these are in numerical order starting at....
22. FLIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD aka Plane Dead (2007)
hot on the heels of that other things on a plane comes this fun low-budget comedy horror about zombies on a plane. It's a great film and has its tongue firmly in it's cheek.
21. ZOMBIE FLESH EATERS (1979)
Controversial, how can i put this at number 20? well it a great film but i find a chore to watch sometimes, plus Fulci's The Beyond, House by the Cemetery and City Of the Living dead are better films. Those however are not on the list because Zombie Flesh Eaters is primarily a Zombie film.
20. ZOMBIELAND (2009)
Zombieland is the kind of film that shouldn't have become as big as it was, but it was huge and for that i salute it. it's funny, gory and has some killer lines, Watch this film if you like Woody Harrelson because he is brilliant as Tallahassee and there is a great cameo from Bill Murray in this too.
19. OUTPOST (2008)
This choice is an odd one as it involves zombies but not zombies at the same time and uses something that i am very very interested in, Nazi experiments and the best type of zombie, the Nazi zombie, this is like Aliens in the way that it uses action and blends it with the supernatural. It's a low budget film but it's quite atmospheric and has some great ideas and performances. Can't wait for the sequel.
18. TOMBS OF THE BLIND DEAD (1971)
Armando De Ossorio kicked of hist Blind Dead saga with this brilliantly directed, tense, atmospheric fable about renegade knights from medieval times that are brought to life to feast on the living. Brilliant, Tense and one of the best zombie films from the 70s.
17. RESIDENT EVIL (2002)
Alot of people are gonna ask how i can put Resident Evil above Fulci's Zombie, well the simple answer is, i find it more enjoyable, i would rather sit and watch this. Don't get me wrong Zombie is a great film but i find this more enjoyable, it's got hot women, guns, zombies, zombie dogs and some truly awful CGI but for me it's more entertaining.
16. DEAD & BREAKFAST (2004)
A musical comedy with zombies, what's more to love, plus David Carradine in a bizarre role and some great Braindead-Esque gore. The best thing for me with this flick is the narrator as he wrote and performed all the music. it's fun and gory and that's what i like.
15. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
The granddaddy of all the zombie grenre, why is at 15?, ive put it here because there are better zombie films than this, yes it's a great ground breaking film but i prefer to watch Romero's other zombie films. remember this is MY top 22 and it's in the top 15.
14. VERSUS (2000)
Absolutely fucking mental from the samurai slice and dice splatterfest opening to the mind bending ending this films is insane from start to finish and what about that huge gun. Absolutely brilliant and one that i should recommend more to people.
13. DANCE OF THE DEAD (2008)
I Absolutely love this low-budget zombie comedy, it's just so much fun. I was like these people in school, i was an outcast and had an obsession with things sci-fi and horror. Just a great little, sweet teen zombie film that i just love.
12. THE LIVING DEAD AT THE MANCHESTER MORGUE aka Let Sleeping Corpses Lie ( 1974)
a wholly underatted film in the zombie cannon. LDATMM is a eerie, beautifully shot film that uses it's location as more of a character than just a surrounding. Just a brilliant film and for me the best of the 70s euro zombie flicks. Highly recommended.
11. DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004)
One of the single best cinema experiences that i have ever had, as a remake it's pretty good, as a stand alone zombie film it's brilliant. There are elements from the original but there are new things in it. The change from slow to fast xombies gives this film a more ferocious bite and elevates the horror. The fantastic opening with the little girl and the escape from the house was for me one of the most intense openings to a film id ever seen.
Highly recommend this.
10. PONTYPOOL (2008)
Probably the most unique zombie film ever made and one of the most tense zombie film i have ever seen. Pontypool os a cracking film with a unique twist on the zombie genre. A brilliant film well worth checking out. Apparently it's the first in a trilogy....
