Vrinda Bachchan
Mirza Aaqib Beg
Despite being wary of an incumbent apocalypse, complete with zombies and everything, it won’t be folly to state that the west, especially the Americans have always been obsessed with zombies. Somehow, these brain-eating vicious undead creatures are darkly delightful to watch. Notably, the first zombie movies started cropping up as early as the advent of science fiction and fantasy movies.
With the immense success of movies like ‘World War Z’, we have seen a definite spurt in the number of zombie movies releasing every year. ‘Warm Bodies’ and ‘Zombieland’ are other examples of good, successful zombie movies. With actors like Will Smith, Brad Pitt, et al appearing in mainstream zombie movies, such films no longer remain ignored. Good apocalypse films, especially involving zombies, are always a great Sunday watch. Netflix, however, has a limited number of watchable zombie movies, which might come as a surprise to you, still, they could be watched if you like a good mix of humor, horror, and thrill. Here is the list of some really good zombie movies on Netflix. You can also watch many of these new zombie movies on Amazon Prime or Hulu.
10. 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 who are determined to find a mythical island for their next adventure. In order 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.
9. Ladronas de Almas (2015)
Set in Mexico during the Mexican Civil War, ‘Ladronas de Almas’ is a Spanish-language film directed by Juan Antonio de la Riva. The movie’s plot revolves around a group of treasure-seeking insurgents who enter a plantation house where only the owner resides with his seemingly helpless daughters. Only the daughters – the three Cordero sisters – are not exactly helpless but are vicious killers supported by a horde of zombies that acts as the first line of defense when people come seeking the hidden loot. An exciting, fast-paced plot keeps the movie from being too repetitive.
8. Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2018)
An action-horror (comedy) at the outset and arguably one of the worst zombie films ever made, ‘Day of the Dead: Bloodline’ is different in the aspect of even calling the creatures zombies, instead, one could hear the word “rotters” quite often. The movie begins with Zoe, a young medical student who is attending a party and is suddenly taken aback by the attack of the so-called rotters. Incidentally, the rotters don’t bite her but have infected and attacked the remaining populace. She soon realizes that the entire city and streets have been infested with rotters. She has been stationed at a refugee camp that houses partially infected and fully sane survivors, and she starts serving there as a doctor, treating minor illnesses while looking for a viable cure. Five years later, the rotters have again come to confront her and her deep dark secrets at the refugee camp. ‘Day of the Dead: Bloodline’ was slammed for being tedious and seriously cliched. Watch it at your own risk!
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7. 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 overruns 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 the 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. In order to retrieve his money, he sends a group of mercenaries to pull off a seemingly impossible heist just 96 hours prior to the bombing.
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6. ParaNorman (2012)
Directed by Sam Fell and Chris Butler, ‘ParaNorman’ is a dark fantasy comedy horror film. The story revolves around Norman Babcock, a boy living in Blithe Hollow. The small city was cursed by a witch several centuries ago and continues to suffer from its repercussions. However, unknown to many people, Norman has the strange power to speak to the dead. So, when his uncle asks him to participate in an annual ritual to protect their city, the protagonist is happy to help. Unfortunately, things don’t turn out the way that he has imagined, and Norman has no other option but to figure out the harsh reality of the curse to protect his loved ones and the people of Blithe Hollow.
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5. Pet Sematary (2019)
Inspired by Stephen King’s 1983 novel of the same name, ‘Pet Sematary’ is a supernatural horror film that stars Jason Clarke, Amy Seimetz, and John Lithgow. The Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer directorial centers upon Dr. Louis Creed and his peace-loving family, which lives a quiet life in Ludlow, Maine, after moving from Boston, Massachusetts. One day, when they lose their cat in an unfortunate road accident, the heartbroken family buries it in a nearby cemetery after paying their respect. However, they cannot have fully comprehended the horrors that are unleashed on them following the incident as their lives take a dark turn.
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4. 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 used to live in a frontier village when she first learned that people in the neighboring town mysteriously died while looking for wild ginseng in the forbidden area of a forest. When the sad news reaches her village, people refuse to believe that the people were killed by a tiger, but soon all theories and speculations are cast aside when Ashin’s own home and the village are attacked.
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3. Ravenous (2017)
In this visual stunner of a film, the zombies are not totally brain-dead. The zombies in Robin Aubert’s ‘Ravenous’ are intelligent to a 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 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 is nothing new, ‘Ravenous’ still feels fresh.
2. Cargo (2017)
Personally, I feel ‘Cargo’ is one of the worst Netflix originals I’ve ever seen. The only reason probably why this movie is on this list is because of Martin Freeman and him only. The movie 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 aborigine tries to save her father from the outbreak but 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 rest of the movie is way too predictable and as expected, Andy hands over his daughter to the aborigines by the conclusion. Although the movie has been widely appreciated for the lead performance and being in a very typical Australian setting – something that hasn’t been accomplished before, ‘Cargo’ makes for a somewhat difficult watch as far as international audiences are concerned.
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1. #Alive (2020)
South Koreans are known to make some great zombie flicks that feature really scary, really fast, and really vicious zombies. ‘#Alive’ is the latest in a long line of fine undead entertainment by South Korean filmmakers. ‘#Alive’ 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, 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 hard that they don’t become zombie-chow.
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