MRQE Ranks: Cinema's Best Zombie Movies

1

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

Cast: Tisa Farrow, Ian McCulloch, Richard Johnson, Al Cliver, Pier Luigi Conti

Director: Lucio Fulci

Synopsis: This audaciously disgusting spectacle from the late master of gruesome horror, Lucio Fulci, was posited as a semi-sequel to George Romero's Dawn of... [MORE]

2

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Cast: Judith O'Dea, Russell Streiner, Duane Jones, Keith Wayne

Director: George A. Romero

Synopsis: When unexpected radiation raises the dead, a microcosm of Average America has to battle flesh-eating zombies in George A. Romero's landmark cheapie... [MORE]

3

Re-Animator (1985)

Cast: Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton, Robert Sampson, David Gale

Director: Stuart Gordon

Synopsis: Herbert West (Jeffrey Combs) is a brilliant medical student who has perfected a green-glowing serum for regenerating life into dead things -- or ev... [MORE]

4

The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Cast: Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa, Thom Mathews, Beverly Randolph

Director: Dan O'Bannon

Synopsis: Middle-aged family man Frank (Jim Karen) trains teenaged Freddy (Thom Matthews) for his new job at a medical supply warehouse. In an effort to impr... [MORE]

5

Evil Dead II (1987)

Cast: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks, Kassie Wesley

Director: Sam Raimi

Synopsis: This high-octane semi-sequel to Sam Raimi's cult hit The Evil Dead has nearly eclipsed its predecessor's reputation thanks to an endless barrage of... [MORE]

6

Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Cast: Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, Nick Frost, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran

Director: Edgar Wright

Synopsis: It's often said that the true character of a man is only revealed in times of dire crisis, and for likable, lovelorn loser Shaun (Simon Pegg), that... [MORE]

7

Zombi 2 (1979)

Cast: Richard Johnson, AI Cliver, Tisa Farrow, Olga Karlatos, Stefania D'Amario

Director: Lucio Fulci

Synopsis: This audaciously disgusting spectacle from the late master of gruesome horror, Lucio Fulci, was posited as a semi-sequel to George Romero's Dawn of... [MORE]

8

Dead Alive (1992)

Cast: Timothy Balme, Diana Penalver, Elizabeth Moody, Ian Watkin, Brenda Kendall

Director: Peter Jackson

Synopsis: Director Peter Jackson's second feature cheerfully trumps the gross-out quotient of his splatterfest debut, the appropriately named Bad Taste. The ... [MORE]

9

The Evil Dead (1981)

Cast: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker, Hal Delrich

Director: Sam Raimi

Synopsis: This auspicious feature debut from Sam Raimi -- shot on 16mm in the woods of Tennesse for around $350,000 -- secured the young director's cult stat... [MORE]

10

[Rec] (2007)

Cast: Carlos Lasarte, David Vert, Jorge Yaman, Manuela Velasco

Director: Jaume Balaguer, Paco Plaza

Synopsis: After teaming up in 2002 for the dramatic music documentary OT: The Movie, Spanish horror specialists Jaume Balagueró (Darkness) and Paco Plaza (Se... [MORE]

11

Zombieland (2009)

Cast: Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin

Director: Ruben Fleischer

Synopsis: A cowardly shut-in named Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) is forced to join up with a seasoned zombie slayer named Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) in order... [MORE]

12

Pontypool (2008)

Cast: Stephen McHattie, Lisa Houle, Georgina Reilly, Hrant Alianak, Rick Roberts

Director: Bruce McDonald

Synopsis: Bruce McDonald, critically acclaimed director of The Tracey Fragments, teams with author Tony Burgess to adapt Burgess' own novel about a small tow... [MORE]

13

Planet Terror (2007)

Cast: Rose McGowan, Freddy Rodriguez, Josh Brolin, Marley Shelton, Jeff Fahey

Director: Robert Rodriguez

Synopsis: Maverick filmmaker Robert Rodriguez details the violent struggle between a ravenous army of zombie-like humanoids who have taken control of the pla... [MORE]

14

Army of Darkness (1992)

Cast: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert, Ian Abercrombie, Richard Grove

Director: Sam Raimi

Synopsis: The third in director Sam Raimi's stylish, comic book-like horror trilogy that began with The Evil Dead (1982), this tongue-in-cheek sequel offers ... [MORE]

15

28 Days Later... (2002)

Cast: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Megan Burns, Christopher Eccleston

Director: Danny Boyle

Synopsis: Animal rights activists free a group of infected chimpanzees to horrifying results in this speculative sci-fi horror effort from Trainspotting dire... [MORE]

16

Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Cast: Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, Mekhi Phifer, Ty Burrell

Director: Zack Snyder

Synopsis: The feature-film debut of director Zack Snyder, Dawn of the Dead is a modern retelling of George Romero's 1978 horror classic, which was actually t... [MORE]

17

Cemetary Man (1996)

Cast: Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro, Anna Falchi, Stefano Masciarelli, Mickey Knox

Director: Michele Soavi

Synopsis: Achingly romantic and creepy-funny, this funereal fantasy from the director of La Chiesa (1989) is unlike any Italian film in memory. Rupert Everet... [MORE]

18

Dead & Buried (1981)

Cast: James Farentino, Melody Anderson, Jack Albertson, Dennis Redfield, Nancy Locke

