When Zombies Attack! – Some Fun Zombie Movies to Watch

There are so many zombie stories floating around, and of course, the jokes about bath salts, that zombies are coming to the forefront again. Now, if we can just keep some lame writer or movie-maker from making them sparkle in the sunlight or some other nonsense, we should survive the zombie-mania.

Let's keep our zombies scary (or funny), and not let them be romanticized somehow. They've taken the fright out of vampires, werewolves, Frankenstein's monster, aliens and even the Devil. So let's fight to keep the undead cranium crunchers on the scary side of the list.

Here are some good zombie movies, and if you have some suggestions for more, let me know.

1. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
   This movie snuck up on people. Not that many people had heard of Simon Pegg, Nick Frost or Edgar Wright before this movie, but after, they started to get a lot of things done and have made some great movies. After spoofing zombies, they spoofed buddy-cop films and even aliens and road flicks. In Shaun of the Dead, they take a lot of the zombie staples and poke fun at them in sometimes subtle, usually not-so-subtle ways. I still fin myself saying "You've got red on you." randomly. And the tearing apart of Dylan Moran (from the BBC comedy "Black Books") by the zombies is a great scene.
2. 28 Days Later (2002)
   Cillian Murphy REALLY came out with this movie, and I just don't mean with the unnecessary penis shots at the beginning. This a creepy, strangely shot film with a lot of tense moments in it, and a lot of very British style to its story. Some people have argued that they're not really zombies, but who cares, it's still a cool movie.
3. Zombieland (2009)
   This movie is just such a blast to watch, and makes you laugh so hard at times you don't mind the pauses for the touching scenes. The Bill Murray part is fantastic, as is the beginning with the rules and the hot neighbor girl.
4. [REC] (2007) remade as Quarantine (2008) in the US
   This is some disturbing stuff here. Both versions of this story are pretty cool. I saw the American version first, since I have a thing for Jennifer Carpenter, and no I don't know why. But the original is always cooler for 1. being first, and 2. being different from the remakes.
5. Army of Darkness (1992)
   Sam Raimi made his name with the Evil Dead films and when he made his 3rd (or second, depending on how you look at it) movie in the story, a lot of people were really excited to see it. It's quite a bit different in some ways, but holds a lot of the weirdness of the original stories. I also love Embeth Davidtz. Bruce Campbell is simply hysterical in this movie.
6. Evil Dead (1981)
   The original movie from Sam that got the whole thing stared, I believe. If he had something before this, no one really knew much about it. Lots of cool killing and the low-level spirit flying shots are really cool, with its weird noise as it flies in and possesses people.
7. Evil Dead II (1987)
   This time, Sam came back and basically remade The Evil Dead, but with a bigger budget. He kept a lot of the same things in, changed some stuff, and even threw in the setup for the next movie Army of Darkness. Both Evil Dead movies are classics, even though they're basically the same film.
8. Braindead / Dead Alive (1992)
   Long before Peter Jackson began his massive Lord of the Rings movies, he was a small New Zealand horror film-maker. He made some really fun and gory movies like Bad Taste and Braindead or Dead Alive, depending on where it was released, I guess. This movie is campy, funny, stupid and gory as hell. The guy running around with the lawnmower in the room full of zombies is insane.
9. Dead Snow (2009)
   Sometimes zombies aren't enough, I guess, at least in Norway. So they took zombies, attached them to some buried treasure, and froze them so they could burst out of huge snowbanks. Oh yeah, and they're also Nazis. Aside from all the Nazi-Zombie carnage, you also get a bit of avalanche survival help.
10. The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
    I remember this one coming out, and going to see it at the movies with my girlfriend and her friend. They sat on either side of me, and by the time the movie was over, I couldn't feel my hands, they were squeezing my arms so hard. I also remember the interrogation sequence where every guy in the theater crossed his legs at the same time. A must-see movie. Creepy and weird.

Let me know what your favorite zombie movies are! I've intentionally left off the Romero series, they seemed too obvious. If there's some you've seen that people might have missed, tell us. I'll definitely check them out!