10. Dead Alive (1992, Directed by Peter Jackson)
"Your mother ate my dog!" Before Peter Jackson decided to go off the deep in into boredom with Lord of Rings, he made this movie. A bite by a creepy rat looking monkey bites an old hag, she turns into a zombie. Her son, THE ULTIMATE momma's boy, tries to take care of her, but it gets out of control as he tries to also find love in a beautiful gypsy girl. Soon, he has a basement full of crazed zombies. For being a comedic zombie movie, the gore is pretty good. Well, I might not call it gore. Maybe upchucking grossness-- like when the mom's face falls off into her pudding and she then eats it. Who didn't want to throw up watching that? But I have to say, the kill scene with the lawn mower may be what sells this movie. He literally mows all the zombies down and just get soaked in blood, guts and gore. Awesome. For that reason alone, it lands in the top ten.
9. Return of the Living Dead (1985, Directed by Dan O'Bannon)
"Send... more... paramedics." I love this movie. I know it has bad acting, and it's horribly 80's, but I love, love, love this series. It's funny, it's thrilling (in it's own right), it's somewhat gory. A government screw up (ha, who would have figured?) starts this off. Some weird disgusting, black sludge covered "human being" is crammed into canisters and shipped to the wrong place, which happens to be medical supply warehouse in Kentucky. Of course, someone has to be a big man and show the new guy what's in the basement. And you guessed it, something goes wrong and the canister opens and lets out some toxic gas that turns everything that died into a zombie. Including cadavers and dogs cut in half (the dog still disturbs me to this day...). They go across the street to the mortuary and burn the chopped up cadaver. Well.... the smoke of the burning body makes it rain, and all that rains soaks into the ground of a cemetery and all those dead bodies rise from the grave and do what zombies do. Eat brains. I think this movie is what started the whole zombies eat brains thing. I could be wrong... Anyway.... You also get to see the two big shots who caused this all turn into zombies. So... even though I love this movie, it's only in the 9 spot because the zombies talk, and can't be killed by shooting them in the head. There really is no way to destroy them, short of a nuclear bomb.... but we won't get into that. (Fun Fact... the writer of this was also worked on Night of the Living Dead with George A. Romero. They went there separate ways, and he got the rights to "of the Living Dead")
8. Night of the Living Dead (1968, Directed by the King himself, George A. Romero)
"They're coming to get you Barbara...." This needs no explanation. It may not be the number one movie, because movies have evolved and this is a dated movie... BUT it does deserve a spot in the top ten because of its well developed plot and underlying social references. ( Who would have followed the lead of a black man in 1968? Not many.) Romero continued to use social and political references in all of his movies. Besides zombies and the apocalypse, he made it more tangible for the time it was made.
7. Shaun of the Dead (2004, Directed by Edgar Wright)
"You've got red on you." I saw this in theater. I didn't quite know what it was about. I saw a little blurb in a magazine, and saw it on a whim. There wasn't much hype for it in the beginning. At least I don't remember. But anyway... the first few seconds of them talking in the pub, I wanted to get up and leave. They were mumbling, they were British, and I couldn't understand it. It took awhile for things to heat up and get going, but once it did, it was a pretty damn good zombie movie. Now add in British humor... and you have a great zombie movie. And that one kill scene when they get to the pub and that guy is ripped to pieces as he's pulled through the window.... Beautiful!
6. Land of the Dead (2005, Directed by George A. Romero)
"Zombies, man. They creep me out." What saddens me most about this movie is that it didn't get nearly enough recognition. Of the 3 latest movies made by Romero (Land, Diary and Survival), this once should have gotten more praise. It had some great actors in it... the late Dennis Hopper, John Leguizamo, Simon Baker, Asia Argento (The daughter of one the great Italian horror film directors). This movie was basically what happens after society learns how to deal with zombies. Years and years after the first zombies appeared (or if most of you don't know, years after the satellite that fell to the earth that caused people to become zombies they die), mankind has built a city and barrier that keeps the zombies out, but the humans in. Rich people rule everything, and poor people slum it on the streets. (There is that little bit of social and political propaganda that Romero loves to slip into his movies.) The zombies are evolving as any species does. They are learning. And they want to become the dominate species. It's just a beautifully made movie. The special effects are great. And that wonderful scene as the flashlight slowly moves over the gore of zombies eating all the soldiers. Genius.
So... as any good zombie movie, I will leave you hanging, not knowing if the survivors live or die as they try to find the promise land. The top 5 will be revealed next Sunday....
Until then.... Shoot them in the head.
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