And also when I have a cold and can't make videos due to my already nasal sounding voice being even more nasally and bunged up... and right now I have a cold.
BUT! I have just released my Halloween special video detailing my top ten favourite zombie films of all time and, (as I usually do) I jibber-jabbered on for far longer than the intended 20 minute video I had planned from the offset. So after 3 days of INTENSE editing I ended cutting out a lot of what I had planned to say just so the video didn't go on for too long and lose it's vigor for your average viewer. I figure if you've got this far in to this blog entry it's because you like the tangents I tend to get pulled off on to and therefore wouldn't mind reading my unabridged script for that video PLUS extras! (You're welcome!) So, for your reading pleasure I am going to publish the original script I read off for that video and any of the chunks I either cut out or added will be in italics just so you can see what I had to take out.
Here we go!
As you may, (or may not) be aware I am a HUGE zombie fan. I originally started up my channel back in 2012 when the DayZ mod was still widely popular and not the strung out shit show it is at the moment. I STILL hold out hope that the game will become what it set out to be when the alpha to the full game dropped at the end of 2013. 2013?! And it's still in EARLY ACCESS? Mother fu... cker. I wasn't sure whether to put this whole word in due to wanting to keep the video relatively clean, (much like my other videos) but I thought once I had decided to add the thunder and lightning effect to the TV screen I could get away with it for comedic effect. I think I got away with it too.
Anyway, from many deaths in my Project Zomboid series to making my girlfriend go around the corner first to confront the witch in Left 4 Dead 2 I have been fortunate enough to be able to experience a lot of what is on offer to the average PC gamer when it comes to tooling up to fight the horde. But this love started way before I discovered all the diverse ways I could try and survive the undead apocalypse digitally so I've decided for my Halloween special this year I would list my top 10 zombie films of all time. Now, my hope here is that I'll be able to list a few films that you haven't seen, maybe even never heard of, and this will inspire you to go and hunt these films down and watch them for yourself. But in advance of this I want to iterate that this is a list of MY favourite films, this is in no way a definitive BEST OF video as there are films I've left off here which are amazing zombie flicks from a cinematic perspective but sometimes its the slightly less well known ones which steal your heart. I've always been reluctant on doing a list video as they can seem like you're saying "THESE ARE THE BEST FILMS EVER AND I WON'T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER!", but at this point I figured this is the internet; You're never going to please the majority of people the majority of the time so I might as well just do what I want and to hell with the consequences. The thing is, as a very small fish in a very large pond called YouTube it's very easy to offend anyone/everyone with your opinion, and opinions are like arseholes, everyone has got one and every so often they're full of shit. Even so, to put off any potential viewers or subscribers is something I'm acutely aware of, and something which affects me a lot more on a per view basis than the likes of Markiplier of Jacksepticeye. It's just not good generally to isolate someone through opinion which in itself is a very easy thing to do without paying much attention to it, and even more so when you do videos like this!
So with that being said, let's start by naming some films I love but I can't include in this list for certain reasons... and I better put up a mild spoiler alert here just to cover my ass: And this is just a way for me to include more films than just the top ten without officially saying so... I mean, top 10 sounds a lot better than top 16, right?
28 Days Later (2002) - Danny Boyle's innovative film shook up the undead genre by having not slow, lumbering ghouls like in many other films and instead made them fast, aggressive, and unyielding... in other words absolutely bloody terrifying! This was solidified by the fact it was set in the UK, and being a Brit myself it was a welcome change to have this based in my home country with surroundings I could relate to far easier than the grid-like cities and vast open plains of the USA. That alone pulled me in to this adrenaline-fueled 113 minute romp from start to finish. I could bang on about the fact that only the military (generally) have access to arms in Britain too, and one could argue this signifies from a survival perspective this would mean you had little to no chance of making it out alive due to the ferocity of the infected with seemingly unlimited stamina compared to your average human, but that in my humble opinion this is captured beautifully in the first meeting we have with an infected person within the church; a vicar or priest who generally would be a sign of sanctuary acting so violently towards Jim shows us that we are in a hopeless situation. Sadly, this doesn't fall in to my top 10 because technically these are INFECTED, not undead. This is proven by the end of the film when the survivors are waiting for the infected to starve to death. If they were zombies then they wouldn't be able to starve to death... because, you know, they're already dead.
