ZOMBIE MOVIES

(Investigator 138, 2011 May)



Zombies in movies are animated human corpses that need to eat living human flesh to survive. They suck people’s brains out, or take bites from their arms, legs or necks. If a victim is bitten but not devoured he too becomes a zombie.

Zombies don't wear capes, inhabit castles, change into wolves or bats, and don't sprout fangs or claws. They are simply vicious, crazy, flesh-eating walking corpses, impervious to pain, with facial expressions like party-goers with bad hangovers.

In the movies live people become zombies when bitten by previous zombies or by:
•    Joining a voodoo cult;
 •    Breathing in aerial pollutants;
 •    Getting a lobotomy;
 •    Ingesting a special powder;
 •    Getting a viral infection.
Corpses become zombies when chemical pollutants leak into their graves or a zombie-inducing gas from a chemical factory leaks into a cemetery.

Zombies can also come from other planets or be created by stitching bits from many dead people together.

It should be noted that brain-injured people are not zombies. A New Zealand charity in October 2010 organized a "zombie walk" and a zombie dance to the music of Michael Jackson's Thriller to raise money for the brain-damaged. The organizers invited participants to "channel their inner zombie" but critics considered the event in bad taste.

In real life the zombie legend began in the religion of Afro-Caribbeans who held that people could be robbed of their soul by shamans. Research into voodoo rituals in Haiti in the 1980s found that certain drugs can induce a mindless state of obedience. And that's about the limit of reality behind the movie myth.

Zombie movies often reflect contemporary conflicts in society such as the equality of women, racial conflict, and the environment.

In White Zombie (1932) Bela Lugosi as an evil magician offers to help a spurned lover turn a woman into a zombie so the lover can control her forever.

The classic Night of the Living Dead (1968) reflected America’s racial tensions. The film's characters fight each other over race while battling vicious flesh-eaters who don't care which race they eat.

The Canadian movie Severed (2005) pits environmentalists against loggers with marauding zombies again not caring which side they take bites from.

28 Days Later (2002) taps into apocalyptic fears with zombies taking over England which other countries put under quarantine.

Below is a selection of zombie movies to 2008 in English or English subtitles. It's not a complete list and also excludes short films, trailers, cartoons and documentaries. A list that includes all these items and non-English movies as well would have about 5000 items.

For more information try Glen Kay's Zombie Movies—The Ultimate Guide (2008). The book summarizes every major zombie movie arranged chronologically. Night of the Living Dead (1968) gets three pages but most movies get only a few lines.


