[Explosive Zombie]

With the recent release of Army of the Dead I have realized I'm among the few here who's actually a big fan of this genre. But what caused me to gravitate towards the genre? What are my favorite examples of it?

Anyone else who has favorites should go for it in this thread, too!


Let's start from the back end and work our way up...

50. Resident Evil: Apocalypse
49. Resident Evil: Retribution
48. Resident Evil: Extinction

These RE sequels are sorta fun, but a bit more stupid than they are fun.

47. Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror

One thing I like about Burial Ground is the look of the zombies and another thing is how it ends. Mostly, though, it's an aimless, poorly acted and gross film and not always gross in the way you want haha.

46. Night of the Living Dead

Ah, what are you doing putting LE CLASSIC so low? Well, I dunno what to tell you, it's got a dated feel and doesn't compare to the higher entries for me.

45. Zombieland

The credits sequence that is a montage of carnage set to "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is definitely my favorite part of this film. Would need to watch again to see if it can climb higher.

44. Resident Evil

The best of these flicks but man what a disappointment that first viewing when you were hoping for a real adaptation.

43. Shaun of the Dead

This is the one normies love, I think it's a little gay but still a well done comedy, it's just the zombie action is weak.

42. Zombie Holocaust

The zombies in this honestly don't do much, pretty sure the cannibals get more killing done. Also it has a mad doctor and in other countries was called Doctor Butcher MD. I got a blu with both versions of the film, apparently Doctor Butcher MD version has random shit spliced in, gotta watch that version soon.




I don't wanna clutter one post too much, so... TO BE CONTINUED!!!

 

[Explosive Zombie]

41. Bride of Re-Animator

A lesser version of the first film but still fun!

40. Nightmare City

This film is over the top ridiculous, I got the blu and need to re-watch to be sure of its placement.

39. Zombeavers

When I checked this one out I was sure I was in for some kinda Sharknado type movie but this is actually pretty well done horror/comedy.

38. Survival of the Dead

Unfortunately I'm mostly going off my memory of a film I last saw in 2009, I remember enjoying this, I remember it had smart zombies.

37. Zombi 3

First note... this is part 2 in its franchise... second note... it's barely a franchise, no continuity, changing directors, etc. The director of the first film is still credited as a Lucio Fulci film, the man who brought you the first entry, but he actually got sick and the film was taken over by Bruno Mattei and Claudio Fragasso and it plays much more like their movies than Fulci's. The film is out-and-out insane and is only held back because I wanted more gore, like it's probably got more gore than most people here are used to but by the Italian zombie flick standards it's low, that said it's got some absolutely classic scenes.

36. Zombie 4: After Death

This movie is sometimes just called After Death because calling it Zombie 4 was totally just branding to get people to watch it. It's from Claudio Fragasso, one of the two men who helped finish Zombi 3 and it's a bit more fun than Zombi 3 in my view, the ending in particular is aces.

35. 28 Weeks Later

While the first felt almost like a Zombie art film this sequel is more just fun though it has its attempts to hit the highs of the first I think it would have needed more development on its plot as it feels a bit rushed. That said if you want to see helicopter blades chopping zombies to pieces and other crazy shit check it out.

34. REC

Spanish found footage film REC earned a remake in Quarantine that potentially more of you have seen than the superior original, worst thing about Quarantine for me was they spoil the ending in the trailers, c'mon now. This is one of the few zombie movies that actually tries to scare you.

33. The Cabin in the Woods

This film is a bit of a satire of multiple horror genres though it feels a bit like an homage as well, they are poking fun but of stuff they genuinely enjoyed I'd argue. It's a fun movie that has a bit of CGI overload in the third act.

32. Pet Sematary

The first (and better) attempt at adapting King's novel falls far short of the novel's highs, the novel is an incredibly creepy and sad tragic story, the movie isn't quite good enough to earn words like tragic, it's more just fun and certainly unique among zombie movies for how it handles the material.

31. Dead & Buried

Like the above entry this one is also a unique take on the genre that I'm better off saying very little about. It feels like something Stephen King would write, too, but isn't. It's got one of those small towns that feels ordinary but something about it isn't (by its inclusion in the list you can hazard a guess at what that is). Interesting flick, worth your time even if you don't care for zombie movies.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

30. Night of the Living Dead

This 1990 remake of the classic is more my speed but still not QUITE there for me. I'd totally be down for another attempt at remaking this as I think more can still be done. While the original felt too dated for me this one has other issues like the production overall feels more TV movie than theatrical release and while some performances are fun others are pretty hammy. I also expected way more gore with Savini directing but as I understand this film was butchered by the MPAA and most of it has never been restored fully.