But speaking of virus' this leads me on to the next film not in my official top ten but in itself is a great film:
World War Z (2013) - I was really looking forward to an adaption of Max Brook's follow up book to The Zombie Survival Guide detailing the events leading up to, during and after a "Zombie Plague" has infected the world. Sadly though the film we received is nothing like the novel it's based upon, but that doesn't necessary make it a bad film in itself, and one must wonder what the initial cut of the film was after an extensive, (and expensive) re-shooting for the latter third of the movie was carried out. To have what is a very detailed story which could cover several movies through the multiple visions of the interviewees throughout the book supposedly tossed aside for what is in essence a fairly run of the mill zombie film is a decision I really struggle with. The potential on the original concept overlooked is mind boggling, and I think this is one book adaption of many that royally screws the pooch for no apparent reason. (Thanks Hollywood!) However, one of the aspects that I enjoy with this film, and one I think rarely gets the attention it deserves, is the initial outbreak of a zombie plague and this in my opinion is captured wonderfully; the initial confusion and panic with the break down of modern civilization before your very eyes in the first 30 minutes is a sight to behold. That's not to say that the rest of the film isn't worth sitting through. It's just a shame that a perfectly good plot from Max Brooks was tossed aside purely so the title could be used to headline a different film all together.
Demons (1985)- Back in my hometown when I was a youngster in the 90's there was this second hand record store which also happened to sell VHS tapes, fancy dress costumes and silly joke thingamabobs, (whoopee cushions and the like) and on some rainy Saturday afternoons a couple of friends and I would while away a wet afternoon sifting through the piles and piles of music and films scattered around the shop, and if the shop assistant was particular bored on that day they would give us suggestions on what films to buy for a viewing later on that evening. And just to remind you, this was back in the early to mid nineties, when recommendations for many forms of media was more done by word of mouth rather than the world wide web! Among the many, MANY films we came to watch over the years Demons is one which I still enjoy viewing on a fairly regular basis. Demons, as the title implies, is about Demons. It starts out with a mysterious guy giving away tickets to a film premier at a newly opened cinema about a bunch of kids who come across the grave of Nostradamus, and here they discover a metal mask which cuts one of the teenagers face who then transforms in to a demon, who then hunts down the rest of the group. Coincidentally the mask "prop" from the film is exhibited in the cinema foyer and when one of the patrons tries it on they also cut their face and guess what happens next?! After her transformation in to a demon the remainder of the audience try to flee the cinema but find themselves locked in, which leads to a desperate fight for survival. The reason I mention this film is because although the people who turn are referred to as demons, it appears the possession is something which is transferred to the victim by a cut or laceration, much like a zombie bite or scratch is the beginning of the end for that particular victim. I'm also captivated by the feeling of isolation and entrapment that the film conveys when trapped in a cinema, a place generally thought of as a safe space. But it's not until you see a film like this that you realise that there's not many exits to such a building... one thing you'll need to think about if the apocalypse did happen when you're in the middle of viewing the next Mamma Mia! Just something to think about... If you ever get the chance to view this film I highly recommend it!
Now for a few honorable mentions! These are films that fill my quota for being a good zombie film but when you are limiting yourself to 10 in the list you have to cut the line somewhere. Starting with:
Night Of The Living Dead (1968) - What list of zombie movies can ever be taken seriously if the grand daddy of the whole genre isn't mentioned at least in passing? This is the first movie to show zombies in their modern undead form. Films beforehand showcased zombies in the traditional voodoo style, that being a person under a spell from a witch doctor or such folk, but Romero re-invented them as walking corpses as he believed the scariest monsters imaginable were humans themselves. This is portrayed through all of his films where the zombies, although a constant threat, play second fiddle to the horrors that the human race put upon themselves. But that's enough waxing lyrical about the inner meanings of the original Romero trilogy, this is a fantastic zombie film which just so happened to originate the genre and inspire thousands of spin offs and imitators, but one which is far too obvious to include in my top ten. I'll be honest with you. I wanted to put this in to the top ten hovering around third or fourth place but I didn't for two reasons; 1: I didn't want to have a third of my list being made of Romero movies when there are plenty of other films out there which are less well known and deserve a bit of attention, (See The Battery) and 2; It's just too obvious. Dawn is my absolute favourite of the original trilogy so I went with that instead as my top film but in an ultimate list where cinematography came in to it more than enjoyment this would be up there without a shadow of a doubt!
