Since I love gore and head explosions, I thought I’d make a list of the best zombie movies ever to be produced. Since many people overlook the films in this list, you may be shocked.
10. Re-Animator (1985) – Directed by John Carpenter – Though this movie was “gross, violent beyond belief, and extremely graphic,” it was still awesome. From John Carpenter (Them!, Halloween series) comes a very dark twist on Zombie horror.
9. Army of Darkness (Evil Dead 3) (1993) – Directed by Sam Raimi – Evil Dead was always a cult classic, from the year it started in theaters to now. And though Sam Raimi ruined Spiderman forever, I am willing to put this movie up here for its awesomeness.
8. Zombieland (2009) – Directed by Ruben Fleischer – This Woody Harrelson flick shows why he is still a BAMF. With very funny scripting and good directing, along with the awesomest cameo ever, this film is a great.
7. Quarantine (2008) – Directed by John Erick Dowdle – A good re-do of the original “REC.”, a Latino film, in which the end is so easy to guess, but the journey there is epic, violent, and all together hilarious. This movie wasn’t really meant to be a comedy, but it turned out to be one more than a horror film.
6. Dawn of the Dead (2004) – Directed by Zack Snyder – Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) directed this zombie movie, which is one of the goriest and most awesomely ended in the history of film.
5. Dead Alive (1992) – Directed by Peter Jackson – A Decade before LOTR, Peter Jackson made this, a brilliant zombie movie with many turns (and not so much twists), solidifying his stature as a director.
4. Diary of the Dead (2007) – Directed by George A. Romero – A great first person with (spoiler) an ending that didn’t end with everyone dying and the camera being found! Finally, a film that you felt scared with, and yet you wanted to see more and more gore, which is what Romero gave.
3. Shaun of the Dead (2004) – Directed by Edgar Wright – One of the funniest comedies ever, Shaun of the Dead added top class humor and brilliant dramatic sequences in its dazzling cinematic rollout. From Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz), I expected nothing less.
2. Planet Terror (2007) – Directed by Robert Rodriguez – The awesomer film in the Grindhouse collection, Planet Terror dominated everything it set out to do by putting an all star cast into the film, and by having a great script and great direction from Robert Rodriguez (Desperado, Once Upon a Time in Mexico).
1. 28 Days Later (2002) – Directed by Danny Boyle – The Best zombie film ever, and it was made by one of the best directors ever, Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, Sunshine). This film is very interesting in the way the disease effects society and makes the audience genuinely fear for the characters.
I am a huge Zombie Movie fan!
Love this list.
Didn’t see all of them but I will now!
I will be seeing Diary of the Dead soon. I heard it was great.
I loved Quarantine! One of my favorites.
I also loved Dawn of the Dead.
Its not exactly qualified as a zombie movie but The Signal is a great movie that is along those lines. I highly recommend it.
yeah, I thought the Signal along with Quarantine were more hilarious than scary.
How do you have a Top Ten Zombie Film list and not have the original Night of the Living Dead on it? 28 Days Later is excellent.
because though it was good, it wasn’t as good as these in my opinion.
Good list, I have seen all except for Dead Alive. I would probably replace Quarantine with The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988) and I would give Night of the Living Dead a “Zombie Genre Foundation Award” or something like it. I would also give Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things (1973) an honorable mention. Although not a great movie, it scared the crap out of me when I saw it as a kid. Thanks for the post, it got me and my wife thinking.
I’m glad to hear that. Quarantine really made this list because it made me jump a lot and also let me laugh my ass off.
And The Serpent and the Rainbow was very good, as well.
Er …. Re-Animator wasn’t directed by John Carpenter.
Great list! I love both Quarantine and 28 Days Later.
i thought it was, man! Who directed it?
Night of the living dead?
Great list but it’s really lacking the classics. My favorite movie of all time is still Dawn of the Dead by George Romero, not the remake.
