Ranking the Top 10 Zombie Movies of All Time (December 2023)

Ranking the Top 10 Zombie Movies of All Time: People who like movies have loved “zombie movies” for many years, because they play on people’s darkest fears and worries. From the days of black-and-white movies to the present, filmmakers have explored this genre with a touch of fear, thrill, horror, and humor, putting light on themes like good vs. evil, life challenges, and more. This list shows the top 10 movies in the genre that both reviewers and fans agree are the best in the genre.

Ranking the Top 10 Zombie Movies of All Time

Shaun of the Dead

7.9 out of 10 on IMDb

The movie takes place in Britain and is about a normal London electronics seller named Shaun whose life changes when there is an unexpected zombie outbreak. The danger gets worse, and he has to choose between saving his family or going on a heartwarming trip to get back together with them.

Cast:

• Simon Pegg
• Nick Frost
• Kate Ashfield

Edgar Wright is the director

Date of release: 2004

Running Time: 1 hour and 39 minutes

The Night of the Living Dead

7.8 out of 10 on IMDb

Night of the Dead is about a day that quickly turns into a horrible nightmare for a group of people who end up with a group of ghosts that eat people. They hide out in an empty barn and fight to stay alive. At the same time, the tension builds as the survivors deal with both the physical threat of the undead and situations that are mentally stressful. This makes the movie a scary look at survival.

Cast:

• Duane Jones
• Judith O’Dea
• Karl Hardman

George Rumero is in director

Year of Release: 1968

Running Time: 1 hour and 36 minutes

Train to Busan

7.6 out of 10 on IMDb

People in a city in South Korea have started turning into cruel zombies because of a virus that is spreading quickly. Seok-woo, a divorced father, doesn’t like this, so he soon takes his daughter Su-an and boards a train to Busan. Things get worse, and now he and other people on the train are stuck in a fast-moving vehicle. Now they have to fight the undead that won’t go away, deal with tough situations, and deal with rude people. The movie looks at family relationships and the human spirit in a number of ways by combining action and horror.

Cast:

• Gong Yoo
• Jung Yu-mi
• Ma Dong-seok

The director is Sang Ho-Yeon

Date of release: 2016

Running Time: 1 hour and 58 minutes

Zombieland

7.6 out of 10 on IMDb

In America after the end of the world, Columbus, a careful college student, sets out on a trip to find this family. On his way, he meets a brave survivor with whom he forms a bond, but then he joins forces with two sisters who are very good at getting around in this area. Together, they fight several groups of zombies and meet people who have survived. The movie is a great mix of comedy and horror, and it shows how people can stay together and survive hard times.

Cast:

• Jesse Eisenberg
• Emma Stone
• Woody Harrelson

Ruben Fleischer is the director.

Year of Release 2009

Running Time: 1 hour and 28 minutes

Braindead

IMDb Score: 7.5/10

Braindead takes place in New Zealand and is also known as Dead Alive. Lionel Cosgrove only has one job to do: protect his mother, Vera, from zombies. A bite from a Sumatran rat monkey has caused chaos in the city. As the chaos spreads, he turns his life into a battlefield and has to use strange tools to protect himself and his family. What happens next is dark humor that creates memorable moments that make people laugh and feel sick at the same time.

Cast:

• Timothy Balme
• Diana Peñalver
• Elizabeth Moody

Peter Jackson, the director

Year of Release 1992

Running Time: 1 hour and 44 minutes

Rec

7.4 out of 10 on IMDb

Based on video found in 2007, Rec is about a group of people who go to an apartment to do an emergency investigation but find that it has been locked down because of an unknown and contagious disease. They are stuck inside with the other people who live there, and they soon learn that the virus has started turning people into violent monsters that eat flesh. Something that began as a study turns into something very scary.

Cast:

• Manuela Velasco
• Ferran Terraza
• Jorge-Yamam Serrano

In charge of Paco Plaza

Date of release: 2007

Running Time: 1 hour and 18 minutes

Dawn of the Dead

IMDb Score: 7.3/10

The original movie from 1978 and the remake from 2004 are both about a small group of people who get caught up in a zombie apocalypse and have to fight to stay alive. These survivors hide out in a shopping mall and have to deal with the difficulties of staying alive while they try to improve their defenses against the hordes of zombies. These movies explore topics like how people are, how clever they can be, and how hard it is to stay alive in a world that has been turned upside down.

Cast:

• Sarah Polley
• Ving Rhames
• Mekhi Phifer

The director is Zack Synder

2004: Year of Release

Running Time: 1 hour and 41 minutes

Re-animator

IMDb Score: 7.2/10

A bright but unconventional medical student comes up with a medicine that can bring the dead back to life. But there is a truth about the same that is both interesting and scary. This interests his coworker, and the two of them work together to push the limits of the experiment. This leads to more study being done on dead bodies. As a result, violent and uncontrolled reanimated beings are born into the city. They cause chaos and make people’s lives into nightmares.

Cast:

• Jeffrey Combs
• Bruce Abbott
• Barbara Crampton

The director, Stuart Gordon

Date of release 1985

Running Time: 1 hour and 24 minutes

The Beyond

IMDb Score: 6.6/10

People think of The Beyond as a classic. It’s about a man named Macabre who gets the Seven Doors Hotel in New Orleans after his wife dies. He didn’t know that the hotel had a horrible history of being the entrance to Hell. As he learns more about it, he finds out that Schweick used the hotel for scary rites, turning it into a way to reach unspeakable evil. These monsters and ghosts came from Room No. 36 and are out to get revenge. They run into the hotel and make their lives a living nightmare. What happens next forces Macabre to face his deepest fears in order to stay alive.

Cast:

• Catriona MacColl
• David Warbeck
• Cinzia Monreale

The director is Lucio Fulci

Date of release: 1981

1 hour and 21 minutes of running time

Blood Quantum

IMDb Score: 5.6/10

The story takes place in Red Crow, Canada, during a zombie apocalypse on the Mi’kmaq reserve. The people who live there are immune to the virus. But a shared cultural identity has brought the town together in its fights, which has helped it survive the attack. All of this was done so that the position of the original people could be determined. Experts say that the idea behind the movie, even though it’s set in a traditional zombie world, brings up important issues like oppression and tribal communities.

Cast:

• Michael Greyeyes
• Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers
• Forrest Goodluck

Jeff Barnaby is in charge.

Date of release: 2019

Running Time: 1 hour and 38 minutes