Alternative Zombie Films
Looking at the best of Zombie film lists is akin to wading through a rehash of 28 Days Later and various "of the Dead" titles. How about a look at ones you might have missed to really expand your viewing.
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- DirectorJaume BalagueróPaco PlazaStarsManuela VelascoFerran TerrazaJorge-Yamam SerranoA television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.Not just a great alternative zombie film, [REC] is quite possibly one of the greatest zombie films ever. It doesn't have the recognition of 28 Days Later (2002), but this shaky cam film truly delivers in terms of style and scares. The claustrophobia, darkness, and inability to escape from an everyday urban environment help to heighten the sense of doom in this film.
- DirectorStuart GordonStarsJeffrey CombsBruce AbbottBarbara CramptonAfter an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.Still somehow a cult classic after all these years. The HP Lovecraft tale of Herbert West, Re-Animator is one of the best horror comedy send ups of all time. Watching this may explain why so many horror freaks go gaga over Jeffrey Combs.
- DirectorTommy WirkolaStarsJeppe Beck LaursenCharlotte FrognerJenny SkavlanA ski vacation turns horrific for a group of medical students, as they find themselves confronted by an unimaginable menace: Nazi zombies.B-grade Nazi zombie films have been around forever. None shine so great as Dod Sno though. Infused with great production values, over-the-top scenes, and that splash of campy humor that makes horror great. A true delight.
- DirectorPeter JacksonStarsTimothy BalmeDiana PeñalverElizabeth MoodyA young man's mother is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.Peter Jackson missed the memo that splatter films aren't supposed to be funny. By ramping up gore to ridiculous levels, he created one of the most popular cult classics of the 90's and helped transform the splatter-gore genre. Darn Sumatran rat-monkeys.
- DirectorMichele SoaviStarsRupert EverettFrançois Hadji-LazaroAnna FalchiA cemetery man must kill the dead a second time when they become zombies.Weird, weird, and weird doesn't begin to describe Dellamorte Dellamore. A quirky zombie film full of surreal and avant garde moments, this is one of the most truly out there horror films. Not your typical zombie film.
- DirectorAndrew CurrieStarsKesun LoderBilly ConnollyCarrie-Anne MossIn an Earthly world resembling the 1950s, a cloud of space radiation has shrouded the planet, resulting in the dead becoming zombies that desire live human flesh. A company called Zomcon has been able to control the zombie population. Zombies can be temporarily neutralized by being shot, but can only be permanently neutralized by their brain being destroyed. Their ultimate disposal is through cremation, or burial, the latter which requires decapitation with the head being buried separately from the body. Conversely, Zomcon has created the domestication collar, when activated and placed on a zombie makes the zombie controllable, and thus an eternally productive creature within society. Because all dead initially become zombies, the elderly are viewed negatively and suspectly. And all people, adult or child, learn to shoot to kill to protect society. Zomcon is the go to organization for all things zombie. In the town of Willard, the Robinsons - father Bill (Dylan Baker), mother Helen (Carrie-Anne Moss), and adolescent son Timmy (Kesun Loder) - are one family who don't own a zombie as a domestic, since Bill is afraid of zombies, as, when he was a child, he had to shoot his own zombie father, who tried to eat him. Bill has thus become fascinated with funerals to see zombies put away permanently. But Helen feels pressured to get a zombie when Zomcon's new head of security in Willard, the officious Jonathan Bottoms (Henry Czerny), moves into the neighborhood with his family. Never having had to deal with a zombie directly, Timmy is initially wary of their zombie. But as a lonely child who has no friends and is often bullied, Timmy eventually befriends their zombie, who he names Fido (Sir Billy Connolly), as he treats the zombie much like a faithful pet dog. Timmy protects Fido at all cost, even after Fido, due to no fault of its own, is implicated in some deaths, which creates a mini-wave of loose zombies unknown to Zomcon. But Fido may play a larger role within the family as a companion for Helen, who is largely neglected by Bill, since he sees human affection as ultimately resulting in such difficult issues as what happened between him and his own father. With Timmy and Helen treating Fido with kindness, Fido, in turn, may prove that not all zombies, even when without their domestication collar, are out to kill anyone and everyone in their path.Fido tried to build off of Shaun of the Dead (2004)'s success, but ultimately failed to garner any mainstream attention. Not for a lack of quality though. Fido is a riotous satire of the white-washed era of Americana. Deeply funny on a subversive level.
