The Best Zombie Movies Of The 21st Century

17.MAGGIE (2015)

A popularly conflicting movie, Henry Hobson’s Maggie is a fascinating look into the deterioration of a young girl’s humanity as she gradually becomes one of the undead. Her father, played spectacularly by Arnold Schwarzenegger, does everything in his power to keep her safe and away from the inevitable.

Not one for action fans, Maggie is instead an introspective look at love and what it means to be human.

16.DANCE OF THE DEAD (2008)

This movie is dumber than Harry and Lloyd rolling around in nuclear waste talking about creationism. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as Dance of the Dead doesn’t make the mistake of taking itself seriously for even a second.

A light-hearted effort centred around a zombie outbreak during a high school prom and you can fill in the blanks about what happens next.

15.DEADGIRL (2008)

This is a nasty, ugly film which serves as more of a reminder of the depravity that humanity will sink to rather than an out-and-out zombie movie. After two teenage boys find a reanimated corpse in an abandoned facility, they resort to depraved acts as they hold her captive.

It’s a hard watch that can be far too aggressive with its message, but is still an effective alternative zombie film which should be ticked off your watchlist. Just don’t choose it for date night.

14.LAND OF THE DEAD (2005)

George A. Romero’s long-awaited return to his classic zombie series might not rank as his best, but it still has a strong political undercurrent which sets it apart from similar fare.

America’s War on Terror is a big inspiration for events here and contributes towards a smarter, more accessible effort than 1985’s Day of the Dead that still ends up as an arguably inferior but great watch nonetheless.

13.EXIT HUMANITY (2011)

This will not be for you if you like your zombie films to be a bit…flighty. Exit Humanity takes place in a Civil War-era overwhelmed with the undead and follows the toils of an ex-family man who is just looking to survive in the most melancholy way possible.

The narration can be slightly jarring and the action a little melodramatic, but this is a taut, clever effort nonetheless that is available on Amazon Instant Video.

12.COLIN (2008)

Nobody is going to claim that this extremely low-budget found footage movie is groundbreaking in its cinematography, but it is fascinating in concept. For the princely sum of £45, director Marc Price has managed to create an intelligent film told entirely from the perspective of a zombie during an outbreak in Britain.

If for nothing but to appreciate what was accomplished on a tiny budget, Colin is a must-see.

11.PLANET TERROR (2007)

Probably the last good thing Robert Rodriguez has touched, Planet Terror is a romp from start to finish. As part of the admirably throwback Grindhouse series with Quentin Tarantino, Rodriguez released a camp, silly but still stylish zombie movie back in 2007 that featured some of the greatest one-liners in film history.

“I’m gonna eat your brains and gain your knowledge” is the first thing I say to all my new friends.

10.THE HORDE (2009)

Going on poster art alone, The Horde would be one to swerve. It’s by no means perfect, but this Belgian release is a pleasant surprise, especially if you base your preconceptions on its dodgy cover.

Don’t expect the Citizen Kane of zombie movies (that will always be 1978’s Dawn of the Dead) and you will have a lot of fun with the machismo of dumb police officers who fail to understand where to shoot zombies.

9.FIDO (2006)

Hands up if you knew that Billy Connolly was once a zombie. Putting in a great performance as the titular “hero”, Connolly anchors one of the first interesting spins on zombie legend to come out in the 21st century.

Taking place in a world where the flesh eaters have become domesticated, Fido is a unique zombie film that might have passed many people by on initial release; it’s definitely worth picking up for cheap now.

8.ZOMBIELAND (2009)

The more I watch Ruben Fleishcer’s zomedy, the more I notice its flaws. It’s still a worthwhile look into the end of the world via zombies that’s helped out a lot by our lord Bill Murray’s hilarious cameo.

If you haven’t checked it out yet, take your brain out of your skull, put it in a bag of frozen peas and allow yourself to enjoy some honest whimsy. Just don’t try to explain to me the sense in going to a theme park in an apocalypse.

7.JUAN OF THE DEAD (2011)

A recurring theme with modern zombie films is not taking the zombie apocalypse all that seriously, which is exactly the charm of the Spanish-Cuban Juan of the Dead. After the undead outbreak, the chosen Juan decides to start up his own ethically unsound zombie-killing business with differing results.

Equal parts slapstick comedy and political allegory, this is a smart and heartfelt effort, which isn’t too bad a result considering it’s viewed as the first Cuban zombie film ever made.

6.DEAD SNOW (2009)

Continuing the trend of smart, exciting foreign zombie movies comes Dead Snow, or Død Snø in its native Norwegian. When you combine Nazis, zombies and a dash of comedy for good measure, you will only ever been onto a winner and that’s exactly the case here.

Dead Snow is smartly shot, fantastically paced and doesn’t fall into the same old tropes that hamper so many similar films.

5.THE BATTERY (2012)

A film which I cannot espouse enough, The Battery appeared in a period of fantastical, ridiculous zombie movies to do something that so many simply fail to do: tell a story.

As a low-budget affair, this allows first-time director Jeremy Gardner to explore the mental toil of a zombie apocalypse on two begrudging baseball players who were thrown together through necessity rather than choice when the world went to shit. Essential viewing.

4.Train to Busan

Train to Busan is a 2016 South Korean zombie apocalypse horror thriller film directed by Yeon Sang-ho and starring Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi and Ma Dong-seok. The film had its premiere in the Midnight Screenings section at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival on 13 May

On 7 August, the film set a record as the first Korean film of 2016 to break the audience record with over 10 million theatergoers.

3.SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)

It would almost be easier to just copy and paste a load of memorable quotes from Edgar Wright’s now famous romzomcom than to actually write anything about it.

If you haven’t seen Shaun of the Dead yet, get your life together and turn on ITV2 right now because it will invariably be playing on there as we speak. How’s that for a slice of fried gold?

2.DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004)

A film that I make an effort to watch at least once a year, Zack Snyder’s remake of the classic original is a breathless action film which only shares the location (a shopping mall) with its source material.

It’s not the thinking man’s zombie movie, but I will be damned if it isn’t the most entertaining, set up perfectly by a relentless opening sequence.

1.World War Z

World War Z is a 2013 American apocalyptic action horror film directed by Marc Forster. The screenplay by Matthew Michael Carnahan, Drew Goddard, and Damon Lindelof is from a screen story by Carnahan and J. Michael Straczynski, based on the 2006 novel of the same name by Max Brooks.

The film stars Brad Pitt as Gerry Lane, a former United Nations investigator who must travel the world to find a way to stop a zombie pandemic.

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