29. Overlord

Closest thing to a Wolfenstein movie you're gonna get. Paratroopers going in behind enemy lines before D-Day encounter sick Nazi experiments that hinder their mission to make D-Day a success. This movie feels very John Carpenter-inspired and has a cool way of setting itself up so it COULD have really happened (well, besides stuff like black soldiers fighting alongside white soldiers, they didn't do that in WWII, at least not America). This went unseen and underappreciated, unfortunately.

28. 28 Days Later

I feel like no one is going to believe me that this just HAPPENED to end up in this spot but it really did! Anyways, a unique take on the genre that has people often arguing they aren't even zombies in it, I'm not that interested in arguments over what counts as a zombie film, though. It doesn't really matter. It has a unique filming technique and also has this sort of horror anthology feel because of how different each third of the film is.

27. REC 2

In the tradition of sequels like Aliens this film asked "what if the first film had a SWAT team?" the result is pretty damn fun.

26. Return of the Living Dead III

Weird boner: the movie. Hot girl gets killed, boyfriend finds way to bring her back... hilarity ensues.

25. Slither

Before he was doing Guardians of the Galaxy James Gunn was bringing you flicks like this. An homage to past films, tongue firmly in cheek and gore galore. If I have issues with this is the pacing is a little TOO fast, film is over just as you're really having fun. Michael Rooker is great in this.

24. Land of the Dead

This one gets a lot of flak, I think because when you want to make your movie SMART the standards are set higher and Romero isn't quite as on the mark with his satire in this one. Everything feels a little hammier than I'm sure he wanted it to be, but the film is a blast if you want some fun zombie carnage, especially unrated. It's got a fun cast, too.

23. Planet Terror

More parody than actual horror flick, it's pretty gloriously over the top and fun but it stays out of the big leagues for me because I prefer these things taken at least SLIGHTLY more seriously, haha.

22. Dead Heat

If you wanted to know what an '80s buddy cop movie would feel like if they had to take on zombie jewel thieves then this is the movie for you! There are so many great surprises in this I'd hate to spoil! Man, just thinking about some of the things that happen in this make me wonder if it's not deserving of a higher spot... probably is! But it's been a while since I last saw it, so can't say for sure!

21. Scarecrows

This film no one has heard of or seen is surprisingly well made, creepy and effective. Check it out if you want one of the less silly genre entries.

20. Dead Snow

What begins as seemingly a funny and violent teenagers-getting-killed type flick keeps escalating in absurdity as the run-time gets higher, check this out!

 

[Explosive Zombie]

19. Hell of the Living Dead

This film wanted to be Dawn of the Dead so bad it even has the exact same running time as the Italian version. Though, it's missing a mall and instead has our main characters spending most the movie in the woods (or jungle? I can't always tell the difference). This movie is absolutely absurd and I can only recc it to people who are as weird as me. One of my favorite endings for one of these films, too!

18. Dead Alive

Before Peter Jackson did Lord of the Rings he made the literal goriest zombie film ever made. This film has to be seen to be believed, it's another comedy/horror and both the comedy and horror are trying their best to gross you out. It's been since my teenage years that I've seen this one as it's out of print and hard to get a hold of. I downloaded it from a site called Rarelust but watching films on my computer is weak shit, might see if my PS5 can read the file.

17. Cemetery Man

Another hard to find zombie comedy that I haven't seen since I was a teenager. Like Dead Alive it could rise in the ranks on a re-watch.

16. Army of Darkness

As much a medieval fantasy, comedy and action film as it is a horror or zombie film. This flick has a little something for everyone and it's hard to imagine the sort of person who doesn't derive joy from it.

15. Army of the Dead

Though it's placement may be premature going this high I got such a kick out of this. In the year 2021 it turns out the zombie genre still has new tricks, the world building and just general ideas Snyder has are lots of fun. The film feels like a remake of Aliens but with zombies and I can dig that. As a fan of machine guns blowing things away it was hard not to enjoy this and that opening credit sequence is just sublime.

14. The Return of the Living Dead

This is an absolutely hysterical film that despite its main goal being humor still has some really cool looking zombies that are gross and eerie. This film was directed by the guy who wrote the original script for Alien, go check it out if you haven't seen it.

13. Re-Animator

Based on the Lovecraft story this is another one that will have you laughing even as things get dire. Smaller scale than most other entries on this list it has a way of ratcheting up as it progresses all the same. This is one of those must-see classics everyone needs to get on if they haven't.

12. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

One of the earliest takes on the genre it holds up incredibly well to this day. It's insane how overlooked this film is. Like the entry above this is a bit smaller scale than other entries and has a unique take on the genre in terms of what causes zombification.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

11. Zombie

In Italy Dawn of the Dead released under the title Zombi, Italian for Zombie... duh... lol. So this film was made and in Italy they called it Zombi 2 and pretended it was an officially sanctioned sequel. It wasn't... and wasn't made to be. Translating back to English it made no sense to call the film Zombie 2... so here we are with the title Zombie haha. It's also been known as Zombie Flesh Eaters 2, btw. Anyways, this is a Lucio Fulci film and I suspect many of you are unfamiliar with the eye-gouging genius that is Fulci. Though his films are often considered to be fore pure gorehounds people should know he also has great atmosphere/music, these are eerie films that take themselves seriously and have great make-up effects.

10. The House by the Cemetery

It's worth noting including this film in the genre is actually a spoiler, haha, but eh... you've already been spoiled by my avatar. Basically this is a rip-off of the Shining with a much smaller house and a zombie threat to make things more fun for people like me. It's another Fulci flick, to be clear, though I'd argue this one is a bit more palatable to mainstream audiences than his usual fare, good entry point.

9. Night of the Creeps

Another horror/comedy, this one would be the biggest influence on a film like say... Slither (well, besides Shivers/They Came From Within I suppose). This one has the legendary Tom Atkins giving us quotable lines, it's got slugs turning people into zombies and a flamethrower. Like a teenage college comedy with mayhem.

8. City of the Living Dead

Another Fulci classic, this one is about a priest hanging himself in a cemetery in the town of Dunwich, causing the gates of Hell, itself, to be opened. This also went under the title Gates of Hell. It features spectral phantasm-like zombies that scare me a bit more than how zombies are handled in other films. It also has a legendarily gross scene you have to see to believe where

Spoiler

someone vomits up their internal organs

7. Dawn of the Dead

Zack Snyder's remake of the Romero classic is the best the genre has seen since the '80s.

6. Dawn of the Dead

Probably the most popular choice for best zombie movie and at times I was sure it was my favorite. This epic has pretty much got everything from action to gore to comedy to drama. It's also a well done satire. Among the entries on this list this comes closest to seeming to me what things would really be like if the zombie apocalypse happened.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

5. Lifeforce

The director of Texas Chain Saw Massacre brings us a movie about space vampires that suck the lifeforce out of people turning them into zombies. If what I just said doesn't sound awesome to you then I can't help you.

4. Evil Dead II

The sequel amps up the comedy and mayhem from the first. A sort of perfect middle ground between the first and Army of Darkness.

3. The Beyond

A surreal nightmare... Fulci style.

2. The Evil Dead

This film is often referred to as "unintentionally" funny, and compared to 2 and 3 it definitely feels like it's going more for a straight horror vibe. For my part I think Raimi knew what he was doing and knew certain aspects would be funny due to how over the top they were but part of why I like this entry best is the horror atmosphere is much thicker here.

1. Day of the Dead

The '80s and Romero meet up for what I would argue is the ultimate zombie movie. Some may not care as much for this slow burn style or not appreciate the loud arguing, heck you may not even like Bub! There's no telling but it all worked for me and man, this is Savini's best effects work hands down.

 

[regawdless]

Great thread, thanks for your list! I'm glad you included Planet Terror. It's such a hilariously dumb movie, it's a guilty pleasure of mine.

 

[Calcium]

I'm starting to think @Explosive Zombie likes zombies.

 

[cryptoadam]

Wow man great thread. I always though I liked Zombies but you take the cake.

I second Planet Terror, great movie.

Surprised to see Shaun and 28 days so low on the list.

I would switch Day and Dawn. I respect you for calling out Day, but I still think Dawn is better. Day is Savini's masterpiece as far as effects go, but the rest of the movie doesn't live up. I love Rhodes and Dr Frankenstein for how over the top they are, but everyone else brings it down for me. Production design is horrible and the soldiers completely take me out of the movie. I think George was pissed his budget was slashed and he had to rework the whole movie.

Day beats out for me because the cast of characters and setting is better. I prefer the story of 4 people taking over a mall vs bunch of crazies arguing in a bunker.

But either way Day does not get enough respect

 

[mcz117chief]

I think I like "I am Legend" the most out of all the zombie films. I also wonder where is World War Z? Wasn't that pretty popular?

 

[Arkam]

Super interesting list/order. Some I would agree with and some seem insane. But what floats your boat is all that matter. Great write up on why you liked each. Was informative on some I was unfamiliar with.

I think I like "I am Legend" the most out of all the zombie films. I also wonder where is World War Z? Wasn't that pretty popular?