Wasted Away [Aaah! Zombies!!] (2007) - Out of the many, MANY zombie films I've had the pleasure, (and dis-pleasure) to sit through there are times when the classic premise of the genre can get a little bit stale, (we start by coming across a group of survivors months in to the apocalypse and we get to witness the falling apart of said group whether via an inner conflict or from another group coming along and messing up everyone's day because of supplies or territory/people with certain skill sets/just to watch the world burn and the aftermath of such conflict OR we start by coming across a group of survivors looking at trying to find a cure for the affliction which in turn goes awry because of another group wanting supplies or territory/wanting the cure for themselves/wanting to watch the world burn blah blah blah...) and then, every so often if your heart is pure and the wind is blowing in the right direction you MAY come across a film which hits you like a breath of fresh air. Wasted Away, (Or Aaah!Zombies!!) is one of those films for me. It is by no means a classic by any stretch of the imagination but it initially kept me watching all the way to the end AND has me revisiting it every couple of years, which may not sound like an out and out recommendation but any film I'm willing to re-watch, especially in the zombie genre can be counted as a triumph in my books. Wasted Away is a film from the zombie perspective, except the zombies don't think they're zombies. The majority of the flick is in colour, but when viewing the perspective of anyone but the zombie's own the film shifts in to a 1950's black and white B-movie style which makes the different viewpoints very easy to distinguish between. It's not a GREAT film, but it's a film I enjoy viewing for it's comedic shot at putting a spin on what can be a tired formula.
A Cadaver Christmas (2011) - A Cadaver Christmas is a guilty pleasure of mine, so much so in fact I've managed to wrangle it on to our official Christmas film playlist along with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Elf and Die Hard among others. (We have quite a mixture of genres with a Christmas theme in the playlist of the Padge household! I'm seriously thinking of doing a list for my Christmas special this year...) The premise is a simple zombie fare based around the festive holidays, where a janitor is cleaning up the science department of a local college at Christmas and discovers that the dead are being brought back to life. After dealing with the initial threat and having no luck trying to raise the police through the college switchboard due to an overzealous student security guard the janitor decides to track down a local officer so they can deal with it and he can wash his hands of it. Washing hands... Janitor... never mind. Sadly, the police officer at hand has his own set of problems at the local bar and this all leads us down the path of the janitor, the police officer, his prisoner, a happy drunk with suicidal tendencies, the bartender AND the student security guard dealing with the horrors that lurk within the college science department and beyond. I won't lie, this is a BAD movie, with nothing original to say and cliches aplenty, but it just hits a note of silliness with over the top gore and a smidge of Christmas spirit which encapsulates me enough to revisit it year on year. Taste is subjective, and that's why this one get's an honorable mention... because I love it!
So with those out of the way it's time to jump in to my top 10 zombie films of all time!! Brace yourself...
Last Of The Living (2009) - Over the years there have been a lot of good low budget horror features hailing from New Zealand. From modern classics like Bad Taste and Brain Dead to more recent films like Black Sheep there are plenty of hits coming from the land of the Kiwi's. Last of the Living is NOT one of them. The generic plot line has 3 friends hanging out in vacant houses around their home town after a zombie apocalypse, generally dicking about and having a great time, until a beautiful scientist comes along with claims of being able to cure the undead of their ailments but only if she can get to the local hospital lab. And of course, because she's the only woman around all 3 have to have a crack at wooing what could possibly be the last woman on earth. The characters are fairly stereotypical and tick all the necessary boxes for characters you'd expect in this scenario; the domineering slightly stupid alpha male; the quieter, more intelligent beta male and the completely bat shit crazy omega male; and although you can see the ending from a mile away the sudden turn of mood towards the finale of the film is a nod to some of the zombie classics it so obviously takes it's inspiration from. So, why number 10 on my list? It's the premise of the film that I love. Running amok around your home town when the world has gone belly up with your mates and living in the more upmarket homes you can only wish about living in if only for a few days before moving on is THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE DREAM SCENARIO. Yes, Dawn of the Dead takes this concept and runs away with it but from a practical point of view, this is YOUR real life outlook as a single male hanging out with friends in the end of the world. And it's that vision that I love... even when it all eventually goes tits up.
