Before we get to the list... When discussing any grouping of zombie films, the question of what exactly defines a zombie is sure to come up. For our purposes here, we've opted to use a rather rigid definition. These are only undead films. Non-reanimated corpses need not apply! For example, you'll note that we've left out films from Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series on the technicality that they're more about demon possession than zombies. (Had we used more liberal criteria, Army of Darkness would certainly have made the list, as well as Evil Dead II.) We've also excluded movies like 28 Days Later due to the fact that the baddies there are merely virus-infected living humans. And voodoo-related stuff is right out, so that takes care of any of the pre-Romero business. Furthermore, we've opted to be total purist geeks and exclude any "HMO zombies," such as the pharmaceutically-enhanced dead in Re-Animator and Serpent and the Rainbow.
And, yeah, we know there are some very worthy films that didn't make the list, but we had to choose 10. So instead of ripping us a new one, post your own list of favorites in the comments!
10. Braindead (Dead Alive) Peter Jackon's 1992 film Braindead, retitled Dead Alive for North American release, is a gore-filled, slapsticky affair that follows a young man, Lionel, whose mother is bitten by a "rat monkey." She dies and comes back to life as a ravenous reanimated corpse with a rather indiscriminate palate -- she even eats dogs! The movie culminates with a sensational battle between Lionel and his friends, and a horde of ruthless zombies (including their reanimated body parts), as well as a memorable final showdown with his now-grotesquely transformed mother. 9. Land of the Dead The fourth installment in George A. Romero's Dead series, 2005's Land of the Dead marked the legendary zombie helmer's return to the franchise after a 20-year break. The epic-feeling flick stars Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento and John Leguizamo as survivors in a world overrun by the living dead. The wealthy are holed up in well-secured skyscrapers, while others must fend for themselves in the streets. Can a group of hardened mercenaries save the living from the dead? Or will the ever-evolving army of dead wipe out the last remnants of humankind?
The dead eat the swimming? A scene from Land of the Dead
8. The Return of the Living Dead After the release of the original Night of the Living Dead, director Romero and his then-partner and co-writer John Russo went their separate ways to make their own follow-ups to the hugely successful film. Russo reportedly got the rights to the term "Living Dead," and that's how the Return series was born -- a group of films of greatly diminishing returns, so to speak, that bears some similarities to Romero's oeuvre but plenty of differences as well. The original Return remains a classic, albeit a dated one, because of writer-director Dan O'Bannon's (Alien) comedic take on the material, as well as the now de rigueur zombie hunger for "braaaiiinnnnss!!!!!" that was first established here. O'Bannon's undead also distinguish themselves with their ability to run, and run fast, rather than simply stagger along, as well as with their inability to be "killed" (beyond incineration or having an A-bomb dropped on them, that is). And the un-winnable scenario that the director places his characters in is dark, dark, dark, despite the humor of the film. Also, Linnea Quigley -- as the hot, naked, redheaded punk-rocker zombie Trash -- merits Return's inclusion on this list alone.
7. Plan 9 from Outer Space Writer-director-producer-editor-actor Edward D. Wood, Jr.'s Plan 9 from Outer Space may be regarded by many as being the worst movie in the long and storied history of bad cinema, but that's something of a misnomer for, in fact, Plan 9 is so bad that it's actually good, an enjoyable piece of crap that one can't take their eyes off of once it's started unspooling in glorious muted and grainy black & white. And though it is not commonly remembered among film fans, the "Plan 9" of the title is actually the film's hostile aliens' scenario for invading the Earth via, and we quote here, "long-distance electrodes shot into the pineal and pituitary gland of the recently dead." We're talking zombies, baby! Originally called Grave Robbers from Outer Space, the film's most noteworthy recipients of this electrode-zombifying process are Tor Johnson, Vampira, and a stand-in for a recently deceased (and, alas, not resurrected in real life) Bela Lugosi. No flesh-eating takes place in the film, though plenty of standard-issue undead walking about goes on, with Johnson proving that his getting voted in high school as "Most Likely to Play a Zombie" was no fluke.
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