Zombie Movie Handbook
I can't claim to have seen every zombie movie ever made, but I've seen the vast majority. This list is meant to not only rank our undead friends' films, but also give advice on what may or may not be worth your time. The obvious ones are at the top, with some not-so-obvious ones. Also, there are plenty of hidden gems, so take a glance! Comments, feedback, and suggestions are always welcome. The first 25 are ranked according to my own opinion, otherwise random.
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- DirectorZack SnyderStarsSarah PolleyVing RhamesMekhi PhiferA nurse, a policeman, a young married couple, a salesman and other survivors of a worldwide plague that is producing aggressive, flesh-eating zombies, take refuge in a mega Midwestern shopping mall.
- DirectorBruce McDonaldStarsStephen McHattieLisa HouleGeorgina ReillyA radio host interprets the possible outbreak of a deadly virus which infects the small Ontario town he is stationed in.
- DirectorDanny BoyleStarsCillian MurphyNaomie HarrisChristopher EcclestonFour weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsDuane JonesJudith O'DeaKarl HardmanA ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsDavid EmgeKen ForeeScott H. ReinigerDuring an escalating zombie epidemic, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter and his TV executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.
- DirectorEdgar WrightStarsSimon PeggNick FrostKate AshfieldThe uneventful, aimless lives of a London electronics salesman and his layabout roommate are disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.
- DirectorJonathan LevineStarsNicholas HoultTeresa PalmerJohn MalkovichAfter a highly unusual zombie saves a still-living girl from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion events that might transform the entire lifeless world.
- DirectorAndrew CurrieStarsKesun LoderBilly ConnollyCarrie-Anne MossIn an Earthly world resembling the 1950s, a cloud of space radiation has shrouded the planet, resulting in the dead becoming zombies that desire live human flesh. A company called Zomcon has been able to control the zombie population. Zombies can be temporarily neutralized by being shot, but can only be permanently neutralized by their brain being destroyed. Their ultimate disposal is through cremation, or burial, the latter which requires decapitation with the head being buried separately from the body. Conversely, Zomcon has created the domestication collar, when activated and placed on a zombie makes the zombie controllable, and thus an eternally productive creature within society. Because all dead initially become zombies, the elderly are viewed negatively and suspectly. And all people, adult or child, learn to shoot to kill to protect society. Zomcon is the go to organization for all things zombie. In the town of Willard, the Robinsons - father Bill (Dylan Baker), mother Helen (Carrie-Anne Moss), and adolescent son Timmy (Kesun Loder) - are one family who don't own a zombie as a domestic, since Bill is afraid of zombies, as, when he was a child, he had to shoot his own zombie father, who tried to eat him. Bill has thus become fascinated with funerals to see zombies put away permanently. But Helen feels pressured to get a zombie when Zomcon's new head of security in Willard, the officious Jonathan Bottoms (Henry Czerny), moves into the neighborhood with his family. Never having had to deal with a zombie directly, Timmy is initially wary of their zombie. But as a lonely child who has no friends and is often bullied, Timmy eventually befriends their zombie, who he names Fido (Sir Billy Connolly), as he treats the zombie much like a faithful pet dog. Timmy protects Fido at all cost, even after Fido, due to no fault of its own, is implicated in some deaths, which creates a mini-wave of loose zombies unknown to Zomcon. But Fido may play a larger role within the family as a companion for Helen, who is largely neglected by Bill, since he sees human affection as ultimately resulting in such difficult issues as what happened between him and his own father. With Timmy and Helen treating Fido with kindness, Fido, in turn, may prove that not all zombies, even when without their domestication collar, are out to kill anyone and everyone in their path.
- DirectorRuben FleischerStarsJesse EisenbergEmma StoneWoody HarrelsonA shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, a gun-toting bruiser in search of the last Twinkie and a pair of sisters striving to get to an amusement park join forces in a trek across a zombie-filled America.
- DirectorPaul W.S. AndersonStarsMilla JovovichMichelle RodriguezRyan McCluskeyA special military unit fights a powerful, out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of scientists who have mutated into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident.
