Zombie Movies and Shows
The zombie apocalypse has been running since 1968 and shows no sign of ending. These are the films and series worth your time, from George Romero's originals to Korean blockbusters and the newest 28 Days Later sequels, chosen so there's something for every appetite, from slapstick to grief.
The first decision is fast or slow. Slow zombies (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Handling the Undead) are really about the people trapped with each other. Fast ones (28 Days Later, Train to Busan, Black Summer) are about running. The second is movie or series: The Last of Us and Kingdom are the best long-form options, Black Summer is the most frantic, and The Walking Dead is the biggest commitment on the page.
Zombie stories are usually gory. World War Z is the exception, and the best place to start with teenagers. Several of the strongest picks are Korean or Japanese with subtitles; don't let that put you off Train to Busan or One Cut of the Dead. For laughs, see Horror Comedies; for more long-form horror, Scary Series to Binge.
Train to Busan
Movie · 2016The easiest zombie film to recommend to anyone: a workaholic father and his young daughter board a high-speed train just as an outbreak hits. Each carriage becomes a new set piece, and the selfishness of some passengers is as frightening as the infected. Subtitled, and worth it.
The Last of Us
Series · 2023Adapted from the video game: twenty years after a fungal outbreak, a hardened smuggler escorts a teenage girl across a ruined America. Fewer infected than you'd expect, and the third episode barely features them at all, which is why many people rank it the best hour of the show. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey lead.
Shaun of the Dead
Movie · 2004The zombie comedy everything else on this page gets measured against. Edgar Wright loads the first act with jokes that pay off later, then lets the shambling dead of Romero's films loose in a London suburb. Simon Pegg and Nick Frost are a double act worth the time on their own.
28 Days Later
Movie · 2002A man wakes from a coma in an empty London, and the infected who find him don't shamble: they sprint. Technically they aren't zombies at all, but Danny Boyle's film rebooted the genre anyway. Shot on grainy early digital video, which makes it feel like footage from the actual end of the world.
Night of the Living Dead
Movie · 1968Every rule you know about zombies (the slow walk, the hunger for flesh, the shot to the head) starts here, though the film never once calls them zombies. It's mostly a pressure cooker of people arguing in a boarded-up house, and the arguing is the real horror.
Dawn of the Dead
Movie · 1978Romero's sequel moves the survivors into a shopping mall, where the dead keep wandering back out of habit. It's a satire of consumerism with bright colors and a great deal of gore, courtesy of Tom Savini. Long, loose and funny in places. The 2004 remake, with fast zombies, is good too.
28 Years Later
Movie · 2025Danny Boyle and Alex Garland return to their infected Britain, now sealed off from the world, where a boy from an island village makes his first trip to the mainland. Stranger and more poetic than you'd expect, with sharp swerves in tone. Its last scene divides people, and it leads straight into The Bone Temple.
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
Movie · 2026The direct continuation of 28 Years Later, directed by Nia DaCosta, and the best reviewed of the series. Ralph Fiennes's doctor and Jack O'Connell's cult leader pull the story in opposite directions. Very violent, and much of the cruelty is human rather than infected. Watch 28 Years Later first.
Kingdom
Series · 2019Zombies in Korea's Joseon era: a crown prince investigates a plague spreading through the land while his own court plots against him. Palace intrigue, gorgeous costumes (the hats became famous), and hungry dead who swarm by night. Two short seasons plus a feature-length special. Subtitled.
Zombieland
Movie · 2009A nervous college kid survives the apocalypse by following a long list of rules, and teams up with a Twinkie-obsessed hunter and two con-artist sisters. Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson and Emma Stone are all very funny. Light on scares, heavy on splatter played as slapstick. The 2019 sequel is fine but forgettable.
One Cut of the Dead
Movie · 2017A cheap Japanese zombie movie shot in one unbroken take, and for its first stretch you'll wonder why anyone recommended it. Keep going. What follows is one of the funniest and warmest films about filmmaking ever made, and it's best to know nothing more. Subtitled.
The Girl with All the Gifts
Movie · 2016In a Britain overrun by a fungal infection, a schoolgirl who is herself infected, but can think, might be the key to a cure. Sennia Nanua is remarkable in the lead, with Glenn Close as the scientist who wants to dissect her. Thoughtful, sad and closer in spirit to The Last of Us than most.
All of Us Are Dead
Series · 2022A zombie outbreak starts inside a Korean high school, and the students have to survive classroom by classroom with no adults coming. Long episodes and a big cast, but the pace rarely drops, and it's honest about bullying. Gory, and many of the victims are teenagers. Subtitled or dubbed.
The Walking Dead
Series · 2010The zombie show that ran for more than a decade, following a sheriff's deputy who wakes from a coma into the apocalypse. The early seasons are tense and lean; later ones sprawl into spin-offs and villain-of-the-season arcs. Watch until it stops working for you. Very violent.
World War Z
Movie · 2013The big-budget version: Brad Pitt crosses the globe during a zombie pandemic, with swarms of infected piling over walls like insects. Loosely adapted from Max Brooks's novel, which it barely resembles. Rated PG-13 with very little blood, so it's the gateway pick for anyone who can't do gore.
#Alive
Movie · 2020A gamer is trapped alone in his Seoul apartment during an outbreak, rationing food and trying to get a signal out, until he spots another survivor in the building opposite. A small, tight, very pandemic-era thriller that's easy to start on a weeknight. Subtitled.
Cargo
Movie · 2017Martin Freeman plays a father in the Australian outback who has been bitten and has 48 hours to find someone to raise his baby daughter. Quieter and sadder than most zombie films, more about parenthood and Aboriginal Australia than action. Bring tissues rather than popcorn.
Black Summer
Series · 2019The opposite of The Walking Dead: two short seasons of panic, with fast zombies, sparse dialogue, and episodes that run only as long as they need to. A mother searches for her daughter in the first days of an outbreak. Bleak and exhausting in a good way, and it's finished.
Anna and the Apocalypse
Movie · 2017A Scottish high-school musical about a zombie outbreak at Christmas, with pop songs that are actually catchy. Sweet and funny at first, then more willing to kill off characters than you'd expect. A lovable cult film for December, or for anyone who wants High School Musical with blood.
Handling the Undead
Movie · 2024A zombie film that barely raises its voice: after a strange event in Oslo, the recently dead come home, silent and vacant, and three grieving families try to care for them. It's about loss far more than horror, with Renate Reinsve, and almost no gore until it's needed. Slow, and in Norwegian.
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Picks are editorial recommendations. Streaming availability changes by region and over time — the “where to stream” links check current availability on JustWatch.