The Best Zombie Movies (2020): Movie Monsters

By Steve Hutchison

Steve Hutchison reviews 60 of his favorite zombie movies. Each article includes a synopsis, a review, and a rating. The movies are ranked. How many have you seen?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Steve Hutchison
• Release date: Feb 14, 2023
• ISBN: 9781778870729

Steve Hutchison

Artist, developer and entrepreneur in film, video games and communications Steve Hutchison co-founded Shade.ca Art and Code in 1999, then Terror.ca and its French equivalent Terreur.ca in 2000. With his background as an artist and integrator, Steve worked on such games as Capcom's Street Fighter, PopCap's Bejeweled, Tetris, Bandai/Namco's Pac-Man and Mattel's Skip-Bo & Phase 10 as a localization manager, 2-D artist and usability expert. Having acquired skills in gamification, he invented a unique horror movie review system that is filterable, searchable and sortable by moods, genres, subgenres and antagonists. Horror movie fans love it, and so do horror authors and filmmakers, as it is a great source of inspiration. In March 2013, Steve launched Tales of Terror, with the same goals in mind but with a much finer technology and a complex engine, something that wasn’t possible initially. He has since published countless horror-themed books.

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Tales of Terror’s

Movie Monsters 2020

The Best Zombie Movies

INTRODUCTION

Steve Hutchison reviews 60 of his favorite zombie movies. Each article includes a synopsis, a review, and a rating. The movies are ranked. How many have you seen?

#1

Dead Alive

1992

A man tries to contain a zombie outbreak originating from his home.

8/8

We mostly owe the masterpiece that is Dead Alive, AKA Brain Dead, to Peter Jackson. He’s grown infinitely more resourceful since 1987’s Bad Taste, which wasn’t bad at all, but this one is full throttle. It is very dynamic and never dull. It all starts with a cute love story that won’t remain cute for very long. See, Lionel’s mother is decaying and slowly turning into a zombie…

Dead Alive contains the kind of gore so extreme it makes you piss your pants; not because you’re frightened but because you’re chortling uncontrollably. It makes you jump, it makes you want to vomit, but you’re never exactly scared. The special effects are, for lack of a better word, orgiac. This is easily one of the best zombie movies ever made, and it looks like nothing else.

The acting is odd, the dialogue is awkward, but those aspects are charming more than they are annoying. The last act is an absolute blast. It is particularly gruesome. It is a non-stop gore fest; easily one of the most memorable moments in horror movie history. It’ll make you scratch your head as to how exactly the practical effects were made. In fact, this whole production is a beautiful enigma!

#2

One Cut of the Dead

2017

Things go sour for a director, his crew, and his cast while shooting a zombie film, as the undead actually rise from the grave.

8/8

This film will require all your attention. Every detail matters. The first 37 minutes were shot with one camera, in one take, and that, in itself, considering the rhythm and special effects involved, is something to witness. Some filmmakers have attempted this in the past, but rarely with such accuracy. The first act is absolutely bonkers. It is incessant. It is a frantic masterpiece.

And then, there’s everything else. The second act will remain unspoiled, and the third one is nothing but twists. This is, simply put, one of the best and most creative horror films in history. One Cut of the Dead is a movie about people making a movie, and that doesn’t even begin to describe what awaits. The actors are sublime, but the first act only reveals a glimpse of their potential.

The thing is, the whole crew’s working miracles. The cameramen are giving all they have, which is an understatement considering what you’re signing up for. They’re extremely agile, precise, and only surpassed by the actors’ calculated yet vivid performances. One question resurfaces every five minutes: what the fuck are we watching? Answers will come. Better enjoy the ride till everything adds up!

#3

Return of the Living Dead III

1993

A teenager struggles not to feed on humans and spread her curse after being brought back to life by a toxic gas that turned her into a zombie.

7/8

Strongly inspired by Romeo and Juliet, this Return of the Living Dead marks the franchise’s will to reinvent itself. None of the actors are making a return and a new formula is introduced. The key element, here, is that one of the two main protagonists, Julie, is slowly becoming a zombie and incidentally letting us in on the curse. We get to live the transformation from a more serious human angle.

The script lives up to the