Hi, Bryan Here…..

Zombie Jesus Day is here and what better way to celebrate than watch your favorite Zombie films.  Hopefully this list will show you some zombie films that you haven’t heard of before and give you a little bit of geeky insight into your favorite horror flesh eater movies.  I know every year, we here at  Boomstick HQ broil tons of Crawfish and watch loads of zombie movies.  Here is a list of some you might enjoy.

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)

George Romero is solely responsible for zombies in our current culture.  He created a universe that makes billions of dollars every year.  This is his first film from 1968 when he was a college student.  There have been five sequels that he has directed in his franchise since this one.  And each of his zombie films have a social commentary on politics, race, religion, or some other commentary that pertains to the times.  This particular one is about race.  It’s not just zombies eating your guts.  If you can find the original un-altered version of this film, then you are in for a real treat.  The death count is fairly high; including children, which is always a plus.  And zombies aren’t really people anyway.

DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)

This is the sequel to Romero’s first film, ‘Night of the Living Dead’.  It came out a decade later and is considered better than the first film.  This one deals with capitalism and consumerism.  Most of the film takes place in a mall with a handful of survivors deciding on whether or not to build a life in a flesh eating apocalyptic world.  The death count is off the charts.  There are like 10,000 deaths by all different means.  Thanks to Tom Savini and his crew, we actually see several kids shot to death by machine guns, a helicopter blade take off a zombie’s head, and a bevy of humans eaten to death by zombies.  Not to mention there is a Hare Krishna zombie that wants to eat your face.  This is one of the best zombie films of all time.

SHAUN OF THE DEAD (2004)

This is by far the best combination of horror and comedy ever put on the big screen.  I would absolutely have the same conversation as Shaun and Ed did when they were deciding on what record albums to throw at the zombies that were trying to attack them.  I would not throw my Batman soundtrack.  There is a good deal of deaths including a douche cake getting ripped to ribbons by a herd of zombies.  The soundtrack is kickass and there is enough laughter and jokes for two movies.  This is at the top of the list.

UNDEAD (2003)

This little gem of a film comes from New Zealand and reminded me of the old Peter Jackson gore films.  This mixes aliens, zombies, a western gunslinger samurai, zombie fish, and one pissed off foul mouthed cop.  When something from space enters Earth and people turn to zombies it is up to a western gunslinger/samurai to put things right.  This film is all sorts of fun and way out weird.  I especially love the scene when the gunslinger does a backflip and his spurs of his boots stick in the wall and he uses his gigantic gun (which consists of 3 shotguns) to kill zombies.  And let’s not forget the zombie fish.  There is a treasure trove of deaths and plenty of gore for grandma too.

SLITHER (2006)

James Gunn is GOD.  This is an amazingly funny horror film with Mal from Firefly and Michael ‘The Rook’ Rooker that takes place in a samll town that is over run by these slimy slithering worms.  The worms came from a meteor and slither their way into an orifice on your body and turns you in to a zombie.  You know a film is gold when one of the characters sees a deformed and disgusting zombie and he says, “…that looks like something that fell of my dick during the war”.  This is an amazing treat and has a great cast.  How often do you get to see the town whore blow up the size of a dump truck to explode with blood and shit and worms?  The answer is not often enough.

THE DEAD (2010)

This film comes from Africa and is on the serious side of things.  This is an amazing zombie film and extremely creepy.  Imagine if you were working on another continent from your home and a zombie outbreak happened?  This is what happens here.  And it happened in rural Africa.  So that means no phones.  No good working vehicles, and barely any food or water.  There are a few scenes in here that will have you on the edge of your seat.  One being when our main character runs through a field of tall corn stalks littered with zombies.  Talk about your “HOLY SHIT” moment.  This film does not have a happy ending.  There are some amazing zombie kills in this one.  An instant classic.

DEAD ALIVE (1992)

Peter Jackson’ opus in my opinion.  “I kick ass for the lord!”  It’s the same old story.  Zombie monkey gets kidnapped from Skull Island.  Zombie Monkey bites grandmother.  Grandmother turns into a zombie.  Zombie Grandmother infects 100’s of other people.  Grandson saves the day via lawnmower.  This is the ultimate gore fest movie.  If you are looking for blood and guts and shit, then this movie has enough to last through a three day weekend. There is an actual sphincter of a dead zombie that crawls around and tries to kill people.  You could write a thesis on this film on how it changed gore in film.  I honestly think that Peter Jackson got the Lord of the Rings gig from this film.  You have a priest that is skilled in the ninja arts and an epic scene that involves 100 zombies and one man with a powerful lawn mower.  The results will give you a hard on.

RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD (1985)

The ultimate 80’s zombie flick.  And quite possible one of the best movie posters ever made.  A great combination of punk music, silliness, and gory zombie horror make up this amazing flesh eating film.  I saw this movie a couple of years after it came out on VHS with my cousin and it changed my life.  I got turned on by a naked red headed chick dancing in a cemetery.  That scenes is still hot.  You also get a headless naked guy running around like a freshly killed chicken trying to kill and hump people.  This makes for a great midnight film or  at least  the movie you watch with your family during the first night of Hanukkah.

VERSUS (2000)

A Japanese samurai, sword yielding zombie film with a monkey human. This is insane on all levels.  This is like zombies meets the Matrix meets Street Fighter.  It’s a Japanese kids wet dream.  There are 666 portals in the world that lead to the nether world of some sort and one of them leads to a forest where there are plenty of guns, zombies and swords.  I say “FUCK YES” to this on all levels.

28 DAYS LATER (2002)

Danny Boyle changed the zombie genre forever with ’28 Days Later’.  These zombies were infected with rage and turned from human to shit pounding zombie in a matter of seconds.  They ran at lightning speed and through up blood every few minutes.  It was fucking horrifying.  The deaths are spread out over the entire film and one guy gets his eyes gouged out with such force that the eyes become gooey.  This also holds the record for scariest scene involving a tire change.  And it’s always good when a bunch of asshole army brits de painful deaths.  This is also at the top of the list of zombie films.

DAWN OF THE DEAD (2004)

I wish this wan’t called ‘Dawn of the Dead’, because technically it wasn’t really a remake, but had a few similarities to the Romero ‘Dawn of the Dead’ from 1978.  This was good enough to stand on its own and didn’t need the same title to help it.  This is on here, because it is balls to the wall scary and fun.  Zach Snyder (300/Watchmen) directed this and it succeeds on all levels.  The Johnny Cash ‘When the Man Comes Around’ song at the beginning is amazing as is the non stop thrills.  Like the 1978 film of the same name, survivors take refuge in a mall, but soon realize they can’t stay.  This film is truly frightening and is fast paced and at time humorous.  This film gets points for a woman giving birth to a zombie baby that instantly gets shot in the face.  This film has a scary ending and is in no way good.  The zombie kills in this film are out of this world including a pool cue through the skull.

ZOMBIELAND (2009)

Zombieland was fucking amazing.  It had Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Little Miss Sunshine, and Woody Harrelson amped up to 1000.  Not to mention one of the greatest cameos of all time.  The film starts out in my hometown of Garland, TX and just owns you.  If this movie teaches you anything, it’s that twinkies save lives.  Bill Murray makes a cameo as himself and puts on the Ghostbusters outfit and lets the world know that ‘Garfield’ was a mistake.  Not to mention, that Wood Harrelson plays dueling banjos on the banjo before he kills three overweight zombies.  This movie is very re-watchable and is a lot of fun.  Not only are there zombies, but there are zombie clowns.  If that doesn’t scare the piss out of you, nothing will.

RESIDENT EVIL (2002)

I’m only putting this pile of shit movie on here, because I feel that the games are amazing and that this film has spawned like 4 or 5 sequels.  None of them are any good, but Milla Jovovich is goes full frontal in this, so it can’t be all bad right?  There are a couple of scenes in this that are worth while, but other than that, this movie will make you want to claw your eyes out.  If you like stupid movies  that don’t make sense that involves pussy, blood, lasers, and zombie monsters, then you might want to watch this once.

DEAD SNOW (2009)

Holy fucking moses.  Nazis died back in the 40’s.  Now they come back from the dead and ruin a group of friends winter cabin getaway in present day.  Fucking nazi zombies, man.  I did enjoy how the horror movie geek is one of the first ones to die.  I think it was because he was fat.  But the gore is a lot of fun in this film, and overall the nazi zombies can’t be stopped.  They are pissed about something, and it isn’t that somebody shit in their matzah ball soup.  A hell of a fun movie.  Watch this on every jewish holiday.

