10 Classic Zombie Movies To Watch If You Love The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is certainly one of the most popular shows about zombies there’s ever been, but it draws plenty of inspiration from the classic horror movies that came before it. While The Walking Dead is a very original show that effectively blends aspects of horror with a more large-scale survival thriller, the series (and its several spinoffs) pay homage to classic horror cinema through their inventive zombie designs and adherence to traditions and tropes of zombie storytelling.

Thankfully, there’s a rich history of horror cinema for fans of The Walking Dead to explore if they’re missing the storytelling of the modern show. While the genre has evolved over the years, jumping through many different phases throughout the decades, certain elements are timeless. There’s something about zombies that’s endured for many years without becoming unpopular; they’re perfect antagonists because they perfectly toe the line between familiar and uncanny, with their human appearances and supernatural behavior. While some of the best zombie movies ever have been released in the past few years, there’s always a place for the classics.

10

Zombie (1979)

Directed By Lucio Fulci

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Zombie

R

Horror

Release Date

July 18, 1980

Runtime

91 Minutes

Director

Lucio Fulci

Writers

Elisa Briganti, Dardano Sacchetti

Cast

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    Tisa Farrow

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Ian McCulloch

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Richard Johnson

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Al Cliver

Zombie, directed by Lucio Fulci, is a 1979 Italian horror film that follows a group of individuals who travel to a remote Caribbean island to investigate a series of mysterious deaths. As they uncover the existence of a virus that reanimates the dead, they are forced to confront legions of flesh-eating zombies. The film is noted for its graphic special effects and has become a cult classic in the zombie genre.

Main Genre

Horror

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Zombie (also known as Zombi 2) is one of the all-time classics of the horror genre. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Lucio Fulci, the film centers around an undead zombie who kills a naval officer in New York City and triggers an in-depth investigation, led by Ian McCulloch’s protagonist, Peter West. The film is renowned for its unrelenting gore and violence, never shying away from the realism and naturalism of this story. This was before the era of CGI and special effects, so many of the film’s bloodiest kills were done with practical tricks that have aged surprisingly well.

9

Night Of The Living Dead (1968)

Directed By George Romero

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Night of the Living Dead

x

Horror

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7/10

7.8/10

Release Date

October 4, 1968

Runtime

96 minutes

Director

George A. Romero

Writers

George A. Romero, John A. Russo

Sequel(s)

Dawn of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Day of the Dead, George A. Romero’s Survival of the Dead

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Judith O’Dea

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Kyra Schon

George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead did more than just invent the modern zombie, it revolutionized the horror genre. Following a small group of humans who hide in a secluded farmhouse when the dead begin to rise and crave human flesh, Night of the Living Dead examines the relationship between humanity and paranoia in times of crisis. 

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One of the most acclaimed zombie movies of all time, George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead was arguably the film that finally made zombie movies “cool” for general audiences throughout America. George Romero made several zombie films, but this one is most fondly remembered for its use of atmosphere and eerie cinematography.

walking dead's rick grimes looking threatening

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The story centers around a group of friends who lock themselves in an old farmhouse when the dead begin to rise from their graves and hunt them down for food. Its depiction of zombies clearly inspired The Walking Dead, though this film relies more on terror than horror.

8

The House By The Cemetery (1981)

Directed By Lucio Fulci

The House By The Cemetery Horror Movie 1981 Italian

Zombie movies were already extremely popular by the ‘80s, but The House by the Cemetery is among the few films that managed to push the subgenre even further forward. Another entry in the filmography of Lucio Fulci, this movie centers around a scientist who moves into the house of a late friend and soon learns that the undead are causing strange phenomena in the area. The film blends aspects of zombie horror with a more progressive, supernatural form of “haunted house” horror that had risen in popularity throughout the ‘70s with movies like The Exorcist and House.

7

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (1974)

Directed By Jorge Grau

Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

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Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

R

Horror

Mystery

Release Date

April 28, 1975

Runtime

95 minutes

Director

Jorge Grau

Writers

Sandro Continenza, Marcello Coscia

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Cristina Galbó

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Ray Lovelock

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Arthur Kennedy

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Aldo Massasso

A dedicated police officer investigates a series of murders and pursues two human suspects. But the real culprits in these killings are zombies, the fruit of macabre experiments.

Main Genre

Horror

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The 1970s were a very experimental decade for horror, with many filmmakers moving towards sci-fi as their main source of fear. Obvious examples include Ridley Scott’s Alien, but these changes were also happening in the zombie subgenre through projects like Let Sleeping Corpses Lie.

This movie follows one cop’s investigation into a string of brutal murders, leading him directly to a group of zombies who have been brought to life by a dangerous machine designed to kill pests and insects.

