This weekend sees the release of Danny Boyle’s much-anticipated return to the 28 Days Later franchise, 28 Years Later. Reviews and audience reactions to this one are all over the place, but the movie is doing well at the box office. Zombies tend to be good at the box office, although of course no one ever uses “the z-word” in these movies, with Boyle and his writer, Alex Garland, preferring the term “infected”.
Of course, zombie movies are nothing new. Next to vampires, they’re probably the most popular antagonist in horror, with it a strong genre ever since 1932’s White Zombie, which is generally regarded as the first real zombie film. At a certain point, the genre used to revolve around voodoo curses, such as in Val Lawton’s classic I Walked With a Zombie, and even the underrated Wes Craven movie, The Serpent and the Rainbow. Yet, when George Romero came along with Night of the Living Dead, the genre became more about an apocalyptic plague. This storyline has always resonated with audiences, given how scary the headlines tend to be day-to-day.
But, what is the best zombie movie? I tried to list as many of them as possible in the poll below, but I’m sure I missed some. We’re curious to know what you think. Are you fans of the latter-day horror films, such as Resident Evil and 28 Years Later? Are you more into Romero’s films, such as the classic Dawn of the Dead? Or how about zombie comedies, like Shaun of the Dead or Dead Snow? We tried to list all of them so let us know what you think!
