Top 10 Zombie Movies

[Joe Konrath]

A beloved, and often maligned genre.  Here are my faves.

10. Gates of Hell-- Not up to Fulci's other two on this list, but the intestine barfing and the head drilling won my heart.

9. Dawn of the Dead-- I liked it a lot, but I prefer my zombies sans social commentary.

8. Night of the Living Dead 1990-- I loved the energy, and the twist ending.  

7. Braindead--aka Dead/Alive.  This should probably be up higher on the list, but the competition is stiff.

6. Beyond-- Fulci classic.  I saw this in the theater as 7 Doors of Death, and it scared the p**s out of me.

5. Wild Zero-- Rock and Roll!  Japanese punk rock zombies rule.

4. Zombie-- The ultimate Italian horror film. You can keep your moody giallos.  Give me a seven inch splinter in the eye any day.

3. Versus-- Haven't seen this yet?  Simply one of the most kick-ass films ever made.

2. Return of the Living Dead-- I've seen this too many times to count.  More quotable lines than Caddyshack.  A classic.

1. Night of the Living Dead-- No surprises here.  The grandaddy of them all is still the best.  

In no particular order, here are the 10 worst.

Hard Rock Zombies-- See the dwarf eat himself!

Return of the Living Dead 2-- One of the worst sequels of all time.

Zombie 90-- #1 worst dubbing job in history

Zombie Lake-- Nazi zombie snoreathon.

Shock Waves-- Another Nazi zombie snoreathon.

Frightmare-- K-zones my ass.  More like Bore-zones.

Children of the Living Dead-- Hep me jebus!  SOV atrocity.

Porno Holocost-- Sure, it's a porno/zombie hybrid by Joe D'Amato.  But it sucks ass!

Zombie Nightmare-- See the rock band Thor act really stupid!

Zombie Bloodbath 1-3-- Someone stop Todd Sheets!

But lets admit it; even a really bad Zombie movie beats Must See TV.

Joe

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[Steven Millan]

                      Excellent list you've got there,Joe.
                  Nobody else couldn't have made those rightful film choices for both the Best and Worst in Zombie cinema.

[J.R.]

I don't think I could make a full ten, but here are my five-

5. Night Of The Living Dead 90- A lot of people rag on this, but I like it. It takes advantage of your knowledge of the original to make effective jump scares, and the ending is just good enough to equal a climax that was already classic. Undead nutsack is the only drawback.  

4. Zombie- I find a lot of Italian horror to be vastly overrated, but this is one jim-dandy undead film. They gave us this and pizza, and that more than makes up for their compliance with the Nazis.

3. Dead Alive- So...gory...so...funny...

2. Dawn Of The Dead- An epic. Has any film ever been so fun yet grim?

1. Night Of The Living Dead- Without this masterpiece horror cinema as we know it would never have been. No matter how many times I see it, I hope Ben makes it.

[jmc]

I think nearly everyone agrees that NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD is the yardstick by which all others are measured.  

I won't give a full top ten list, but mine included NOTLD and DAWN, with JUNK, LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE, and Fulci's ZOMBIE as top choices.   And I put NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIES on there just because I can't quit watching it....

 Personally, I really hate DEAD ALIVE and WILD ZERO, just because they lose impact due to the humor and lack of seriousness.  I do have them on a list of zombie flicks I don't like much, along with DAY OF THE DEAD, ZEDER, and OASIS OF THE ZOMBIES.

[Nathan Shumate]

I LIKE Shock Waves.

Nathan

[Chadzilla]

My personaI favorites

1. Day of the Dead (Gonna take heat for this choice)
2. Night of the Living Dead
3. Dawn of the Dead
4. Shock Waves (just got the DVD of this and it is BEAUTIFUL!)
5. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
6. Return of the Living Dead
7. Zombie
8. The Dead Hate the Living
9. Night of the Living Dead (1990) (Gonna take heat for this one as well)
10. Michael Jackson's Thriller (hehehehehe)

does John Carpenter's The Fog count?  If it does then it ties with Shock Waves.

I'm sure there others, but Zombies I hated

Return of the Living Dead Part 2
Deadly Friend

[jmc]

If anything, I'd give you heat for THE DEAD HATE THE LIVING!

I can see someone who is a diehard [heh heh] zombie and Romero fan liking DAY OF THE DEAD just because it shows the dead taking over, but as a movie, I didn't like it.  Too much talking.

Savini's NOTLD remake is harmless, and interesting for fans of the original.  I'm glad he didn't stay totally faithful to it.  RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD is also on my list of favorites.  

I need to see SHOCK WAVES.

[John]

I don't now if I've ever seen a zombie movie I truly didn't like. I always have a hard time narrowing down a list to just a set number, so I'll just say that in addition to the ones already named (most of which I've seen), I also like Night Life, and The Video Dead. Neither is a great movie, but I thought they were entertaining.

 Anyone ever seen The Dead Next Door? I saw an article on it a long time ago, but I've never seen it play on cable or for rent.

[Brian Ringler]

I'll add one to the list of good ones and one to the list of bad ones.

Good:  Biozombie - Japanese Zombie flick, I find it quite funny.

Bad: Garden of the Dead - Fermaldahyde turning prison camp escapers into zombies, that and the movie is only pg and runs a total of 57 minutes if you can count 57 minutes as a movie.

[Andrew]

I get asked this fairly often, so here are a couple (in no order):

Dawn of the Dead
Night of the Living Dead
The Beyond
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
Cemetery Man
Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things
ReAnimator
Return of the Living Dead
The Dead Pit
Shock Waves
Burial Ground
Zombie

I am still trying to decide if "Tombs of the Blind Dead" or its sequel count...

[StatCat]

Some of my Favorites (in no order):

Day of the Dead
Zombie
Night of the Living Dead
Dawn of the Dead
Return of the Living Dead
Let Sleeping Corpses Lie
Dead - Alive
Dellamorte Dellamore (Cemetery Man)
Re-Animator
Junk
The Beyond
Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things
City of the Living Dead
Premutos
Last Man on Earth
Burial Ground
Wild zero
Shock Waves
The Blind Dead series

Worst:

Zombie Nightmare
Alien Dead
Zombie Lake
Night of the Zombies ll
Oasis of the Zombies
Among the Living Dead
Garden of the Living Dead
Prison of the Dead
Zombie Island Massacre
zombie bloodbath series
zombie 90
Zombie Toxin
Neon Maniacs
City of the Walking Dead
Female Mercenaries on Zombie Island
The Chilling
A virgin among the living dead

Bio Zombie is from China- not bad, I liked it. Never considered versus too much of a zombie film to list it.

[Brian Ringler]

"Bio Zombie is from China- not bad, I liked it. Never considered versus too much of a zombie film to list it."

My ignorance shines through once again, I was typing at warp speed because I had to get going to the first day of classes.

[jmc]

DEAD NEXT DOOR is a decent low-budget movie.  If I remember right, it's shot on video.  I think it's out there if you know where to look.  It may even be available on DVD.

I consider the BLIND DEAD series to be more its own unique genre.

[J.R.]

The Dead Next Door was shot on Super-8 film, in fact it was the most expensive project ever shot on that medium. Also, Bruce Campbell did some of the voice dubbing and Sam Raimi used his salary for directing ED2 to help finance the movie.

[Nathan Shumate]

That's a trick question, right?  If you like Tombs of the Blind Dead, you'll probably like all that same footage in the sequel.

Nathan