Five Zombie Films to Watch in Anticipation of the Return of The Walking Dead
Gene Page/TWD Productions/AMC
You’d have to be dead to miss the zombie comeback. With films, books, and now even TV shows reviving the undead, not even locking the doors will keep them at bay. So while we await the Return of the Living AMC show called The Walking Dead (Sunday, 02/12, 9 pm, EST) here are five movies you can check out now. Warning: May cause upset stomach, or worse–instill a craving for human flesh!
Public domain, believe it or not!
Night of the Living Dead (USA, 1968)
Sure films about the undead had been around for decades, one or two even made during the era of silent film, but it was George Romero’s low-budget black-and-white shocker that brought the dead from the underground. No list is complete without it. Previously sleepwalking dopes, zombies forever became maniacal flesh-eating ghouls in Romero’s nightmare. Although often criticized for its obvious gaffes, most will agree that Night of the Living Dead is undoubtedly the mother of all zombie films. It’s been remade a bunch of times, including again this coming Halloween.
20th Century Fox
28 Days Later (UK, 2002)
Wait, zombies are now running?! Director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland catapulted the genre to new levels by introducing a much more menacing human-monster. Gone are the slow, stupid man-eaters of yesteryear. This new breed is uncontrollably aggressive and the transformation is instantaneous. So unless you’re a star athlete and a really quick thinker with an undying will to live, you’re probably not going to make it through the first week. 28 Days Later is set in the bleak and terrifyingly empty streets of London and the surrounding countryside. Purists argue that these are more a strain of crazies than zombies, but still. Call it “the rage” or call it good old-fashioned reanimation, this film IS what the genre is all about.
IFC Films
Mutants (France, 2009)
What sets apart most of the older films from the recent slew of zombie gore-fests is the storyline of cause and origin, and how these monsters came about. Mutants takes a very real setting (as real as a middle-of-nowhere, snow-entrapped laboratory can be) and follows a group of humans who, after a breakdown in laboratory testing, undergo a slow but terrifying radical transformation. The film’s jumps come not from what results but rather how it all goes down.
IFC Films
Dead Snow (Norway, 2009)
And sometimes zombie films will make you laugh. While Dead Snow may not rank too high on the scare-meter, it tips the scale on pure gore and comedy. Delivering scene after scene of unadulterated blood splatter, the zombies in this film are undead Nazis. Because undead Nazis must be chainsawed apart. Did you know that there’s a sub-genre of Nazi zombie films? Dead Snow ranks among the best of them.
Sony Picture Home Entertainment
[Rec] (Spain, 2007)
Given that the youngest crop of films to come out have redefined the definition of “zombie” by including people stricken with a rare disease, virus, plague, [Rec]’s got the perfect elements for a truly terrifying night with the undead. The setting: a multi-level apartment in the heart of Barcelona. The people: a young reporter and a group of fire fighters. The zombies: A young reporter and a group of firefighters, who have now been quarantined and are left to survive on their own. [Rec] wastes no time with transformation. The virus incubation period is short and the killer is fast-moving, vicious, and just minutes before, an extremely dedicated rescue worker. [Rec]’s not the newest of the zombie films out there, but it’s certainly among the best.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy your meal. But, please, lock your door, cause as the creepy brother in the cemetery says, They’re coming to get you, Barbra! But this time you’ll know to wear a decent pair of sneakers.
The closest Cesar Guadamuz ever got to reanimation was watering his almost-dead pepper plant. You can follow him on Twitter @LetCesarSpeak
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Sheri
February 10, 2012 3:35 pm
Great list! How shameful that I haven’t seen the mother of all zombie films.
Kara
February 10, 2012 6:29 pm
Zombtastic! I might have to break down and see Mutants, we have had a ban on French horror movies in our house for a while, they have tended to stick with me a little longer than I’ve wanted them around – a little TOO good sometimes.
May make an exception for Mutants though!
