Ever since George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead shuffled onto the scene and revolutionized the zombie movie in 1968, humans fighting off hordes of the undead has firmly remained one of horror’s most popular sub-genres for over half a century. Of course, there have been numerous twists put on the formula over the decades, but the basic setup always tends to remain the same, and yet audiences can never seem to get enough of it.
Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later and Zack Snyder’s Dawn of the Dead remake popularized the sprinting zombie, adding another new caveat that countless filmmakers repurposed again and again, but truly original titles are very difficult to come by these days. Although, there have been some low budget efforts thrown together in a matter of weeks to capitalize on current events.
In any case, as Halloween rolls ever closer, horror fans will no doubt be checking out zombie flicks on an increasingly regular basis as they celebrate the holiday for two full months. And anyone in need of inspiration for what to watch can take a look at the ten highest-rated zombie movies of the 2010s according to IMDb below.
- Maggie – 5.6
- Cargo – 6.3
- Little Monsters – 6.3
- The Crazies – 6.5
- Overlord – 6.8
- The Girl with All the Gifts – 6.6
- Zombieland: Double Tap – 6.7
- Warm Bodies – 6.8
- World War Z – 7.0
- Train to Busan – 7.6
A somber Arnold Schwarzenegger drama might not be ideal viewing for some, but Maggie is nonetheless a surprisingly effective spin that takes the zombie movie outside of the realms of horror. Overlord, meanwhile, is an unabashedly gory adventure that bolts the tropes onto the bones of a World War II story, Zombieland: Double Tap is disposable and fully self-aware entertainment, Warm Bodies approaches the genre through the lens of a romantic comedy and World War Z remains the biggest box office hit of Brad Pitt’s career.
In short, there’s no shortage of options to choose from, and you definitely can’t argue with Train to Busan taking the top spot, either.