PLANET TERROR (2007)

Half of the Grindhouse film by Tarantino and Rodriguez.  This was the Rodriguez segment and featured Josh Brolin and Rico from Six Feet Under.  “The boy got the devil in em’.”  This was a  lot of fun and features some gnarly death scenes.  Bruce Willis does a horrible acting job while Tarantino’s dick literally falls off in front of a girl.  This also features on of the grossest bone breaks I have seen in recent memory.  From decapitations to a guy collecting scrotums to exploding tongue blisters, this should satisfy your fantasy of zombies for a while.

DEAD GIRL (2008)

What a fucked up movie.  A few friends go exploring an old abandoned building and begin causing damage to the place.  They discover a door that is locked very securely.  And for good reason.  They manage to bust their way in the locked door and they enter a room where a dead woman is lying on a table secured tightly.  They realize she is alive, but is not really coherent in any way.  They begin to torture her only to find out that she is indeed a zombie.  Things don’t go well.  If you are into torture and zombies, then this one is right up your alley.  Great little film.

WHITE ZOMBIE (1932)

In this haunting low-budgeter, Bela Lugosi stars as Murder Legendre, a shadowy character who exercises supernatural powers over the natives in his Haitian domain. Coveting Madge Bellamy as his bride, wealthy Robert Frazier enters into an unholy agreement with Lugosi, whereby Madge will die, then be resurrected as a zombie.  This is as early as zombie movies goes.  If you are a fan of the classics, then this is for you.  Bela Lugosi is amazing.

JUAN OF THE DEAD (2011)

‘Juan of the Dead’ is technically not out yet in the states, but when it arrives, be sure to see it.  Juan is 40 years old and lives in Cuba doing nothing, but getting into trouble.  He has a daughter who doesn’t like him, because her dad is a shitless layabout.  One day, shit gets real and zombies happen.  Juan slowly realizes that zombies are a threat and decides to make money on killing these creatures of hell.  This is a great combination of horror and comedy.  I know after you all see this, you will be chanting ‘Juan of the Dead’.  Amazing.

LET SLEEPING CORPSES LIE (1975)

Some government agents start testing a new sonic big pesticide that is supposed to kill insects.  Well, it also brings back the dead who crave warm human live flesh.  Shit gets real as people try to figure out what’s going on.  There are hippies, zombies, and tons of excellent gore.  Don’t let this gem pass you by.  This is a must see for all zombie fans.

ZOMBI 2 (1980)

This film has that iconic movie poster of the zombie with the worms coming out of its eye.  Not to mention a shark attacking a zombie under water.  This is the ultimate Italian zombie film of all time and it ends with zombie walking to the states.  I’ve always said there needs to be more sharks attacking zombies.  The gore is amazing throughout the film including an eye gouge scene you will never forget.  Classic.

FIDO (2006)

If Pleasantville met zombies, you would get this film.  Who says you can’t train a zombie to mow your yard or clean up after you.  Well one company developed a collar that makes zombies peaceful lambs.  This take place in a 1950’s bizarro era and follows a family that has taken in a zombie that works for them.  The zombie is played by Billy fucking Connolly and things go awry when his collar malfunctions and the neighbors start turning up dead.  Great premise and well executed.  This is an original take on the zombie genre which I think you will enjoy.

RE-ANIMATOR (1985)

All hail Jeffrey Combs.  Herbert West is a brilliant medical student when he develops a green serum that brings back the dead.  This has terrible consequences and starts a chain reaction of zombies who kill.  The gore and the severed heads make this movie iconic.  It’s mad scientist meets zombies.  This is a must have in any collection.  It’s funny as hell and is one of the better cult films of all time.

REC (2007)

REC as in the record button on a camera is a spanish film that will scare this shit out of you.  They remade this in the states where it was called ‘Quarantine’.  This follows a news crew who are doing a documentary on a fire house crew.  The firehouse gets a call to a condo building and low and behold there is a zombie in the building.  The entire complex is quarantined from the outside and anyone who tries to escape is shot.  This is made to look like it is filmed mostly in one shot and that makes the film all the more terrifying.  Soon, one zombie infects another human, turning them and so and so on.  This is very creepy and does not end well for anyone.  The gore and death scenes are unreal.  This would suck if this really happened.

I hope you all enjoyed the ultimate zombie movie list this Easter.  Be sure and watch a couple and hope that Mel Gibson makes a zombie jesus movie.