Zombie movies are lots of fun, whether they take place in a shopping mall, abandoned farmhouse, or the streets of London. Gorehounds are always especially pleased with this horror genre, as the brain-eating nature of the zombie ensures that there’s plenty of red matter to go around. While plenty of zombie films have been produced over the decades, the following are the top 10 zombie movies ever made. If you want to call yourself a zombie fan, you’ve gotta see the following.
10. Cemetery Man – An Italian zombie flick starring Rupert Everett as a cemetery caretaker where the dead keep returning to life. Lots of gore, naked breasts, and bizarre comic moments. Anna Falchi is so hot that it hurts.
9. Zombi 2 – An Italian zombie movie made to capitalize on the success of Dawn of the Dead, Zombi 2 is filled with some high-quality nudity and plenty of hardcore violence (especially the scene where a woman’s face is slowly pulled into a shard of wood, which then punctures her eyeball). But the crowning achievement of the film is the memorable underwater showdown between a zombie and a shark.
8. Re-Animator – Herbert West is a brilliant scientist who wants to conquer death. To that end, he develops a formula which can bring dead tissue back to life. Unfortunately, the results aren’t exactly perfect, and the re-animated creatures often tend to tear people limb from limb. Filled with dark humor and a great performance from Jeffrey Combs, Re-Animator is a quirky classic which ranges across a number of genres.
7. Night of the Living Dead (1968) – George Romero’s first zombie film, and the one which got the whole zombie craze started. Made on a modest budget, it has been remade twice and has grossed $42 million over several decades of re-releases. Filled with social commentary (a Romero staple), the black lead survived the zombies only to be killed by a posse of rednecks.
6. 28 Days Later – Oscar-winning director Danny Boyle takes on the zombie genre in this modern classic. Cillian Murphy plays a bicycle messenger who awakes from a coma and finds the world overrun by the undead (well, actually they‘re just infected by something known as the Rage Virus). As he struggles to avoid a grisly death, he encounters other survivors such as Brendan Gleeson, Naomie Harris and Christopher Eccleston.
5. Dawn of the Dead – The original version from director George Romero, this film more than any other cemented the place of the zombie in movie history. Trapped in a shopping mall, a group of survivors try to lead a halfway normal life while all hell breaks loose on the outside. Ken Foree is a standout as the tough-as-nails SWAT member.
4. Night of the Living Dead (1990) – Tom Savini, best known for his horror special effects, takes the helm and manages to make a film which is superior to the original. Tony Todd is a magnetic lead, and Patricia Tallman kicks all kinds of ass as Barbara. Genre favorites like Tom Towles and Bill Moseley also star.
3. Shaun of the Dead – A zombie comedy (zom/com) which also happens to be one of the best films of the genre. Starring Simon Pegg and directed by Edgar Wright, this instant classic concerns a lovable Brit named Shaun who must brave the undead hoards to rescue his recently ex-girlfriend. He’s assisted by his slacker friend Ed, played to perfection by Nick Frost. If you’re a fan of British comedies, you’ll notice a lot of familiar faces in this one.
2. Return of the Living Dead – In this badass 80’s zombie film, punk rockers and Clu Gulager take on the living dead. Great performances, clever script, and a rockin’ soundtrack. The zombies are especially tough in this one, as shooting them in the head doesn’t do squat.
1. Dawn of the Dead (2004) – Zack Snyder directs this remake of the classic Romero undead flick, and it’s hard to imagine a zombie film getting any better. Bullets fly, the zombies sprint like champion athletes, and the soundtrack is filled with plenty of toe-tapping goodness.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 at 12:29 pm and is filed under Best Horror Movies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.