Director: Gary Sherman

19

Land of the Dead (2005)

Cast: Simon Baker, John Leguizamo, Dennis Hopper, Asia Argento, Robert Joy

Director: George A. Romero

Synopsis: George A. Romero, who revolutionized the American horror film in 1968 with the instant classic Night of the Living Dead, returns to his dystopian z... [MORE]

20

28 Weeks Later (2007)

Cast: Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau, Catherine McCormack

Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo

Synopsis: The devastating rage virus that annihilated the British Isles mysteriously resurfaces in Goya Award-winning director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's sequ... [MORE]

21

Versus (2001)

Cast: Tak Sakaguchi, Kenji Matsuda, Yuichiro Arai, Chieko Misaka, Hideo Sakaki

Director: Ryuhei Kitamura

Synopsis: Evil Dead 2 meets Street Fighter by way of The Matrix in this wild and woolly zombie/yakuza/samurai/kung fu/splatter flick directed by Ryuhei Kitam... [MORE]

22

Fido (2006)

Cast: Carrie-Anne Moss, Billy Connolly, Dylan Baker, K'Sun Ray, Henry Czerny

Director: Andrew Currie

Synopsis: In a 1950s-era alternate universe where domesticated zombies play a functional role in society by delivering the milk, carrying the mail, and even ... [MORE]

23

Diary of the Dead (2007)

Cast: Michelle Morgan, Joshua Close, Shawn Roberts, Amy Lalonde, Joe Dinicol

Director: George A. Romero

Synopsis: Horror icon George A. Romero effectively hits the "reset" button on his hugely influential Dead series with this scaled-back look at the zom... [MORE]

24

Night of the Living Dead (1990)

Cast: Tony Todd, Patricia Tallman, Tom Towles, McKee Anderson, William Butler

Director: Tom Savini

Synopsis: Makeup wizard Tom Savini's color remake of George A. Romero's 1968 classic follows the original almost shot-for-shot, so quality comparisons are so... [MORE]

25

Day of the Dead (1985)

Cast: Lori Cardille, Terry Alexander, Joseph Pilato, Jarlath Conroy, Antone DiLeo Jr.

Director: George Romero

Synopsis: Day of the Dead, the third and concluding chapter in George Romero's zombie trilogy is the most distinctly 1950s-style science fiction version of t... [MORE]

26

Dead Snow (2009)

Cast: Vegar Hoel, Ane Dahl Torp, Bjorn Sundquist, Charlotte Frogner, Jenny Skavlan

Director: Tommy Wirkola

Synopsis: Eight medical students on a ski trip to Norway discover that Hitler's horrors live on when they come face to face with a battalion of undead Nazi s... [MORE]

27

Undead (2003)

Cast: Felicity Mason, Mungo McKay, Rob Jenkins, Lisa Cunningham, Dirk Hunter

Director: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig

Synopsis: When deadly meteorites start striking the calm, peaceful community of Berkeley, Australia, a ragtag group of strangers fight for their lives agains... [MORE]

28

La Horde (2009)

Cast: Aurelien Recoing, Eric Ebouaney, Claude Perron, Jean-Pierre Martins, Doudou Masta

Director: Yannick Dahan, Benjamin Rocher

Synopsis: Police searching for some bloodthirsty criminals instead find themselves battling the walking dead in this action-packed horror vehicle from France... [MORE]

29

Resident Evil (2002)

Cast: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, James Purefoy, Martin Crewes

Director: Paul W.S. Anderson

Writer: Paul W.S. Anderson

Synopsis: The director of Mortal Kombat (1995) adapts another popular video game for the big screen with this gory action thriller. Milla Jovovich and Michel... [MORE]

30

Resident Evil: Extinction (2007)

Cast: Milla Jovovich, Oded Fehr, Ali Larter, Iain Glen, Mike Epps

Director: Russell Mulcahy

Synopsis: Director Russell Mulcahy takes over for the third chapter in the Resident Evil film franchise, which finds genetically altered Alice (Milla Jovovic... [MORE]

32

Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (1973)

Cast: Alan Ormsby, Anya Ormsby, Valerie Mamches, Jane Daly, Jeff Gillen

Director: Bob Clark

Synopsis: In Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things, an above average slasher/horror film, a group of amateurs decide to experiment with witchcraft with de... [MORE]

33

The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)

Cast: Bill Pullman, Cathy Tyson, Zakes Mokae, Paul Winfield, Brent Jennings

Director: Wes Craven

Synopsis: Horror maven Wes Craven attempted a slight change of pace from his usual slasher movie milieu with this chiller loosely based on a true story. Bill... [MORE]

34

Day of the Dead (2008)

Cast: Ving Rhames, Mena Suvari, Michael Welch, Christa Campbell, Nick Cannon

Director: Steve Miner

Synopsis: Ving Rhames, Nick Cannon, and Mena Suvari star in director Steve Miner (Friday the 13th Part II, Halloween: H20)'s remake of the apocalyptic gore-f... [MORE]

35

I Walked with a Zombie (1943)

Cast: James Ellison, Frances Dee, Tom Conway, Edith Barrett, James Bell

Director: Jacques Tourneur

Synopsis: RKO producer Val Lewton seemed to thrive upon taking the most lurid film titles and coming up with pocket-edition works of art. Saddled with the st... [MORE]