I am Legend is a Vampire movie. They just bastardized the plot to cash in on the Zombie craze, which I why those who havent read the book think they are zombies. Gotta notice the smaller things like how they only come out at night.

 

[MetalAlien]

Nobody knew Return of the Living dead was a comedy until it came out on VHS and they had it listed as a horror comedy...I never understood how anyone saw it as a comedy.... it has humor in it but so does Die Hard... is Die Hard a comedy?

 

[Stouffers]

I'm starting to think @Explosive Zombie likes zombies.

Just wait until my “Top 50 Stouffers Entrees” thread.

 

[WesternBlood]

You have your reasons for the way you listed the movies in the rankings you did. I don't agree with all of them, but you are clearly better versed in Zombie movies than I am. I'm glad you have this thread as an outlet for discussion on this genre.

 

[Stouffers]

You have your reasons for the way you listed the movies in the rankings you did. I don't agree with all of them, but you are clearly better versed in Zombie movies than I am. I'm glad you have this thread as an outlet for discussion on this genre.

Isn’t every Bruce Willis movie post 2002 a zombie movie?

 

[Explosive Zombie]

I think I like "I am Legend" the most out of all the zombie films. I also wonder where is World War Z? Wasn't that pretty popular?

Those both count but I didn't like them enough, not top 50 material for me!

Super interesting list/order. Some I would agree with and some seem insane. But what floats your boat is all that matter. Great write up on why you liked each. Was informative on some I was unfamiliar with.


I am Legend is a Vampire movie. They just bastardized the plot to cash in on the Zombie craze, which I why those who havent read the book think they are zombies. Gotta notice the smaller things like how they only come out at night.

They count I Am Legend as zombie movie in many circles actually. It's not uncommon in vampire stuff for the vampires to turn some people more into zombies than actual vampires, I think there was one where if they drained you too much you became a zombie, another where lesser vampires created zombies. Stuff like that. The Omega Man is the better adaptation of the book, btw!

Nobody knew Return of the Living dead was a comedy until it came out on VHS and they had it listed as a horror comedy...I never understood how anyone saw it as a comedy.... it has humor in it but so does Die Hard... is Die Hard a comedy?

Is this true? It legit plays a montage of the funniest scenes at the end, though! I dunno, I laugh at it more than I do most comedy movies, personally.

 

[MetalAlien]

Is this true? It legit plays a montage of the funniest scenes at the end, though! I dunno, I laugh at it more than I do most comedy movies, personally.

I was stunned when I saw it listed as a comedy as were all my friends in highschool. People just take it for granted today but back when it came out.. it was news to us.

 

[cryptoadam]

I am Legend/Omega Man is a vampire movie.

They are vampires.

 

[HE1NZ]

Slow zombies >>>>> fast zombies.
Zombies have to be slow and grotesque looking. You can outrun them easily until you lose the will to live.

Also, cool list. I'm gonna add some of these to my watchlist.

 

[Robot Carnival]

5. Lifeforce

The director of Texas Chain Saw Massacre brings us a movie about space vampires that suck the lifeforce out of people turning them into zombies. If what I just said doesn't sound awesome to you then I can't help you.

I would just like to point out that there's some GREAT tata shots in this movie, and also has SIR Patrick Steward kissing another dude. so something for everyone.

 

[Explosive Zombie]

I was stunned when I saw it listed as a comedy as were all my friends in highschool. People just take it for granted today but back when it came out.. it was news to us.

Maybe you didn't have a good sense of humor and all the jokes flew over your head? LOL. "You keep your mouth shut if you like this job!"

I would just like to point out that there's some GREAT tata shots in this movie, and also has SIR Patrick Steward kissing another dude. so something for everyone.

More Lifeforce fans!

 

[MetalAlien]

Maybe you didn't have a good sense of humor and all the jokes flew over your head? LOL. "You keep your mouth shut if you like this job!"

There is a difference between having humor in it and being a comedy as I already pointed out... part 2 was a comedy. See the difference?

 

[Explosive Zombie]

There is a difference between having humor in it and being a comedy as I already pointed out... part 2 was a comedy. See the difference?

I thought Part 2 SUCKED. I mean, it has a few decent scenes but man... and none of the jokes worked as well, especially when they'd repeat gags from the first. 1 and 3 for me, baby. Never saw the random other sequels that were like SyFy channel movies or something, though.

 

[J-Roderton]

Nice list. I need to see a lot of these.

 

[MetalAlien]

 

[J-Roderton]

Zombie/Zombie2/Zombie Flesh Eaters is almost the perfect zombie movie in my opinion.

 

[Dr. Farnsgoth]

Mine:

 

[HE1NZ]