Detention Of The Dead (2012) - What happens when you take one of the most influential 80's teen movies and throw a shed load of zombies at it? Detention of the Dead! It's predominantly a zombie filled homage to that brat-pack classic The Breakfast Club with many a subtle nod to other horror films and actors. (The Savini Library anyone? - Just in case you're not aware, the Savini library is a nod to Tom Savini, the main man behind the make-up and special effects of Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Creepshow and the original Friday the 13th, as well as a stuntman and actor who's appeared in plenty of films both old and new, but most notably playing the second in command of the biker gang in Dawn... the one with the handlebar moustache.) The main cast manages to cover all the main cliques you tend to find in your average high school and once incarcerated inside said library along with another kid who looks mightily unwell the scene is set for a very tongue in cheek adventure. This film is very aware of the audience it assumes will watch it and so houses a lot referential humor and character tropes expected from a director who loves both horror and classic teen movies and has decided that they would work very nicely together. Simply put, if John Hughes and George Romero made a movie together, Detention of the Dead would be it. The reason I'm not really outlining the plot any more than I have is because if you're a fan of either genre you pretty much know what is going to happen already. And again, that doesn't make it a bad film, the reason this one is in my top ten is because it knows exactly who it's demographic is. It doesn't try to be original, it doesn't try to force a social commentary over the characters the film follows, all it wants to do is entertain you for it's 87 minute run time with as many nods to the pop culture from the eighties to the late noughties and zombie fiction as it can stuff in... and the soundtrack isn't half bad too.
Dead Alive (1992) And now on to my first film in this top ten which can be considered a modern classic... is a 1992 film allowed to be called a modern classic yet? I'm feeling old... ANYWAY, Dead Alive is the second horror film from the acclaimed director Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame, and it is a prime example on how to make a fun, over the top horror comedy on a modest budget of a reported 3 million dollars. It is also rumored to be the bloodiest movie of all time when referring to how much film blood was needed in total. I suspect most of that was from the now infamous lawnmower scene near the end of the film... but I digress. Dead Alive is set in the late 1950's in Wellington, New Zealand as we accompany Lionel Cosgrove on a quest to woo the shop keeper's daughter Paquita Maria Sanchez with whom he is destined to be with. The problem is Lionel's mother Vera, an over-bearing, cruel lady who blames her husband's death on her Son and wants to keep him all to herself, so when on a date with his new lady friend she follows them both to the zoo to snoop on what they could be up to, and it is here where she is attacked and bitten by a Sumatran Rat Monkey, the bastard child hybrid created from, (and I kid you not) tree monkeys on Skull Island being raped by plague carrying rats. And from that brief introduction to the film you can see the sort of film you are going to be subjected to. So predictably Lionel's mum dies and comes back from the dead but instead of dealing with his undead mother he instead tries to nurse her back to good health while trying his best to appear like everything is normal as well as finding the time to charm Miss Sanchez. Of course it all gets out of hand rather quickly leading to some legendarily gruesome and funny scenes involving pus topped soup, Kung Foo priests and several creepy but hilarious scenes involving an undead baby. If you're watching this video I'm 99 percent sure you've seen this film, or at the very least have heard about it and if you haven't I implore you to see it as soon as you can... just make sure you've haven't eaten too recently if you're of a delicate nature. The only reason that this isn't any higher on my list is the fact that's it is SO out there at times you just have to sit back and enjoy the ride and put all sense of reality to the side. And I know saying that about any of these films based around the dead coming back from the grave makes it a moot point, I mean, none of these films are based on any reality we're aware of unless you're in to your government conspiracy theories, but a little bit of science goes a long way, so having the undead plague being created from the molestation of a monkey by a rat tends to blow up any pillars of rationale from the offset. Even so Dead Alive is a ludicrous masterpiece.
