Below is a list of the best (and most significant) zombie movies from 1968 to the present day.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
What the film is about: In a remote cemetery, about 150-200 miles from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a brother and sister who have come to visit their father’s grave are attacked by a living dead.
Why Watching: Night of the Living Dead is the debut of a “modern” zombie film, an undisputed classic in cinema and the first part of Romero’s original trilogy of the rising of the living dead.
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
What the film is about: The zombie apocalypse continues. Four people: a TV presenter, her pilot friend and two Philadelphia police officers fly by helicopter to Western Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh area), where they are forced to barricade themselves in a well-stocked shopping center.
Why watch: Dawn of the Dead is the second installment of Romero’s original trilogy and the director’s most lucrative film ever. It also received favorable reviews from critics, who praised the film’s quality social satire. In Breaking Dawn, zombies were equated with ordinary consumers who slowly wander through the mall in search of a slot machine or another unnecessary purchase. This comparison also explained the fact why zombies burst into such places so zealously: “Some kind of instinct. The memory of what they were doing. It was an important place in their life. ”
The Evil Dead (1981)
What the film is about: Five Michigan State University students spend a weekend in a remote forest lodge and accidentally release slumbering, demonic spirits from the ominous forest that surrounds them.
Day of the Dead (1985)
What the film is about: zombies conquered the world. The survivors, including scientists and the military, were trapped inside an underground missile storage facility. The fascist megalomaniac Captain Rhodes begins to carry out sadistic experiments on zombies in an underground bunker.
Why Watching: Day of the Dead is Romero’s final film in the original trilogy, and by most accounts the scariest of the three. Not only because there are many violent scenes in the film, but also because of how cleverly Romero turned the genre upside down, showing how difficult life can be for zombies themselves.
Read also: Review of the movie “Train to Busan” or the zombie apocalypse in Korean
Evil Dead II (1987)
What the film is about: “Evil Dead 2” is a direct sequel to the first part, although it positions itself as a sequel. In a remote forest house, the fight continues with evil demonic spirits, who decide to zombie the protagonist’s girlfriend.
Pet Sematary (1989)
What the film is about: The Creed family moves from Chicago to Maine. There they move into a house next to a busy highway. Shortly after arriving, they stumble upon a pet cemetery (built on the remains of an ancient Mikmak Indian burial ground) behind the house. After a while, their pet cat Church is hit by a truck, and the old neighbor opposite decides to help in his resurrection.
Night of the Living Dead (1990)
What the film is about: With the exception of the beginning, end and more explicit censorship, the plot of this film is exactly the same as the original of 1968.
Army of Darkness (1992)
What the film is about: The main character of the two previous installments of Evil Dead, Ash Williams, falls through a time portal and finds himself in 1300. Now he is forced to fight the “army of the dead” (“dark army”, consisting of reanimated corpses). Defeat them, make the girl fall in love with you and return to your time.
28 Days Later (2002)
What the film is about: In post-apocalyptic London, after the accidental release of a highly contagious blood-borne virus, ferocious half-zombie demi-humans are looting. At this time, the unsuspecting protagonist Jim wakes up in the hospital.
Why Watching: 28 Days Later is considered one of the best zombie films ever made, combining intense struggle to survive and truly eerie (digital video) views of desolate and desolate London. Subsequent sequel, – “28 weeks later” (2007).
Resident Evil (2002)
What the film is about: A deadly viral weapon known as the T-Virus is released at the top-secret underground Hive Center, which infects and kills all personnel. Elite soldiers from the Umbrella corporation, led by miniature Alice, are tasked to investigate an abandoned building, turn off the main computer and isolate the virus.
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
What the film is about: Despite the name, this film is not an exact copy of the 1978 original, but just like Romero’s story, its plot tells the story of a zombie apocalypse and a group of people who decided to hide in a large shopping center.
Shaun of the Dead (2004)
What the film is about: Loser electronics store salesman Sean lives with his best friend, unemployed Ed. After another night of heavy drinking, the guys find themselves right in the epicenter of the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse.
Why Watching: Edgar Wright’s feature debut is a non-stop parody horror film, with many interesting references to classic zombie films.
Zombie named Fido / Fido (2006)
What the film is about: In a 1950s alternate universe, a cloud of radiation dust from a cosmic meteorite revived the dead. But this did not cause a collapse, because one enterprising company first developed an electric fence and then a collar designed to tame zombies.
Report / [REC] (2007)
What the film is about: TV reporter Angela Vidal craves a sensation. In the new episode of the program “While you are sleeping,” she decided to film a firefighter robot, hoping that there would be a fire somewhere in the city that night. Fortunately (or unfortunately) there is no fire, but Angela, along with her operator Pablo and a few rescuers, are on a different, simpler call. Arriving at the scene, they find frightened tenants and a strange-looking woman. From that moment, Angela, without knowing it, begins to conduct the last report in her life.
Day of the Dead (2008)
What the film is about: A deadly virus has been released in the small town of Leadville, Colorado. The US military, led by Captain Rhodes, is isolating the city to prevent the spread of the epidemic.
Read also: Review of the movie “Train to Busan” or the zombie apocalypse in Korean
Deadgirl (2008)
What the film is about: Two seniors from a small town, skipping school, visit a creepy abandoned mental hospital on the outskirts of the city. In the basement behind a rusty door, the guys find a dumb naked woman (nicknamed “Deadgirl”), chained to a gurney.
Pontypool (2008)
What the film is about: On his way to work during a severe blizzard, radio host Grant Muzzy bumps into a scantily clad distraught woman.
Why you should watch: Pontypool is a minimalistic but effective zombie film, but in fact, a psychological thriller with almost no zombies in the frame.
Quarantine (2008)
What the film is about: “Quarantine” is an American fantasy supernatural horror film in the genre of pseudo-documentary, which is an exact copy (remake) of the Spanish “Reportage” (2007).
Welcome to Zombieland / Zombieland (2009)
What the film is about: The four main characters team up for a long journey by car, at a time when an outbreak of a zombie virus (associated with mad cow disease) spread throughout the Earth.
Why watch: The script for a comedy about the adventures of four friends in misfortune set against a zombie apocalypse, originally conceived as a pilot for a television series, has been updated and redesigned for the big screen. The film was shot in 45 days and was the highest grossing zombie film of all time at release time ($ 102 million), surpassing Dawn of the Dead (2004).
The Crazies (2010)
What the film is about : Residents of a small town in the Midwest begin to experience outbursts of uncontrolled aggression. After arranging a small investigation, the local sheriff discovers a crashed military plane in the lake, from which all residents of the town drink water.
World War Z / World War Z (2013)
What the film is about: The protagonist Gerald Lane, a former UN investigator, is forced to start his robot again. The fact is that the world is swept by a growing pandemic of the zombie plague, and Jerry is tasked with discovering the source of this rapidly spreading, threatening disease.
Why Watching: Currently the highest grossing zombie movie of all time ($ 504 million)