Night of the Living Dead (original)
Dark and gory, this classic 1968 film was George Romero’s first foray into horror and marks the beginning of the genre – making it my all-time favorite.
Dawn of the Dead (original)
The second of Romero’s Living Dead series, Dawn centers on a group of survivors holed-up in a well-stocked, suburban shopping mall and packs not only chills, but a sense of humor.
28 Days Later
Unlike the shambling zombies in Romero’s films, I love 28 Days Later for its terrifying post apocalyptic world of hyper-aggressive, super-fast zombies that prey upon a small group of survivors trying to find sanctuary.
28 Weeks Later
In the sequel to 28 Days Later, the zombie infection – thought to have been all but wiped out – is reignited by an asymptomatic carrier, which starts all the fantastic mayhem from the first film afresh.
Dead Snow
One of the best premises for a horror film I have ever heard: zombies + Nazis = Nazi zombies who prey upon a group of friends alone in the mountains for a winter getaway.
Omega Man
I love watching the one-man-against-the-odds as Charlton Heston fortifies his apartment and spends his days hunting hordes of post-biological attack mutants, who in turn spend their nights trying to kill him as he works on a cure.
I am Legend
This 2007 film stars Will Smith and is an even more terrifying adaption of the novel I Am Legend (1954) upon which Omega Man was also based.
Shaun of the Dead
Absolute comedy gold about a couple of immature, underachieving British losers who find redemption in the throes of a zombie apocalypse.
Zombieland
Another zombie film packed with wall-to-wall laughs as a band of misfits (Woody Harrelson, Bill Murray, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone) attempt to stay alive in the wake of a mad-cow-induced zombie pandemic.
Planet Terror
Robert Rodriguez wrote and directed this spectacular action-horror tribute to the genre and packed it with actors like Bruce Willis, Josh Brolin, Rose McGowan, Michael Biehn, and even singer Fergie as a small group of civilians teams up with a military unit to try to repel wave upon wave of zombies.