Favourite Zombie Movies?

peteyt · 28-02-2014, 11:33 PM

We usually get the typical favourite horror movie posts one a year or so, so I thought I'd try something different see what zombie films people like. Here are mine:

(1) Night of the Living Dead (Original 1968 Version) - This is the film that introduced zombies to the mass and is responsible for all the zombie films we see today. It's black and white so some might struggle to enjoy it, but it's a classic in most people's eyes. The film follows a basic plot, a satellite crashes and while it's never fully confirmed it's hinted it's radiation has started to leak causing the dead to come alive. As well as giving us a scary zombie film director George A. Romero adds in social commentary, the film for the director being a metaphor for America's collapsing social order, but like in Dawn of the dead his sequel, it doesn't affect the feel in general.

(1) Dawn of the Dead (Original 1978 Version) - My favourite zombie film of all times and one of my favourite horror movies. George A. Romero directs this amazing sequel to night of the living dead, set mainly in a shopping mall as a group tries to protect themselves from zombies and later on bikers to. It has a comic book feel to it with over the top gore (but still gory). I've always found the zombies felt more realistic with their simplistic makeup as opposed to other zombies in films - because they look more human it shows the fact they once were, which in a sense makes the film far more emotional. I'm a big fan of the soundtrack and the composers themselves. The band Goblin are known to be big collaborators with director Dario Argento (whom I'm also a fan of) who produced this film for Romero. To me dawn of the dead is the blueprint of a zombie film. Dawn also has a lot of slapstick style comedy making it a bit different to the usual zombie films of the time. Like night there's also social commentary, looking at things such as consumerism, but in a way that doesn't ruin the story as with night (I loved the film as a kid before realising the social commentary).

(3) Zombie Flesh Eaters (aka zombie 2) - Lucio Fulci decided to cash in on dawn of the dead's success with zombie flesh eaters. Fulci is often known as the godfather of gore and this film emphasizes that with the once heavily edited splinter in eye scene been a big example. In Zombie Flesh Eaters the zombies are far more decomposed in their look and the zombies are generally a lot faster. The film is a lot more cheaply made than dawn, but it is still a good fun if somewhat cheesy horror. It also includes a zombie vs shark scene. While it's a lot worse, I also have a soft spot for it's sequel Zombie Flesh eaters 2.

(4) Re-Animator - More of a comedy than a horror, this film is a slight adaption of a H. P. Lovecraft short story. Jeffrey Combs, a popular actor usually in cult horror films, plays Herbert West a scientist believing he can bring back the dead, the film showing his attempts. The film progresses with someone discovering his work and using it eventually going mad. The film has 2 sequels.

(5) Let Sleeping Corpses Lie - This is one of those films with multiple titles, such as The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue, even though the film doesn't even take place in Manchester. For its time in 1974 it's quite a fun and gory film. It's a while since I've seen this film so will need to re-watch, but its very underrated horror film.

A few others include Pontypool a 2009 Canadian horror film that tries something different and uses speech as an infection method, 24 days later/weeks later and Lucio Fulci's City of the Living dead a vivid atmospheric even if somewhat cheesy horror. Although I've already seen it and didn't care for it, Fulci fans will also probably enjoy his surreal film the beyond - it's too surreal for me in the sense that the plot doesn't really go anywhere as the gore takes centre stage.

There's probably a lot more I've enjoyed that I can't remember right now. What are yours?

Eric · 02-03-2014, 08:15 AM

Land of the Dead, Shaun of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, Zombieland, 28 days later (not the usual zombie but still good)

haven't seen much but these are my favs atm