It was good, but these films on here are better to me… besides Re-Animator. I’ll probably change those around, since the original NOTLD was great.
I respect your opinion, but I disagree with this list A LOT. Diary and Quarantine have no place on this kind of list, not to mention the lack of anything by Italian zombie master, Fulci, such as Zombi 2, City of the Living Dead, or The Beyond. Also, Return of the Living Dead? Come on!
I have to admit my list would be a little different then yours. In all honesty I haven’t seen all of the ones on the list (must catch up) but there were a few on there I would replace. While I like Quarantine it felt slow to me so through the whole thing I was hoping it would end. I would have also left of Diary of the Dead as it makes me think of the Blair Witch Project, but I’m not a big fan of shaky cameras. I personally would have replaced them with Fido and the second Resident Evil film.
Fido was good, and Resident Evil Apocalypse was very well done, but I would have left Diary of the Dead in there, though I would have, now, changed Quarantine with [Rec.] since it is obviously better.
and reelcreepy, I probably should have looked it over some more, I know it, but hey, its just the list I had, and I really don’t know what else to say besides I will probably make an updated list soon.
Like, I should have put the original Saw on here cuz I forgot that one.
i also should have put No Country for Old Men on here because I loved the speech by Tommy Lee Jones, and I also thought that the fact that Chigurh got away is awesome. Though the book had a different ending.
Saw and No Country for Old Men…in a zombie list?
My bad, I commented on the wrong list. It happens when you are up for prolonged amounts of time, man, I had been up for over 36 hours when I wrote those comments. I’m sorry for the confusion… those would have been awesome, though, No Country for Old Men and Saw being zombie movies.
J.C i love this list you mentiond some greats i respect your oppion as a zombie fan myself you mentiond some good ones as you all can probably agree zombies now days are not so much zombies as they are “infected” and there is a differance having been watching zombie movies since i was little 3rd genoration zombie fan now days these horror directors are trying to appell to a younger crowd and im a little dissapointed in zombie movies now days as well as any horror movies really great list thanks
Zombieland was a very entertaining movie and so was 28 days later but i still think that 30 days of night deserves a spot in there
Love the Evil Dead movies (hence my username) totally agree 28 days later was a great zombie movie..(28 Weeks Later was garbage)but I think Evil Dead 2 deserves to be up there.
jlaird1431, I completely agree with you. SamayBoy, 30 Days of Night was a vamp movie, and though I love vamp movies, it is a completely different category than zombies.
First off, i can’t imagine a list of the top 10 zombie films and not have Night of the Living Dead on it, but here it is. Also not having the original Dawn of the Dead but listing its remake and Diary of the Dead is just tragic. Should also give mention to REC if you’re going to list Quarantine as well even though they are pretty much the same movie shot for shot. The other films are all solid picks though.
PS – Re-Animator was directed by Stuart Gordon, not John Carpenter.
I know that man. I messed up a bit, my bad. And on your night of the living dead comment, yes, it was very good, but it was more, to me, inspiring than a “great zombie flick.” So, I didn’t put it on here. And the original Dawn of the Dead, the zombies were going too slow, whereas in the remake, they were a bit faster and more vicious. Diary of the Dead was as good as it was because it was very original in the idea that a handheld zombie film that didn’t end with everyone dying, and also had a great amount of substance and scary, jumpy parts in it. But thank you for the comment.
I was just wondering why no one mentioned Land of the Dead. The gore was awesome, and anyone who loves zombie flicks and claim they don’t like gore are a contradiction.
because Land of the Dead isn’t that good of a movie, and Romero has three that other movies that are better.
Agree with Zak.
Romero is slacking, however i appreciate his early films. Nowadays i just look out for the underrated zombie films.
yeah, it seems that the lower the budget on the horror movies now-a-days means that the film will be better. P.S. if you want to see a funny zombie movie, “Doghouse” is coming out on Tuesday. It isn’t as funny as Shaun of the Dead, but it is funny.
what about I Am Legend?