9. CEMETERY MAN aka Dellamorte Dellemore (1994)
Probably the last of the Italian zombie films, this is one of the greatest zombie films ever made and it's based on an Italian comic book called Dylan Dog. This is the only film i can stomach Rupert Everett in and he's pretty good. It's also pretty bizarre but i definitely recommend this film.
8. NIGHT OF THE CREEPS (1986)
The genius that is Fred Dekker made this brilliantly funny, spoof of B movies that used aliens, zombies, slugs and set it in a collage environment. With charcters whose surnames were the surnames of famous horror directors and employing the awesome Tom Atkins top play the cop. Absolute genius and it's a shame it's taken so long to come to dvd and blu-ray.
7. EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN (1987)
I know it's not technically a zombie film but it does have the living dead element. The films is bug nuts, totally mental and absolutely brilliant for it. When I decided to include one of the Evil Dead films i had trouble deciding which one to include. I settled on the second because i thinks it's the best of the three and the most enjoyable.
6. SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)
I know alot of hard core horror fans are slightly against Shaun of The Dead, but as im a big fan of the TV show Spaced, i have to say that this is one of the funniest films I have ever seen, i find it endlessly watchable and the guys who made it know their stuff. For me just a brilliant zombie comedy and one that i will continue to watch over and over again.
5. RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985)
From the writer of Alien and Dead and Buried, comes this brilliant spoof of the Zombie genre, a very 80s movie and one that used the whole "Braaiinnss" thing for the zombies. It's great that a film like this is now regarded as a classic. Brilliant stuff..
4. DAY OF THE DEAD (1985).
George A Romero's 3rd entry in his living dead saga is one of the goriest films ever made. Made on a modest budget to get the film released unrated, the film is a masterclass in atmosphere and practical visual F/X and has rightfully earned it's place as one of the all time greatest zombie films ever made. A huge Recommendation.
3. BRAINDEAD (1992)
Before he became a massive Oscar winning director for the epic Lord of The Rings trilogy, New Zealand native Peter Jackson was king of the splatter world and his Gore opus was this film, a truly epic film of zombies and gore, there is so much gore that it passes the point of being disgusting to being outrageously funny. It's also a very funny comedy and if only someone would release a special edition of the film would be a great thing. DO NOT MISS THIS FILM....
2. RE-ANIMATOR (1985)
Former theatre director Stuart Gordon and first time movie producer Brian Yuzna originally envisioned Re-Animator as a television series but decided on a feature film instead. The Follows Dr. Herbert West as he researches a way of reanimating the dead and the chaos that ensures. It's Darkly comic and laugh out loud funny at times and gory as fuck. A brilliant film with the awesome Jeffrey Combs in a career defining role as the protagonist, Dr. Herbert west and this film put Stuart Gordon on the map as someone to watch.
1. DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)
Not only one of the best sequels ever made but one of the best horror movies ever made that set the bench mark for apocalyptic survival horror. If night is the Granddaddy then Dawn is the Daddy of the zombie films, every film since has used it as a starting point or has unwittingly reference it somehow. Tom Savini\s make up FX are brilliantly done and Romero's social commentary on consumerism and conformity is fits in incredibly well with a plot that involves roaming bikers, zombies and isolation. In my opinion no zombie film has ever come close to emulating the standard this film set for the living dead. My favourite zombie flick and one of my favourite films of all time.....
I admire your balls in this day and age of people having a pop at other people's views. Why? Because, although you've explained why, this is one of the worst Top "22" collection of zombie films i've seen lol. But, hey, it's your article and I'll not mess with it. The positive is; DOTD 1978 at the top spot. It really hasn't been bettered. As much as I like The Walking Dead (that followed Romero's vision), this movie has stayed with me for over thirty years because it's so damn entertaining, and has a social conscience too. Rare in most genre films.
ReplyDeleteit is indeed a terrible list, i did this when i just started the site and on reflection there are so many films on this countdown that have no business being there like Flight Of The Living Dead for one.
DeleteHoly shit, Just looked at what i placed on this list and realised how utterly terrible it is. Apologies to all who had to read my words.
ReplyDelete