Ten Favorite Zombie Films

Good Morning Friends! I realize that the listicle is pretty much the lowest form of internet content, but excuse me while I engage in it. It is now the official month of “spoop” and as a result, I have been involved in several conversations already about horror film suggestions. First off… I consume a lot of horror films and it honestly might be my favorite genre. All of these discussions have made me realize that I have never devoted much effort to talk about the horror films that I really enjoy. Since I consume so many, it was going to be near impossible to create a superset of “favorites” but instead, I am deciding to break it up into sub-genres. Since I’ve always been a big fan of Zombies even before the Walking Dead spawned the popularization of the genre, I figured I would start here for my first in this series.

These are in no particular order and include serious films as well as more satire-based comedic horror.

Shaun of the Dead

I am not really sure what to say. This is maybe the best comedic horror film that has ever existed. Not only do you have the high art of an Edgar Wright film that is meticulously edited to the soundtrack, but also you have some of the best Simon Pegg gags. Let’s go to the Winchester, have a nice cold pint, and wait for this all to blow over.

Blood Quantum

I literally just watched this for the first time this weekend and it has already made its way to the list. It is a pretty interesting spin on the Zombie film genre, as it centers around a first nations reservation in Quebec. Essentially in this version of the zombie lore, Indigenous folks are immune to turning from bites… but they are of course not immune to being eaten. I highly suggest you track down this film and watch it over this spoop season, very good.

Little Monsters

Be warned this should not be confused with the similarly named Howie Mandel nightmare-fueled children’s tale from the 80s. This film came out in 2019 and gives us another excellent comedy zombie film genre tale of a deadbeat uncle who finally shows some focus and tries to save his nephew from a zombie-filled field trip to a petting zoo. Lupita Nyong’o steals the show with her portrayal of Miss Caroline the teacher willing to do anything to protect her flock of students, while also trying desperately to keep them calm.

Train to Busan

This is quite possibly my single favorite zombie film and is in pretty heavy contention among my favorite horror films. Be warned this is a South Korean film, which will require “reading the movie” with subtitles but it is well worth it. I largely lump this and the 2020 sequel Peninsula as a combined experience, and both should absolutely be watched. One of the most fast-paced films you will watch as the action picks up almost immediately and then never really stops until the conclusion of the film. Peninsula on the other hand is a bit more pensive but still contains a lot of furious zombie-killing action.

Fido

This is a gem from the early days of Netflix when we used to have to maintain our streaming movies in one giant queue. Fido is another comedic zombie film set in a world after the zombie apocalypse where things have reverted back to an almost 1950s existence. In this world, they utilize zombies as a form of slave labor, through electronic collars that turn them docile. However, events happen that lead to this going horribly wrong in this tale about a boy and his dog… except that dog is actually a zombie.

Night of the Living Dead Animated

If we are going to talk about zombie films, we have to give some respect to the original George Romero classic Night of the Living Dead. In 2021 my favorite version was released where they used the original audio… but crafted a full cell style animation movie on top of it. This version specifically masks some of the failings of the first… like the zombies maybe not really looking great compared to modern standards. This is now my preferred method for revisiting this classic, and if you have never watched it… I consider it required viewing for understanding how the genre evolved.

Zombieland

This movie is just a fun ride. One could think of this as the American version of Shaun of the Dead and then get into the whole debate about which is the best version of The Office. I think Zombieland stands on its own two feet however and it will be worth the watch. I’ve always been a big Bill Murray fan, and he nails his role in this film… as himself. It is just a fun road trip film with the key differentiator from that genre being that they are trying to avoid getting eaten in the process.

Land of the Dead

There have been a lot of sequels to the original Night of the Living Dead, but my favorite of these is Land of the Dead from 2005. Romero has always been less than subtle with the political armature that he builds his stories upon. “Land” is maybe the least subtle as the wealthy continue to live a life much like they did prior to the apocalypse in a gilded tower that is serviced by the struggling masses in a shanty town that has formed at its base. It features John Leguizamo in an excellent non-comedic role and Dennis Hopper as the maniacal ruler of this haven for “the haves”. From a sheer zombie lore standpoint, it plays with the normal rules of engagement quite a bit in interesting ways.

The Girl with all the Gifts

This is one of the most interesting additions to the zombie genre. It presents a relatively unique version of a zombie, and if you have never seen the film I won’t spoil the conclusion of how it works. Basically, the story centers around a military base where they are attempting to educate and care for a number of children that have been infected. With proper precautions, they appear to be normal children… but once those precautions fail they turn into ravening zombies with superhuman agility. This protected state however does not last forever, and the fall of this base is largely the start of our tale.

28 Days Later

28 Days Later is part of an unfinished trilogy and gave us the rabid “rage zombie” archetype that dominated so many other zombie films for a decade. The first film is by far the best, but I still greatly enjoyed the follow-up 28 Weeks Later. The intro is very reminiscent of The Walking Dead where a man wakes up from a coma in a world gone very wrong and tries to figure out how to survive. Danny Boyle of Transporting fame brings us his specific spin on the zombie genre, and it is rather good. I hope at some point they finish the trilogy with I would guess 28 Years Later pending they follow the pattern set by the first two films. I am not holding my breath however because it has seemingly been in preproduction hell for years.

More to Come

I am honestly not sure how many of these I have in me, but I am pretty sure at a minimum I will do one over Vampire films, Demonic films, and Slasher films. I MIGHT have a Werewolf or Ghosts one in me as well, but we will have to see how these all come together. Hopefully, you enjoyed the list, and if there is a zombie film that you feel I overlooked please drop it down in the comments below. I could have likely filled two “top ten lists” with Zombie films however because there are so many that I have greatly enjoyed.