I Am Legend sucked. I like the director, who made Constantine, but the movie was a dreadful adaptation of the book, which was a classic by Richard Matheson. So… No, but good attempt!
I haven’t seen alot of the films mentioned here, but I did have the horrible displeasure of not only having to watch Diary of the Dead, but actually paying money to do so. I personally thought that was a terrible movie and can’t believe it could make it on a Zombie best of list on which the original Dawn of the Dead is nowhere to be seen.
Again… I’d change this list a second time around… I feel like whatshername from that movie saying “no, no! I was young and naive!”, which is what I essentially was in the grandiloquent globe of film.
im afraid i would have to disagree to your list, as for;.
shaun of the dead, is a masterpiece and is one of the funniest films around and even better zombie film. im glad that is in your list
There are films missed off this list however, such as;
day of the dead (origional)
Dawn of the dead (origional)
Land of the Dead
Night of the living dead
resident evil
Resident evil apololypse( either resident evil movie is better then 28 days later)
the children
these are just some that i think should be taken into consideration for top 10.
I know, and I messed this up initially, but I don’t think any zombie movie will ever be as good as or better than 28 Days Later. There’s just no way in my mind that that can happen. I’m glad to see your opinion though.
Although you have already admitted to some faults on your list. I have to say that robertbarbere is absolutely right. Serpent and the rainbow definately deserves to have one of the top spots on this list. And I would also like to add that The walking dead should also be on here. Yes, it is a television series but it is definately better then some of your top picks. If you have not seen the walking dead, watch it. Absolutely brilliant.
The Walking Dead wasn’t around we first made our posts to this discussion last year. (I am still Alive btw) and now that it is here it should deserve some mention in this list somewhere.
Walking Dead should be added on here. Again, I’d change it if I could, but that’d be a bitch to go back through the manage section all the way to when I wrote this. And also, yeah, Robert, glad to see you’re living, where’ve you been? Serpent and the Rainbow was a great movie, as well.
i agree. 28 days later is by far the best zombie movie ever made. Unfortunately i cant say much for the sequel
…And nor can I.
This might just be me, and granted, I LOVE the movie, but does Shawn of the Dead get worse and worse every time you watch it?
I couldnt agree more on 28 days later being the best “Zombie” movie. The filming was great and it was so beliveable.
I do also agree that Quarentine should be on this list. It’s an AWESOME infection flick that is put into a smaller scale perspective.
Overall good list. If it were to be udated, Zombieland and The Walking dead series should definatley pop up on here.
I’m more of a new-breed zombie fan. I’m not really attracted by the clasics.
ALSO- Even if you guys dont watch anime at all, Check out Highschool of the Dead. It’s absolutley INCREDIBLE. especially for an anime. You can find the whole series free to watch online.
Thank you, Tcanaya, I do think that Shawn of the Dead gets worse because you know what’s going to happen, and that was one of the best things about the first time you see it: The surprise of how hilarious it is. I would add those two, and I’ll certainly check out Highschool of the Dead. Thank you for the mention.
This was a great list! I love zombie movies and seen all the one’s mentioned on the list. Re-Animator is one of my tops, I do love the whole trilogy. Jeffrey Combs is great! Dead Alive has to be my #1 zombie flick of all time! The massive amounts of buckets o’ blood being thrown around during the infamous “Party’s Over” lawnmower scene has to be the greatest. I also have a guilty pleasure for Plan 9 from Outer Space. I consider it a zombie flick not all may, but Ed Wood is fantastic.
dawn of the dead and zombieland are without a doubt, my 2 favorite zombie movies ever. dawn of the dead actually had me shaking in my boots thinking that i, too, can one day wake up to a zombie outbreak.
but where is night of the living dead?
