Since the rise of the zombie movie in the late 1960s, audiences have been infected with a deep affection for the sadistic subgenre, and filmmakers have kept things fresh by venturing the undead into new territories of the comedic and dramatic variety.
From Dawn of the Dead to Shaun of the Dead, the crawling corpses are a constant in cinema, and the desire from fans for more of the big screen flesh-eaters shows no signs of fading anytime soon. With such demand though, there are inevitable hits as well as misses, but in amongst the very best scare fests, and the downright rotten zombie movies lie some fantastic hidden gems.
10 Maggie Pits Arnie Against Heartbreak Rather Than Hordes Of The Undead
Maggie is far from the Arnold Schwarzenegger versus zombies movie that fans may have been expecting prior to the film's release. It's a somber, heartbreaking drama about a young infected girl and her father as they try to come to terms with her impending doom.
Schwarzenegger gives one of the finest performances of his career, and that alone makes the movie worth viewing. Maggie also gives the viewer a vastly different type of zombie movie, one with a slow-burning focus on love and loss.
9 Nazi Zombies Is Essentially All That's Needed To Sell Dead Snow
How could a movie make the undead even more terrifying? Well, turning them into nazi zombies is a surefire way to start. The Norwegian comedy-horror burst onto the scene in 2009, even securing a US premiere at the esteemed Sundance Film Festival.
Dead Snow delivers plenty of laughs alongside some truly wicked special effects of the goriest variety, and watching nazis die all over again is certainly a fun way to spend an hour and a half.
8 Fido Serves Up A Wholesome Zombie Tale
Scottish national treasure and one of comedy's all-time greats Billy Connolly playing a zombie—for some, that's a mouth-watering elevator pitch for a hilarious zombie outing. However, Fido doesn't exactly do what it says on the tin, it's a touching, thought-provoking, and fresh look at how the world could deal with a zombie apocalypse.
In Fido, humans have won the war against the undead, and the zombies "live" on as slaves, trapped down by metal collars. Fido is the story of a boy and his titular pet zombie. It's both Billy Connolly and the zombie genre as you've never seen them before.
7 Pontypool Proves Seeing Isn't Always Believing
Potential Pontypool viewers may be lured away upon learning the film is very light on on-screen zombie action, and that's a shame as the 2008 movie is a bold, brave, and brilliant horror. Pontypool follows a radio DJ as he covers an undead outbreak from inside the booth.
Stephen McHattie is captivating as the lead and aforementioned DJ, and Tony Burgess' excellent water-tight screenplay, which was based on his novel Pontypool Changes, ensures the 95 minutes fly by.
6 Quarantine Is An Excellent International Film Adaptation
Though an inferior remake of Spanish horror sensation REC, 2008's Quarantine still does an excellent job at capturing everything that made the original so fantastic. The shot for shot reconstruction was actually put into production before REC was even released.
Jennifer Carpenter of Dexter fame makes an admirable transition to scream queen as the film's lead. Her performance coupled with Quarantine's faithful tread of the source material's paths results in a worthwhile watch for any REC fans, or those non-Spanish speaking viewers with an irrational fear of subtitles.
5 George Romero Added To His Legacy With Land Of The Dead
George Romero may be the godfather of the dead, but later in his career, some of the writer/director's efforts were sadly less than well-received. Although admittedly inferior to the classic Romero trilogy that started it all, Land of the Dead is still a worthy addition to the zombie master's filmography.
John Leguizamo puts in a typically electric showing, but the real draw here is cinema legend, Dennis Hopper. He's as watchable as ever and helps lift the film from mediocre to a highly enjoyable apocalyptic adventure.
4 Flight Of The Living Dead Is Sky-High Hilarious Horror
As Samuel L. Jackson and Snakes on a Plane once proved, taking the "high" concept quite literally and throwing an imaginative idea into the skies can produce deliciously fun results.
Flight of the Living Dead is a bargain bin hidden gem, with the film's humor, outrageous action, and oddball characters making it a tremendously enjoyable ride. It's a movie that serves as proof that zombie movies can always have a little hilarity with their horror.
3 Braindead Is Peter Jackson At His Low-Budget Best
Before helming one of cinema's most successful franchises in The Lord of the Rings, Peter Jackson was simply an exceptionally talented filmmaker finding his way to Hollywood. With an extremely modest budget by his later standards, Jackson created what is quite possibly the goriest zombie movie ever made.
Braindead, released as Dead Alive in the US, is a delightfully disgusting and often hilarious zombie comedy. Simon Pegg even cited the film as one of the main influences for his classic zombie laughathon Shaun of the Dead.
2 Peninsula Is Another Excellent Entry In Korea's Zombie Catalog
Peninsula's biggest failure is that it simply couldn't live up to the heights set by its predecessor. The sequel to the phenomenal Train To Busan either flew under the radar for many, or its less than stellar reviews put viewers off.
Peninsula abandons Train to Busan's grounded realism in favor of wild characters and outlandish action set pieces—the film's final act is essentially Mad Max meets zombies, yet the character work is excellent, and its emotional central storyline makes an admirable attempt at matching the movie it followed.
1 Tom Savini's Night of the Living Dead Remake Is Macabre Magic
Being a remake of what is arguably the most famous zombie movie of all time certainly leaves no further investigation needed for why Tom Savini's Night of the Living Dead has missed so many viewers over the years. It's a film no one really asked for but was made because George Romero could not secure copyright for the title of his original masterpiece.
The special effects and movie makeup master Tom Savini ensures the undead look absolutely horrific throughout, and a standout performance from horror legend Tony Todd make 1990's Night of the Living Dead a worthy update to the classic title.
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