1932    White Zombie 2001    When Zombies Attack!!
1936    Ouanga 2001    The Zombie Chronicles
1936    Revolt of the Zombies 2001    Zombie (zero)
1936    The Walking Dead 2002    28 Days Later
1940    The Ghost Breakers 2002    Evil Night
1941    King of the Zombies 2002    Mutation 3 - Century of the Dead
1943    Dead Men Walk 2002    Necropolis Awakened
1943    I Walked with a Zombie 2002    Resident Evil
1943    Revenge of the Zombies 2002    Zombie Campout
1944    Voodoo Man 2003    Battlefield Baseball
1945    Zombies on Broadway 2003    Beyond Re-Animator
1952    Zombies of the Stratosphere 2003    Blood of the Beast
1957    Voodoo Island 2003    Corpses Are Forever
1957    Voodoo Woman 2003    Dead Clowns
1957    Zombies of Mora Tau 2003    Deadhunter: Sevillian Zombies
1959    Plan 9 from Outer Space 2003    Exhumed
1959    Teenage Zombies 2003    The Ghouls
1962    Carnival of Souls 2003    Gory Gory Hallelujah
1962    Invasion of the Zombies 2003    House of the Dead
1964    I Eat Your Skin 2003    I'll See You in My Dreams
1964    The Last Man on Earth 2003    Living Dead Girl
1964    War of the Zombies 2003    The Mental Dead
1964    Zombies
 2003    The Necro Files 2
1965    Cemetery of the Living Dead
2003    Noctem
1965    Dr. Terror's House of Horrors 2003    The Revolting Dead
1965    Terror-Creatures from the Grave 2003    Undead
1966    Plague of the Zombies 2003    Wiseguys vs. Zombies
1968    Astro Zombies 2003    Zombie Night
1968    Night of the Living Dead 2003    Zombie Rights!
1971    Escape
 2003     Zombiegeddon
1971    Let's Scare Jessica to Death 2004    Angry and Moist
1971    Tombs of the Blind Dead 2004    Bad Friend
1972    Blood of Ghastly Horror 2004    Bone Sickness
1972    Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things 2004    Choking Hazard
1972    Messiah of Evil 2004    Corpses
1972    Vengeance of the Zombies 2004    Dawn of the Dead
1973    Hanging Woman 2004    Dawn of the Friend
1973    Horror Express 2004    Dawn of the Living Dead
1973    Return of the Blind Dead 2004    Dead and Breakfast
1973    Vengeance of the Zombies 2004    Dead Meat
1973    A Virgin Among the Living Dead 2004    Dead Roses
1974    Corpse Eaters 2004    Feeding the Masses
1974    Dead of Night 2004    Ghost Lake
1974    Garden of the Dead 2004    Hide and Creep
1974    The Ghost Galleon 2004    Hunting Creatures
1974    Let Sleeping Corpses Lie 2004    Night of the Hungry Dead
1974    The Zombies of Sugar Hill 2004    Night Off of the Living Dead
1975    Night of the Seagulls
 		2004    Night of the Living Dorks
1975    Shock Waves  2004    Resident Evil: Apocalypse
1977    The Child 2004    Rotten Shaolin Zombies
1978    Dawn of the Dead 2004    SARS Wars
1978    Pesticide 2004    Shadows of the Dead
1979    Zombi 2 2004    Shaolin Vs. Evil Dead
1979    Zombie 2004    Shaun of the Dead
1980    Alien Dead 2004    They Came Back
1980    Bloodeaters 2004    Vampires vs. Zombies
1980    The Children 2004    Zombie Honeymoon
1980    City of the Living Dead 2004    Zombie Nation
1980    The Fog 2004    Zombie Planet
1980    Zombie Holocaust 2004    Zombie Vegetarians
1981    Beyond 2005    All Souls Day
1981    Burial Ground 2005    Boy Eats Girl
1981    Dead and Buried 2005    Bubba's Chili Parlor
1981    The Evil Dead 2005    Day of the Dead: Contagium
1981    Heavy Metal 2005    Day X
1981    Hell of the Living Dead 2005    Dead at the Box Office
1981    The House by the Cemetery 2005    Dead Creek
1981    Kiss Daddy Goodbye 2005    Dead Life
1981    Night of the Wehrmacht Zombies 2005    Dead Men Walking
1981    Zombie Lake 2005    Dead Things
1982    The Aftermath 2005    Die You Zombie Bastards
1982    The Curse of the Screaming Dead 2005    Doom
1982    I Was a Zombie for the F.B.I. 2005    Graveyard of Death
1982    Kung Fu Zombie 2005    Homecoming
1983    Bloodsucking Nazi Zombies 2005    Hood of the Living Dead
1983    Grave of the Living Dead 2005    House of the Dead 2
1983    Hysterical 2005    Land of the Dead
1983    Night of the Demons 2005    Livelihood
1983    Oasis of the Zombies 2005    Living Dead Lock Up
1984    C.H.U.D. 2005    Night of the Day of… Part 3
1984    Night of the Comet 2005    Pot Zombies
1984    Surf 2 2005    Raiders of the Damned
1984    Zombie Island Massacre 2005    Return of the Living Dead 4
1985    Attack of the Beast Creatures 2005    Return of the Living Dead 5
1985    Day of the Dead 2005    Rise of the Undead
1985    Hard Rock Zombies 2005    The Roost
1985    Lifeforce 2005    Severed
1985    Re-Animator 2005    Song of the Dead
1985    Return of the Living Dead 2005    The Stink of Flesh
1986    Night of the Creeps 2005    Swamp Zombies
1986    Raiders of the Living Dead 2005    Tokyo Zombie
1986    The Rape After 2005    Winter of the Dead
1986    The Supernaturals 2005    Zombie American
1986    Zombie Brigade 2005    Zombiez
1986    Zombie Nightmare 2006    After Sundown
1987    Evil Dead 2 2006    Automaton Transfusion
1987    I Was a Teenage Zombie 2006    Awakening
