Zombies
I've been trying to dance around this as it'll be a monster list but... ah well, it was inevitable.
This list is based on an earlier list that I compiled which has done the rounds online, which was brought together from various sources, including a number of the books in the references section (the earlier ones obviously, the original list was from 2004-2005). For this list I have also worked through the IMDB "zombie" tag but I have also been much stricter with my inclusion criteria and have left out films I've previously included, focusing this list on the mindless undead (who became cannibalistic following Romero's Night of the Dead). The films I've left out have been shifted over into parallel lists especially the one contagious violence films, like the 28 X Later ones and The Crazies that are often lumped in with zombie films but don't have the dead being reanimated. Plus there is a vengeful dead list for films where the dead only return for revenge, rather than brains. The focus is mainly on live action films but there are some animated films included where I felt that they were important or just amused me. I have watched about a third of these films so far, so there will be quite a bit of chopping and changing as I work through the rest because this is not only subjective but there might be a few that don't belong at all (probably quite a few from the "zombie" tag on IMDB). So bear with me, this is a work in progress.
Sub-lists: if you want a more focused, less sprawling lists: Asian zombie films, British zombie films, period zombie films and zombie Nazi/Nazi zombie films. There is also one for films from the zombie's point-of-view (or at least they present a sympathetic portrayal of zombies). I also thought it'd be interesting to break the films down by title because there are so many of them with a few high-profile movies that set the standard: Night of the Living X, X of the Dead and X vs Zombies, meanwhile someone else has a list for titles of the format X zombies (so I won't start one for that, as I nearly did before finding it, unless it starts getting outdated). As films flagged as porn negatively impacts on a list's visibility, I have started a list for zombie porn.
Numbers: I have made a new spreadsheet and graph based on this list of zombie films, as you can see the first 3 Romero zombie films led to a big spike in zombie films (after a 4-5 year lag) which fell off quickly afterwards. However, the most recent 3 of his Dead series come in a period of sustained growth that started in 2003 (two years before the first of those three, Land of the Dead) making it difficult attribute the films to any upswings. You might be better of looking at the success of 28 Days Later or Shaun of the Dead (which seem to have given British horror films and British zombie movies a boost), but a better explanation might be the lowering of the bar to film production and distribution - zombies not necessarily requiring a lot of cash (but it can help), so lending themselves to low budget films. This can be most easily demonstrated by the fact that there have been nearly as many full-length zombie films released in the seven years between 2006-2012 (567) as there were in all the years before that (582).
See also: mummy movies, Frankenstein films and Chinese hopping vampire films (which, despite the name, are just another class of zombie).
References: The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia (2000), The Dead Walk (2000, new edition 2009), Eaten Alive!: Italian Cannibal and Zombie Movies (2002), Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema (2005), Zombiemania: 80 Movies To Die For (2006), Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide (2008), The G.O.R.E. Score: A Review Guide to All Things Zombie, Volume 1, and Volume 2 (2010 and 2011) and Blood Splatter: A Guide to Cinematic Zombie Violence, Gore and Special Effects (2012).
Further reading: Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth (2006), The Undead and Philosophy: Chicken Soup for the Soulless (2006), Zombie Culture: Autopsies of the Living Dead (2008), Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever (2010), Generation Zombie: Essays on the Living Dead in Modern Culture (2011), Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human (2011), The Complete History of the Return of the Living Dead (2011), and Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies (2011).
Links: Websites that I found handy in refining this list include: A French zombie review blog, translated (has a similar breakdown to the one I use here, also made me finally look up the word "nanar" - a film so bad it's good, they really do have a word for everything) and Xzombi a zombie movie database (as the ZMDB is down for maintenance).
Comments: As I don't have a Facebook account I cannot interact with the new comments system, so have switched it off. I will start a thread on the message board and link it in here shortly.
This list is based on an earlier list that I compiled which has done the rounds online, which was brought together from various sources, including a number of the books in the references section (the earlier ones obviously, the original list was from 2004-2005). For this list I have also worked through the IMDB "zombie" tag but I have also been much stricter with my inclusion criteria and have left out films I've previously included, focusing this list on the mindless undead (who became cannibalistic following Romero's Night of the Dead). The films I've left out have been shifted over into parallel lists especially the one contagious violence films, like the 28 X Later ones and The Crazies that are often lumped in with zombie films but don't have the dead being reanimated. Plus there is a vengeful dead list for films where the dead only return for revenge, rather than brains. The focus is mainly on live action films but there are some animated films included where I felt that they were important or just amused me. I have watched about a third of these films so far, so there will be quite a bit of chopping and changing as I work through the rest because this is not only subjective but there might be a few that don't belong at all (probably quite a few from the "zombie" tag on IMDB). So bear with me, this is a work in progress.
Sub-lists: if you want a more focused, less sprawling lists: Asian zombie films, British zombie films, period zombie films and zombie Nazi/Nazi zombie films. There is also one for films from the zombie's point-of-view (or at least they present a sympathetic portrayal of zombies). I also thought it'd be interesting to break the films down by title because there are so many of them with a few high-profile movies that set the standard: Night of the Living X, X of the Dead and X vs Zombies, meanwhile someone else has a list for titles of the format X zombies (so I won't start one for that, as I nearly did before finding it, unless it starts getting outdated). As films flagged as porn negatively impacts on a list's visibility, I have started a list for zombie porn.
Numbers: I have made a new spreadsheet and graph based on this list of zombie films, as you can see the first 3 Romero zombie films led to a big spike in zombie films (after a 4-5 year lag) which fell off quickly afterwards. However, the most recent 3 of his Dead series come in a period of sustained growth that started in 2003 (two years before the first of those three, Land of the Dead) making it difficult attribute the films to any upswings. You might be better of looking at the success of 28 Days Later or Shaun of the Dead (which seem to have given British horror films and British zombie movies a boost), but a better explanation might be the lowering of the bar to film production and distribution - zombies not necessarily requiring a lot of cash (but it can help), so lending themselves to low budget films. This can be most easily demonstrated by the fact that there have been nearly as many full-length zombie films released in the seven years between 2006-2012 (567) as there were in all the years before that (582).
See also: mummy movies, Frankenstein films and Chinese hopping vampire films (which, despite the name, are just another class of zombie).
References: The Zombie Movie Encyclopedia (2000), The Dead Walk (2000, new edition 2009), Eaten Alive!: Italian Cannibal and Zombie Movies (2002), Book of the Dead: The Complete History of Zombie Cinema (2005), Zombiemania: 80 Movies To Die For (2006), Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide (2008), The G.O.R.E. Score: A Review Guide to All Things Zombie, Volume 1, and Volume 2 (2010 and 2011) and Blood Splatter: A Guide to Cinematic Zombie Violence, Gore and Special Effects (2012).
Further reading: Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero's Visions of Hell on Earth (2006), The Undead and Philosophy: Chicken Soup for the Soulless (2006), Zombie Culture: Autopsies of the Living Dead (2008), Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever (2010), Generation Zombie: Essays on the Living Dead in Modern Culture (2011), Better Off Dead: The Evolution of the Zombie as Post-Human (2011), The Complete History of the Return of the Living Dead (2011), and Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Zombies (2011).
Links: Websites that I found handy in refining this list include: A French zombie review blog, translated (has a similar breakdown to the one I use here, also made me finally look up the word "nanar" - a film so bad it's good, they really do have a word for everything) and Xzombi a zombie movie database (as the ZMDB is down for maintenance).
Comments: As I don't have a Facebook account I cannot interact with the new comments system, so have switched it off. I will start a thread on the message board and link it in here shortly.
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