Shaun Of The Dead (2004) Ah, Shaun of the Dead. There are several reasons why I absolutely LOVE this film; Firstly, it's set in the UK and it deals with very British problems in a zombie apocalypse with very British solutions, it also has an abundance of nods to other films in the genre and it is one of the few films in my opinion which gets the balance of horror and humor spot on. The cast also has a rapport with one another which perpetuates on to the screen making most of the dialogue in scenes feel natural and off the cuff. The reason for the chemistry between some of the main actors and the director being that this film is actually an extension of a minor plotline running through an episode of Spaced called Art where Tim, (Simon Pegg) has been up for several days taking speed and playing the original Resident Evil before going to a performance art show and clobbering the main artist after hallucinating being surrounded by zombies. Spaced is a FANTASTIC sitcom from the late 90's and is worthy of your time... trust me on that one! Shaun of the Dead has the lead character being dumped by his girlfriend who is sick of his uniform lifestyle on the eve of a zombie apocalypse, but once he and his best friend manage to grasp the severity of their situation Shaun makes it his mission to rescue the love of his life and take her to the safest place possible, their local boozer the Winchester. This could be titled A Very British Zombie Apocalypse and I don't think it would lose any of it's luster without the punny name, and that's why it has a special place in my heart. For all the fantasies we have about living through the end times within a mall where everything is up for grabs this film right here would be the reality for me. AND I KNOW all the films, books and games I've ingested throughout my life which have given me all the essential tips and sensible advice on how to survive the end times mean nothing because I'm SURE this is how my story would play out. Because this is human nature captured on film. YES, you know it's safer to head out of the city, foregoing any responsibility you may think you have to friends and family for the sake of survival, but there's no safer place than home... or the pub.
Rammbock [Siege Of The Dead/Berlin Undead] (2010) Rammbock, or Berlin Undead, or, as it was named when I came across it, Siege of the Dead is barely a feature length picture running in at about 63 minutes but what it does in that time has remained with me since that first viewing. The film starts with the lead character Michael arriving outside his ex-girlfriends flat hoping to reconcile with her just as a virus is starting to grip the city of Berlin, which turns anyone bitten in to a very aggressive zombie IF that person gets too worked up... but I'll expand on that plot point in a moment. Soon Michael realises that his ex isn't home but an apprentice plumber working on the same floor teams up with him and together they have to figure out a way to secure the apartment and then, (from Michael's point of view at the very least) plan a way to escape in order to track down his love. The unique plot idea here though is that a bite in itself isn't fatal, all it means is that person is infected. In order to surrender to the virus one must have to have an adrenalin rush which in the middle of a zombie break out is easy enough to succumb to... but it's an original twist on the transmission of the sickness. And like 28 Days Later having fast zombies in confined spaces is absolutely bloody terrifying. So far my list has featured a lot of films which could be classified as horror comedy, or a light-hearted horror at the very least, but this one has no buoyancy whatsoever. This is a hopeless film, and it is set outright from pretty much from the first scene. You can see Michael is in a densely populated area and you start to realise that it's not a case of if something goes tragically wrong, but when. The ending in itself does hold a certain beauty to it where all parties involved get what they want, although it is by no means a happy outcome but the perfect way to end what turns out to be a harrowing piece of German zombie cinema for all the right reasons. A must see.