Good list but I would have included night of the living dead and resident evil
I know I forgot it! Foo on me! Though I don’t think I would have put Night of the Living Dead on here because this list is “best zombie movies,” not “most influential zombie movies.” I thought the quality was good, but the movie itself was… not that great. The black and white made it even more awesome, but the events were just so “haha, did you see that,” that it was difficult to seriously say, at the end, “wow, that was great.”
and Moloko, I agree. Plan 9 was so terrible in my opinion that, like Tommy Wiseau’s “The Room,” it began to be good. So yes, I figure it could be put up there on the list. I could never bare to finish the movie. It is one of the things on my list of things to do before I die a horrible movie death.
I’m a huge zombie fan, I scout for new ones I’ve never seen before. Had to say, seen ’em all. Night of the living dead was an incredible film – for that era. They should do a remake and put really good actors. The woman on that remake was also in Dead Air – not one of the greatest but still, being trapped in a building with zombies running around eating people still gives me the chills. I’m like in panic stuffing food in my fridge and zombie-proofing my house if in case an outbreak like that ever happens – LOL.
haha, that sounds like quite the epidemic.
My list…
http://reelcreepy.blip.tv/file/3389564/
Good one.
I have to say I was surprised to see that the Resident Evil wasn’t on the list. Yes, some may think it was a terribly executed film version of the video game but as far as entertainment goes, it satisfied me with enough blood, guts and undead corpses to keep me entertained for days afterwards. Just a suggestion though.
good suggestion, but I am one of the people in your former explanation of its dreadful job of going from game to film.
All of the Resident Evil films are pretty awful and utterly fail to do any kind of justice to the brilliant games.
Good list. I would have listed the original REC instead of Quarantine though. As decent a remake as it was, but doesn’t match the orignal in suspense and scares in my opinion.
I like the original, [REC.] a lot more than Quarantine, it was the fact that I hadn’t seen it at this time. It was a great movie though.
You really hit the nail on its head with this list, especially number one. “28 Days Later” is, by far, the best zombie flick ever and just an awesome movie, in general. I’m a long-time lover of the horror genre and films like this are why.
Thank you, I appreciate the comment!
Technically, 28 Days Later is not a zombie movie. It is a movie about infected humans, which is why (spoiler) the infected die at the end due to starvation. While a great movie, it is not a zombie movie.
I agree, but many things transcend boundaries. While you would say Friday Night Lights is a drama movie, it is also a sports movie, though the former first. I think it is a zombie movie by nature, though perhaps not by definition. Thanks for the comment though.
Curious, but have you seen Deadgirl or Dead Snow? Both came out last year and have made the top five of numerous best zombie film lists. Deadgirl is the most unique zombie film you’ll ever experience and Dead Snow is a Norweigian film about zombie nazis. Great stuff (one fan to another).
Deadgirl was interesting and Dead Snow was hilarious. Neither are even possible to be in the top 10, in my opinion, but they are still worth checking out.
I think the french made film, La Horde is a great zombie movie, worth checking out. It has a creepy edge to it that you dont see in American zombie films. The sick twisted humor and action alone would be enough to attract most zombie fans.
Yeah, I actually saw that one recently, and felt that it was quite good.
And like a good Zombie this thread continues to rise from time to time and surprise me. LOL
I continually search for a good zombie movie these days but couldn’t seem to find one. I recently seen zombie diaries 2 in stagevu.com and it sucked so bad. The disturbing part isn’t the zombies running around but this one part where a bunch of hunters (or something) tried to rape a girl zombie. Oh man, that’s incredibly horrifying.
Can you suggest some zombie flicks that I maybe haven’t seen before. I do like the good-old trapped in a place surrounded by zombie kinda type. I know it’s so predictable but I get chills in em. Thanks JC!
Oh I also just finished watching, deadset, it’s a bunch of people in Big Brother’s house and they were so outcasted, they didn’t know there’s a zombie epidemic going around. I loved the end of it! Watch it man, story was a bit slow but it’s worth seeing! =)
Yes, Robert, I didn’t know I was Frankenstein-ing a monster when I made this haha. But yes, pepsipereda, zombie movies are very fun, even if they’re bad. An example: the movie “RetarDEAD”. Fun stuff haha.
