Friday, May 27, 2011

Some Of The Best Zombie Movies Of All Time

By Anthony McKenzie


Zombies are fictional beings that are depicted in films and television as undead people or reanimated dead bodies. Early zombie movies were initially listed as part of the horror genre but, with time, the undead beings became more of a celebrated device and garnered their own genre. Zombie movies are popular because they have elements like flesh eating beings, exciting plots, and a broken or a post apocalyptic society. While usually defined as horror movies, the films have been known to cross into other types such as comedy and action as well and the best 5 zombie movies of all time include examples of them both.

The movie that essentially started everything, "Night of the Living Dead", is an independently made thriller that was written by the infamous George Romero in the late sixties. The movie depicts zombies as slow walkers and mindless beings who crawl out of their graves with an overwhelming hunger for living flesh. The story follows a group of seven survivors as they seek shelter in a farm house and try to live through the night. George Romero has sometimes been called the 'Father of the Zombie" due to the movie which ultimately defined the sub genre and inspired a ton of others.

"Dawn of the Dead" was the second film in Romero's ghoul series. The plot picks up after the events of the original movie and portrays the US as being a wasteland lacking in authority and overridden with zombies.

After blocking off the building's entrances and making it hospitable, the four refugees make themselves comfortable as society collapses around them and begin to view the mall as both their save haven and prison. After the building's protective barrier is compromised, the characters fight for their lives as the mall is swarmed with hundreds of blood thirsty zombies. The two remaining members of the group survive and escape off the rooftop in the helicopter but their fates are left ambiguous.

Although not always classified as a true zombie film, 1989's Pet Sematary is yet another great example. Based on a novel with the same name, Pet Sematary follows a young doctor who moves into a rural area in Maine with his family. From his new neighbor, he learns about a mysterious burial ground in the woods near his home that has the power to bring the dead back to life and uses it to reanimate his daughter's beloved dead cat in order to ease her pain.

Pet Sematary, for many, is a very difficult film to watch considering it deals with complex and frightening emotions. But its gruesome imagery and plot twists make it a zombie movie that's definitely worth watching.

"28 Days Later" is a hit film and offers a more updated take on classic zombies. In it, they are agile and fast as opposed to George Romero's stiff and slow creatures. It is sometimes, like Pet Sematary, excluded from being included in the sub genre as its zombies are not technically dead but infected with a rare, behavior altering virus. The film is, however, a refreshing and powerful take on the undead genre.

This list's final movie is one that helped to prove that comedy and zombies could exist peacefully together. It's called "Zombieland" and it is about four loners who try to find sanctuary in a world that is filled with murderous undead. It also features antagonists that are more ferocious and faster and it manages to weave these elements into a story that's both funny and dark.




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