Return Of The Living Dead (1985) From one of my more serious entries on this list to without a doubt the silliest, Return of the Living Dead is a proficient parody of all the cheap zombie motion pictures to riff off Romero's classics. It takes the idea of the flesh eating ghoul, gives it a healthy dose of absurdity, (or the Troma Treatment if you will) and then unleashes it on to a group of punks, warehouse workers, morticians and police force for your viewing pleasure. In a quick summery, two bumbling warehouse stores man manage to release a deadly gas from a sealed drum which causes the dead to rise from the grave, (quite literally at times) and go in the search for brains. Not any flesh or parts of the body, just brains. And as you may have guessed, chaos ensues. And these zombies aren't your average shamblers either, they can run, jump and even speak very basic sentences which again showcases the very tongue in cheek attitude of the film throughout. This movie for whatever reason barely features on any movie channel or streaming service and if it wasn't for a chance viewing on a random satellite station I still probably wouldn't have seen it, but I instantly treasured this movie to the point where I managed to wrangle a pristine 20th anniversary special edition DVD for quite a bit of money and I've never regretted that decision. (£30.00 plus postage at the time which is about 4 times the amount I like to pay! I'm really surprised seeing as this is classed as a cult classic so why this hasn't seen a genuine re-release sooner I have no idea... still, I've got my copy!) A gem of a zombie film although very much of its time in looks and attitude, but I think that just adds to the charm. Grab a big bowl of popcorn and get ready to laugh and gawk at this 80's classic.
The Battery (2012) As my partner and I are big movie watchers before Padge Junior came along we would dedicate some Fridays, most Saturdays and every Sunday to watching films. All sorts of films, and I'm sure you can appreciate it's not long before you have exhausted both of your movie collections and with the price of new DVDs costing as much as the takeaway pizza you've ordered watching new movies every week just wasn't cost effective. But because of my love for horror and especially zombie movies my sweetheart would allow me a "slot" late on a Saturday night where she would tolerate any trashy film I could get my hands on and being a member of LoveFilm, (RIP) I could indulge in flicks I had never even heard of with no financial penalty whatsoever. This in a way would be the ultimate way to pass judgement on a film as I wouldn't think to myself, "well that wasn't worth the money" at the end of the viewing as it was simply a case of popping it in to a self addressed envelope and waiting 3 to 4 days for the next one to arrive. I can safely say that The Battery is the only film in this list where I had the pleasure of watching with no pre-apprehension, I could just enjoy it for what it was from start to finish. If there was ever a film which epitomizes the concept of the game DAYZ, The Battery would be it. That's to say not a lot happens for a large majority of the film other than witnessing two teammates of a baseball squad walking around the back roads of New England with beautiful vistas as their backdrop and only each other and their conscious to address regularly. And like DayZ, it all comes to a head when the duo have an uneasy meeting with another couple of survivors while scavenging out on the open road. This isn't the end of the story at this point but I will hold off from any more details due wanting to give you the opportunity to experience this film, (if you choose to) with as open a mind as possible. Although you get the feeling neither of the 2 guys were particularly close to one another before the world went tits up by the end of the film you can see that they are firm friends which makes the ending all the more devastating. When I see a low budget movie starring the writer who also happens to direct the thing too my eyes tend to do roll to the back of my skull as this is generally a sign of an amateurish job, but considering this was made on a minuscule fund of six thousand dollars this is another masterclass in how to make a low budget zombie film. If you don't mind slow paced motion pictures which focus less on the visceral details of surviving the zombie outbreak and more on the intricate day to day living then this is worth a watch.
Diary Of The Dead (2007) You're probably surprised to see what is generally referred to as one of George Romero's weaker installments of the Dead series so high in this list but there's a couple of reasons why I prefer this one over more popular films like Day of the Dead. Diary of the Dead, (being a Romero movie) is a social satire from the time it was produced, and in 2007 it was the effect of the mass media and the fast growing social media's role of distributing news to the masses. But the main reason I love this film is FAR more shallow. As I've said previously, one aspect of any of the possible zombie apocalypses which gets brought to screen that often gets overlooked is the initial outbreak, and it is refreshing to see a film where the characters are away from their home towns and having to deal with the beginning of the end of the world while stuck in the back end of nowhere. Without instant access to the news or global events which we all take for granted these days you soon feel the claustrophobia that the characters are feeling knowing something really big is happening but being not quite sure what due to conflicting reports. Like Night of the Living Dead, Diary of the Dead is set right around the beginning of the outbreak and it could be argued that this is a more modern take on Romero's original story. I'm also a sucker for "found footage" films like Cloverfield and The Blair Witch Project, so having the main characters document their entire journey was an interesting direction for George to take after Land of the Dead and yet another reason why I'm so fond of this movie. Give it a chance. Hell, give this film a second chance if you wrote it off back when it first came out because I think you'll find especially with the recent uproar with the power social networks have over the masses day to day you'll see that once again the king of zombie movies was spot on in his perspective of the effect of mass media on the populace.
