Greatest Zombie Films
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- DirectorVictor HalperinStarsBela LugosiMadge BellamyJoseph CawthornA young man turns to a witch doctor to lure the woman he loves away from her fiancé, but instead turns her into a zombie slave.The grand-daddy of all modern-day zombie films of the sound era, with effective, atmospheric horror, although dated. This was Bela Lugosi's follow-up film to Dracula (1931), and his second most important movie role. The low-budget film was the archetype and model for many subsequent zombie movies. Followed by Halperin's sequel Revolt of the Zombies (1936).
- DirectorGeorge TerwilligerStarsFredi WashingtonPhilip BrandonMarie PaxtonIn Haiti, a black female plantation owner enacts a voodoo curse, and revives zombies for revenge on a white male neighbor, who has chosen a white woman over her for marriage.Notable as the 2nd film to feature zombies. Subtitled: "A STORY OF VOODOO." (Filmed in its entirety in the West Indies) The film's setting was Haiti, but the film was shot in Jamaica, due to the uproar created in Haiti when the locals learned about the film's subject-matter. The term ouanga was used in voudoun traditions relating to charms, amulets, talismans, etc., and was related to love fetishes. A negative or evil ouanga was known as a Wanga. The follow-up remake The Devil's Daughter (1939), with an "all-colored" cast, obviously removed the inter-racial romance.
- DirectorVictor HalperinStarsDorothy StoneDean JaggerRoy D'ArcyAn international expedition is sent into Cambodia to destroy an ancient formula that turns men into zombies.Director Victor Halperin's sequel to White Zombie (1932). Bela Lugosi's super-imposed eyes from the 1932 film appeared when magical zombie powers were employed.
- DirectorMichael CurtizStarsBoris KarloffRicardo CortezEdmund GwennAfter hapless pianist and ex-con John Elman is framed for murder, he is resurrected by a scientist after his execution.A supernatural, sci-fi horror revenge film. Included in this listing because of the film's title. Similar to the Frankenstein tale and the resurrection scene (also with Karloff).
- DirectorJean YarbroughStarsDick PurcellJoan WoodburyMantan MorelandOn a spooky island, three stranded travelers find an evil doctor working with foreign spies and in control of zombies.A low-budget Monogram Pictures horror-comedy, misrepresented by its sensationalist taglines. Noted for its politically-incorrect ethnic humor. The ONLY zombie-related film nominated for an Academy Award (Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture) in any category.
- DirectorJacques TourneurStarsFrances DeeTom ConwayJames EllisonA nurse is hired to care for the wife of a sugar plantation owner, who has been acting strangely, on a Caribbean island.One of the best and most fair treatments of the practice of voodoo. A combination of voodoo, romance, and an adaptation of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. One of the best of the early zombie films - filmed in expressive, visually-stunning black and white. The low-budget, creepy film was very effective for its moody and atmospheric tone and visually-stylistic terror regarding dark family secrets, voodoo rituals and legends. Noted for producer Val Lewton's brand of tension and horror.
- DirectorSteve SekelyStarsJohn CarradineGale StormRobert LoweryAfter the death of Max's spouse, Lila, Max holds a funeral for her, but he has also reanimates her as a zombie. He is amazed when Lila show signs of free will and challenges him for control.This was a quasi-remake or sequel to King of the Zombies (1941), the second Monogram Pictures 'zombie thriller. They were recycled in another Monogram film, Voodoo Man (1944).
- DirectorWilliam BeaudineStarsBela LugosiJohn CarradineGeorge ZuccoDr. Richard Marlowe uses a combination of voodoo and hypnosis in an attempt to revive his dead wife by transferring the life essences of several hapless young girls he has kidnapped and imprisoned in the dungeon beneath his mansion.Bela Lugosi was brought back for the last time (this was his ninth film with Monogram, from 1941-1944) by poverty-row Monogram Studios as voodoo master and mad scientist Dr. Marlowe.
- DirectorGordon DouglasStarsWally BrownAlan CarneyBela LugosiTwo bumbling press agents must search for a zombie to fulfill a commitment to their ex-gangster boss's new nightclub or face the consequences.A zombie comedy, similar to the Abbott & Costello comedy duo films of the time period (with various classic monsters). In this spoof, bug-eyed Darby Jones repeated his role as the iconic, tall voodoo zombie, now named Kalaga, from I Walked With a Zombie (1943), also from RKO. Bela Lugosi also reprised his role as a voodoo master from the first official zombie film, White Zombie (1932). Included a non-PC blackface bit by Mike.
- DirectorFred C. BrannonStarsJudd HoldrenAline TowneWilson WoodThe invaders come to Earth to create an H-bomb to blast Earth out of orbit so that Mars can take its place.A 12-chapter cliffhanger serial, a classic B-movie with lots of stock footage and recycled scenes. Star Trek's Leonard Nimoy, in one of his earliest movie roles, was one of the humanoid zombies named Narab. This was the third rocket-man serial made by Republic in a trilogy of sorts - also King of the Rocket Men (1949), and Radar Men from the Moon (1951) with Commander Cody.