Efrain
February 11, 2012 12:21 pm
Indeed a good list of modern Zombie flicks,.. I’ve seen all but, and will have to see, dead snow.. would have liked to have seen the Remade Dawn of the dead. That one scared the crap out of me in the theaters.
ohmygodjohntravolta
February 12, 2012 6:28 am
Episode 8: “Nebraska”
The episode starts at the exact same spot the previous one left off. One of the walkers who got shot (the stepmom) tries to grab Beth (Hershel’s youngest daughter), but is killed by Andrea with a swift hoe through the head. Shane shouts some more and Hershel tells the group to “LEAVE MY FARM!” for the umpteenth time. Maggie finally slaps Shane right in the face and things cool down somewhat.
Sophia is buried along with Hershel’s dead family members from the barn. T-Dog, Andrea, and Shane pile the other corpses on a truck, drive to a nearby field and burn the bodies in a pyre. Hershel has something of a mental breakdown as he slips out of the farm and goes to a bar in the town to get shitfaced. Beth goes into catatonic shock from the ordeal at the barn, so Rick and Glenn head to town in order to bring Hershel back.
Meanwhile, Dale tells a skeptical Lori about his suspicions that Shane killed Otis and his belief that Shane will sooner or later kill someone else. Daryl snaps and shouts at Lori when asked to bring Rick and Hershel home quicker, stating he’s “done looking for people”. Lori heads out by herself, hits a random walker on the way and flips the car into a ditch. It’s not shown what happened to her. That’s the second (and the last) actual walker we see in the episode.
Glenn and Rick find Hershel in the bar. After a five-minute rant by a drunk Hershel, two dudes (Tony and Dave) enter the bar. They are bad guys. They inform Glenn, Rick, and Hershel that Fort Benning is overrun and they’re heading for Nebraska, which is supposedly safe. “Low population, lots of guns,” as they put it.
The two quickly deduce that Rick and company must have a farm nearby and want to go there because “they’ve got people to look out for”. “That’s not gonna happen,” says Rick. There’s a tense situation, since both guys are armed and threaten to take the farm by force. This culminates with a Clint Eastwood-style gun draw and Rick shoots both guys dead. The scene then cuts to bodies of walkers burning in the pyre. End episode.
Episode 9: “Triggerfinger”
The episode begins with Shane asking Daryl if Rick and Glenn are back. Daryl tells him “NO” and also tells him that Lori asked him to go look for them, but he ain’t doin that no more. Shane lets him have it for sending Carl and Lori out to look for Rick, and Daryl tells him “Not to talk to him about getting his hands dirty.”
Then we go back to the bar, where Rick tells Glenn he needs to “shoot the bad guys in the head”, so he can go back and talk to Hershel. Glenn says, “but they are already dead, and we need to save our ammo” and Rick says, “Glenn, just do it.” Rick and Hershell go for a talk.
At the farm, Daryl goes to see Carol, who is still in a catatonic state. He suggests that she go to Sophia’s grave and make her peace. She says nothing. He helps her up and walks with her. When they get there, Carol finally speaks to the grave and Daryl cries. Carol sees a Cherokee Rose on the grave, and she cries.
Shane finds Lori on the side of the road. He kills the zombie trying to get in the car. Lori is okay but shaken. She doesn’t know where Carl is. He tells her to drive back to camp, tell Daryl what happened and the both of you, come back for me. Shane goes in woods to look for Carl. Carl is getting ready to shoot a zombie, Shane shoots it for him. Make that the sixth time Shane has saved their lives.
Still in the bar patiently waiting for Rick’s arrival, Glenn doesn’t get why Rick wants him to shoot the bad guys in the head. Rick and Hershel return in a panic as the rest of the dead guys’ gang chases them in. Rick starts shooting at them when out of nowhere, the two dead guys become the undead. Glenn freaks and gets triggerfinger, and kills them dead. After the gun fight, Glenn is a mess and wants answers. Rick tells him Jenner’s secret: everyone is already carrying the zombie virus, and will come back as a zombie no matter how they die. End of episode.
Dave Marks
February 18, 2012 12:44 am
Dead Snow is an awesome fun flick. Read our full review of this movie here: http://www.blogofthelivingdead.com/2012/02/dead-snow-film-review.html