This movie follows one cop’s investigation into a string of brutal murders, leading him directly to a group of zombies who have been brought to life by a dangerous machine designed to kill pests and insects. Grau’s film is a very unconventional zombie movie, but one that set the stage for the future of sci-fi horror.

6

The Plague Of The Zombies (1966)

Directed By John Gilling

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The Plague of the Zombies

NR

Horror

Release Date

January 9, 1966

Runtime

91 minutes

Director

John Gilling

Writers

Peter Bryan

Producers

Anthony Nelson Keys

Cast

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    André Morell

    Sir James Forbes

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Brook Williams

    Dr. Peter Tompson

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Diane Clare

    Sylvia Forbes

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    John Carson

    Squire Clive Hamilton

The Plague of the Zombies, released in 1966, follows Sir James Forbes as he investigates a mysterious plague in a remote Cornish village. The local squire, Charles, employs Haitian witchcraft to revive the dead as workers in his unsafe tin mines, resulting in dire consequences for the community.

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The Plague of the Zombies is one of the earliest movies to reach huge levels of success within the zombie subgenre, and it’s one that’s tailor-made for fans of The Walking Dead. This project tells the story of a medical professor and his young daughter who travel to the south of England following the outbreak of a dangerous virus, where they soon learn that something much darker and less natural may have caused the deaths. The film boasts two excellent performances from Diane Clare and Andre Morell, for whom this horror classic remains the highlight of their careers.

5

Re-Animator (1985)

Directed By Stuart Gordon

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Re-Animator

Unrated

Horror

Sci-Fi

Comedy

7.7/10

Release Date

October 18, 1985

Runtime

84 minutes

Director

Stuart Gordon

Writers

Stuart Gordon, William Norris, Dennis Paoli

Sequel(s)

Re-Animator: Evolution

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Jeffrey Combs

    Jeffrey Combs

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Bruce Abbott

1985’s Re-Animator is a feature-length film based on H.P. Lovecraft’s short story, Herbert West–Reanimator. The Horror and Comedy release follows a man that spends time attempting to create a reagent that will reanimate the dead.

Main Genre

Horror

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Another instance of science fiction seeping its way into the horror genre, Re-Animator is a brilliant example of how to weave comedy into a zombie story without making it any less frightening. Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s short story “Herbert West – Reanimator”, Gordon’s film tells the tale of an ambitious medical student who believes he’s developed a drug that can reverse the effects of death.

Re-Animator is currently available to stream on Apple TV +

Naturally, this has disastrous consequences that Jeffrey Combs’ protagonist and the rest of the ensemble cast are left alone to resolve. Re-Animator perfectly exemplifies the sci-fi horror trend that was so popular in the 1980s.

4

Night Of The Creeps (1986)

Directed By Fred Dekker

Night Of The Creeps (1986) - Poster

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Night Of The Creeps

R

Horror

Comedy

Sci-Fi

9/10

Release Date

August 22, 1986

Runtime

88 Minutes

Director

Fred Dekker

Writers

Fred Dekker

Cast

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    Jason Lively

    Chris

  • Headshot Of Tom Atkins

    Tom Atkins

    Ray Cameron

Night of the Creeps is a 1986 science fiction horror film directed by Fred Dekker. The story follows a group of college students who must fend off a horde of alien-infected zombies. Tom Atkins stars as a hard-boiled detective drawn into the chaos when experiments from decades past resurface, unleashing terror on a small town. The film blends elements of horror and comedy, creating a cult classic within the genre.

Main Genre

Horror

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In his directorial debut, acclaimed filmmaker Fred Dekker managed to craft one of the funniest, scariest, and most original zombie movies in the history of the genre. Night of the Creeps blends all these styles together into a very creative story about an alien species that unexpectedly lands on Earth and infects a college student, whose cryogenically frozen corpse is then discovered by his fellow fraternity members.

What ensues is a brilliantly written, completely unpredictable creature feature whose depiction of zombies may be less horror-driven than projects like The Walking Dead, but whose scariest moments are just as frightening.

3

Return Of The Living Dead (1985)

Directed By Dan O’Bannon

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The Return of the Living Dead

R

Horror

Comedy

9/10

Release Date

August 16, 1985

Runtime

91 minutes

Director

Dan O’Bannon

Writers

John A. Russo, Russell Streiner, Rudy Ricci

Producers

John Daly, Tom Fox

Cast

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  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Clu Gulager

    Burt Wilson

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    James Karen

    Frank

In The Return of the Living Dead, a mishap at a Louisville warehouse releases a gas that resurrects corpses as zombies. As the outbreak engulfs the town, Frank and Freddy, along with their boss and a mysterious mortician, struggle to survive amid the chaos and ravenous undead.

