Spooky Season is back and in honor of all things dark and macabre that go bump in the night we're counting down our picks for the best zombie movies of all time.
Whether its corpses rising from their graves due to unexplained otherworldly circumstances or humans being transformed into rabid monsters because of a crazed contagion, zombies have been a massive part of the horror landscape for decades. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, from 200 years ago, was an early exploration of reanimation and its dastardly consequences, but as far as movies go it was really George Romero's Night of the Living Dead, from 1968, that popularized what we now know as a "zombie," kicking off an entire wave of undead horror that played into some of our most intimate, existential fears.
So stay alert, don't get cornered, aim for the head, and always save one bullet for yourself because these are the freakiest (and sometimes funniest) zombie movies ever made!
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Where to Watch: Available across most platforms including Tubi (free), YouTube (free), Hulu, Prime Video and more.
It's right there in the intro and it's largely considered a masterwork of horror so we may as well start with the granddaddy of the modern zombie genre, George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. This flick reworked and reimagined what a zombie movie could be, removing the shambling creatures from the realm of voodoo and black magic and Haitian jungles and placing them squarely in the backyard of middle-class America, with no clear explanation of the ghouls' origins but plenty of sociological and political subtext surrounding the undead things.
A low budget indie that was, according to Romero, heavily influenced by Richard Matheson's vampire novel I Am Legend and the subsequent Vincent Price film version of Legend called The Last Man on Earth, Night of the Living Dead would prove to be immensely influential itself on everything from modern, high-profile "zombie" pictures like 28 Days Later to countless low-budget cheapie rip-offs to, decades after its initial release, video game franchises such as Resident Evil. Of course, AMC's The Walking Dead is also the perfect example of the impact of Romero zombies. Remember, for a few years it was the most popular show on all of television. And, it doesn't end there for the franchise yet as Twilight of the Dead is “the seventh and final chapter of the Dead series;” expected to go into production later this year.
28 Days Later (2002)
Where to Watch: Prime Video
One of the next big paradigm-shifting moments in zombie horror came with Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. The zombies here still follow the basic principles of insatiable undead fiends -- they want to kill you, a bite from them will infect and assimilate you, etc -- but these mf'ers would run at you, full speed, like insane hyenas. The Return of the Living Dead, from 1985, may have pre-dated this movie with fast ghouls, but 28 Days Later made it a craze.
Yes, fast-moving zombies became the new wave in terror. No longer were you surrounded by slow, moseying ghouls. No more sleepwalking hordes. This was like being pursued by a gang of maniacs.
Our growing anxieties over infectious diseases informed this malicious movie, about a secret laboratory "rage" virus exposed to the public. Starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, and Christopher Eccleston, 28 Days Later is post-apocalyptic perfection, reigniting the flames of the then-dying zombie genre and creating all new reasons to be terrified. Especially the idea of a hospitalized character waking up after a month and discovering that the entire world fell into ruin in such a brief window of time (something that The Walking Dead would echo when Robert Kirkman started the comic in 2003).
Read our review of 28 Days Later.
Braindead - aka Dead Alive (1992)
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Let's backtrack a tiny by and get goofy with Peter Jackson's 1992 film Braindead -- retitled Dead Alive for its North American release - which is a gore-filled, slapsticky Evil Dead 2-inspired affair about a young man, Lionel, whose mother is bitten by a "rat monkey." She dies and comes back to life as a ravenous reanimated corpse with a rather indiscriminate palate -- she even eats dogs!
The movie culminates with a sensational battle between a lawnmower-wielding Lionel and a horde of ruthless zombies (including their reanimated body parts), as well as a memorable final showdown with his now-grotesquely transformed mother. Braindead is splatter comedy gold, equal parts hilarious and disgusting. Yes, Zombies could be freakin' funny and Simon Pegg would list this film as a huge influence for Shaun of the Dead.
