6. Dawn of the Dead

George Romero’s second film tells the story of several survivors of a zombie apocalypse who escape from Philadelphia by helicopter. They arrive at a mall in Monroeville, a suburb of Pittsburgh, and hole themselves up inside. They kill and remove all the zombies inside and then setup a lifestyle for themselves, enjoying the luxury of having access to all goods inside the mall. The film is as much a zombie movie as it is a critique of our consumer lifestyle and our desire to have expensive items, even in the direst of situations. Brilliant, haunting, funny, and terrifying, Dawn of the Dead is a horror-movie classic, a brilliant social commentary and zombie film. There is a 2004 remake directed by Zack Snyder (who also directed 300 and The Watchmen) that is also good, though light on the social commentary and heavy on the action and gore.

5. Resident Evil (series)

Resident Evil is the original zombie game. Debuting on the Playstation and Sega Saturn, Resident Evil told the story of either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine (the player had a choice), police investigators who are called on to look into strange, cannibalistic murders on the outskirts of Raccoon City. When the Bravo team doesn’t return or respond from the scene of the murders, team Alpha arrives to find vicious dogs and no remains of Bravo team. They seek shelter in a large mansion which turns out to be a research facility for the Umbrella Corporation. Filled with zombies and traps, the mansion is a dangerous place to be trapped in. Resident Evil (and the games that followed) told the continuing story of the Umbrella Corporations experiments and the results of the horrors they created. Terrifying, dread-filled action combined with an over the shoulder perspective that limited what you could see led to an unforgettable experience.

Resident Evil's many different iterations are all excellent zombie killers

4. The Evil Dead

The Evil Dead, directed by Sam Raimi (Spiderman, Drag Me To Hell), is the first in a trilogy of films starring Bruce Campbell. A group of college student’s retreat to a cabin in Tennessee for a week of drinking, smoking pot, and having fun. In the basement, they discover an old book, The Necronomicon, which is made of human skin. There is also a tape recorder near the book, on which a professor who previously owned the cabin reads from its pages. Subsequently, the words from the book awake an evil spirit that begins to possess the students one-by-one. Though not technically zombies, the possessed students have an uncanny ability to take almost any sort of physical abuse except for destruction of their brains. They slowly attack each other, spreading the infection and causing Ash to try and fight back. The possessed characters are truly terrifying, and the cinematography combined with Bruce Campbell’s excellent portrayal of Ash, a shy, unheroic, terrified figure, combine to make this a classic horror film. The Evil Dead is succeeded by Evil Dead 2: Dead at Dawn and Army of Darkness, both of which are also excellent.

3. The Zombie Survival Guide

This book, also written by Max Brooks, is an essential guide to surviving zombie attacks. It details what weapons would be best to use, how to barricade yourself, and how to make your home zombie-proof ahead of any apocalypse. The Zombie Survival Guide also includes numerous accounts of historical zombie attacks and is highly detailed as Brooks doesn’t miss out on a single detail of how to prepare for and survive a zombie apocalypse. It is excellently written, funny, serious, and its lessons apply even to zombie-fighting video games.

2. Shaun of the Dead

The second-greatest zombie film of all time, Shaun of the Dead tells the story of Shaun, a perennial loser stuck in a dead-end job at an electronics store. His girlfriend, Liz is tired of drinking with him every night at his favorite pub, The Winchester, and wants him to grow up. When their third anniversary arrives and he fails to make a restaurant reservation, she breaks up with him. Just his luck, then, that a zombie apocalypse shall befall London, giving him an opportunity to save her, protect her, and prove that he is not a loser. Accompanied by his best friend Ed, Shaun races to his mom’s and then to Liz’s, and takes them all to the Winchester, the perfect place to hole up and survive the apocalypse. The film is full of sly references to zombie films and games across many decades, from Night of the Living Dead to 28 Days Later to The Evil Dead and more. It is hilarious, for instance, as Ed and Shaun arrive at Shaun’s mom’s house Ed admires Shaun’s stepfather’s Jaguar. Offering to stay outside as Shaun goes in to rescue his mom and his stepfather, Phillip, Shaun comes back out to discover that his car has been crashed. “What happened?” asks Shaun. “I pranged it,” says Ed mischievously, “Guess we’ll have to take the Jag.”

1. Night of the Living Dead

George Romero’s first film, Night of the Living Dead is shot in black and white and was made on an extreme budget. It is not the first zombie film (that honor goes to White Zombie, starring Bela Lugosi, from the 1930s, but it is the first proper zombie film. Night of the Living Dead tells the story of Barbara, who, while visiting her father’s grave at a cemetery with her brother Johnny, suddenly witnesses a shambling, recently deceased man attack and kill Johnny. A terrifying encounter ensues in which Barbara escapes in the car by releasing the brakes just as the zombie is about to get her. She arrives at a farmhouse, where she holes herself up and is soon joined by a family and a young black man. As the night ensues, the number of zombies wandering the countryside builds and they formulate a plan to reach emergency shelters nearby. The film is terrifying. The black and white camera adds to the tension and mood, and the slow, shambling zombies are horrifying as they appear out of the darkness, slow, mechanical, and hell-bent on attacking the survivors. The film is also a brilliant social commentary on race relations, and features a fine acting performance from Duane Jones, who plays the quick-thinking black man, Ben. Every film enthusiast should see the greatest zombie triumph of all time, Night of the Living Dead.

Honorable Mention:

Reanimator

Lemar the defanged head crab from Half-Life 2

White Zombie

The Beyond

Day of the Dead