Shubhabrata Dutta
Despite the horrors of living in an apocalypse, the audience has always been obsessed with zombies. Somehow, these brain-eating vicious undead creatures are darkly delightful to watch. The first zombie movies started cropping up as early as the advent of science fiction and fantasy movies. With actors like Will Smith, Brad Pitt, and others appearing in zombie movies, the genre has gone mainstream. Its mix of horror, action, and thrill, with humor thrown in at times, makes it one of the most entertaining genres, and Netflix offers a great collection of such films to its viewers.
15. Resident Evil: Death Island (2023)
Based on the popular video game franchise, ‘Resident Evil: Death Island’ is an animated horror movie set after the events of ‘Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness’ (2021 animated miniseries). Directed by Eiichirō Hasumi and set in Alcatraz Island near San Francisco, the movie revolves around an outbreak of the T-Virus, or Tyrant virus, a mutant virus that was developed by the Umbrella Corporation as a bio-weapon that ultimately led to heightening the aggression of those affected and driving them to cannibalism. While the movie is part of a franchise, it can be watched as a standalone zombie movie, and you can do so right here.
14. Don’t Kill Me (2021)
‘Don’t Kill Me’ is a romantic horror movie directed by Andrea De Sica and centers on 19-year-old Mirta, who, along with her boyfriend, dies from a drug overdose. But Mirta comes out of her grave and soon realizes that to keep living, she needs to drink human blood. How she copes with this, along with the pain of her deceased lover, while searching for the truth behind her undead self is what we find out in the movie. It stars Alice Pagani, Rocco Fasano, Giacomo Ferrara and Anita Caprioli. You can stream it here.
13. Izla (2021)
Directed by Barry Gonzalez, ‘Izla’ is a zombie horror film that features talented actors like Paolo Contis, Archie Alemania, Beauty Gonzalez, and Isabella Daza. The movie follows a group of bloggers determined to find a mythical island for their next adventure. To accomplish their goal, the young adventurers seek the help of two brothers to accompany them on their trip, unbeknownst to the dark secrets that they are going to unravel. Once they accidentally find the island, they are overwhelmed by one sinister secret after another. You can watch the movie here.
12. Badland Hunters (2024)
Directed by Heo Myung-haeng, ‘Badland Hunters’ is set in post-apocalyptic Seoul, South Korea. The hardcore Ma Dong-seok-starrer flick follows Nam-san (Ma Dong-seok) and his assistant/partner Lee Jun-young (Lee Jun-young), who set out to find Soo-na (Roh Jeong Eui), a young girl from their village, who is taken, along with many other people, by scientist Yang Gi-su’s (Lee Hee-joon) men to his facility. Yang Gi-su has been working on a serum that will make humans immortal. This will allow him to save his daughter, who is in a form of coma. Thus, Su-na and others serve as test subjects. Nam-san and Lee Jun-young set out to rescue Soo-na, but what they do not know is that the serum has been turning the subjects into zombie-like beings. Thrilling from start to finish, ‘Badland Hunters’ successfully establishes itself as a zombie movie while giving us a more acceptable story that is well-executed. You can watch it here.
11. Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (2023)
Directed by Yusuke Ishida, ‘Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead’ is a live-action movie based on the manga series of the same name by Haro Aso & Kotaro Takata. The cast includes Eiji Akaso, Mai Shiraishi, Shuntarō Yanagi, and Akari Hayami. The story centers on a guy named Akira Tendo, who is subjected to daily bullying from his boss on top of the endless working hours. His life is miserable due to this very reason, and so when a zombie apocalypse strikes, he finds himself overjoyed because he won’t have to go to the office anymore. He then decides to complete his bucket list of 100 things he wants to do before he turns into a zombie. To find out whether he can accomplish his objectives, you can stream the movie here.
10. Carter (2022)
‘Carter’ is a South Korean action movie directed by Byung-gil Jung and starring Joo Won, Camilla Belle, Jeong So-ri, and Lee Sung-jae. Set in Seoul, South Korea, with more than 8 million infected with a mutant virus, the movie shows a guy named Carter Lee doing whatever it takes to find a kid who is carrying the vaccine in her blood and bring her to North Korea. The catch? He has just woken up without any recollection of his past or of who he is. He has a device implanted in his ear through which a mysterious female voice is giving him instructions. The CIA is after him, along with other gangs. You can stream this gripping action thriller here.
9. The Dead Don’t Die (2019)
Jim Jarmusch’s drama ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ takes the absurd route to the zombie genre. With a star-studded cast that includes Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny, Tilda Swinton, Danny Glover, and Selena Gomez, the film is set in the fictional town of Centerville that is subjected to a zombie apocalypse. It is upto the police to find a way to control the zombies, although considering just how weird they are, it seems unlikely unless they straightaway go for the zombies’ heads. Silly and humorous simultaneously, ‘The Dead Don’t Die’ offers a brilliant depiction of humans, undead and unemotional, each section trying to kill the other. You can watch the film here.
