‘Army of the Dead’ and Top Five Zombie Movies

Midnight Run 1988

Grodin's Jonathan Mardukas against a losing-it De Niro, Chris's favorite of his performances.

The Heartbreak Kid 1972

Elaine May's proto-cringe comedy; never got a proper disc or streaming release.

Beethoven 1992

His biggest box-office lead, which the hosts note isn't the best read on his range.

Clifford 1994

Dave 1993

Army of the Dead 2021

Snyder's Las Vegas zombie heist. All three agree it peaks in the opening-credits montage and coasts from there.

Dawn of the Dead (2004) 2004

Snyder's remake that launched his career; the yardstick for how far his style has drifted since.

Zack Snyder's Justice League 2021

The Snyder Cut whose discourse still overshadowed this release.

Blade Runner 2049 2017

Bautista's small, oddly touching turn (the little glasses).

Dune 2021

Bautista again, inside Villeneuve's rogues' gallery.

Day of the Dead 1985

Romero in the Reagan '80s.

Land of the Dead 2005

Romero's post-9/11, divided-America entry.

Diary of the Dead 2007

Romero's found-footage self-tribute, down to the girl losing her shoe in the woods.

The Amusement Park 1975

Long-lost Romero elder-abuse nightmare, arriving on Shudder that summer.

The Crazies (1973) 1973

Romero's true quarantine movie; Sean's near-miss pick, closer to infection than zombie.

The Crazies (2010) 2010

Breck Eisner's remake: not bad, kind of pointless.

World War Z 2013

Contagion-scale procedural; Adam rates it, partly for the source book.

Resident Evil 2002

Paul W.S. Anderson's series; Adam rates how it handles space and geography.

Rabid 1977

Cronenberg, cited on the fine line between infection and zombiedom.

One Cut of the Dead 2017

Shinichiro Ueda's making-of-a-zombie-movie comedy; long a Shudder staple.

From Beyond 1986

The other Gordon/Combs Lovecraft picture.

Zombie 1979

Fulci's most famous zombie picture, name-checked alongside The Beyond.

28 Days Later 2002

No. 1. Boyle's fast-zombie reset; Garland script, Eccleston's Colonel Kurtz turn.

[REC] 2007

No. 2. Found-footage outbreak in a sealed Spanish apartment block: nerve endings through a cheese grater.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) 1978

No. 3 (both versions); Snyder's remake covered up in the review.

Zombieland 2009

No. 4. Road-movie zom-com, cast right before Eisenberg/Stone/Harrelson went supernova.

Dead Snow 2009

No. 5. Norwegian Nazi-zombie B-movie: reanimate people you already hate.

The Return of the Living Dead 1985

Chris's zom-com bracket (raised as a No. 3 before he landed on Dawn of the Dead). Dan O'Bannon's; best in a packed house.

Evil Dead II 1987

Chris's zom-com bracket. Homage to Tex Avery and the Marx Brothers more than to zombies.

Shaun of the Dead 2004

Chris's zom-com bracket. Self-aware and loving; did the Scream trick for zombies.

I Walked with a Zombie 1943

No. 1. Jacques Tourneur's Caribbean plantation mood piece; a horror movie almost without gore.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) 1978

No. 2. Romero's mall: the setting as the character.

Re-Animator 1985

No. 3. Stuart Gordon; Jeffrey Combs deadpan, gleeful Lovecraft splatter.

Night of the Living Dead 1968

No. 4. Romero's origin; images you've seen a thousand times without knowing the source.

Deathdream 1974

No. 5 (joint). Bob Clark's Vietnam-grief zombie, paired with Joe Dante's Masters of Horror episode Homecoming.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) 1978

No. 1. Romero's original, the stroke of genius that made the mall the least safe place in the world.

The Beyond 1981

No. 2. Fulci's hotel over a portal to hell; eye horror and gloriously analog dread.

Re-Animator 1985

No. 4. Shared with Adam's list.

Train to Busan 2016

No. 5. Yeon Sang-ho's Korean train zombie thriller; skip the sequel.