7. Re-Animator

Based on the H.P. Lovecraft story “Herbert West, The Re-Animator,” this surprisingly inventive cult classic tells the story of medical student Herbert West (played brilliantly in a career defining performance by Jeffrey Combs) obsessed with reanimating the dead. Once he’s successful, the results aren’t anything like what he expected. Are they ever? What really launches this gorier take on the Frankenstein story above other zombie flicks, apart from Combs, is the film’s use of black humor and action sequences. The film never slows down for a second and you’re either laughing, shocked, or just plain scared silly all the way until the end. It also features what is probably the greatest zombie/human sex scene ever captured on film and you simply can’t argue with that now can you?

6. Dawn of the Dead

George Romero’s brilliant sequel to the classic Night of the Living Dead is a biting social commentary on the excess of American way of life. A small group of survivors of the zombie hordes take refuge in a shopping mall and create their own version of paradise until it is inevitably lost. The film is a treatise on consumption, greed, and asks the rather poignant question of whether we may live more like zombies than actual zombies do. It also helps that it’s a damn fine horror film. Apart from the effective exploration of the evils of society, there’s ample amount of gore, graphic violence, and humor to make the zombie movie lover in all of us squeal with delight. It’s easily Romero’s last truly great entry to zombie cinema.

5. Shaun of the Dead

Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg’s foray into the zombie genre has been called a romantic zombie comedy, which makes it one of a kind (unless you can name another movie that fits the bill). The story of everyman slacker Shaun, who, along with his dimwitted best mate Ed (Nick Frost) somehow survives yet another zombie apocalypse while simultaneously reinventing himself to save the day and win back the girl who recently scorned him. The film hilariously plays off all of the clichés of the genre while at the same time delivering an effective entry in itself complete with its own spirited set of scares and gory bits (though it never gets too out of control).

4. 28 Days Later

Director Danny Boyle reinvigorated the zombie genre with the release of this tale of a zombie-like plague ravaging England. Jim (Cillian Murphy) wakes up in a London hospital after recovering from an accident and finds London deserted until he unwittingly happens upon a group of “zombies” infected with what turns out to be a rage virus that was unwittingly released by animal rights activists. What follows is a harrowing survival tale that features a ton of subterfuge and some rather effective explorations of human nature. The film’s real power comes from the decision to tell the story from the hero’s point of view. Events only unfold as Jim learns of them so you’re forced to watch in the same bewildered and frightened state as poor Jim. It also helps that the film gave us the now widely preferred “running” zombie. These are not the shuffling across the lawn crying for brains undead your parents grew up with. No, these beasts will leap over cars and run at you like cheetahs to tear you apart. Now that’s terrifying.

3. Zombieland

Not only does this film rival Star Trek for the best time to be had at the movies in 2009, but it’s also one of the most effective zombie movies ever made. It’s an absolutely flawless blend of comedy, horror, and action that delivers a damn good movie from beginning to end. Sure, you can cite the various and creative ways to kill a zombie used in the film as the source of its appeal (to be fair, those are certainly part of its charm). Or you could say that the film’s humor, as showcased in the superb Bill Murray cameo, is what makes it shine. But, the real reason this film is so entertaining is the relationship between zombie-killing, Twinkie-loving Tallahassee (a brilliant Woody Harrelson) and the less-heroic Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg). These two are easily the best comedy-action duo since Martin and Riggs and this may be the most fun you’ll have watching any movie on this list.

2. Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn

What can be said about Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn that hasn’t already been said numerous times in countless DVD collections, on an endless number of fan sites, in assorted magazine articles, etc? Probably not too much other than echoing the praise already y heaped upon it. This tongue-in-cheek sequel (though it’s really more of a remake) to Sam Raimi’s original film is probably the greatest horror-comedy film ever made (though the aforementioned Zombieland gives it some stiff competition). The film recounts what happens when passages from the Necronomicon (the Book of the Dead) are read aloud and Deadites (that’s what zombies are called in the Evil Dead universe for the uninitiated) cross over to the land of the living. It also certainly doesn’t hurt that it features the incomparable cult-icon Bruce Campbell as the Deadite killing hero Ash. While some may argue it’s not exactly a “classic” zombie movie and shouldn’t be on this list, I would argue that the Deadites are really just zombies on speed and that qualifies the film in my book.

1. Night of the Living Dead

Can there really be any doubt as to what the greatest zombie movie of all time is? Sure a film like 28 Days Later reinvented the genre and may play better to modern audiences and a film like Zombieland may elicit a good deal more laughs than screams but there’s no denying the staying power of a film made in 1968 that still manages to scare the hell out of modern audiences. George Romero’s genre-creating tour de force is a classic in every sense of the word. Every element of the film works. The claustrophobic setting of the deserted farmhouse (possibly necessitated by the sparse budget of the film) only adds to the terror of isolation as the characters (and audience) realization that death no longer exists. The b-grade (possibly lower) cast makes the characters all the more identifiable and real. And the black-and-white photography forces the terror to occur organically and never forces anything using the old blood and guts trickery so often employed in later films. Zombie movies may have evolved since this but they’ve never been better.