- DirectorGregg BishopStarsJared KusnitzGreyson ChadwickChandler DarbyOn the night of the big High-School Prom, the dead rise to eat the living, and the only people who can stop them are the losers who couldn't get dates to the dance.
- DirectorJeff BarnabyStarsMichael GreyeyesElle-Máijá TailfeathersForrest GoodluckThe dead are coming back to life outside the isolated Mi'kmaq reserve of Red Crow, except for its Indigenous inhabitants who are strangely immune to the zombie plague.
- DirectorYeon Sang-hoStarsGong YooJung Yu-miMa Dong-seokWhile a zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, passengers struggle to survive on the train from Seoul to Busan.
- DirectorYannick DahanBenjamin RocherStarsClaude PerronJean-Pierre MartinsEriq EbouaneyAn end of the world battle between gangsters, cops and zombies.
- DirectorThom EberhardtStarsCatherine Mary StewartKelli MaroneyRobert BeltranA comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two Valley Girls fighting against cannibal zombies and a sinister group of scientists.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsJohn LeguizamoAsia ArgentoSimon BakerThe living dead have taken over the world, and the last humans live in a walled city to protect themselves as they come to grips with the situation.
- DirectorMarvin KrenStarsMichael FuithTheo TrebsAnka GraczykJust when Michael arrives in Berlin to visit his ex-girlfriend Gabi, a terrible virus starts spreading across the city at a rapid pace, turning people into mindless homicidal maniacs. Much to Michael's concern, Gabi's not home; instead, he meets Harper, a teenage plumber's apprentice at work in her apartment block. Together, they manage to barricade themselves when raging hordes of infected people swarm the building. Surrounded by these thirsty zombies, Michael and Harper have their hands full to survive - and it will take all of their ingenuity to make their way out to try and find Gabi.
- DirectorIl ChoJo Il HyungMadeleine MartinStarsYoo Ah-inPark Shin-hyeJeon Bae-sooThe rapid spread of an unknown infection has left an entire city in ungovernable chaos, but one survivor remains alive in isolation. It is his story.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsLori CardilleTerry AlexanderJoseph PilatoAs the world is overrun by zombies, a group of scientists and military personnel sheltering in an underground bunker in Florida must decide on how they should deal with the undead horde.
- DirectorBen HowlingYolanda RamkeStarsSimone LandersMartin FreemanMarlee Jane McPherson-DobbinsAfter an epidemic spreads all over Australia, a father searches for someone willing to protect his daughter.
- DirectorJaume BalagueróPaco PlazaStarsManuela VelascoFerran TerrazaJorge-Yamam SerranoA television reporter and cameraman follow emergency workers into a dark apartment building and are quickly locked inside with something terrifying.
- DirectorKevin HamedaniStarsJanette ArmandDoug FahlCooper HopkinsLife is wonderful for the people in the quiet, island town of Port Gamble....until a zombie virus outbreak.
- DirectorJuan Carlos FresnadilloStarsJeremy RennerRose ByrneRobert CarlyleSix months after the rage virus was inflicted on the population of Great Britain, the US Army helps to secure a small area of London for the survivors to repopulate and start again. But not everything goes according to plan.
- DirectorZack SnyderStarsDave BautistaElla PurnellAna de la RegueraFollowing a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas, a group of mercenaries take the ultimate gamble, venturing into the quarantine zone to pull off the greatest heist ever attempted.
- DirectorJonathan KingStarsOliver DriverNathan MeisterTammy DavisAn experiment in genetic engineering turns harmless sheep into bloodthirsty killers that terrorize a sprawling New Zealand farm.
- DirectorJohn Erick DowdleStarsJennifer CarpenterSteve HarrisColumbus ShortA television reporter and her cameraman are trapped inside a building quarantined by the CDC, after the outbreak of a mysterious virus which turns humans into bloodthirsty killers.
- DirectorFred DekkerStarsJason LivelyTom AtkinsSteve MarshallAlien brain parasites, entering humans through the mouth, turn their host into a killing zombie. Some teenagers start to fight against them.