- DirectorEdward D. Wood Jr.StarsGregory WalcottTom KeeneMona McKinnonEvil aliens attack Earth and set their terrible "Plan 9" into action. As the aliens resurrect the dead of the Earth, the lives of the living are in danger.Universally acknowledged as one of the 'worst' films ever made, with an incoherent plot, cheap production design (e.g., cardboard gravestones), inexcusable special effects, and horrible acting. The final role for horror icon Bela Lugosi. The character of director Edward D. Wood Jr. was played by Johnny Depp in Tim Burton's biopic Ed Wood (1994). The film's title aka Grave Robbers From Outer Space.
- DirectorEdward L. CahnStarsJohn AgarJean ByronPhilip TongeInvisible aliens from the Moon invade the Earth by occupying the bodies of recently deceased humans but a scientist, his daughter and an army Major, try to fight them.The film prefigured Romero's landmark Night of the Living Dead (1968) by almost a decade, and was a slightly better version of the same themes found in Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space (1957).
- DirectorJerry WarrenStarsDon SullivanKatherine VictorSteve ConteA crazed female scientist uses nerve gas to turn local teenagers into her unquestioning slaves.Filmed in 1957, but released in mid-April of 1960. A poorly acted and scripted, low-budget, teen horror-exploitation film, perfect for a double-bill at a drive-in. A box-office bomb. Remade by the same director as Frankenstein Island (1981).
- DirectorJohn GillingStarsAndré MorellDiane ClareBrook WilliamsDuring a mysterious epidemic in a small Cornish village, the local doctor summons his professor friend for help.From Hammer Films, originally double-billed with the bigger hit Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966). The plot borrowed from White Zombie (1932). The film's best nightmarish sequence was one in which decaying graveyard cadavers dug their way up through the earth to surround the shocked dreamer and clutch at him with clawing dead fingers. Another notable dream image was a realistic zombie decapitation.
- DirectorTed V. MikelsStarsWendell CoreyJohn CarradineTom PaceThe Plan - to build a super human. How? By murdering innocent, convenient victims, and using various bits of them. The result? Creatures on the rampage.A low-budget, incoherent, very inferior zombie film and cult drive-in classic, with poor production values, and some sexploitation elements (half-naked, gold bikinied female on a lab table, and a painted stripper-nightclub dancer). The film's poster advertised: "SEE Astro Space Laboratory," "SEE Brutal Mutants Menace Beautiful Girls," "SEE Crazed Corpse Stealers," "SEE Beserk Human Transplants." With three very poor sequels, from 2010-2012.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsDuane JonesJudith O'DeaKarl HardmanA ragtag group of Pennsylvanians barricade themselves in an old farmhouse to remain safe from a horde of flesh-eating ghouls that are ravaging the Northeast of the United States.This was a low-budget, independent, genre-defining, zombie classic. It was the debut of the 'modern' zombie film (although they were never called 'zombies' but 'ghouls'), about the mysterious reanimation of the recent-dead. Part 1 of Romero's original zombie trilogy. It was the first of a canon of zombie classics, and it marked the rise of independent horror. It was also Romero's debut film. The low-budget black-and-white film was made documentary-style, with natural lighting and a handheld camera to accentuate the besieged farmhouse occupants' visceral fear. Remade as Night of the Living Dead (1990), by gore F/X expert turned director Tom Savini, with a revised screenplay written by George Romero (with a reworked beginning and ending). The film was also remade in a 3-D version by producer/director Jeff Broadstreet as Night of the Living Dead 3D (2006). With one of the first black heroes (Duane Jones) in the horror genre. With the memorable line of dialogue: "They're coming to get you, Barbra!'' It showed violated bodies and families torn apart by the living dead, illustrating how nothing was sacred in contemporary society. (A sick, zombified adolescent girl named Karen Cooper (Kyra Schon) killed her own mother Helen (Marilyn Eastman) with a garden trowel and then ate her.)
- DirectorBob ClarkStarsAlan OrmsbyValerie MamchesJeff GillenSix friends in a theatrical troupe dig up a corpse on an abandoned island to use in a mock Satanic rite. It backfires with deadly consequences.A low-budget, zombie horror-comedy, inspired in part by Night of the Living Dead (1968). Directed by Bob Clark - his feature film debut. He was more famous for Black Christmas (1974), Murder By Decree (1979), Porky's (1982) and A Christmas Story (1983).
- DirectorJorge GrauStarsCristina GalbóRay LovelockArthur KennedyA cop chases two hippies suspected of a series of Manson family-like murders; unbeknownst to him, the real culprits are the living dead, brought to life with a hunger for human flesh by ultrasonic radiation being used for pest control.A Spanish/Italian production, with many alternative titles for all of its international releases (others were Don't Open the Window, Do Not Profane the Sleep of the Dead, etc.).