[REC] (2007)
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Ping-ponging back to something utterly terrifying, Rec is not only a tremendous zombie movie but it's also one of the best found-footage horror films of all time. This Spanish classic stars Manuela Velasco as a reporter who responds to an emergency call at a quarantined apartment building. Inside, an undead infection has spread and Rec becomes an absolutely nightmarish siege/survival story that utilizes the format brilliantly. Skip the American remake, 2008's Quarantine, and check out the original for some ground zero terror. Arguments can be made that the monsters in this aren't "zombies'' in the purest sense (it's a mix of rabies and...something biblical?) but we're not that pedantic.
Read our review of [REC].
Train to Busan (2016)
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Just when we thought fast-moving zombies may have run their course (after The Walking Dead almost fully dominated the zombie game last decade), Train to Busan dropped and absolutely devastated us. Managing to capture the intensity that World War Z was only partially successful with, Train to Busan is a basic "World quickly crumbling due to zombies everywhere" format done with expert flare and care. It's gripping, emotional, and next-level ferocious. One of the many films of the past 20 years that shined a much-deserved spotlight on South Korean cinema, Train to Busan utilized intense action, full characters, and social commentary to tell the tale of a father trying to get his young daughter somewhere, anywhere safe, as civilization dissolves from under their feet.
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Where to Watch: Netflix, Starz, and Peacock.
Launching into its scary story with only the slightest of explanations, George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, made 10 years after his original zombie game-changer, is both a thrill ride and a mood piece. Returning to the zombie genre he himself launched, Romero got to go bigger here in terms of production, special effects, and themes.
Ken Foree exudes calming authority as Peter, the S.W.A.T. team leader who anchors a foursome of refugees who hole up in a shopping mall after humanity discovers "there's no more room in hell." While much has been made in subsequent years of the film's running anti-consumerist commentary, the film proves to be much more interesting as a character study than a treatise on the dangers of too much shopping; but a healthy dose of ground-breaking gore combined with some wicked humor and considerable invention on the part of Romero make Dawn of the Dead a genre classic.
Zombi 2 (1979)
Where to Watch: Shudder, AMC+
While the movie doesn't actually have any connection to the original Zombi (a recut-for-Europe version of Romero's Dawn of the Dead), this film sparked a zombie movie craze across Europe and made Italian filmmaker Lucio Fulci a horror icon. The flick follows a group of people searching for a missing man on a tropical island where a doctor is desperately searching for the cause of a recent epidemic of the undead. Zombi 2 is known for its sensational zombie antics -- such as the notorious eye-gouging, and jugular-biting moments -- as well as (wait for it...) zombie vs. shark wrestling! The 1979 movie was released in the U.S. as Zombie.
Zombieland (2009)
Where to Watch: Netflix and AMC+
Ruben Fleischer's zany meta-take on zombie movies, that occasionally crosses over into parody, was a uproarious star-studded splatterfest with both action and heart. Zombieland stars Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin as survivors of a zombie apocalypse who, after some comedic struggles, form a found-family in the midst of hell on Earth. All while trying to adhere to the "rules" of zombie apocalypse survival in order to best secure their future. At its core, Zombieland is a clever family road trip movie littered with undead dangers.
Read our review of Zombieland here.
The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Zombie comedy isn't necessarily a recent thing, however. 1992's Braindead notwithstanding, The Return of the Living Dead landed in 1985 and emphasized laughs over screams.
After the release of the original Night of the Living Dead, director George Romero and his then-partner and co-writer John Russo went their separate ways to make their own follow-ups to the hugely successful film. Russo reportedly got the rights to the term "Living Dead," and that's how the Return series was born -- a group of films of greatly diminishing returns, so to speak, that bears some similarities to Romero's oeuvre but plenty of differences as well.
The original Return of the Living Dead remains a classic, standing tall above the pack due to writer-director Dan O'Bannon's (Alien) comedic take on the material, as well as the now de rigueur zombie hunger for "braaaiiinnnsss!!!!!" that was first established here. O'Bannon's undead also distinguish themselves with their ability to run, and run fast, rather than simply stagger along, as well as with their inability to be "killed" (beyond incineration or having an A-bomb dropped on them, that is). And the unwinnable scenario that the director places his characters in is dark, dark, dark, despite the humor of the film.
