In this article, we shall highlight 15 best Zombie movies you should watch. These Zombie movies you should watch cover the earliest movies up to the present, all reflecting the mood of the times when they were shot.
The horror or dreadful type of movies has always excited the imagination of its followers right from when they first berthed on our TV screens about 90 years ago. Zombie movies, as they were later known has enjoyed periods of upsurge and also periods of decline over its lifespan globally. However, within the last decade or so, Zombie movies have been on a steady resurgence, ramping up box-office hits and turning in dollars across the globe.
In this article, we shall highlight 15 best Zombie movies you should watch. These Zombie movies you should watch cover the earliest movies up to the present, all reflecting the mood of the times when they were shot.
In actual fact, horror movies began making inroads into the public consciousness with movies like White Zombie (1932) and a few other movies before a meteoric rise was observed with the Night of the Living Dead (1968). It was a movie shot on a very low budget, yet it captivated audiences with the mystery embedded in the plot, seemingly horror and fearful settings, providing what the producers saw as a compelling script.
The leading light under this movie genre was George Romero, who went on to produce several captivating Zombie movies. We shall take a look at the best Zombie movies you should watch, and let us see whether any of Romero’s movies could make the cut of the 15 best Zombie movies you should watch.
It is because of the growing influence of Zombie movies that game developers have been incorporating some of these horror or Zombie movies into their games on offer on Sony’s Playstation or Microsoft’s Xbox and other gaming consoles, as well as live streaming games platforms.
The movies featured on this list of 15 best Zombie movies you should watch reflect various moods and sensibilities, merged together with a resourceful imagination and a variety of horror or Zombie plots and subplots.
Number 1: Dawn of the Dead (1979)
This movie is reputed as one of the most acclaimed and extremely popular horror movies of all time. In what seems to be a sequel to Night of the Living Dead, the movie, directed by George Romero and starring most notably David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, and Gaylen Ross is set in Philadelphia, United States. Following a surge and growing epidemic of zombies that were coming from the dead, two SWAT cops, together with a traffic reporter and his girlfriend sought refuge from the rampaging zombies in a remote and secluded shopping mall. The movie is packed with suspense, horror, and adventure, putting it at the top of the list.
Number 2: Zombieland (2009)
This horror movie focuses on two men, Columbus and Tallahassee, who had managed to survive rampaging zombies that had almost overrun the world. They then had to join forces with two sisters who were stranded, Wichita and Little Rock, and fight a battle to extinguish all the zombies. The leading characters in the cast were Woody Harrelson (Tallahassee), Jesse Eisenberg (Columbus), Emma Stone (Wichita), and Abigail Breslin (Little Rock). The movie was directed by Ruben Fleischer and got 10 Awards and a total of 28 nominations.
Number 3: 28 Days Later (2003)
This is a British zombie movie directed by Danny Boyle, starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, and Megan Burns. The storyline captured the breakdown of law and order in society after the accidental release of a highly contagious virus. It focuses on the struggle of four survivors of the ensuing pandemic to cope with the desolation and loss of their family and friends, while they continued to navigate and evade the deadly virus. It is indeed a post-apocalyptic suspense-filled, horror movie that is worth watching if you had not done so.
Number 4: World War Z (2013)
World War Z is an apocalyptic zombie movie filled with horror, action, and suspense. It was directed by Marc Forster and starred Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, James Badge Dale, and Daniella Kertesz as the main characters. The storyline is based on a 2006 novel with the same name, written by Max Brooks. In this horror zombie action movie, Gerry Lane, a former UN investigator traveled to different parts of the world, gathering clues and finding ways to stop a zombie pandemic. The movie is 116 minutes of suspense and horror, and also reflected a solid overall performance from Brad Pitt on the zombie turf.
Number 5: Re-Animator (1985)
The movie revolves around a medical student who invented a reagent that could bring back some form of life, that is, re-animate dead bodies – the perfect plot for zombie creation. Together with his coursemate, they began to test the serum on human corpses, amidst unbelief by the dean of their college on the possibility of such invention, which led to ostracism of the duo, and ultimately populating the college with zombies. It is directed by Stuart Gordon and stars Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, and Robert Sampson, among others.
Number 6: One Cut of the Dead (Kamera O Tomeru Na) (2019)
This movie was originally made for Japanese audiences, directed by Shin’ichirô Ueda, and featured Takayuki Hamatsu, Mao (IV), Harumi Shuhama, and Kazuaki Nagaya as the main characters. The movie is seen as both engaging and horror, filled with zombie activities, with a refreshing blend of action, suspense, and clever satire.
