings.” – Peter Martin, ScreenAnarchy

Doghouse

90. Doghouse

Jake West

2009 / UK / 89m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Danny Dyer, Noel Clarke, Emil Marwa, Lee Ingleby, Keith-Lee Castle, Christina Cole, Terry Stone, Neil Maskell, Emily Booth, Stephen Graham


“Doghouse amusingly gives each of the female zombies a physical look. There is a bride zombie who gives new meaning to the term “bridezilla,” and a hair stylist who constantly threatens the guys with a pair of scissors. Actually, the females are far more interesting than the men because they seem to have distinct personalities as opposed to the (intentionally) clichéd “male mindset” of the dudes. Then again, the guys are scrappy. In the central set piece, they humorously use items found in a toy shop to lure the femme-zombies into a deadly trap. Is the movie itself indulging in misogyny for the way it gleefully asks us to cheer on these pigs as they destroy one woman after another? I don’t think so. It’s all a lark to the filmmakers – a comic acknowledgement that men and women are capable of irritating the hell out of each other and that there are victims on both sides of a gender war. Doghouse is in no way substantive, but it is kind of an enjoyable goof, if you’re in the mood for such a thing.” – Mike McGranaghan, The Aisle Seat

Boy Eats Girl

91. Boy Eats Girl

Stephen Bradley

2005 / Ireland / 80m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Samantha Mumba, David Leon, Tadhg Murphy, Laurence Kinlan, Sara James, Mark Huberman, Sarah Burke, Paul Reid, Jane Valentine, Conor Ryan


Resident Evil: Apocalypse

92. Resident Evil: Apocalypse

Alexander Witt

2004 / USA / 94m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Milla Jovovich, Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr, Thomas Kretschmann, Sophie Vavasseur, Razaaq Adoti, Jared Harris, Mike Epps, Sandrine Holt, Matthew G. Taylor


Resident Evil: Extinction

93. Resident Evil: Extinction

Russell Mulcahy

2007 / USA / 94m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr, Ali Larter, Iain Glen, Ashanti, Christopher Egan, Spencer Locke, Matthew Marsden, Linden Ashby, Jason O’Mara


“Despite the highly derivative script, Extinction is fast-paced and action-packed, thanks in large part to veteran director Russell Mulcahy (who helmed the first two Highlander films), who keeps things moving while making the battles relatively coherent (unlike in the previous sequel, where it looked like the fight scenes were edited in a blender). It also doesn’t hurt to have Jovovich, one of the most graceful and charismatic action stars working today, in the lead… Resident Evil: Extinction is, in many ways, the closest film in the series to its videogame roots. Characters run around, punch, kick and try really hard not to get eaten, which is all any player of the game would do. It may not be original… but it’s also tight, lean and brisk, and that makes it the best in the series so far — if only by default.” – Ed Moore, Film Monthly

Survival of the Dead

94. Survival of the Dead

George A. Romero

2009 / USA / 90m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Alan Van Sprang, Joshua Peace, Hardee T. Lineham, Dru Viergever, Eric Woolfe, Shawn Roberts, Scott Wentworth, Amy Lalonde, Michelle Morgan, Joshua Close


Mutants

95. Mutants

David Morlet

2009 / France / 95m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Hélène de Fougerolles, Francis Renaud, Dida Diafat, Marie-Sohna Conde, Nicolas Briançon, Luz Mandon, Driss Ramdi, Grégory Givernaud, Justine Bruneau de la Salle, Jérémy Loth


“In this incarnation of the tried-and-true [zombie survival narrative] formula, the enemy isn’t just a stranger the protagonist is holed up with. It’s a lover and father-to-be. And his gradual descent into infection will test his grief stricken partner, who is left alone with him in an isolated facility in the middle of a snowy forest… Mutants is 28 Days Later and Day of the Dead meets The Shining, and it takes the zombie genre’s theme of isolation to a new level. It presents a provocative, melancholic case study of the limits of human affection when confronted with the unimaginable. And despite the predictable and formulaic turn of the third act, the first two acts should please anyone who enjoys their heroes trapped, their apocalypses thorough, their zombies fast and mean, and their heroines handy with submachine guns.” – Ulises Silva, Quiet Earth

Beyond Re-Animator

96. Beyond Re-Animator

Brian Yuzna

2003 / USA / 96m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Jeffrey Combs, Tommy Dean Musset, Jason Barry, Bárbara Elorrieta, Elsa Pataky, Ángel Plana, Javier Sandoval, Santiago Segura, Lolo Herrero, Enrique Arce


Cooties

97. Cooties

Jonathan Milott & Cary Murnion

2014 / USA / 88m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson, Alison Pill, Jack McBrayer, Leigh Whannell, Nasim Pedrad, Ian Brennan, Jorge Garcia, Cooper Roth, Miles Elliot


Maggie

98. Maggie

Henry Hobson

2015 / USA / 95m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Abigail Breslin, Joely Richardson, Douglas M. Griffin, J.D. Evermore, Rachel Whitman Groves, Jodie Moore, Bryce Romero, Raeden Greer, Aiden Flowers


Life After Beth

99. Life After Beth

Jeff Baena

2014 / USA / 89m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Aubrey Plaza, Dane DeHaan, John C. Reilly, Molly Shannon, Cheryl Hines, Paul Reiser, Matthew Gray Gubler, Anna Kendrick, Eva La Dare, Thomas McDonell


Rammbock

100. Rammbock

Marvin Kren

2010 / Germany / 63m / Col / Zombie | IMDb
Michael Fuith, Theo Trebs, Anka Graczyk, Emily Cox, Andreas Schröders, Katelijne Philips-Lebon, Steffen Münster, Brigitte Kren, Sebastian Achilles, Jörn Hentschel


“Marvin Kren works well within the confines of the limited budget and time restraints providing a quick horror fix for anyone looking for a good scare or two. He garners new interesting ways to keep these two characters fighting for their lives and is always devising clever ways to outwit the walking dead, even when the finale rolls around with a surprise twist. Kren’s direction is sharp and gritty and though most of the horror is limited to the small closing of the apartment buildings, there is plenty of post-apocalyptic drama and terror to be had with nail biting moments where both men barely make it out of rooms by the skins of their teeth and an action packed climax that is both harrowing and terrifying.” – Felix Vasquez Jr., Cinema Crazed