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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Zombie Movies Ate My Brain

I try to do a horror movie post before Halloween each year. I've avoided zombie movies, as they're being made faster than I can watch them; also, there's a problem in deciding just what qualifies - every mummy movie should qualify, I think, but I'm intentionally ignoring them. If one sticks to zombies made by voodoo, the list gets very short. Here's my list of good zombie movies, in rough order of quality, entertainment value, adherence to what one expects when one thinks "zombie movie" and historical importance. I'll admit the Evil Dead movies, I Am Legend, Night of the Creeps and Re-Animator aren't zombie movies to my thinking, but they're on the list anyway. There's also a cartoon, a documentary and a 12 minute music video. How much gore one can stand will decide which of these you'd care to see; I'd recommend looking up a review before watching any of these.

1) Night of the Living Dead (1968)
2) Dawn of the Dead (1979)
3) Shaun of the Dead (2004)
4) Thriller (1983)
5) The Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn (1987)
6) Army of Darkness (1997)
7) Braindead (1992)
8) [Rec] (2009)
9) Zombieland (2009)
10) Dead Set (2008)
11) Planet Terror (2007)
12) 28 Days Later (2003)
13) The Evil Dead (1982)
14) Re-Animator (1985)
15) Dellamorte Dellamore (aka Cemetery Man) (1994)
16) I Walked with a Zombie (1943)
17) Carnival of Souls (1962)
18) Dawn of the Dead (2004)
19) Zombie Girl: The Movie (2009)
20) Return of the Living Dead (1985)
21) I Am Legend (2007)
22) Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island (1998)
23) Day of the Dead (1985)
24) Don't Open the Window (aka Let Sleeping Corpses Lie) (1974)
25) Fido (2007)
26) Zombie (aka Zombi 2) (1979)
27) Last Man on Earth (1964)
28) Night of the Creeps (1986)
29) Pontypool (2008)
30) Versus (2000)
31) Wild Zero (2006)
32) White Zombie (1932)
33)Night of the Living Dead (1990)
34) Seven Doors of Death (aka The Beyond) (1981)
35) Plague of the Zombies (1966)
36) Zombie Love (2007)
37) Resident Evil (2002)
38) Dead Snow (2009)
39) Bio-Zombie (1998)
40) Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972)

Honorable mentions:

Return of the Blind Dead (1973), Night of the Seagulls (1975),Attack of the Vegan Zombies (2010), Plaga Zombie: Mutant Zone (2001), Revenge of the Dead (aka Zeder) (1983), American Zombie (2007), Sars Wars: Bangkok Zombie Crisis (2004), Undead (2003), Land of the Dead (2005), Juan of the Dead (2011), Terror of the Living Dead (aka The Hanging Woman) (1973), The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988), Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Zombies Anonymous (2006), Quarantine (2008), Les Revenants (aka They Came Back) (2004), The Horde (2009).

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's quite the list. I'm not really into zombie movies, but I really liked The Crazies (I think it can be considered a zombie movie). Carnival of Souls is weird.

Glaven Q. Heisenberg said...

Wait. Scooby freaking Doo is number 22 and the Serpent and the Rainbow gets only honorable mention?

You meddling kids won't get away with this!

Also, too: 28 Days Later should be in the top 5 ...

Ross said...

I would like to make an argument for the inclusion of Frankenweenie as well as Pet Cemetery. Who says zombies must be human. Also, if a music video makes the list, how about the first season of The Walking Dead?

SteveQ said...

My word verification is "xersisen!" Spelling notwithstanding, that's what I should be doing, rather than watching zombie flicks!

@GQH: Scoobs is the scoop of sorbet to refresh the palate between the more savoury dishes.

@Ross: I thought of the TV show, but I haven't actually watched it (though I've heard good things). Frankenweenie gets excluded in the Frankenstein-types, just as I excluded Mummy films... though it was so much better than Frankenhooker. Didn't care for Pet Cemetery: film, song or what it did to the Ramones.

@Anonymous: Crazies was George Romero trying to make a buck; didn't enjoy it. Carnival of Souls IS weird, delightfully so.