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Where to Watch: Peacock
The insane horror remake movement of the Aughts gave us a few good films, actually. One of them being Zack Snyder's re-do of Dawn of the Dead, which is a thrilling, mesmerizing spin on the original, now with fast-moving zombies. Snyder himself wouldn't break out big until 2007's 300 but this movie is still a fantastic display of harrowing edge-of-your-seat horror.
Dawn of the Dead once again features a ragtag group of survivors -- Ving Rhames, Sarah Polley, Jake Weber, and more -- in a "Mall of the Living Dead" siege scenario inside a Wisconsin shopping center. And while a few arguments can be made that it doesn't beat the original, in many ways it's a technically superior film with the advantage of modern-day make-up and visual effects.
Read our review of Dawn of the Dead here.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
Where to Watch: Rentable on most platforms including Prime Video, YouTube and AppleTV
Following in the social satire tradition of George Romero's zombie flicks, but played as a comedy rather than a straight-up horror film, Shaun of the Dead ranks as one of the most all-around entertaining zombie movies ever made. Telling the story of unambitious electronics salesman Shaun (Simon Pegg) as he races across town to save his girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield), who recently dumped him, from the undead, Shaun of the Dead boasts some great characters (including Shaun's best friend, Ed, played by Nick Frost), hilarious scenes, and very funny lines, all mixed in with some real scares that elevate it above stock zombie films. Shaun would stand proud as a calling card film for its two leads and director Edgar Wright as well as becoming the first installment in the Cornetto Trilogy (followed by Hot Fuzz and The World's End).
Read our review of Shaun of the Dead or check out more of the best comedy movies of all time.
Blood Quantum (2019)
Where to Watch: Shudder, AMC+
The most recent film on our zombie list is probably also the least known zombie offering, truthfully. This Canadian horror outing imagines zombie uprising on an indigenous people's reserve, where the twist is that they're all immune to the undead plague because of their heritage. Blood Quantum has blood, carnage and a devilish socio-political twist that allows us to experience the genre through a different lens. It's a fascinating new take in a genre that's been done (pun intended) to death.
The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Let's follow up a lesser-known zombie flick with another under-the-radar project, since we're on a roll. The Girl with All the Gifts, based on the novel by M. R. Carey (who adapts his own book into a screenplay here), focuses on a team of scientists and soldiers escorting a young girl, Sennia Nanua's Melanie, in a world where a parasitic fungus has turned humans into mindless, murderous hordes. There are Last of Us vibes here as those involved hope to develop a cure based on children born in a half-state. Infected, yes, but with functioning minds and the ability to suppress their hunger. Glenn Close, Gemma Arterton, and Paddy Considine star in this scary, thought-provoking look at hope and survival.
Read our review of The Girl with All the Gifts here.
Warm Bodies (2013)
Where to Watch: Netflix
Not only is Warm Bodies the only zombie rom-com (or one of a minuscule amount), but it's also rare in that it gives us the story from the zombie's point of view. Persistent charming and funny, Warm Bodies sends us into the infected mind of roaming ghoul "R" (Nicholas Hoult) as he falls dead over heels for a young woman named Julie (Teresa Palmer) as their eventual romance causes R to slowly return to human form, proving love can reawaken someone's life. It has humor, heart, and presents, overall, a clever twist on Romeo & Juliet.
Read our review of Warm Bodies here.
Re-Animator (1985)
Where to Watch: Shudder, AMC+
Certainly left off or most hardline zombie lists, due to it being about science gone mad in a Dr. Frankenstein sort of way, but Stuart Gordon Re-Animator is a camp classic from the corner of shock and awe. Loosely based on a short story by H.P. Lovecraft, the film follows disgraced, driven medical student Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) and his fellow classmate as they test out a serum that can bring dead tissue back to life. A cross between horror, deadpan comedy, and exploitation, The Re-Animator is buckets of gore clashing with buckets of gore mixed with barrels of laughs.
What to Read (and Watch) Next: Best Movies on Shudder, Best Horror Movies on Prime, 31 Best Modern Horror Movies
Matt Fowler is a freelance entertainment writer/critic, covering TV news, reviews, interviews and features on IGN for 13+ years.