Number 7: Dead Alive (1993)
This zombie horror movie starring Timothy Balme, Diana Peñalver, Elizabeth Moody, and Ian Watkin, and directed by Peter Jackson, revolves around events that followed after a young man’s mum was bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She became sick and could not survive the obviously poisonous bite of the rat-monkey and succumbed to death. However, she came back to life and then went on a killing spree, killing and eating dogs, nurses in the hospital, friends, and her neighbors. It ramped up 14 awards and 7 nominations.
Number 8: 28 Weeks Later (2007)
This zombie movie, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, featured Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, and Harold Perrineau as the main characters. Six months after the devastating rage virus had virtually extinguished the population of Great Britain, the US army was able to help in securing a small part of the capital, London for survivors to repopulate the British Isles, but everything did not go to plans, as the zombies had their sights feasted on the location and wanted total annihilation.
Number 9: Versus II (2000)
This Japanese zombie action thriller was directed by Ryuhei Kitamura, starring the following main characters: Tak Sakaguchi, Kenji Matsuda, Chieko Misaki, and Yuichiro Arai. A band of ruthless, an unknown woman and a runaway convict found themselves in the Forest of Resurrection, called the 444th portal to the other side. Trouble started for the group when some of the dead bodies buried in the forest started resurrecting and a fierce battle between the living and the dead ensued in the Forest of Resurrection.
Number 10: Train to Busan (2016)
In the midst of a pandemic resulting from a zombie virus that was inflicting heavy damage in South Korea, passengers seek solace inside a train ride from Seoul to Busan, but they had to battle the zombies for their survival. The major characters in the cast are Yoo Gong, Jung Yoo-mi, Ma Dong-Seok, and Kim Soo-Ahn, while the movie was directed by Yeon Sang-ho.
Number 11: Juan of the Dead (2012)
This horror movie, set in Spain and Cuba, is filled with twists and turns, as otherwise sleepy Juan became the undead Trojan horse that led the onslaught against zombies, choosing to stay in his homeland and survive, as he had done for 40 years of his existence. The movie stars Alexis Diaz de Villegas (Juan), Jorge Molina (Lazaro), and Andrea Duro (Camila), and was directed by Alejandro Brugués.
Number 12: Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
This animated movie is filled with adventure and comedy of Scooby and his mystery gang as they reunite and visited the remote and eerie Moonscar island in the Louisiana bayou to investigate what was going on in a haunted mansion on the island. Daphne did not want to settle for being seen as just a villain in a costume, and indeed they all got more than they expected on the island. The movie was co-directed by Hiroshi Aoyama and Kazumi Fukushima and featured the voices of Scott Innes (Scooby-Doo), Billy West (Shaggy), and Mary Kay Bergman (Daphne).
Number 13: Warm Bodies (2013)
The movie offers a sweet, well-acted slight departure from a tradition of zombie brain-dead destructive personalities to yield a storyline interwoven in a funny twist from a classic love story. After a zombie rescues a girl from certain death, their relationship blossoms to love, and this unusual relationship then triggers several events that could transform the entire world and its outlook on zombies. It stars Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Rob Corddry, and John Malkovich, and was directed by Jonathan Levine.
Number 14: Resident Evil (2002)
In this movie, a special operation unit of the military battles a powerful and supercomputer that had gone haywire, together with hundreds of researchers and scientists who mutated into flesh-eating zombies after a laboratory accident with deadly consequences. Directed by the Mortal Kombat (1995) director, Paul Anderson, and starring Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, James Purefoy, the movie is a must-watch for gaming buffs who may have played the game via Playstation or Xbox.
Number 15: Little Monsters (2019)
Directed by Abe Forsythe and starring award-winning actress, Lupita Nyong’o, together with Alexander England, Josh Gad, and Kat Stewart, Little Monsters is a zombie horror movie which also uniquely could be viewed as a romantic comedy, sought to further strengthen the narrative that the zombie storyline is not only about flesh-eating creatures, but could be about brains, intelligence, and romance. The plot revolves around Dave (Alexander England), a musician recently heartbroken, who offers to be a guide for his nephew Felix’s kindergarten class trip which will make him get close to one of the teachers, Miss Caroline. Everything goes fine until zombies invaded their peace and a battle for survival ensues.