This has been a tough list to put together. I have selected many films that will be known to you all, but I have also included a couple that are lesser known – they are still brilliant films, and hopefully this list will help to expand your zombie viewing horizons! So onwards, the list:
10. 28 Days Later 2002, Danny Boyle – UK
The reason this is so high on the list is because of the fact that its characters are not undead (my preference in a zombie flick) – they are merely infected with a virus. The plot, which most of us already know: Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.
9. Braindead 1992, Peter Jackson – New Zealand
This was Peter Jackson’s fourth film (and is sometimes called Dead Alive) – it is a far cry from the quality directing we have seen in Lord of the Rings, but it is brilliant nevertheless. A young man’s mother is bitten by a “rat monkey.” She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors. How can this film NOT be on the list – the bitch eats dogs!
8. Wild Zero 2000, Tetsuro Takeuchi – Japan
Okay – like 28 days later the characters are not undead, but this film has to be included on the list because it is not just about movies – it is about movies and rock’n'roll! What combination could be better?! After a meteor strike aliens attack the earth and begin turning people into zombies. Rockers Guitar Wolf, Bass Wolf and Drum Wolf aswell as their rock and roll blood brother ace and his true love Tobio are caught in the middle of this madness.
7. White Zombie 1932, Victor Halperin – USA
This is the film that created the genre! It relies on atmosphere and expressionistic sets and acting to convey a pretty potent sense of dread. The coolest thing is that it stars Bela Lugosi as Murder Legendre, who can turn people into zombies with the power of his mind!
6. Return of the Living Dead 1985, Dan O’Bannon – USA
When a bumbling pair of employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to re-animate as they go on a rampage through Louisville, Kentucky seeking their favorite food, brains (of course!)
5. The Evil Dead 1981, Sam Raimi – USA
Five friends go up to a cabin in the woods where they find unspeakable evil lurking in the forest. They find the Necronomicon and the taped translation of the text. Once the tape is played, the evil is released. One by one, the teens become deadly zombies. With only one remaining, it is up to him to survive the night and battle the evil dead. A brilliant film by the equally brilliant Sam Raimi.
4. Shaun of the Dead 2004, Edgar Wright – UK
Shaun doesn’t have a very good day, so he decides to turn his life around by getting his ex to take him back, but he times it for right in the middle of what may be a zombie apocalypse… But for him, it’s an opportunity to show everyone he knows how useful he is by saving them all. All he has to do is survive… And get his ex back. This is such a great zombie movie that it ranks as the 245th best movie of all time on IMDB!
3. Dellamorte Dellamore 1994, Michele Soavi – Italy
This movie is actually not so much a zombie film (but believe me, there are zombies galore) as an examination of life, death, love, and the boundaries between. The film is based on the life of a graveyard caretaker who has to kill the various zombies that pop up during the night. This truly is one of the best zombie movies around.
2. Night of the Living Dead 1968, George A. Romero – USA
This is the birth of the modern zombie film. It is also one of the scariest horror films ever made. The film set in concrete Romero’s position as the greatest zombie film maker in history. The radiation from a fallen satellite might have caused the recently deceased to rise from the grave and seek the living to use as food. This is the situation that a group of people penned up in an old farmhouse must deal with.
1. Dawn of the Dead 1978, George A. Romero – USA
Ten years after Night of the Living Dead, Romero gave us another astonishingly brilliant zombie film – Dawn of the Dead. It surpasses its predecessor and definitely deserves top place on this list. Following an ever-growing epidemic of zombies that have risen from the dead, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter, and his television-executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
Bonus: Zombi 2 1979, Lucio Fulci – Italy
This tense and gory postmodern zombie film is included for one reason: the underwater fight between a zombie and a shark! You can watch the trailer here.
No Resident Evil?
I realize it’s not the typical “zombies creeping around eating people” films, but “I Walked with a Zombie” is surely a work of freakin’ art, and I’d argue it belongs here.
hehe resident evil wasn’t bad but there’s too many better zombie movies
akKris: I agree with purdnasty – Resident Evil is very popular but I don’t think it is top 10 material – maybe top 15.
