Zombies films won’t die: The best of the undead

There’s just no killing our appetite for zombies, with the insanely popular “The Walking Dead” on TV, not to mention new zombie series such as “Z Nation” and “iZombie.” It would all seem enough to quell our zombie thirst.

But wait! There’s more!

Just in time for Halloween, “Scouts’ Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse” opens in theaters on Friday. It follows the adventures of three Boy Scouts who join forces with a feisty cocktail waitress to fight off zombies invading their quiet town (surely that’s worth an honor badge or two).

The film looks like it melds comedy with the zombie genre, as some of the best zombie films do. But not all of them. And believe me, as the director of a zombie film myself, I’ve seen more zombie films than you can shake a severed finger at. Some great, some very, very bad – I’m talking to you, “Zombie Strippers” (don’t ask).

Here, then, is a look at my favorite zombie films:

1. “Shaun of the Dead” (2004) – Absolutely hilarious and exciting with some dazzling technical work (love those long takes), this also found a way to be touching and boasted great acting by Simon Pegg. I still quote its awesome script (written by Pegg and director Edgar Wright). “You’ve got red on you!”

2. “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) – The one that started it all, George A. Romero’s classic paved the way for zombie films to be ripe for social commentary. Romero said bigger-picture things about race relations and social upheaval, and also set the precedent that the best zombie films be about the survivors, not the zombies.

3. “Zombieland” (2009) – Another great comedy with a crackling script, with Jesse Eisenberg as an unlikely hero and Woody Harrelson as a drifter who revels in killing zombies. This was almost the cinematic equivalent of playing a video game, finding new ways to devour and de-brain the zombies. I enjoyed the film’s inventive onscreen typography, too. And it taught me to always “double-tap.”

4. “Dawn of the Dead” (2004) – This is the remake (yes, I liked it better than the George A. Romero original) directed by Zach Snyder (“Man of Steel”) about survivors who seek refuge in a mall, but it was taut, eerily chilling and driven by an electric performance by Sarah Polley. It also had a really cool opening title sequence.

6. “Dawn of the Dead” (1978) – The Romero original is still a classic in its own right, injecting social commentary about blind consumerism with clever satire.

5. “Warm Bodies” (2013) – It shouldn’t have worked because it goes against everything we’re used to in the zombie universe, but it daringly and creatively made up its own rules about what zombies are and can do. The result is the first of its kind: a zombie comedic romance (“zom-com”) that had wit, heart and brains (obviously).

7. “World War Z” (2013) – I wasn’t sure going into this because it had so many production problems (basically the entire third act was reshot), I was leery of CGI zombies, and having read the book, I knew it would be impossible to translate to the screen, but this was gripping from start to finish on an epic, sprawling scale.

8. “28 Days Later” (2002) – Danny Boyle’s gory thriller took place in the U.K. and had a virus that turned everyone into lightning-fast zombies. It was frightening and tense, and injected social commentary in the vein of “Lord of the Flies” – zombies may be brutal, but humans are definitely worse.

9. “Dead Snow” (2009) – Hilarious premise with inventive gore, about a group of medical students who dig up Nazi zombies in the snow. No social commentary there at all.

10. “Dance of the Dead” (2008) – This was crudely low-budget fun, about a group of high-schoolers who have their prom ruined by a zombie infestation and are saved by the geeks who couldn’t get dates. You could feel its love for the zombie genre, and it lovingly reveled in the blood and guts. Literally.

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 4:04 PM with the headline "Zombies films won’t die: The best of the undead."