The 6 Most Underrated Zombie Movies
BRAINS! BRAINS! BRAINS!
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Zombie movies date back to White Zombie (1932), but they didn’t take off as a major subgenre until the success of Night of the Living Dead (1968). Hordes of zombie films have hit theaters over the past 50-plus years, so it’s inevitable that some worthy entries are overlooked. Here are six underrated zombie movies ranked.
You can see the Night of the Living Dead influence in the titles of these movies. Almost all of them have the words “dead” or “night” in their names. Half are foreign language films, which no doubt has played a role in them struggling to gain mainstream fame. All six have plots that differ from typical zombie tropes. This is a quirky bunch. Let’s take a look at them!
6. Dead & Buried (1981)
A mysterious mob is murdering tourists in a small, sleepy coastal town. But their victims won’t stay dead! The local sheriff, Dan Gillis (James Farentino), investigates the killings and discovers a vast conspiracy involving a local doctor and numerous other townsfolk.
Dead & Buried features an early performance by Robert Englund, who plays a minor supporting role. It was written by Dan O’ Bannon, who also scripted Alien and The Return of the Living Dead. This movie isn’t as good as those two, that’s for sure, but it’s still fun. O’ Bannon caps his screenplay with a surreal Twilight Zone-style twist.
This movie’s “everyone but the sheriff is in on it” plot strains credibility, but it features plenty of tension. It’s certainly one of the scariest zombie movies in this list, but it isn’t as innovative as the films above it.
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5. One Cut of the Dead (2017)
What if you were filming a zombie movie and real zombies showed up? Would you thank your lucky stars and keep right on filming?
One Cut of the Dead is an innovative and multilayered Japanese satire about a film crew working on a troubled zombie movie production. The story is split into three parts involving multiple films within films and different groups of characters.
This movie suffers from uneven pacing at times, and it’s not particularly easy to follow, but it has plenty of fun and gory moments. It’s hard to come up with a truly original zombie idea. This movie’s plot is unlike any other.
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4. Night of the Creeps (1986)
After a fraternity initiation goes grotesquely wrong, a group of college students are infected by alien slugs that turn them into zombies. Chris (Jason Lively) and his friend J.C. (Steve Marshall) attempt to steal a corpse from their university’s medical center.
The reanimated cadaver goes on a rampage. Chris’s love interest, Cynthia (Jill Whitelow), also gets involved in the undead shenanigans. Tom Atkins is here, too. He’s playing a hard-drinking cop, as usual. This time, he has a dark secret in his past that’s connected to the zombie outbreak.
Night of the Creeps is a mix of many different b-movie genres. It’s often derivative, but there’s plenty of gore, humor, and entertainment value.
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3. Dead snow (2009)
I’ve got two words for ya: Nazi zombies! This Norwegian horror comedy is about a group of students vacationing in a cabin on Easter weekend (yes, this is one of the rare Easter horror movies) in a frigid mountain range. The group is attacked and devoured by the reanimated corpses of Nazi soldiers.
Dead Snow is lightning-paced and outrageously gory. These zombies are after more than flesh. There’s hidden treasure buried in the mountains, and they want to retrieve it. This movie would rank even higher if it had any memorable characters. They’re all quite bland.
I’m not sure what the zombies intend to do with the gold coins. Maybe they want to buy new clothes after wearing their World War II uniforms for the past several decades? This is the only zombie movie I’ve seen where the monsters are treasure hunters!
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2. Night of the Comet (1984)
After a comet wipes out civilization, teenage sisters Regina (Catherine Mary Stewart) and Sam (Kelli Maroney) fend off zombies and mad scientists in this very ’80s horror comedy. It’s hard for them to tell who’s more dangerous: the monsters or the surviving humans!
This is one of the cheesiest zombie movies ever made, and I mean that as a compliment! It’s dated in many respects, but that’s part of its charm.
The chemistry between Maroney and Stewart makes this movie. They have a great repartee. I wish they had done more films together.
Night of the Comet peaks when the girls indulge in some free shopping at an empty mall. Of course, it turns out that the area is infested with zombified security guards, giving new meaning to the term “dead mall”.
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1. Train to Busan (2016)
Divorced father Seok-woo (Gong Yoo) fights to reunite with his estranged young daughter, Su-an (Kim Su-an), an aspiring singer, during a massive zombie outbreak in Seoul. He joins a colorful group of survivors on a train heading out of town to a supposedly safer area.
Train to Busan tops my list of underrated zombie movies. As the title suggests, this tense and unforgettable Korean zombie flick is set mostly on a train where a group of survivors are seeking refuge in the city of Busan, where the government has set up a quarantined area.
This is one of the scariest zombie movies in modern history, and also among the best acted. Seok-woo and Su-an’s journey is gripping and suspenseful all the way to the end. This movie is heartfelt without ever feeling corny.
James Wan has been planning for years to produce an American remake titled Last Train to New York, but it’s unclear if the project is going to come to fruition. Frankly, I don’t think this movie needs a remake. It’s fine on its own.
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