- DirectorWes CravenStarsBill PullmanCathy TysonZakes MokaeAn anthropologist goes to Haiti after hearing rumors about a drug used by black magic practitioners to turn people into zombies.Probably one of Wes Craven's best films. A politically charged thriller that brought the zombie subgenre back to its roots - Voodou. Set in the political turmoil of Haiti, it explores zombism as a metaphor for capitalistic power.
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsTisa FarrowIan McCullochRichard JohnsonStrangers searching for a young woman's missing father arrive at a tropical island where a doctor desperately seeks the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead.The titling of this film can be confusing for some, but to make it clear it was marketed to make Italian audiences think it was the sequel to Dawn of the Dead (1978). Surprisingly though is a tight gore-fest with plenty of amazing moments that easily could have held on its own. The best of course is a scene where a zombie fights a shark. Easily one of Lucio Fulci's best films.
- DirectorJames GunnStarsNathan FillionElizabeth BanksMichael RookerA small town is taken over by an alien plague, turning residents into zombies and all forms of mutant monsters.Despite being a horror-comedy, I don't think anyone outside of horror fans find it even remotely funny. Nathan Fillion, Gregg Henry, and Michael Rooker deliver noteworthy performances that help make this more about character than some truly over-the-top effects.
- DirectorBruce McDonaldStarsStephen McHattieLisa HouleGeorgina ReillyA radio host interprets the possible outbreak of a deadly virus which infects the small Ontario town he is stationed in.Perhaps the most pretentious zombie film ever made, and it definitely gets it due from many horror critics. Set entirely in a radio booth, it uses dialogue to carry the entire movie with little to no actual blood or zombies shown. A not so subtle accusation of both liberal and conservative demagogues and their followers.
- DirectorJorge GrauStarsCristina GalbóRay LovelockArthur KennedyA cop chases two hippies suspected of a series of Manson family-like murders; unbeknownst to him, the real culprits are the living dead, brought to life with a hunger for human flesh by ultrasonic radiation being used for pest control.Considered by an elite few to be one of the most underrated horror films of all time. This seldom seen Spanish gem is one of the best Europe had to offer in the 70's and 80's.
- DirectorFred DekkerStarsJason LivelyTom AtkinsSteve MarshallAlien brain parasites, entering humans through the mouth, turn their host into a killing zombie. Some teenagers start to fight against them.Pure 80's fun. Night of the Creeeps is as light-hearted and mild as any other horror film from the decade. It still delivers a pretty solid, if not formulaic bit of fun.
- DirectorRyûhei KitamuraStarsTak SakaguchiHideo SakakiChieko MisakaThere are 666 portals that connect this world to the other side. These are concealed from all human beings. Somewhere in Japan exists the 444th portal.... The forest of resurrection.Totally, utterly off the wall. Leave it to the Japanese to take everything about the zombie subgenre and leave it behind. What you get with Versus is some crazy hybrid action-horror where nothing should be taken seriously.
- DirectorToby WilkinsStarsShea WhighamJill WagnerPaulo CostanzoTrapped in an isolated gas station by a voracious Splinter parasite that transforms its still-living victims into deadly hosts, a young couple and an escaped convict must find a way to work together to survive this primal terror.Interesting take on the zombie-alien parasite angle. A lot of tension and tight scripting, but never found it as holy amazing as people described it. Maybe its because I had trouble seeing Paulo Costanzo as anything, but Evan R. Lawson from HankMed.
- DirectorMarcel SarmientoGadi HarelStarsShiloh FernandezNoah SeganCandice KingTwo high school boys discover an imprisoned woman in an abandoned mental asylum who cannot die.Pitch black. Deadgirl is a slow moving, coming of age story akin to Stand by Me (1986). In Stand By Me, a group of boys find a dead body and poke it with a stick. In Deadgirl, its an undead female and they poke her repeatedly with something else. Truly, utterly dark and depraved.
- DirectorDeagol BrothersAndrew DuensingStarsBrett MillerShellie Marie ShartzerDavid FuquaA genre-bending tale of a boy trying to fulfill his unrequited love for a girl who has risen from the grave.Take the same premise as above, but replace the darkness with a pink highlighter. An indie labor of love, Make-Out with Violence is all parts warm, yet equally disturbing. It falters at times and reeks of pretension, but its still well worth a view. Amazing soundtrack.