- DirectorPaul MaslanskyStarsMarki BeyRobert QuarryDon Pedro ColleyWhen her boyfriend is murdered by mobsters, Sugar Hill decides not to get mad, but BAD. She asks the voodoo priestess Mama Maitresse to summon Baron Samedi, the Lord of the Dead, to help her gain a gruesome revenge. In exchange for Sugar's soul, the Dark Master raises up a zombie army to do her bidding. The bad guys who think they got away clean are about to find out that they are DEAD wrong.An overlooked horror-blacksploitation action film from the mid-1970s. The resurrected voodoo zombies weren't flesh-hungry, but they did function as murderous thugs following the commands of their evil master, similar to the zombies of the 1930s and 1940s. With the theme song: "Supernatural Voodoo Woman" sung by The Originals. This film was not to be confused with the later film with the same title, Sugar Hill (1993) with Wesley Snipes.
- DirectorKen WiederhornStarsClarence ThomasBrooke AdamsLuke HalpinVisitors to a remote island discover that a reclusive Nazi commandant has been breeding a group of Zombie soldiers.The best of its low-budget sub-genre - the underwater Nazi zombie movie (other examples of Nazi zombie flicks were Zombie Lake (1981, Fr./Sp.), Night of the Zombies (1981), and Dead Snow (2009, Norway)). A moody cult film without much gore, but lots of atmosphere. This was director Ken Wiederhorn's debut feature film.
- DirectorGeorge A. RomeroStarsDavid EmgeKen ForeeScott H. ReinigerDuring an escalating zombie epidemic, two Philadelphia SWAT team members, a traffic reporter and his TV executive girlfriend seek refuge in a secluded shopping mall.Part 2 of Romero's original zombie trilogy. The most profitable of all the Romero zombie films, and the one received most favorably by critics. It was the first film in the Romero "Dead" franchise to refer to the undead as "zombies." The biting social satire equated zombies with brainwashed automaton consumers slowly shuffling their way through malls as soothing Muzak played. It was explained why the zombies congregated there: "Some kind of instinct. Memory, of what they used to do. This was an important place in their lives." Special make-up effects by Tom Savini. Included a memorable death - a zombie's head sliced by helicopter blades. The satirical film was a strong indictment of rampant 1970s capitalistic mall-consumerism. The survivors were living the American Dream in a barricaded storage area, distracted by their material luxuries while undead danger lurked nearby. Remade as Dawn of the Dead (2004) by Zack Snyder (his feature film debut).
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsTisa FarrowIan McCullochRichard JohnsonStrangers searching for a young woman's missing father arrive at a tropical island where a doctor desperately seeks the cause and cure of a recent epidemic of the undead.One of the best and well-known of the violent Italian gore-zombie films, also with a sexploitation spin. Two memorable scenes: Paolo Menard's (Olga Karlatos) eye was pierced with a splinter of wood by a zombie, and the scene of a zombie fighting a shark underwater. As a promotional gimmick, the Italian rip-off title alluded to it being a sequel to Zombi (the Italian title of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978)), but the films were unrelated.
- DirectorFred Olen RayStarsBuster CrabbeRay RobertsLinda LewisA meteor hits a houseboat, turning its occupants into zombies feeding on alligators. As reptiles dwindle, they target townspeople. A scientist investigates disappearances caused by the undead houseboat dwellers.By legendary cult director Fred Olen Ray (his third listed film, but never released theatrically), shot on cheap film stock and then enlarged. The low-budget film's title was a combination of Alien (1979) and Dawn of the Dead (1978). With a simple plot, awful acting (including the last film appearance of legendary Buster Crabbe as haggard Sheriff Kowalski), and overripe dialogue ("That meteorite didn't kill those people, it turned them into a bunch of God-damned monsters!" and "She's deader than Mother's Day at an orphanage"). Two of the goriest scenes were the pitchforking, and a group-cannibalizing scene in the conclusion.
- DirectorLucio FulciStarsChristopher GeorgeCatriona MacCollCarlo De MejoA reporter and a psychic race to close the Gates of Hell after the suicide of a clergyman caused them to open, allowing the dead to rise from their graves.This was the first installment in Lucio Fulci's unofficial Gates of Hell trilogy, followed by The Beyond (1981, It.) (see below) and the cult, supernatural, haunted house horror film The House by the Cemetery (1981, It.). It featured very gory special effects by Franco Rufino (and two memorable death scenes, a power-drill to the head of a perverted sexual predator, and a woman vomiting up all of her intestines).
- DirectorBruno MatteiClaudio FragassoStarsMargie NewtonFranco GarofaloSelan KarayAfter an experiment gone wrong, a virus that turns people into zombies spreads throughout New Guinea. A female reporter and her cameraman, and a team of four commandos sent to investigate try to survive the onslaught.A low-budget, rip-off horror film and camp-cult favorite from Italy, part of a craze of similar films following Fulci's Zombie (1979, It.). Alternate titles included Zombie Creeping Flesh and Zombie Flesh Eaters 3. With mismatched footage, a recycled soundtrack, poor pacing, awful acting and dubbing, and a patchworked incoherent story. Included a nude scene of exhibitionist Margit Evelyn Newton in native paint interacting with the local New Guineans.