The Walking ᴅᴇᴀᴅ revived the zombie genre, even without referring to its slow, shuffling unᴅᴇᴀᴅ threat as zombies. While there are several different kinds of zombies in The Walking ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, most of them are slow-moving and relatively easy to kill on their own. The zombies (known as walkers) are a much bigger threat when they are found in herds, and the later seasons of The Walking ᴅᴇᴀᴅ make use of this to introduce danger back into the series, which had replaced the threat of the zombies with the dangers posed by living people.
Zombies might conjure an image of a slow-moving horror, but many horror movies are now embracing the idea of fast zombies, and using them to scary effect. Along with The Walking ᴅᴇᴀᴅ TV series, films that have broken the “rules” of zombie movies have injected some much-needed creativity back into the genre. That said, just having fast zombies in a movie is not enough, and the zombie genre has needed to get more interesting. Zombie movies that have well-written characters and exciting new takes on the genre, as well as fast zombies can be truly terrifying.
10
The Sadness (2022)
A Bleak Taiwanese Body Horror
Most movies involving zombies are gory to an extent, but The Sadness is one of the most brutal zombie movies of all time. The Taiwanese horror movie shows a city falling into chaos as a virus ravages the population. Those affected by the virus become black-eyed, sadistic killers, and while some consider the movie so bleak that it failed to be scary, other reviewers strongly disagree.
The Sadness has some scenes that are extremely hard to watch, and part of what makes it so disturbing are the infected people. The “zombies” in The Sadness move quickly and are technically still alive, behaving more like serial killers than the unᴅᴇᴀᴅ. The virus strips them of their inhibitions, leaving just their most violent impulses, and many of the most terrifying scenes in The Sadness would not have been possible if the infected people had moved slowly.
9
28 Days Later (2003)
One Of The Most Creative Zombie Movies Of All Time
28 Days Later changed the zombie movie genre forever, and with an impressively low budget. It is another movie that does not use the word “zombie,” and instead calls its virus-stricken people “The Infected.” The threat in 28 Days Later is its terrifying rage virus, which can be spread through a single drop of blood. Before the movie was released, zombies were generally slow-moving, but 28 Days Later gave them horrific speed.
Like the zombies in The Walking ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, 28 Days Later‘s Infected are not intelligent, and are often manageable one at a time because they can be confused when facing several people. That said, a large herd of zombies in The Walking ᴅᴇᴀᴅ can still be redirected or even worked with, as The Whisperers faction learned to do. The Infected in 28 Days Later are able to search for people, and a large herd of them can kill anything in their path through rage.
8
Dawn Of The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ (2004)
A Remake Praised By Stephen King
Zack Snyder’s 2004 movie, Dawn of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ is a remake of the original 1978 zombie movie classic by the same name and directed by George A. Romero. Both the movie and the director have been controversial, with many reviewers feeling that the original is the superior movie. Still, one of the most surprising fans of Snyder’s Dawn of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ is a legendary horror writer. Stephen King called Dawn of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ “genius perfected” in an essay тιтled “What’s Scary.”
The zombies in the original Dawn of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ were the typical slow, shambling bodies that are seen in The Walking ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. However, Snyder made some major changes to the movie, and one of these is the zombies. The 2004 movie’s zombies are fast and full of rage, similar to the Infected in 28 Days Later. This turned the movie from a George A. Romero social satire to a violent action-horror.
7
Train To Busan
A South Korean Zombie Movie With A High Death Toll
Train to Busan is a South Korean zombie thriller with an impressive 95% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Like many modern zombie movies, the horror is caused by a virus rather than the rising of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, and Train to Busan‘s virus is terrifying. It spreads quickly, there is no hope of a cure or immunity, and the infected people can hunt down the uninfected, moving in fast-roaming packs.
Like the original Dawn of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, Train to Busan is also a social commentary, highlighting the different ways people behave in the face of danger
Train to Busan is gory and claustrophobic, as most of the action takes place on a moving train. The movie follows a father and daughter as they try to reach Busan for the mother’s birthday. Like the original Dawn of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, Train to Busan is also a social commentary, highlighting the different ways people behave in the face of danger. The movie has a very high death toll and is one of the best Korean horror movies of all time.
6
[REC] (2007)
An Intense Found-Footage Horror Movie In Spanish
[REC] is an extremely disturbing zombie horror movie in the found-footage genre, which is interesting as found-footage movies rarely feature zombies. The movie follows a TV crew who are following firefighters for a story. When they get called to an apartment, things take a horrifying turn. Something is affecting the residents, who are acting violently and unpredictably. The crew are quarantined within the building, and decide to document their survival.