8. Army of the Dead (2021)
Zack Snyder’s ‘Army of the Dead’ is a zombie heist film that features an ensemble cast that includes Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick, and Ana de la Reguera. When the undead overrun Las Vegas, the city is walled from all sides, and the residents flee to other parts of the country. When the government decides to obliterate Sin City with a bomb to get rid of the zombies, the billionaire magnate Bly Tanaka is worried about the $200 million that he kept in an impenetrable casino vault. To retrieve his money, he sends a group of mercenaries to pull off a seemingly impossible heist just 96 hours before the bombing. To find out if they are successful, you can watch ‘Army of the Dead’ here.
7. Valley of the Dead (2020)
Directed by Javier Ruiz Caldera and Alberto de Toro, this Spanish zombie movie stars Aura Garrido, Asia Ortega, Miki Esparbé, and Manel Llunell. The film is set during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and shows how the soldiers of the Republicans and the Nationalists are forced to drop their weapons and hatred for each other and shake hands because there is a common enemy on the rise, one that will stop at nothing to “eat them.” You can watch the movie here to find out whether the soldiers are successful in stopping these beings.
6. Outside (2024)
A zombie outbreak is pinned against horrifying family secrets in Carlo Ledesma’s Filipino zombie drama ‘Outside.’ Set in the Philippines, the film follows a family that has taken refuge in an abandoned house to survive a zombie epidemic. As the plot proceeds, we find out that the dreadful nature of the zombies is equivalent to appalling secrets regarding the family that the walls of the house hold. While the family might just escape the zombies, can it escape its past? Starring Sid Lucero, Beauty Gonzalez, and Marco Masa, ‘Outside’ is a commendable zombie movie that smartly balances drama and dread. You can watch it here.
5. Kingdom: Ashin of the North (2021)
‘Kingdom: Ashin of the North’ is a special episode of the popular South Korean political period horror-thriller series ‘Kingdom.’ It centers upon the early life of Ashin and the mysterious plants that turn ordinary people into blood-thirsty zombies. As a young girl, Ashin lived in a frontier village when she first learned that people in the neighboring town mysteriously died while looking for wild ginseng in the forbidden forest area. When the sad news reaches her village, people refuse to believe that a tiger killed the people, but soon, all theories and speculations are cast aside when Ashin’s own home and the village are attacked. You may watch the movie here.
4. Ravenous (2017)
In this visual stunner of a film, the zombies are not completely brain-dead. The zombies in Robin Aubert’s ‘Ravenous’ are intelligent to the degree that they can communicate with each other. The story follows a quickly depleting number of survivors in a remote village in upstate Quebec as they try to outrun the flesh-eating monsters and get to a safe place in the woods. ‘Ravenous’ is a magnetic and nuanced French-language drama that will keep audiences engaged from start to finish. The film is predominantly silent and depends heavily on the edgy, scary imagery to successfully build up the dread. Even though the script and the story are nothing new, ‘Ravenous’ feels fresh. You can stream it here.
3. Cargo (2017)
‘Cargo’ begins on a really interesting note, however – in a post-apocalyptic set up in Australia, which is full of Aborigines and tribal folk as well, Andy, his wife Kay, and their infant daughter are living off of a houseboat, floating in the water and gathering supplies from abandoned boats. In parallel, Thoomi, an aboriginal, tries to save her father from the outbreak, but it is all in vain. Kay is bitten by a zombie as it appears and is taken away by Andy, along with their daughter, in a van before she turns completely. After abandoning Kay, Andy realizes he’s bitten too and only has 48 hours to take his daughter to a safer place before he turns as well. The movie has been widely appreciated for its lead performance and being in a very typical Australian setting. ‘Cargo’ makes for a somewhat difficult watch as far as international audiences are concerned. You can check it out here.
2. #Alive (2020)
South Koreans are known to make some great zombie flicks that feature scary, really fast, and vicious zombies. ‘#Alive’ is the latest in a long line of fine undead entertainment by South Korean filmmakers. It tells the tale of a lone gamer stuck inside his apartment with no food, limited water, no weapons, no way out, and a horde of hungry zombies threatening to break down his front door. The gamer almost decides to drop the fight because his family is likely all dead, but that changes when he finds another person – a girl – right across his window in an apartment in the neighboring building, and a strange, unlikely friendship ensues. ‘#Alive’ is a fresh take on the zombie genre, utilizing modern-day elements (like social media) as plot devices to flesh out (excuse the pun) the story. The relationship between the gamer and the girl in the apartment across from his building is so precious that you are rooting for them, hoping they don’t become zombie-chow. You may watch the film here.
1. Resident Evil: Retribution (2012)
The fifth installment in the ‘Resident Evil’ film franchise, ‘Resident Evil: Retribution’ follows the events of ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’ (2010). It centers on Alice (Milla Jovovich), who is trapped in an underwater base controlled by the supercomputer Red Queen, who now controls the whole of Umbrella Corporation. The T-virus is rapidly spreading across the planet, and Red Queen intends to use it to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth. While her allies search for her, Alice must keep herself alive as zombies come after her, sent by the supercomputer, which fears that she has what it takes to save humanity. Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, ‘Resident Evil: Retribution’ has its ups and downs but establishes itself as an authentic addition to the action-based titular franchise, garnished with Jovovich’s iconic character portrayal. You can watch the movie here.
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