Main Genre

Horror

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Another undisputed classic of ‘80s horror, Dan O’Bannon’s Return of the Living Dead manages to build upon all the great zombie movies that came before it while infusing elements of sci-fi and screwball comedy in that typical ‘80s style.

Custom image of Jeffrey Dean Morgan as Negan in The Walking Dead: Dead City

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The story follows two employees at a secret military camp who accidentally release a dangerous toxin into the American public, which suddenly reanimates the majority of the country’s corpses as flesh-eating zombies. While there are plenty of great “fast” zombie movies, Return of the Living Dead really nails the slow, lethargic stereotype of zombies that survived to The Walking Dead.

2

Evil Dead 2 (1987)

Directed By Sam Raimi

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Evil Dead II

R

Horror

Comedy

Fantasy

ScreenRant logo

9/10

10/10

Release Date

March 13, 1987

Runtime

84 minutes

Director

Sam Raimi

Writers

Scott Spiegel

Producers

Alex De Benedetti, Irvin Shapiro

Cast

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  • Headshot Of Bruce Campbell

    Bruce Campbell

    Ashley ‘Ash’ J. Williams

  • Cast Placeholder Image

    Sarah Berry

    Annie

Evil Dead II is a horror-comedy film directed by Sam Raimi, continuing the story of Ash Williams. After arriving at a secluded cabin with his girlfriend, Ash faces malevolent forces unleashed by an archaeologist’s recording of chants from the Book of the Dead, leading to chaotic and supernatural events.

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Evil Dead 2 is one of the few zombie movies from its period that doesn’t focus solely on zombies; there are countless other creatures in Sam Raimi’s horror classic, and the zombies only take up a portion of the story. The narrative is a wholly supernatural one, following a man who accidentally summons a horde of evil spirits into a secluded cabin in the woods, where he’s forced to fight for his survival and contain the demons he’s brought into the world. It’s a direct sequel to Raimi’s original horror classic from six years prior, and it’s a marked improvement.

1

Dawn Of The Dead (1978)

Directed By George Romero

Dawn of the Dead - Poster

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Dawn of the Dead

18+

Horror

Action

ScreenRant logo

7/10

9/10

Release Date

May 24, 1979

Runtime

127 minutes

Director

George Romero

Writers

George A. Romero

Producers

Claudio Argento, Richard P. Rubinstein

Prequel(s)

Night of the Living Dead

Sequel(s)

Day of the Dead, Diary of the Dead, Land of the Dead

George A. Romero’s horror classic Dawn of the Dead follows on from Night of the Living Dead. Expanding upon Romero’s zombies, Dawn of the Dead redefined the horror genre for a generation. It follows a group of survivors as they make camp in a shopping mall, clearing the zombies in order to scavenge supplies and fortify their position in an increasingly hostile world.

Main Genre

Horror

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Considered by many to be the “definitive” zombie movie, George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead is renowned for its action-packed approach to the subgenre, following an ensemble cast of human survivors as they fight against a zombie apocalypse in the USA.

George Romero’s Living Dead Series

Release Year

Night of the Living Dead

1968

Dawn of the Dead

1978

Day of the Dead

1985

Land of the Dead

2005

Diary of the Dead

2007

Survival of the Dead

2009

Twilight of the Dead

TBA

The practical effects and action choreography are what make Romero’s film stand out from the crowd, pushing the genre forward with a strength that few examples had done before. There’s a reason that Romero is still considered the master of the zombie movie, and Dawn of the Dead is it. Not only did it clearly inspire shows like The Walking Dead, but it propelled zombie cinema as a whole to entirely new heights.

The Walking Dead (2010) Movie Poster

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is a massive multimedia franchise that began with a comic book series created by Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, and Charlie Adlard. The franchise gained widespread popularity with the launch of the television series The Walking Dead in 2010 on AMC, which chronicles the lives of survivors in a post-apocalyptic world overrun by zombies, referred to as “walkers.” The success of the original show has led to numerous spin-offs, web series, video games, novels, and other media. The franchise explores themes of survival, human nature, and the breakdown of society in the face of an existential threat, making it one of the most successful and influential horror series of the 21st century.

Created by

Robert Kirkman, Tony Moore, Charlie Adlard

First TV Show

The Walking Dead

Latest TV Show

The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live

Upcoming TV Shows

More Tales from the Walking Dead Universe

First Episode Air Date

October 31, 2010

Cast

Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Melissa McBride, Danai Gurira, Lauren Cohan, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Chandler Riggs, Steven Yeun, Lennie James

Current Series

The Walking Dead: Dead City, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon

TV Show(s)

The Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Tales of the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: Dead City, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, More Tales from the Walking Dead Universe

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