[REC] is one is the best jump-scare-filled movies of all time, which may not be surprising, as jump scares are often a staple of the found-footage genre. That said, the movie is far from predictable, and the reason for the zombie outbreak is an unusual one. Most zombie movies show the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ rising or a virus that causes the carnage, but [REC] reveals that the disturbing truth is supernatural in origin, causing the residents to behave like animals.
5
Resident Evil (2002)
There Are Several Kinds Of Fast Zombies In Resident Evil
The zombies in the Resident Evil movie franchise evolve over time, and while the first movie focuses more on the slow and shuffling kind of zombie, the mutated dogs are fast, scary, and lethal. Alice first encounters the T-virus-infected dogs in the first Resident Evil movie, but they make appearances in several of the sequels. The Resident Evil movies are full of different kinds of zombies, and the T-virus does not stop with dogs.
The third movie in the Resident Evil series introduces ᴅᴇᴀᴅly zombie crows, which swarm in large fast-moving flocks and attack vehicles. Over time, even the more humanoid zombies can gain speed and different (often disturbing) abilities. This is because, rather than an infection, the zombie outbreak in Resident Evil is caused by an experimental viral weapon which causes the infected people and animals to mutate rather than simply become ill.
4
World War Z (2013)
Brad Pitt’s Zombie Movie Still Has No Sequel
Brad Pitt’s World War Z is not just scary for the zombies, but for the scale of the action. Many zombie movies are most effective when they focus on small groups of people, and this is also true for many of the best scenes in The Walking ᴅᴇᴀᴅ. World War Z takes a different and very ambitious approach, showing how the virus spreads across the world. While the movie was a box office hit, a World War Z sequel was never made.
The World War Z zombies are fast, agile, and have a pack instinct, allowing them to swarm and overwhelm non-infected people. One of the most frightening scenes in World War Z is when the zombies rise up and climb over each other like ants. It is this unstoppable feeling that makes the movie so disturbing, and Brad Pitt gives an excellent performance as an investigator traveling the world to try and stop the virus.
3
I Am Legend (2007)
Will Smith Stars In This Zombie Movie About Genetic Engineering
Most of the zombies in standard zombie horror movies have very little brainpower, but I Am Legend has a disturbing twist, revealing the zombies have some intelligence and a social structure. The virus affecting the zombies (known as Darkseekers) in I Am Legend was intended to cure cancer, but it went wrong. Now, they are superhuman, moving like parkour athletes, and they rule the night while Will Smith’s character has to live in daylight hours, believing that he is alone in the world, except for his dog.
I Am Legend shows Will Smith’s character, Neville, through the eyes of the zombies, and to them, he is a monster, and he believes that he is in battle with them. The zombies are creepy for most of the movie, but the most frightening part of I Am Legend is the isolation that Neville feels. I am Legend is going to have a sequel, and it is believed that this upcoming movie might retcon the original ending, and follow the ending in the original book by Richard Matheson.
2
ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Alive (AKA Brainᴅᴇᴀᴅ) (1992)
Before Lord Of The Rings, Peter Jackson Made Gory Zombie Movies
Before his phenomenal and life-changing success with the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Peter Jackson was once best known for directing extremely gory zombie movies. ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Alive (aka Brainᴅᴇᴀᴅ) is one of the goriest zombie movies of all time and follows a young man named Lionel as his mother turns into a zombie. Lionel is in way over his head as he tries to hide the growing horde of zombies in his basement, and, as expected, everything goes wrong.
ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Alive isn’t as chilling as other zombie movies on this list, but it has some terrifying moments…
The zombies in ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Alive are not quite the same as the ones in The Walking ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, though they appear to have a similarly low intellect. These are the more modern fast zombies, which leads to extra trouble for Lionel. ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Alive isn’t as chilling as other zombie movies on this list, but it has some terrifying moments and some of the bloodiest scenes in any horror movie ever made.
1
The Girl With All The Gifts (2017)
A Movie About Zombie Children Discovering Their Gruesome History
The premise for The Girl With All the Gifts is strikingly similar to the video game (and current TV show) The Last of Us, as the zombie condition is caused by a variant of the cordyceps fungus. That said, the zombies in The Girl With All the Gifts look and behave extremely differently to those in The Last of Us. Known as “hungries,” most of the zombies are lethal, fast, aggressive flesh-eaters beyond help. However, many are not.
Many of the movie’s zombies are children, because their mothers’ pregnancies gave them a degree of immunity from the virus. The children still eat living flesh and are capable of mindless hunger like in The Walking ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, but they are generally intelligent and capable of learning. The most terrifying part of The Girl With All the Gifts is the fact that the zombie children have to learn that they ate their mothers, but despite this gruesome and bleak twist, the ending shows the main character taking control of her future.
