No matter how you want to ring in Halloween this year — whether that’s something creepy, gory, romantic, downright terrifying, or not scary at all — there’s probably a zombie movie out there for you.

From the movie that defines the genre directed by the “Father of the Zombie Film” George A. Romero to a TV show that made its way into the monoculture earlier this year, zombie movies and films have become a mainstay in horror.

With movies like Night of the Living Dead and Zombieland and shows like The Walking Dead and all of the spinoffs that go along with it, we rounded up 14 of the best zombie movies and shows to watch this Halloween. So cozy up, flip off the lights (or keep ’em on, we don’t judge!) and settle in for a spooky movie night.

1. What kind of zombie movie and show list would this be if we didn’t include one of the biggest TV franchises out there? The Walking Dead takes place after modern civilization has fallen due to a zombie apocalypse and centers on the human survivors as they form groups and confront other survivors.

   The long-running series also spawned five spin-offs: Fear the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyond, Tales of the Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: Dead City, and The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon. A sixth, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, will premiere next year.

   where to stream the walking dead

2. Everything you may think of when you think about the characteristics of zombie movies owe a lot to Night of the Living Dead. George A. Romero’s horror film about an apocalypse introduced the flesh-eating undead that we now think of as zombies.

   Romero also made five sequels, including Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead.

   where to stream night of the living dead

3. It’s not all doom and gloom in the zombie genre. Zombieland is a comedy starring Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin that follows a group of human apocalypse survivors that take a cross-country road trip to find a zombie-free place to settle.

   In 2019, a sequel, Zombieland: Double Tap, was released.

   where to stream zombieland

4. Though the creatures in The Last of Us, HBO’s hit apocalypse drama from earlier this year, don’t look like your typical zombie movie zombies, the mass infection ravaging the country in the series turns people into zombie-like creatures. The series stars Pedro Pascal as a smuggler tasked with getting the immune Ellie (Bella Ramsay) across the country to safety.

   where to stream the last of us

5. Speaking of movies that owe a lot to Romero’s work, Edgar Wright’s comedy (which he cowrote with star Simon Pegg) features references to Night of the Living Dead, Day of the Dead, and of course, Dawn of the Dead, where Shaun gets its punny name from. Pegg stars as a directionless sales man who suddenly has to save family, friends, and the city of London from a sudden zombie apocalypse.

   where to stream shaun of the dead

6. Based on the 2006 novel by Max Brooks, 2013’s World War Z stars Brad Pitt as a former UN investigator who travels the globe looking for a solution to a sudden zombie outbreak.

   where to stream world war z

7. Running just nine episodes total, In The Flesh is an existential take on the zombie apocalypse, which sees formerly deceased people with Partially Deceased Syndrome reintroduced to society after undergoing therapy to rid them of any “rabid” symptoms that caused them to murder in the past. The show specifically focuses on one young man and the ways in which he faces internal guilt and prejudice from his family and the people in his town upon his return home.

   where to stream in the flesh

8. Set mostly on a high speed train from Seoul to Busan, this hit Korean horror flick follows the passengers as a zombie apocalypse breaks out and threatens the safety of everyone on the train.

   where to stream train to busan

9. Another movie that took great inspiration from Night of the Living Dead is Danny Boyle’s 2003 post-apocalyptic horror film 28 Days Later, which stars Cillian Murphy as Jim, who awakens from a coma 28 days after a viral outbreak leads to societal collapse. Boyle himself doesn’t consider it to be a “zombie film,” but it reinvigorated the genre following its release.

   A sequel, 28 Weeks Later, was released in 2007.

   where to stream 28 days later

10. In 2004, Zach Snyder made his directorial debut with Dawn of the Dead, a remake of Romero’s 1978 horror film of the same name (which itself was a sequel to Night of the Living Dead… see, everything comes back to that movie!). It follows a group of survivors who hunker down in an abandoned shopping mall as a zombie apocalypse rages on.

    In 2021, Synder released Army of the Dead, a spiritual sequel to Dawn of the Dead, that follows a Las Vegas casino heist during a zombie apocalypse.

    where to stream Dawn of the dead

11. Another Korean export, this miniseries, which aired on Netflix, is set at a high school overrun by zombies after a science teacher’s experiment goes horribly wrong. A group of students are forced to band together to fight their way out of the school and to safety.

    where to stream all of us are dead

12. Moving over to the zombie romance genre, one notable movie is 2013’s Warm Bodies. Told from the zombie R’s (Nicholas Hoult) perspective, the film is a take on Romeo and Juliet where Juliet is alive and Romeo is a zombie.

    where to stream warm bodies

13. Zombie romance meets Tim Burton’s distinctive stop-motion animation style in 2005’s Corpse Bride, where a betrothed Victorian-era man is pulled into the land of the dead by Emily, the titular corpse bride, who was murdered after eloping.

    where to stream corpse bride

14. Of course we had to include something for the little ones looking to get into the spooky spirit. Zombies is a Disney Channel Original Movie about a zombie football player and a human cheerleader who meet and fall in love, which leads to them trying to get their respective groups to coexist and get along as well. Like all good DCOMs, it has catchy songs, a positive message, and two sequels.

    where to stream zombies

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