- DirectorDavid BrucknerDan BushJacob GentryStarsAnessa RamseyJustin WelbornScott PoythressA horror film told in three parts, from three perspectives, in which a mysterious transmission that turns people into killers invades every cell phone, radio, and television.Three directors, three highly polarizing parts. Part 1 is your typical survive the night with plenty of gore and action. Part 2 is a witty comedy piece that cemented AJ Bowen as one of the most under-rated actors of the genre. Part 3 is a weird pretentious dialogue fest. I liked the film overall, but have found little agreement over which parts are the strong and weak ones.
- DirectorVictor HalperinStarsBela LugosiMadge BellamyJoseph CawthornA young man turns to a witch doctor to lure the woman he loves away from her fiancé, but instead turns her into a zombie slave.At some point, you should pay homage to the place where the genre came to. Despite popular opinion the zombie genre was born with this classic film and transformed by Night of the Living Dead (1968) into what it is today. Despite nearly 80 years, White Zombie holds up as a fairly solid chiller.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsPaul HamptonJoe SilverLynn LowryThe residents of a suburban high-rise apartment building are being infected by a strain of parasites that turn them into mindless, sex-crazed fiends out to infect others by the slightest sexual contact.I absolutely love David Cronenberg's Shivers. A fun little film about a luxury apartment complex that is overtaken by a parasite. It was decried in Canada as being vile, and I don't get it. Just because these zombies want to hump each other's brains out instead of eat them. I mean what's worse - honestly? It also features my favorite 70's sex kitten Lynn Lowry.
- DirectorJake WestStarsDanny DyerNoel ClarkeEmil MarwaA group of men, heading to a remote village to help one of their friends get over his divorce, soon discover that all the women have been infected with a virus that makes them man-hating cannibals.Bachelor party wanders into a town of mutated women hellbent on killing anything male. Over-the-top effects, gore, and hit-or-miss humor defines Doghouse. Worth a gander.
- DirectorPaul SoletStarsJordan LaddSamantha FerrisGabrielle RoseAfter losing her unborn child, Madeline Matheson insists on carrying the baby to term. Following the delivery, the child miraculously returns to life with an appetite for human blood. Madeline is faced with a mother's ultimate decision.Here's something that sound entirely unfeasible: a zombie film that skewers over-protective mothers. Yet Grace attempts it and while low scares or excitement, the premise of a zombie baby is reason enough to check it out. The premise holds up well as long as you can wade through a slow-paced plot.
- DirectorGregg BishopStarsJared KusnitzGreyson ChadwickChandler DarbyOn the night of the big High-School Prom, the dead rise to eat the living, and the only people who can stop them are the losers who couldn't get dates to the dance.Not a true "of the Dead" title in that George A. Romero had nothing to do with it. Probably a good thing as his latest films have been writhe with mediocrity and outright awfulness. Dance of the Dead reminds me a lot of Night of the Creeps as its formulaic, yet remains fun.
- DirectorSakichi SatoStarsTadanobu AsanoShô AikawaErika OkudaA horror-comedy about two blue-collar factory workers (who happen to be jiu-jitsu experts) dealing with a ravenous, flesh-eating zombie uprising in Tokyo.Plays like Shaolin Soccer (2001) without all the charm and tongue-in-cheek humor. Still a rather funny film, even if it bounders on being silly the entire time. I tend to stop watching bad comedies, but made it all the way through this one.
- DirectorMichael SpierigPeter SpierigStarsFelicity MasonMungo McKayRob JenkinsA quaint Australian fishing village is overcome by meteorites that turn its residents into the ravenous undead, leaving a small group of those unharmed to find a way out.Depending on who you talk to, Undead is either pure garbage or one of the best Aussie horrors. I tend to agree with the later and find the offbeat humor refreshing. It is notable for a unique twist on the genre and worth a watch to any fan of the genre.
- DirectorMatthew LeutwylerStarsJeremy SistoErik PalladinoBianca LawsonA night at a local bed and breakfast turns into a bloody supernatural fight to the death.Slightly under-rated zombedy that attempts to ride its B-movie roots into cult classic-dom. Doesn't really hold up as well as Fido or Shaun, but it is still worth a watch. Equally as likely to produce groans as it is to produce laughs.