If you want to understand a people, look at its zombie movies. There might be no artifact more telling of a people than its depictions of the shuffling undead. After all, zombies are just us with a few key differences: all zombies carry echoes of a former life. These stories reflect their era, and are each a tombstone inscribed in eulogy to a time and a place.
When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth, preoccupied with the same things that troubled them in life: consumerism, xenophobia, government oppression, violence. And were some far-off archeologist to find a definitive record, there are few more telling than the list of top 10 zombie movies most mentioned on Letterboxd.
12 'Re-Animator' (1985)
Director: Stuart Gordon
Fans of '80s films, camp, and dark humor should consider Re-Animator as essential viewing. The horror-comedy is a cult classic with uproarious moments throughout its wacky plot, which follows a medical student, Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs), who invents a serum that can potentially revive the dead. When it actually works, he and his classmate Dan Cain (Bruce Abbott) get into big trouble.
With outrageous scenarios and over-the-top violence, Re-Animator was a true standout in the horror genre at the time. Based on H. P. Lovecraft’s 1922 serial novelette "Herbert West–Reanimator," the film injects humor in unexpected places, which can still shock and delight audiences today.
Re-Animator
- Release Date
- October 18, 1985
- Director
- Stuart Gordon
- Cast
- Jeffrey Combs , Bruce Abbott , Barbara Crampton , David Gale , Robert Sampson , Gerry Black
- Runtime
- 86
11 'The Return of the Living Dead' (1985)
Director: Dan O'Bannon
A groundbreaking comedy-horror film, director Dan O'Bannon's The Return of the Living Dead is an iconic masterpiece with an important place in the genre’s history. It follows a bizarre combination of characters who accidentally unleash a horde of zombies onto a sleepy town.
Known for introducing concepts like zombies eating brains (instead of other types of human meat) and how they can be instantly killed by a gunshot to the head, the film’s influence has endured since it first premiered. It was also remarkable for its unique punk rock soundtrack that dictated the humorous tone throughout the movie.
Return of the Living Dead
When two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to rise again as zombies.
- Release Date
- April 25, 1985
- Director
- Dan O'Bannon
- Cast
- Clu Gulager , James Karen , Don Calfa , Thom Mathews , Beverly Randolph , John Philbin
- Runtime
- 91
10 'Train to Busan' (2016)
Director: Yeon Sang-ho
Train to Busan is popular because it so clearly understands people. Add to that the spectacle of a high-speed train in the zombie apocalypse, and you have an incredible movie. Directed by Yeon Sang-ho, the film follows a man and his estranged daughter's already difficult journey on a train, which is soon complicated by the beginning of the end of the world.
Train to Busan is, ultimately, a story about sacrifice vs. selfishness and what it means to the characters in conflict. Would you risk your life to save a stranger? How much do you value your loved ones? Enough to sacrifice yourself? Pair these hard-hitting questions with genuinely terrifying practical and special effects, and audiences get a great viewing experience.
Train to Busan
- Release Date
- July 20, 2016
- Director
- Sang-ho Yeon
- Cast
- Yoo Gong , Yu-mi Jeong , Dong-seok Ma , Su-an Kim , Eui-sung Kim , Woo-sik Choi
- Runtime
- 118
9 'Day of the Dead' (1985)
Director: George A. Romero
By the time of the events in Day of the Dead, its characters have been living alongside the zombie plague for a few years. What few survivors there are left are depicted as either soldiers or scientists. The soldiers are attempting to destroy their undead neighbors, while the scientists search for a deeper understanding.
Tension builds are their already suffocating environment inside a a missile silo becomes even more intolerable because of their squabbles. Even more clearly than the film's two predecessors, Day is the zombie movie in which George Romero makes most explicit his thesis, following in the footsteps of Jean-Paul Sartre: Hell is other people.
8 '[REC]' (2007)
Directors: Paco Plaza, Jaume Balagueró
In [REC], a camera crew and reporter follow a team of firefighters to a distress call involving an aggressive elderly woman. When it becomes clear the woman is infected, the building, and everyone inside, are placed into quarantine. Confusion and anger soon lead to chaos, especially when they realize that the infection is quickly spreading from one person to another.
The filmmakers behind [REC] could not have understood how prophetic their found footage depiction of societal breakdown was. Bleak, and often disturbing, this movie is an accurate picture of frightened people under lockdown. It's also one of the best found footage movies ever made, highlighting the possibilities within that niche.
[REC]
- Release Date
- November 23, 2007
- Director
- Jaume Balagueró , Paco Plaza
- Cast
- Manuela Velasco , Ferran Terraza , Jorge-Yamam Serrano , Pablo Rosso , David Vert , Vicente Gil
- Runtime
- 80
7 'Dawn of the Dead' (2004)
Director: Zack Snyder
Foreshadowing later DC cosmology, 2004's Dawn of the Dead is Zack Snyder's feature film directorial debut, and the script was written by James Gunn. Dawn of the Dead retains the suburban shopping mall setting, but increases the intensity, making for a more action-packed movie. It's focused on a small group of survivors who must learn to trust each other and use whatever is in the mall to fend off the undead horde outside their gates.
This Dawn deals with redemption. When faced with the end of world, does atonement even matter? Or, would the apocalypse offer one the perfect chance to save each other? Despite being overshadowed by the rest of Snyder's filmography, it remains an incredibly rewatchable zombie flick worth checking out today.