- DirectorJake WestStarsDanny DyerNoel ClarkeEmil MarwaA group of men, heading to a remote village to help one of their friends get over his divorce, soon discover that all the women have been infected with a virus that makes them man-hating cannibals.
- DirectorMarcel SarmientoGadi HarelStarsShiloh FernandezNoah SeganCandice KingTwo high school boys discover an imprisoned woman in an abandoned mental asylum who cannot die.
- DirectorHenry HobsonStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerAbigail BreslinJoely RichardsonA teenage girl in the Midwest becomes infected by an outbreak of a disease that slowly turns the infected into cannibalistic zombies. During her transformation, her loving father stays by her side.
- DirectorMarc ForsterStarsBrad PittMireille EnosDaniella KerteszFormer United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop a zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatens to destroy humanity itself.
- DirectorTom SaviniStarsTony ToddPatricia TallmanTom TowlesWhen the unburied dead return to life and seek human victims, seven refugees shelter in a house in the Pennsylvanian countryside.
- DirectorCorbin BernsenStarsCorbin BernsenPatricia TallmanBill MoseleyLogan Burnhardt is the ego-king of the airwaves, but his unflappable persona is put to the test when a terrorist bio-attack unleashes a plague of flesh-ripping maniacs on Los Angeles.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsMichelle MorganJoshua CloseShawn RobertsA group of young film students run into real-life zombies while filming a horror movie of their own.
- DirectorStuart GordonStarsJeffrey CombsBruce AbbottBarbara CramptonAfter an odd new medical student arrives on campus, a dedicated local and his girlfriend become involved in bizarre experiments centering around the re-animation of dead tissue.
- DirectorScott ThomasStarsDavid ChisumKristen KerrKevin J. O'ConnorA mad scientist is transferring a dead woman in a freezer with an armed guard on a plane to Paris. After slight turbulence, the freezer breaks down and she awakens, turns into a zombie, and infects all on board.
- DirectorPeter JacksonStarsTimothy BalmeDiana PeñalverElizabeth MoodyA young man's mother is bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. She gets sick and dies, at which time she comes back to life, killing and eating dogs, nurses, friends, and neighbors.
- DirectorMatthias HoeneStarsRasmus HardikerHarry TreadawayMichelle RyanA gang of bank robbers fight their way out of a zombie-infested London.
- DirectorDan O'BannonStarsClu GulagerJames KarenDon CalfaWhen two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air, the vapors cause the dead to rise again as zombies.
- DirectorRobert RodriguezStarsRose McGowanFreddy RodríguezJosh BrolinAfter an experimental bio-weapon is released, turning thousands into zombie-like creatures, it's up to a rag-tag group of survivors to stop the infected and those behind its release.
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsTisa FarrowIan McCullochRichard JohnsonStrangers searching for a young woman's missing father arrive at a tropical island where a doctor desperately seeks the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead.
- DirectorTommy WirkolaStarsJeppe Beck LaursenCharlotte FrognerJenny SkavlanA ski vacation turns horrific for a group of medical students, as they find themselves confronted by an unimaginable menace: Nazi zombies.
- DirectorJaume BalagueróPaco PlazaStarsJonathan D. MellorManuela VelascoÓscar ZafraIn order to ascertain the current situation inside, a supposed medical officer and a GEO team step into the quarantined and ill-fated apartment building.
- DirectorJohn PogueStarsMercedes MasonJosh CookeMattie LiptakA plane is taken over by a mysterious virus. When the plane lands it is placed under quarantine. Now a group of survivors must band together to survive the quarantine.
- DirectorRussell MulcahyStarsMilla JovovichAli LarterOded FehrSurvivors of the Raccoon City catastrophe travel across the Nevada desert, hoping to make it to Alaska. Alice joins the caravan and their fight against the evil Umbrella Corp.
- DirectorMakoto KamiyaStarsPaul MercierAlyson CourtLaura BaileyLeon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield must battle a rogue warrior seeking revenge after unleashing the deadly G-Virus, whilst a mutated monster goes on a rampage.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsAlan Van SprangKenneth WelshKathleen MunroeOn an island off the coast of North America, local residents simultaneously fight a zombie epidemic while hoping for a cure to return their un-dead relatives back to their human state.