Zombieland (2009) Rules. Everybody needs rules. And it's these rules which get introduced to us right at the start of the film by Columbus, a World of Warcraft playing introvert who arguably hadn't lived a day of his life before the zombie apocalypse happened. It soon becomes apparent that it's these rules that have kept him alive for as long as they have when far more capable people have fallen by the wayside before him due to lack of preparation or understanding of the undead problem at hand. But its also these rules which restrict him from embracing the new world he has found himself in and feeling truly free... which is where a guy called Tallahassee comes in. I feel to say any more about the story at this point is a waste of all our time since this movie was a massive worldwide hit with many A-list actors portraying all the lead characters and a legendary cameo from Bill Murray thrown in for good measure. It's just a fun film! Yes, I could blabber on about how this is a film about growth and acceptance but all you really remember is Woody Harrelson playing the Deliverance dueling banjos intro on a banjo before using said banjo to cave a zombie's head in. It isn't a clever movie in itself, it offers no new ideas to the genre or reflect any social narrative back at you to contemplate after the credits have rolled, but I had a massive Cheshire cat grin on my face when leaving the cinema after viewing it for the first time and every subsequent time after. Does this view of the movie reflect badly on me? The fact I can have such a brainless, unoriginal movie with a lot of heart as my number two when there are films from a cinematic perspective that are FAR more deserving which haven't even made the cut on to this list in the first place? Probably. But I REALLY enjoy watching this, and that's why it's so near the top. A guilty pleasure yes, but a pleasure none the less. And there's a Zombieland 2 coming in 2019!! I might have to update this list in a couple of years...
And finally, (and obviously)
Dawn Of The Dead (1978) Yep. I'm sure you all saw this coming. But as A Cadaver Christmas has made our Yuletide film playlist the original Dawn of the Dead is watched EVERY Halloween in the Padge household. This film is virtually perfect in my eyes, and ticks all the boxes of what I like to see in a zombie movie. Following on directly from Night of the Living Dead, Dawn starts off with you witnessing the breakdown of society, followed swiftly by the discovery and eventual fortification of a whole bloody shopping mall before a biker gang comes in and ruins everyone's day, including their own before, as is tradition with Romero's works, a suitably open ending is left for the viewer to ponder what will happen to the survivors that we have grown close to over the course of the film. I could at this point discuss the look at materialism of then modern day America within this movie but it is a well trodden path when discussing the intricacies of Dawn of the Dead, and not one I'm going to bore you with here. As I stated earlier, this is a list of films I enjoy repeated views of and although I'm sure George Romero was making a valid point when it came to his perspective of American consumerism, I just came to see zombies in a mall man. It annoys me that once again I have very little to say about my favourite zombie movie ever but there is nothing I can add that hasn't been said before ten times over. This isn't a film I need to justify in having a great affection for, as the cultural influence Dawn has had on the world is still apparent.
Well there you have it. My top ten zombie movies with plenty of honorable mentions to boot. My wish when I originally decided to do this list was that hopefully you would check out a couple of films the that maybe you hadn't heard of or give one of the ones you haven't seen in a while a re-watch. It is Halloween after all.
And as always, THANK YOU FOR WATCHING, A LIKE IS ALWAYS APPRECIATED AND I'LL TALK TO YOU AGAIN SOON.
Take it easy.
So there you go! The full unabridged script with extras for your reading pleasure. I really do hope if you've taken the time to read through this there will be at least one film on the list you haven't seen and will now seek out and hopefully find a new favourite or at the very least revisit an old one. (GO SEE THE BATTERY!!! No pressure.)
I mentioned in the video I released with this that I'm taking a week off to fully get over this cold before I start filming the new long play lets play I have lined up, so I thought as you've gone the extra mile and read this, (or at the very least skipped to the end) I'll let you in to a little secret. It's going to be Rimworld. I hope to see you there!