6 'Braindead' (1992)
Director: Peter Jackson
Braindead aka Dead Alive is the promise of filmmaking greatness that Peter Jackson would fulfill in his Lord of the Rings trilogy. It is the work of a young director having an absolute blast soaking his cast and crew in homemade blood and guts. That fun is palpable, if horridly slimy and perverse.
At its core, this is a story about family dynamics. There are character types that recur throughout fiction and real life: The overbearing mother, the doting son, the Sumatran rat-monkey carrying infectious disease. It's a tale as old as time. Sometimes, even in the face of unholy terror, family roles are the real danger.
Dead Alive
- Release Date
- August 13, 1992
- Director
- Peter Jackson
- Cast
- Timothy Balme , Diana Peñalver , Elizabeth Moody , Ian Watkin , Brenda Kendall , Stuart Devenie
- Runtime
- 97
5 'Dawn of the Dead' (1978)
Director: George A. Romero
Fourteen years after establishing the modern zombie genre, George Romero returned to show he was its master. This time, rather than concentrating on people stuck in a basement, Romero widens the scope to show zombies in a more urban setting. The main characters in Dawn of the Dead become trapped in a mall, initially (and mistakenly) believing they've found sanctuary in this palace of consumerism. However, soon, the undead overtake the mall, doomed to repeat the rituals of commercialism that wasted away their lives.
Making it into the top 5 zombie movies, Dawn of the Dead improved on everything Romero had previously done, from the special effects make up to the entertaining story. Aside from broadening the scope of the zombie apocalypse, the 1978 film also has clever commentary on materialism.
Dawn of the Dead
A nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.
- Release Date
- May 24, 1979
- Director
- George A. Romero
- Cast
- David Emge , Ken Foree , Scott H. Reiniger , Gaylen Ross
- Runtime
- 127 Minutes
4 'Zombieland' (2009)
Director: Ruben Fleischer
Zombieland is less a parody than it is a loving homage. Penned by Deadpool's Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Zombieland is way more comedy than it is horror. However, Zombieland is absolutely a zombie movie, and it systematizes lots of the "rules" that have worked for survivors of the genre.
In this film, the zombies are infected, rather than undead. So, what separates humans from their ferocious ilk? Zombieland answers the question by slowly having its characters lower their guard throughout the runtime. The core characters all connect, showing that what differentiates people from their undead cousins is his need to relate to his fellow human.
Zombieland
- Release Date
- October 7, 2009
- Director
- Ruben Fleischer
- Cast
- Woody Harrelson , Jesse Eisenberg , Emma Stone , Abigail Breslin , Amber Heard , Bill Murray
- Runtime
- 88
3 '28 Days Later' (2002)
Director: Danny Boyle
In 2002, Danny Boyle released 28 Days Later, reflecting back to fans the unique fears of this new century. When the deadly Rage Virus is spread all across Great Britain, the isle is quarantined and survivors are left to fend for themselves after the collapse of the government. Here, London bike courier Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up from a coma and must fend for himself in an unfamiliar and terrifying new reality.
Boyle reflected a world that's fearful of its own future. He intentionally mirrors images of historical ethnic conflict and genocide. The film stands in bleak contrast with Edgar Wright's more lighthearted depiction of England; gone are all the tokens of un-globalized Britannia (the cozy pub, the cricket bat, the Jaguar). Instead, this is an England upended by the encroaching "other."
28 Days Later
- Release Date
- October 31, 2002
- Director
- Danny Boyle
- Cast
- Alex Palmer , Bindu De Stoppani , Jukka Hiltunen , David Schneider , Cillian Murphy , Toby Sedgwick
- Runtime
- 113
2 'Night of the Living Dead' (1968)
Director: George A. Romero
There are a few examples of the dead coming back to life in cinema prior to Night of the Living Dead. However, George Romero's 1968 work kick-started the zombie trend as audiences have come to recognize it. Many of the characteristics viewers identify with zombie movies were formalized in Night of the Living Dead.
Perhaps the most important zombie trope codified in Night was the "zombie movie as social commentary" allegory. Here, the civil unrest of the sixties is literalized in gruesome detail. While the undead may pose the more exciting threat, ultimately, people should be more afraid of each other.
Night of the Living Dead
- Release Date
- October 4, 1968
- Director
- George A. Romero
- Cast
- Duane Jones , Judith O'Dea , Karl Hardman , Marilyn Eastman , Keith Wayne , Judith Ridley
- Runtime
- 96
1 'Shaun of the Dead' (2004)
Director: Edgar Wright
Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead is the moment where the zombie mythos goes back to the basics. While the titular dead may not have any self-awareness, the movie itself is a winking love letter that embraces zombie movie history. From the title to the barricaded third act, this is a feature-length salute to the works of George Romero.
The characters, particularly Simon Pegg's Shaun, are all numbed, not just to violence, but to life itself. Shaun is so locked into a routine that he misses life. In that way, he himself is almost zombielike, and viewers are meant to examine how closely they might resemble the slack-jawed dead. When Shaun actually has to fight zombies, he ironically discovers a thirst for life that might have been missing, all delivered with perfect comedic timing, of course.
Shaun of the Dead
- Release Date
- April 9, 2004
- Director
- Edgar Wright
- Cast
- Simon Pegg , Kate Ashfield , Nick Frost , Lucy Davis , Dylan Moran , Nicola Cunningham
- Runtime
- 99