- DirectorJohn GulagerStarsAnthony Michael HallDaryl HannahAlan RuckZombies come out at night and two families must survive until morning.
- DirectorEllory ElkayemStarsAimee-Lynn ChadwickCory HardrictJohn KeefeA group of teenagers, in an attempt to rescue their friend from an evil corporation, end up inadvertently releasing a horde of bloodthirsty zombies.
- DirectorMakoto KamiyaStarsMatthew MercerDave WittenbergWendee LeeSpecial Agent Leon S.Kennedy goes against his superior's orders and works to destroy a series of biological weapons being used in a war zone in Europe.
- DirectorAlexander WittStarsMilla JovovichSienna GuilloryEric MabiusAlice wakes up in the Raccoon City hospital after the area has been overrun by zombies, and must now make it out of the city before a nuclear bomb is dropped.
- DirectorEllory ElkayemStarsPeter CoyoteAimee-Lynn ChadwickCory HardrictA college student creates a drug called "Z" and sells it on campus, inadvertently resurrecting the living dead, who wreak havoc at a Halloween rave.
- DirectorJake KennedyStarsTom EplinSabrina GennarinoTravis BrorsenHumanity makes its last stand as zombies emerge to take over the world in this cinematic tale of gore and chaos.
- DirectorBrian YuznaStarsJ. Trevor EdmondMelinda ClarkeKent McCordHaving recently witnessed the horrific results of a top secret project to bring the dead back to life, a distraught youth performs the operation on his girlfriend after she's killed in a motorcycle accident.
- DirectorTaweewat WanthaStarsSuthep Po-ngamSupakorn KitsuwonPhintusuda TunphairaoThe fourth generation of the virus SARS is found in Africa! It's more dangerous and causes the patients to transform into bloodthirsty zombies. The virus quickly lands to Thailand, Dr. Bryan Thompson who creates the anti-virus, ends up getting infected while doing his experiment and soon the virus is spreading to all the residents of his same building. At that time, Khun is trying to help a young girl who's being kidnapped in the building... He ends up trapped in the building with only his precious sword as a weapon. Surrounded by the zombies, he has to find the girl and escape from the building before the government drops a bomb to destroy the virus and the building.
- DirectorHoward J. FordJonathan FordStarsRob FreemanPrince David OseiDavid DontohAn American mercenary, the sole survivor of a plane crash, has to run the gauntlet across Africa, battling with the living dead.
- DirectorMark McQueenStarsDanny DyerCraig FairbrassMyAnna BuringLondon based N-gen tests a performance booster on 30000. A month later, agile zombies plague London, spreading the disease with a bite. One man has 54 hours to find the cure/immune woman.
- DirectorMichael HurstStarsEmmanuelle VaugierEd QuinnSticky FingazA virus breaks out at a university and people start to become zombies. After 29 days, a team of AMS scientists and soldiers are sent in to deal with the problem. But while they search, things go wrong.
- DirectorSteve MinerStarsMena SuvariNick CannonMichael WelchWhen a small Colorado town is overrun by the flesh hungry dead a small group of survivors try to escape in a last ditch effort to stay alive.
- DirectorNick LyonStarsMariel HemingwayEthan SupleeLeVar BurtonWhen zombies overrun San Francisco, a desperate group survives by locking themselves inside Alcatraz Prison. When the undead breach the island, our heroes are forced to return to the mainland overrun with the undead.
- DirectorKerry Anne MullaneyStarsAlton MilneSandra Louise DouglasVivienne HarveyA neurological pandemic has consumed the population. April, a secretive young girl, and Daniel, a man desperate and bereaved, come together on an isolated farm. When a mysterious stranger turns up, they are confronted with a new enemy even deadlier than the one beyond the perimeter.
- DirectorAndrzej BartkowiakStarsKarl UrbanRosamund PikeDwayne JohnsonSpace Marines are sent to investigate strange events at a research facility on Mars but find themselves at the mercy of genetically enhanced killing machines.
