My Top 10 ZOMBIE films!

Just like My Top 10 ZOMBIE games on PC, I crave something more than just mindless zombie slaughter in my movies. I need dread and some form of realism in how humanity meets this threat, so comedies are basically cut automatically. That’s not to say the films I will recommend are humorless, but humor will not be the main focus—it will be the survival in a world filled with terror and despair.

To avoid making this a George A. Romero list, I only get to pick one of his films for my top ten—even if they are all top choices. Ready your machete. We are going in!

---

1) Day of the Dead
Day of the Dead will be my Romero pick and top choice for this list. The reason is simple: it’s a zombie masterpiece. However, when the movie was released, people didn’t like it that much, but it has since become a legendary film and a must-watch.

One of the reasons I like it so much is how weird the vibes are throughout and how the fatigue that the scientists and the military men are feeling is extremely palpable. Everything is so loaded, especially everything involving the relations between the two factions. One wrongdoing and this powderkeg will explode gloriously—which eventually happens. But you have to think: why do this? This is far into the zombie apocalypse, and it sure looks like humanity has already lost. So, why are these men and women still trying to do this dirty government job in that old bunker? 

Very cool movie with great visuals, absolutely insane characters like Capt. Henry Rhodes, and a tense, intriguing plot. 

2) Dawn of the Dead (Remake)
How this movie became as good as it is is a miracle going by the director, Zack Snyder. He is the definition of hit or miss, but mostly misses. And if you ever listen to an interview with him, it gets even more puzzling seeing what he considers the epitome of filmmaking: long extreme slo-mo scenes.

Yet, here we are, with Dawn of the Dead taking a second spot on the list. Technically, it’s a remake of the Dawn of the Dead from 1978, but it’s a remake in premise only. The plot and the zombies are different, from slow shambling corpses to terrifying fast sprinters. 

This can be a thorn in the eye of the classic zombie fan, but the remake makes it a good choice for this survival horror spectacle. The story pacing is higher, and the action is fast, but it still holds a feeling of realism to the combat and world-building. It makes the atmosphere much more doomed, since while you can run, you can never outrun a creature with infinite stamina. 

The writing is excellent with many memorable scenes and characters, with CJ and Steve being my favorites. They know how this whole zombie apocalypse survival thing should be done, until the cold, empty void of death gets them, of course. A clear must-see and one more thing. The extra lore content on the DVD release is absolutely fantastic and should not be missed, especially Andy’s Lost tape. 

3) The Dead
In the somewhat obscure The Dead, we get to follow a mercenary through western Africa after his plane crashes. Now, what makes this little indie film land as high up as it does on the list is because of its strong Romero influences when it comes to scenery, tension, and the zombies.

Not only that, the location is unique, being the dry African steppes—and as with everything African, the brutality of living is harsh on the most pleasant of days. Basically, a wound and you are executed, but in this dismal place there is also hope in the form of friendship and shared hardship. 

The Dead has many excellent zombie scenes, loaded with tension. One on one, in the daylight out in the bush, the zombie is not that dangerous, especially if you have a weapon. Yet it’s his relentless nature that will get you. When the elements ruin your body, he will keep coming, since he never tires. This movie captures that side perfectly, and the setting, being a scorching Africa, makes the survival aspect really strong. 

The Dead is a good film that captures the classic zombie film mood, and I highly recommend it.

4) Pontypool
Pontypool is a special one, as the film is entirely minimalistic, and its concept of zombies is very different from the rest of the movies on the list. Now, people will still turn into mindless violent zombies in the form of infected humans, but the initial spread is very distinct. 

The virus spreads through language, which makes it a linguistic virus where certain words are highly contagious. It’s a cool idea, where the tension comes from what the survivors say to each other, and it’s not that you become an instant zombie if you catch it, either. Speech starts to loop, for example, and you can fight it for a bit. It’s all very unsettling watching people cling to their final strands of humanity when doomed to become a husk. 

The whole movie takes place inside a radio station where our protagonist Grant Mazzy takes calls and tries to figure out what is happening to the town of Pontypool. Despite the small scale, you still get plenty of lore about what is happening around the area—but the small scale is intriguing. It becomes personal, like you are one of the confused survivors following the radio show. If you want a special zombie experience, this is the one.

5) Dead Set
Technically, Dead Set is not a film, but a mini‑series. I decided to include it regardless. All episodes together aren’t more than a little over two hours runtime, which is like one lengthy film. 

Dead Set is a spoof on reality shows, like Big Brother, that was really popular at the time. Honestly, it was a plague back then. Everything was made into a show, which essentially took over TV—for all hours. The creators of Dead Set capture the cringe and degeneracy of these shows perfectly. 

However, the contestants inside the show soon get to experience much worse than the degrading challenges, as the country has experienced a zombie outbreak. This traps all TV workers and the “Big Brother” contestants inside—but is it a trap, or a blessing?

Even though the premise is absurd, it’s made in a pretty realistic way, but with people that seek to be part of something like Big Brother and folks working within TV. So not the most stable individuals, as you can imagine, but it’s played brilliantly, and is very entertaining. This is for the one who wants chaos!

6) The Night Eats the World
The Night Eats the World is probably the most intimate of all the movies on the list. And you can argue the most realistic too, going by pure psychology and bravery of the protagonist. 