1987    Night of the Living Babes 2006    City of Rott
1987    Redneck Zombies 2006    Dead and Deader
1987    Revenge of the Living Dead Girls 2006    Dead in the Water
1987    Video Dead 2006    The Dead Live
1987    Zombie Death House 2006    Deadlands: The Rising
1987    Zombie High 2006    Die and Let Live
1988    After Death 2006    Doomed to Consume
1988    Dead Heat 2006    Dorm of the Dead
1988    Flesh Eating Mothers 2006    Electric Zombies
1988    The Dead Next Door 2006    Enter the Zombie
1988    Return of the Living Dead 2 2006    Fido
1988    The Serpent and the Rainbow 2006    Gangs of the Dead
1988    Waxwork 2006    Island of the Living Dead
1988    Zombi 3 2006    Last Rites of the Dead
1988    Zombie Vampire 2006    Meat Market 3
1989    C.H.U.D. 2 2006    Mortuary
1989    Curse of the Zombie 2006    Night of the Dead
1989    The Dead Pit 2006    Night of the Living Dead
1989    Hellgate 2006    Pathogen
1989    Night Life 2006    The Plague
1989    Pet Cemetery 2006    Porn of the Dead
1989    Working Stiffs 2006    Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
1989    Zombie Rampage 2006    The Quick and the Undead
1990    The Boneyard 2006    Shadow: Dead Riot
1990    Bride of Re-Animator 2006    The Slaughter
1990    Dead Men Don't Die 2006    Slither
1990    Horror Workout 2006    Special Dead
1990    Night of the Living Dead 2006    Split
1990    Voodoo Dawn 2006    Stoned Dead
1991    Chopper Chicks in Zombie Town 2006    Storm of the Dead
1991    Dead Dudes in the House 2006    War of the Dead
1991    Killing Birds 2006    Wicked Little Things
1991    Night of…the Return of the Terror 2006    A Zombie Ate My Brain
1991    Nudist Colony of the Dead 2006    Zombies by Design
1991    Zombie '90: Extreme Pestilence 2006    The Zombie Diaries
1991    Zombie Cop 2007    28 Weeks Later
1991    The Zombie Army 2007    American Zombie
1992    Army of Darkness 2007    Attack of the Desert Cannibals
1992    Braindead 2007    Awaken the Dead
1992    Dead Alive 2007    Beneath the Surface
1992    Dead is Dead 2007    Brain Blockers
1992    Pet Cemetery 2007    Days of Darkness
1992    Urban Scumbags vs. … Zombies 2007    Dead Heist
1992    Waxwork 2: Lost in Time 2007    Dead Moon Rising
1992    Zombie Rampage 2007    The Dead Undead
1993    My Boyfriend's Back 2007    The Deadening
1993    Ozone 2007    Diary of the Dead
1993    Return of the Living Dead 3 2007    Evil Keg
1993    Space Zombie Bingo 2007    Flight of the Living Dead…
1993    Weekend At Bernie's 2 2007    Forest of the Dead
1993    Zombie Bloodbath  2007    Forever Dead
1993    Zombie Genocide 2007    Gay Zombie
1994    Cemetery Man 2007    I am Legend
1994    Flesheater 2007    I Am Omega
1994    Shatter Dead 2007    Living Dead Lock Up 2
1995    Death Metal Zombies 2007    The Mad
1995    Female Mercenaries on Zombie Island 2007    Motocross Zombies from Hell
1995    Legion of the Night 2007    Mutation - Annihilation
1995    Zombie Bloodbath 2 2007    Not Quite Dead
1996    Living a Zombie Dream 2007    Planet Terror
1997    Back from the Dead 2007    The Rage
1997    The Necro Files 2007    Resident Evil: Extinction
1997    Night of the Living 2007    Risen
1997    Plague of the Zombies 2007    The Rising Dead
1997    Premutos, Lord of the Living Dead 2007    Street Team Massacre
1997    Striker Bob 2007    Undead or Alive
1997    Zombie Ninja Gangbangers 2007    Undead Ted
1998    Attack of the Flesh Devouring Space Worms… 2007    Urban Decay
1998    Bio Zombie 2007    Wasting Away
1998    I, Zombie 2007    Z: A Zombie Musical
1998    Laughing Dead 2007    Zibahkhana - Hell's Ground
1998    Natural Zombie Killers 2007    Zombie  Farm
1998    The Serpent and the Rainbow 2007    Zombie Hunters
1998    Zombie Cult Massacre 2007    Zombie Love
1998    Zombie Regulators 2007    Zombie Town
1998    Zombie Toxin 2007    Zombie Western
1999    Hollywood Mortuary 2007    Zombies Gone Wild
1999    Hot Wax Zombies on Wheels 2007    Zombies: The Beginning
1999    Mutation
2007    Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!
1999    Raw Zombie 2 2007    Zombiez
2000    The Dead Hate the Living! 2008    Dance of the Dead
2000    Flesh Freaks 2008    Day of the Dead
2000    Junk The Movie 2008    Diary of the Dead
2000    Machine Head 2008    House of the Damned
2000    Meat Market 2008    Insanitarium
2000    Reign of the Dead 2008    Mutant Vampire Zombies…
2000    Teenage Zombie House Massacre 2008    Ninjas vs. Zombies
2000    Wild Zero 2008    Outpost
2000    Zombie Bloodbath 3 2008    Quarantine
2001    Back from the Dead 2008    Resident Evil: Degeneration
2001    Biohazardous 2008    RetarDEAD
2001    Children of the Living Dead 2008    Sabbath
2001    Meat Market 2 2008    Samurai Zombie
2001    Mulva: Zombie Ass Kicker! 2008    Stag Night of the Dead
2001    Mutation 2 - Generation Dead 2008    Stripper Zombies
2001    The Resurrection Game 2008    The Veil
2001    Route 666



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