- DirectorKen WiederhornStarsJames KarenThom MathewsMichael KenworthyCurious kids unearth the barrels that previously helped revive the dead, which proves the second time's an undead charm.
- DirectorBrett PierceDrew T. PierceStarsMichael McKiddyRoss KidderMarkus TaylorTwo inexplicably coherent zombies awake amidst a zombie attack, and decide to take a road trip to find the one's lost love, unaware they are being chased by the agents of a ruthless company with its own agenda.
- DirectorJohn GeddesStarsBrian CoxMark GibsonDee WallaceA young man's struggle to survive in the aftermath of a deadly undead outbreak during the American Civil War.
- DirectorPaul W.S. AndersonStarsMilla JovovichAli LarterWentworth MillerWhile still out to destroy the evil Umbrella Corporation, Alice joins a group of survivors living in a prison surrounded by the infected who also want to relocate to the mysterious but supposedly unharmed safe haven known only as Arcadia.
- DirectorAlex Craig MannStarsJacob ZacharAlexa NikolasChrista B. AllenA group of oddball high school students find themselves trapped in detention with their classmates having turned into a horde of Zombies.
- DirectorPatrice DinhutStarsJohn BillingsleyDean CainColleen CampAfter he's bitten by a scorpion carrying a zombie virus, a tough soldier survives the infection, becoming only half zombie. Once back in the US, he finds himself fighting his former comrades in arms, all of whom are turning into zombies!
- DirectorUwe BollStarsJonathan CherryTyron LeitsoClint HowardA group of college students travels to a mysterious island to attend a rave, which is soon taken over by bloodthirsty zombies.
- DirectorJay WoelfelStarsTatum AdairTimothy PrindleGregory Lee KenyonIn a small town in upstate New York, local residents were drowned as a dam was built and the town was flooded to create the Rushford Lake. One hundred years later, the souls of the drowned are becoming restless...
- DirectorAdam DeyoeStarsScott PeatMarissa MerrillJames C. BurnsWhen a worldwide viral outbreak leads to a plague of zombies scouring the earth for the living, two survivors flee the chaos of America to a remote island, hoping for a chance to start a new life. What they find is unrelenting horror. Beyond the hordes of the flesh-hungry undead, the other people already on the island force the pair into a fight-or-die battle amongst themselves. Armed only with crude weapons, they must descend to savagery and cutthroat tactics just to make it through each day.
- DirectorMichael G. BartlettKevin GatesStarsScott AinslieToby BowmanVictoria SummerAn unknown virus begins spreading and within weeks it engulfs the entire planet. Upon the death of its host, the virus would reanimate the corpse until it was no longer able to support itself. Soon, the planet was infested with the undead.
- DirectorMichael G. BartlettKevin GatesStarsPhilip BrodieAlix Wilton ReganRob OldfieldThree months have passed since a viral outbreak turned its victims into flesh-eating living dead. A band of survivors have taken refuge at a military barracks. A message comes telling of a "sanctuary" somewhere in Europe. But is it a trap?
- DirectorJay LeeStarsJenna JamesonRobert EnglundRoxy SaintA zombie epidemic spreads throughout a strip club in Nebraska.
- DirectorDan LantzStarsAlexis TexasJanice MarieAdam DanoffA military weapons manufacturer creates a chemical weapon that causes victims to become blood-lusting killers. A lab accident causes the building to go into lock-down and the employees are trapped inside with the crazed killers.
- DirectorLuca BoniMarco RistoriStarsChristian BoevingMike MitchellTara CardinalA team of soldiers who are assembled to help end a zombie outbreak in a Romanian town.
- DirectorJeff BroadstreetStarsAndrew DivoffJeffrey CombsSarah LievingAfter inheriting the family mortuary, a pyrophobic mortician accidentally exposes hundreds of un-cremated bodies to toxic medical waste. As the corpses re-animate, the mortician's inheritance-seeking younger brother unexpectantly shows up, stumbling upon a full zombie outbreak!