Randall: I am not familiar with that one – I just read about it on IMDB and it sounds really fascinating – I will have to check it out.
@jfrater:
cool list
But I’m glad to see 28 days later on here! It was a very different take on the whole genre and I liked it!
Sadly i’ve never seen any of the “classic” zombie flicks
And THANK YOU for NOT putting resident evil on here!! Good movies but not top 10 stuff like you said…
Sorry for the downtime guys – we are currently running at over 18MB/s! Maybe due to fox news – though I can’t find the link.
YAY i love brain dead and 28 days later
better than the americanized rubbish sequal 28 weeks later
Geeeeeze america do u always have to try and save the day and end up blowing everything up
Yes, it is our duty as Americans to save the day and blow ***** up! Haven’t you seen Team America World Police?!
the reason i don’t think the resident evil movies are as good as these (even though i love them, i still remember how psyched i was when i found out it was actually happening) is because they are more about ass kicking and don’t have a sense of realism – weird because we are talking about zombie movies but still, dawn of the dead, feels like you are actually there.
I love brain dead and 28 days later
And i have to say i quite liked the first resi film
Add Della Morte dell’Amore and you’ll have my favorite 3 from this list, the latter 2 being 2 of my favorite films [period].
dare i ask the reasoning behind evil dead being in the list over evil dead 2?
haha awesome to see shaun of the dead on here.
i wasn’t expecting that
Ok, so its not letting me login. . . anyways
jfrater: the link mentions “the donk” as Amazon’s weirdest product and the article mentions List Universe and the rest of the weirdest products list. Coooool!
Also, maybe its just me but I liked the newer Dawn of the Dead better than the old one. I know the old one is a classic but I guess that newer technology in movie makeup and special effects have desensitized me to older films. Sorry
haha awesome to see shaun of the dead on here.
i wasn’t expecting that
Quote (28 Days Later): “The reason this is so high on the list is because of the fact that its characters are not undead (my preference in a zombie flick)”
Well then, I guess it’s NOT a zombie movie then IS IT? Zombies are supposed to be undead. Zombies are supposed to be re-animated dead people. They’re supposed to eat people, not claw and spit blood at them. Zombies don’t starve themselves to death like idiots.
28 Days Later was ****ing AWFUL. It’s hard to admire a horror movie when the first time we see the main character is in the very beginning when we see him with his schlong hanging out lying down on a medical examination table for no damn reason and get’s up like he’s perfectly okay, thus destroying any reason for him being there in the first place.
ok, Jim ( the main character), the reason why he was in the hospital in the first place was because- and if you had paid attention to the movie to begin with, you would know this- he was a bike messenger who had a car pull in front of him- he was in a coma for who knows how long- the hospital staff LOCKED HIM IN THE ROOM when all hell broke loose, so he would have a chance to survive- also, did you not notice that he was hooked up to IV's- when he woke up and started moving around, he was pulling out the tubes and knocking over the poles…also, he was bandaging his forearm where he was hooked up to IV…the staff would be more concerned with keeping him safe than making sure he was dressed…
hummm….I replied to this last night, but I suspect that it never went through…
1. The main characters name is Jim
2. He was a bike messenger who was cut off by a car
3. Due to that, he was in a coma ( no damn reason, eh?), and he woke up AFTER the infection spread
4. It looks like that hospital staff locked him in the room and closed the blinds so he would have a chance of survival
5. He was hooked up to at least 1 IV, maybe more- when he started moving around he knocked over a pole and tore an IV tube out of his forearm – they show him bandaging where the tube was pulled out!!!
6. I would hope that the doctors and nurses would be more concerned with making sure he was safe than dressed! It would have been a hell of a frenzied time, y'know!
YESSSS! Dawn of the Dead is one of my favorite movies of all time =]
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“your mother ate my dog!” hahaha!
the simpsons halloween episode about zombies was great!
no invasion of the body snatchers?
and i can’t login either
Prop: There’s no Evil Dead 2 because it’s not really a zombie movie.
Toolnut: I’m with you on this one. As much as I love the original Dawn of the Dead the remake is better film; leaner, meaner, darker and scarier.