Not a bad list, surprised you listed the remake of Dawn of The Dead and not George A. Romero’s original, which I think is one of the best zombie films of all time and set the landmark for future zombie & horror films.
Well, I just liked the Snyder one better. It had better effects (though obvious given the advances in technology) and it had a better structure behind it, I think. Either way both are great films, I just forgot to put the other one on there. I would re do it, but there’s no need. This one generated enough buzz on this website haha.
I enjoyed reading through your list but I have to mention you have one massive omission – the original Dawn Of The Dead. George A Romero’s frighteningly bleak depiction of mankind’s consumerist nature is echoed wonderfully and the loneliness felt by the characters even though they are surrounded by thousands of zombies is conveyed perfectly.
I would also like to suggest REC – whilst Quarantine was a decent fare, the spanish original was brutal in it’s initial slow-burning plot development but once you see the infected woman screaming and running at the cameraman, you know that you are in for a frightening ride. Jaume Balagueró created a monster of a film, sadly the sequel didn’t scale the heights of the original but we can but hope for the third in the series!
Stuart Gordon directed Re-Animator :)
I agree, and yes, I know I forgot Stuart Gordon :p but it happens haha
Yes, one more vote for “The Walking Dead” TV series. Please add it to your 2012 list ;)
I may very well do so if I get around to it haha
Return of the Living Dead: the movie that informed the public that zombies eat brains. Why you ask? To keep the pain away? How did they know this? A zombie told them.
hi, sorry for having to post here, but not really sure what to do. i’m doing the internship thingy, n was told to reply the title of the film i made a review off, but the mail account i’m supposed to reply to doesn’t wanna accept it or something, so, does anyone eg have another mail adress i could try? again, sooooooorry for posting here!!!
Its all good. I wish I could help but I really cant haha. Sorry.
@Maja,
Thank you for letting me know about this issue! I’ve sent you an email and upgraded your account so you can publish to this site now.
@J.C.,
Thank you for letting us bomb your review discussion thread ;)
Any time haha. Its getting read and discussed among a lot of people so I can’t ask for anything more haha
Absolutely love Army of Darkness and Zombieland. I’m not into the whole zombie craze but these movies are new age classics!
I like that this is your personal favourites of Zombie-esq movies but I would’ve added a couple/omitted a few. I’m glad Re-animator got on there, although Stuart Gordon was the director not Carpenter, although he is awesome, but you can’t make a zombie list without George A. Romero’s classics. I love Snyder, but doesn’t compare to the original Dawn of the Dead. Night of the Living Dead HAS to be in there. Quarantine was alright-lands in between 28 days and Cloverfield but Rec-the spanish original is superb and should outstrip it each time.
Really glad 28 days made the cut, big step forward from the “Oh, no let’s ‘walk’ away from the zombies” stereotype, even though I guess they fall under ‘infected’. Potato potato.
Also think Braindead, an early Peter Jackson, is hysterically grim and wonderful, would probably be on my list as well as Evil Dead 2, without a shadow of a doubt.
Nice list though, very enjoyable.
The reason I mentioned Braindead is from your opening of “Since I love gore and head explosions,”, a must see!
great list i love zombie films! and shaun of the dead is my favourite. but for other zombie lovers they have a tv show called walking dead and its really good, they have 2 seasons out already
Walking Dead is an awesome show. Look forward to watching the second season soon.
I think you missed the classics. This list is truly lacking. Shaun of the Dead I liked, but is not a classic. I call those types zombie comedies. It was funny and entertaining. I love the Re-Animator and Army of Darkness, but Zombieland-zombie comedy. I love zombies and Night of the Living Dead would have to be on my list period…among others.