- DirectorJeff BroadstreetStarsBrianna BrownJoshua DesRochesSid HaigBoth an homage to and a re-imagining of the original 1968 film, this update follows a group of survivors trapped in a farmhouse battling a siege of undead zombies....in 3D!
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsChristopher GeorgeCatriona MacCollCarlo De MejoA reporter and a psychic race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide of a clergyman caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from their graves.
- DirectorJorge GrauStarsCristina GalbóRay LovelockArthur KennedyA cop chases two hippies suspected of a series of Manson family-like murders; unbeknownst to him, the real culprits are the living dead, brought to life with a hunger for human flesh by ultrasonic radiation being used for pest control.
- DirectorPericles LewnesStarsSteve SooyAnthony M. CarrKen DavisA barrel of radioactive waste is lost out in the woods. Some demented rednecks find it and use it as part of their still. Everybody who drinks the liquor they produced turns into zombies.
- DirectorSteven GoldmannStarsNichole HiltzLew TempleJeanette BroxSix troubled high schoolers and their leader become lost after their bus crashes during a raging storm. They seeks refuge for the night in an abandoned trailer park, managed by a sexy woman, Norma.
- DirectorGrace LeeStarsAustin BasisJane Edith WilsonAl VicentePic documents the daily lives of a small community of the living deceased who make their home in Los Angeles.
- DirectorMichele SoaviStarsRupert EverettFrançois Hadji-LazaroAnna FalchiA cemetery man must kill the dead a second time when they become zombies.
- DirectorMarc PriceStarsAlastair KirtonDaisy AitkensLeanne PammenOur hero Colin is bitten by a Zombie; he dies and returns from the dead. We follow him as he wanders through suburbia during the throes of a cadaverous apocalypse.
- DirectorStefan RuzowitzkyStarsMatt SmithNatalie DormerJohn BradleyAfter an unprecedented global pandemic turns the majority of humankind into violent "Infected," a man gifted with the ability to speak the Infected's new language leads the last survivors on a hunt for Patient Zero and a cure.
- DirectorJim JarmuschStarsBill MurrayAdam DriverTilda SwintonTwo pioneers fight for their lives and their love on the American frontier during the Civil War.
- DirectorHèctor Hernández VicensStarsSophie SkeltonJohnathon SchaechJeff GumA small group of military personnel and survivalists dwell in an underground bunker as they seek to find a cure in a world overrun by zombies.
- DirectorJeff BaenaStarsAubrey PlazaDane DeHaanJohn C. ReillyA young man's recently deceased girlfriend mysteriously returns from the dead, but he slowly realizes she is not the way he remembered her.
- DirectorYeon Sang-hoStarsNazeeh TarshaGang Dong-wonLee Jung-hyunA zombie virus has in the last four years spread to all South Korea. Four Koreans in Hong Kong sail through the blockade to Incheon for USD20,000,000 on a truck.
- DirectorMiguel Ángel VivasStarsMatthew FoxJeffrey DonovanQuinn McColganAnd suddenly, overnight, the world came to a halt. Two men, two survivors, one kid, and hatred that separates them. A place forgotten by everyone, including the creatures that inhabit the Earth... until now.
- DirectorTod WilliamsStarsJohn CusackSamuel L. JacksonIsabelle FuhrmanWhen a mysterious cell phone signal causes apocalyptic chaos, an artist is determined to reunite with his young son in New England.
- DirectorAbe ForsytheStarsLupita Nyong'oAlexander EnglandJosh GadA washed-up musician teams up with a teacher and a kids'-show personality to protect young children from a sudden outbreak of zombies.
- DirectorChristopher LandonStarsTye SheridanLogan MillerJoey MorganThree scouts, on the eve of their last camp-out, discover the true meaning of friendship when they attempt to save their town from a zombie outbreak.
- DirectorJonathan MilottCary MurnionStarsElijah WoodRainn WilsonAlison PillA mysterious virus hits an isolated elementary school, transforming the kids into a feral swarm of mass savages. An unlikely hero must lead a motley band of teachers in the fight of their lives.