Man, I love Shaun of the Dead!
Good list. I’ve only seen about half the movies, but the ones I have seen are fantastic. I have to second the question… Why Evil Dead over Evil Dead II? I prefer II personally, but I’ve always been a big Army of Darkness fan as well. Shaun of the Dead is a pleasant surprise. I love that film, and I was sorry to see that while I liked Hot Fuzz, they couldn’t quite replicate the awesomeness of Shaun of the Dead.
Serious question: Why are people so obsessed with zombies? I don’t get it.
People are obsessed with zombies as it creates a sense of being alone and hopelessness of survival.
the fact that once your seen by one you dont stand a chance unless your very very skillful.
The reason i love zombies is because of all those reasons i pointed out and because there the only thing that really scare me.
This is a topic near and dear to my heart. I have seen all these movies and I think your list is pretty damn good. Personally I’d leave off 28 days as it wasn’t truly a zombie movie, nor was it all that good. I like that there is no Resident Evil (#1 was ok, the rest are kind of lame.) or Dawn of the Dead remake (don’t be duped by the special effects, the movie is lame) My number one would be Day of the Dead. People say it’s boring, but I think it’s the most intellectual movie of the Romero series. (Can’t wait to see his Diary of the Dead). I also liked his remake of Night of the Living Dead too.
Oh and why Evil Dead over #2? Because Evil Dead is pure horror, #2 is the transition between horror and comedy, Army of Darkness is comedy. Don’t get me wrong, I love them all, but much prefer the horror of #1. The low budget look just adds to it too.
I’ve only seen two of the films on this list, as I’m not much of a horror film fan. Shaun of the Dead is absolutely brilliant. I can’t see what everyone sees in 28 Days Later myself, I don’t think it’s that good.
As for the remake of Dawn of the Dead (I havent seen the original), aren’t zombies meant to be shambling hunks of flesh, rather than being able to run like in that film??
Please watch the original.
I must have seen it like amillion times because its that good.
The remakes *****.
Pretty good list!
i definitely have to see white zero!
One of my favourites:
“zombie self defense squad” and
“punk rock splatter massacre”
cheesy and damn funny
what about “They Came Back”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Came_Back
And I agree with “torn and frayed”… George A Romero’s “Day of the Dead” is the best. But what can I say. I love zombies. In fact I dressed up as one for Halloween at my old job. check it out:
http://david.seth.googlepages.com/zombie.jpg
#torn and frayed: I agree completely. Though Evil Dead II is slickly made and has good effects(for it’s time), the first one is pure and simple scarier.
Great List,
Congratulations on the traffic, I think (as I shake with LV withdrwal)
Am I the only one who thought the ending of 28 days was lame-o. Kind of wrecked an otherwise awesome movie,,,(the soldiers in the school freaked me out worse than the zombies)
Hows about Werewolf movies?,,,Dog Soldiers, An American Werewolf in London,,,etc
Love the list, although I can’t believe #3 is on here! And at #3 no doubt! It was under another name when I saw it (can’t remember what now) and it was the most wasted 2 hours of my life! I actually would warn people about it! And the end is horrible! Sorry… I usually don’t go off like this but I REALLY don’t like this movie…
Cemetary Man… that’s what it was
Mom424: There is a werewolf list in the archive
Jfrater:
Never seen “I Walked with a Zombie,” huh? See it. I think you’ll love it.
Are you familiar with *any* of Val Lewton’s films? (He was the producer of “I Walked…”) Lewton and his team did this fantastic series of low-budget but classy horror films in the 40s…. most famous is “Cat People.” Seek them out, dude… believe me, they’re great.
Wait until George Romero releases “Diary of the Dead” sometime this year. Sort of a Zombie Cloverfield.
Randall: I haven’t – but I definitely will now!
Can’t log in.
But I was glad to see some of my favorites make the list. All in all quite good.
Listverse!!! Oh, how I’ve missed you!
Wow… never realized I was addicted until all I was able to access was the blog.
Anyway.. back to the zombies. Never realized I was a fan of zombie movies but I just counted and I have seen 6 of the movies on this list. Go figure…
Horray for Listverse! We need a top Vampire movie list.