The Night Eats the World is about a young man that goes to a party, and while there falls asleep in a private room. When he wakes up, he wakes up to a very different Paris. There are blood smears in the apartment and the city is eerily silent—for some mysterious reason. Well, we know what has happened thanks to the theme of this list, and this guy realizes it soon enough too. From this point onwards, the movie turns into a long fight for survival and keeping the mind in a somewhat sane state. The new solitary state of the world is incredibly taxing on the mental health, which becomes the main focus of this film. 

That’s not to say there aren’t cool zombie scenes and situations, because there are. But they happen in a slower, realistic, and less “heroic” sense. And that’s what I really like about The Night Eats the World—how grounded it feels, and the protagonist’s action are actually things you would probably do. It creates a tight, realistic, and claustrophobic atmosphere—where, just like our hero, our soul would scream out for companionship in this silent, yet hostile world. I highly recommend it if you want an intimate zombie survival experience.

7) Rec
Rec got a lot bigger than was necessary, and yes, that might sound like a strange thing to say. But it turned into a franchise where each movie got worse and worse (except the direct sequel perhaps). That’s not all. An American company remade it scene by scene, but decided to cut important parts—like the religious and demonic undertones, which makes the remake entirely pointless (and toothless).

However, the first and original Spanish version is great and took me by surprise when it came out. It’s filmed in the fake documentary style, as you only get to see what the TV-team films. It can get a bit shaky, but the premise is awesome—having you follow a TV-team with a cute and spirited female reporter, doing a special on the local firefighters. When they tail the firefighters to an apartment house that looks to be a routine mission—it quickly turns into hell on earth. Chaos is essentially unleashed, while the survivors are being trapped inside the building due to quarantine procedures—left to fend for themselves. 

The film has a fast and chaotic vibe that feels extremely claustrophobic, as they have only one building, and one set of central stairs to move around in. It’s very intense with the twisted camera perspectives adding to the mayhem, and the feeling of confusion. The ending sequence is a masterpiece in horror on its own in how terrifying and disturbing everything suddenly becomes (beyond what already happened). Recommended to everyone who wants a cursed twist on the zombie genre.

8) La Horde
La Horde is French movie number two on the list, but this one couldn’t be further from The Night Eats the World. La Horde is ten times as violent and follows a group of survivors instead of one—with one mission, blasting their way out through the zombie hordes, or die trying. 

The film starts with a bunch of elite cops planning a revenge hit on some criminals for their lost police brother. While at location, which is urban decay from hell, things go very wrong, as the gangsters soon capture them. Time seems to be running out, with the bandits making ready to execute them, but then something incredible happens—one of the bandit’s dead victims suddenly gets up and attacks them in a crazed rage. 

Yep, we got another zombie outbreak on our hands, and this time it takes place in a French ghetto where rundown concrete apartment blocks stretch out as far as the eyes can see. It’s a terrible place, and is probably the closest we can get to hell in an urban environment. 

Now, while I wouldn’t say it’s the most realistic take on the zombie apocalypse, it’s in the “sphere” of realism with a few crazy moments. What it is, though, is incredibly moody, dark, and bloody, with the outbreak coming through as absolutely rabid—not something you, or I would survive, or anyone else for that matters. A clear doomed world scenario builds up fast, which adds the feeling of despair to the vibe.

La Horde is more action orientated than the other zombie flicks on this list, which is why I recommend this one for those that want a lot of gore and limb-cutting!

9) 28 Days Later
28 Days Later is a movie you would think would get a higher placement, but the problem I have with it is the final segment, which is a pretty big part of it to be fair. It goes from extremely bleak survival to some kind of superhero revenge fantasy that just drops everything awesome for this over-the-top action sequence. 

Up to that point, though, 28 Days Later is a masterpiece in build-up and dread before this new UK where the infected rule the street. The visual aesthetics of the apocalypse is also really well-done, to hammer home what the catastrophic decay of twenty-eight days of carnage has done to London. 

The protagonist, Jim, is also very likeable, which makes you want to root for him. His wake-up, twenty-eight days into the cataclysm, is a clear fish-out-of-water story that makes his survival and confused state thrilling to follow, in a deep desperation kind of way. I recommend it to everyone that wants a solid story about surviving in a world no longer recognizable. 

10) Sorgenfri (What We Become)
Sorgenfri is another smaller story about a Danish family in a typical white-picket-fence suburban area coming under a harsh military quarantine. 

It’s not the most action-filled zombie movie, but it has captured the feeling of bewilderment by suddenly coming under aggressive quarantine with no explanation at all, which you can translate to desperation by the forces in charge. A distressing feeling for sure, as you expect the military to protect you—not hold you in prison against your will.

I enjoyed Sorgenfri thanks to its intimate scale, essentially focusing on one to two families, who are trapped and locked in their houses with no information at all about the outside world. Except for the military checkpoints for the suburban housing block, which treat you as an enemy and have orders to fire at will. 

The families are not entirely passive, though. As food and medical supplies run low, they are forced to venture out, which eventually leads to the crescendo of the story. And it’s a good one, hitting a home run when it comes to the zombie apocalypse melancholy, and one last desperate attempt for survival. I recommend Sorgenfri to anyone that wants a Scandinavian twist on the undead outbreak, and who wants a smaller drama about an ordinary family during the end days. 

---

That’s all folks! I hope you found a movie or two you haven’t seen before for that late-night zombie-film marathon! Good luck and when it comes to the undead: keep your distance, shoot first, ask questions later, and never ever let yourself be bitten!

Thanks for reading.

– Thomas