The 10 best zombie movies of all time –

10. World War Z

In fact, it was a few of you readers who at the premiere of this movie recommended that I read the book instead, which I did, but only a few years later. And yes, the book is something else entirely, the book is fantastic. That said, I still can’t get over the fact that the scope of this film always mesmerizes me, along with Brad Pitt’s phenomenal presence. There’s something about how expansive doomsday scenario-inspired World War Z feels without losing focus.

9. Zombieland

The sequel was (minus the scene with Bill Murray, of course) pointless, but that doesn’t change the fact that the original remains a brilliant comedy that, like Shaun of the Dead, plays with the genre’s most typical tropes to create brilliant humor.

8. It comes at night

The eerie music in the small cabin in the woods in this pitch-black zombie thriller is truly memorable. Tight, chilling, human and imbued with a kind of unsettling uncertainty that makes it one of the best zombie films I’ve seen. Joel Edgerton is, as usual, absolutely brilliant and the photography here is also fantastic, through and through.

7. A cut from the dead

This Japanese zombie parody is not only knotty original in structure and story, it is also as bizarre as it is hilarious. Without giving too much away here (because you will have to experience this one for yourself to truly appreciate its excellence), this film is steeped in character and has a twist that I will never forget.

6. Night of the living dead

Of course, the zombie genre would never have been what it is today without the iconic 1960s classic by zombie king George A. Romero. The fact that this was Romero’s directorial debut stands as one of the most remarkable things the horror genre has to offer, and even if it doesn’t hold up so well today, of course it should be on a list of its kind. Anything else is considered malpractice.

5. 28 Days Later

We all remember that scene in which a lost, newly awakened Cillian Murphy wanders across London Bridge in Danny Boyle’s iconic zombie classic. We all remember the interview with Boyle in which he told us he had negotiated with London politicians to shut down the city center for 12 minutes on a Sunday morning, and we all remember how raw and scary it was.

4. Shaun of the dead

There are many comedies that make me laugh out loud no matter how many times I watch them. Step Brothers, Hot Shots: Part Deux, Naked Gun 2, Anchorman, Napoleon Dynamite, Nacho Libre and MacGruber are just a few. Then there’s Shaun of the Dead, which I think I’ve seen 25 times and find just as funny now as when it was first released. Edgar Wright’s utterly charming debut film is brilliant and follows the lovesick loser Shaun and sees how he copes with a prevalent, bloody zombie apocalypse.

3. 28 months later

I know it’s generally an unpopular opinion to prefer Spaniard Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s sequel to Boyle’s iconic original, but I do. Fresnadillo managed in this film to retain that raw, gritty, violent sense of guts and panic without copying Boyle or falling into the trap of lacking originality in imagery and tone. On the contrary, this film drips with tension and strong characters, and I love the scope.

2. Dawn of the dead

These days, you rarely hear Zack Snyder’s name mentioned in particularly kind or positive terms. The director of Man of Steel, Sucker Punch, Army of the Dead and Rebel Moon has become something of a buzzword in the film world, as his films almost always focus on surface over substance, but that was not always the case. With his directorial debut Dawn of the Dead, Snyder took Romero’s original and shook it up in a way that still impresses 21 years later. The intro scene with the zombified neighbor girl remains one of the most effective scenes ever made.

1. Train to Busan

There are of course plenty of zombie films worth watching (of which only a selection made it onto this huge list), but there is only one that is the best of them all. The reigning king of the genre: Train to Busan. Yeon Sang-ho’s Korean jaw-dropper is so beautifully filmed, so steeped in phenomenal acting and so perfectly structured that it feels like a 118-minute stranglehold.