If you can’t log in – try a refresh (F5) – it fixes it for me – the problem is a new caching system installed to try to keep us up while we weather this storm! It will eventually come right
ok ok, where is Army of Darkness. That is the best zombie/action/pure comedy EVER
I love LOVE zombie movies George Romero’s movies are great.
I love 28 days and 28 weeks later. Shaun of the Dead was also brilliant.
Some of those are really good.
28 days later freaked me out for 2 main reasons
- i went to the movie having no idea what it was about. needless to say, i wasn’t expecting zombies.
- i hadn’t seen alot of zombie movies but what i did know was that they were slow and not terribly smart. these jokers that sprinted everywhere really messed with my sense of security should an outbreak occur.
sprinting zombies shudder
btw, shaun should be #1. brilliant movie.
Evil Dead scares me even NOW, I watched it with my best friend months ago and we were grabbing each other’s arms lol. Even for a low-budget movie, the costumes and makeup were creepy.
rew; Bruce Campbell rocks, and I loved army of darkness, but its not really a zombie movie; more like skeletons, high camp, and satire/parody. Brilliant.
Seth; awesome, I do the zombie thing every year at Halloween too, I love to scare the kids…(my cruel streak), the contacts are wonderfully zombiefied. are they too uncomfortable?
i think bruce campbell should be iron man instead of robert downey jr.
What about “FIDO”?? That was an awesome movie. A little lighter than these on the list – but a great movie.
“Shock Waves” and Fulci’s “Gates of Hell” belong on this list WAY ahead of “28 Days Later.” While 28DL wasn’t a bad movie, it paid way too many homages (read “ripped off”) to other superior films to be included on its own merits.
Also, if you include “Wild Zero” on the list, it should be replaced with “Versus” purely on its adrenaline factor.
The much weaker “Dawn of the Dead” remake is nothing but a soulless, witless version of the Romero classic. It’s entertaining but vastly inferior to the subversive commentary of the consumer culture that Romero weaved into his film.
Loved seeing “Shaun of the Dead” on the list, as well as “Return of the Living Dead”.
On a side note, Anna Falchi of “Dellamorte Dellamore” is probably the most beautiful woman ever put on celluloid.
The original Dawn Of The Dead pretty much defined zombie horror, even more so than Night. Although I think the 2004 remake of Dawn should be in this list, and high. The consumerist theme of the original is pretty mcuh non-existent, but it’s a real fun film, with a great twist thrown in – zombies that can run as fast as yourself.
Evil Dead, great, but ED2 is better, the ’28…’ are criminally over-rated, and Shaun Of The Dead? Pur-lease!
The Resident Evil films are garbage!
wasn’t there a movie called “I was a teenage zombie”???
Hey anyone here read this amazingly cool book called “All you Zombies”. I forgot who the author is and it has nothing to do with zombies. I can’t seem to find it anywhere not even on amazon.A link to the pdf or paperback would be appreciated. Thanks!
I think “I Am Legend” deserves mention here.
I actually enjoyed the Resident Evil franchise. A far cry from epic but at least entertaining. Girls kicking butt is a definite plus instead of whimpy maidens in distress. Anyhow, I thought 28 Days Later was good but it wasn’t nearly as scary as everyone told me it was going to be. Shaun of the Dead was hilarious!
Mr. E: Is your last name Nygma?? Just curious.
romerozombie; C’mon a little harsh. Army of Darkness is classic high camp. How can you not appreciate it? Family favourite at my house, my son’s favourite movie when he was six. I still laugh when I watch it. Bruce Campbell is god.
I am not sure if “I am Legend” is a zombie film as a whole, its more like “extinction of humankind film”; but if you think it as a zombie film, it definetely deserves a place in this list… A solid story, effective zombie design and frightening chase scenes.. What more you can ask for
blow me 28 days and weeks later both sucked.. they were contaminated with rage… *****ed off people throwing up blood on you… not a zombie movie douche
also sociallyretarded your not clever you only know of that word because of Batman and Robin
Brian: I’m confused by your comment to Socialbutterfly. Is it meant to be an insult or not? The “;)” is throwing me off.