Watch their zombie flicks to get a sense of the folks. Perhaps no item conveys a people’s history quite like pictures of the shuffling zombies. Zombies are basically people, really, with a few significant exceptions: they are all remnants of past lives. These tales are eulogies to a place and a time, each one a tombstone reflecting the age in which they were written.

1. Resident Evil (Film Series)

The action horror film series Resident Evil is based on the Capcom video game franchise, which originated in Japan.

In January 1997, the rights to adapt the series for live-action were purchased by the German studio Constantin Film. Paul W. S. Anderson was revealed in 2000 as the director and writer of Resident Evil (2002). After serving as the director of Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016), Anderson resumed his roles as writer and producer for Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) and Resident Evil: Extinction (2007). Milla Jovovich’s character Alice is the focus of the first six movies. Alice, a former security expert and clandestine agent, fights the Umbrella Corporation because the company’s bioweapons have caused a zombie apocalypse. Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, Ada Wong, Carlos Olivera, Chris Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy, Barry Burton, and the antagonists Albert Wesker and James Marcus are among the characters from the games that make an appearance. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, a reboot, was released in 2021.

The Resident Evil series has made over $1.2 billion in revenue despite critics’ generally unfavorable assessments of the movies. It is currently the highest-grossing zombie film series, and it was previously the highest-grossing video game-based horror film series. The series continues to hold the record for the most video game adaptations made into live-action films.

2. Train To busan (2016)

Yeon Sang-ho is the director of the 2016 South Korean action horror film Train to Busan (Korean: 부산행; RR: Busanhaeng; lit. To Busan), which stars Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn So-hee, and Kim Eui-sung. The majority of the movie is set aboard a KTX traveling from Seoul to Busan when a zombie apocalypse unexpectedly breaks out across the nation, endangering the lives of the riders.

On May 13, 2016, the movie made its debut in the Midnight Screenings section of the Cannes Film Festival. As the first Korean film of 2016, the movie broke the attendance record of over 10 million theatergoers on August 7.

3. World War Z (2013)

The 2013 American action horror film World War Z was directed by Marc Forster. It was based on a plot by Matthew Michael Carnahan, J. Michael Straczynski, and Damon Lindelof, and it was inspired by Max Brooks’s 2006 novel of the same name. Brad Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a former UN investigator who travels the globe in search of a cure for an unexpected zombie apocalypse. James Badge Dale and Mireille Enos are among the ensemble supporting cast members.

On June 2, 2013, World War Z had its London debut. Later that year, it was selected to open the 35th Moscow International Film Festival. On June 14, it made its theatrical debuts in New York and Los Angeles. On June 21, it was released nationwide. While Pitt’s acting and the movie’s resuscitation of the zombie genre drew accolades from critics, there was also criticism for what some perceived to be an anti-climax and a departure from the original work. Despite having a $190 million production budget, the movie was a commercial triumph, earning over $540 million, making it the highest-grossing zombie movie ever. Shortly after the movie’s premiere, a sequel was confirmed; however, it was shelved in February 2019, purportedly because of financial difficulties.

4. Cargo (2018)

Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke helmed the 2017 Australian post-apocalyptic horror drama Cargo, which had a screenplay by Ramke that was adapted from their 2013 short film of the same name. Starring in the movie are Caren Pistorius, Susie Porter, David Gulpilil, Anthony Hayes, Simone Landers, and Martin Freeman. It centers on a couple traveling through a rural area of Australia with their infant during a fatal disease outbreak. It had its debut on October 6, 2017, at the Adelaide Film Festival. On May 17, 2018, it was released in Australian theaters and around the world (May 18, 2018 for Netflix, except for Australia) on Netflix. On November 16, 2018, it was made available on Netflix in Australia.

5. Warm Bodies (2013)

Based on Isaac Marion’s 2010 novel of the same name, which itself drew inspiration from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Warm Bodies is an American paranormal romantic zombie comedy film from 2013 that was written and directed by Jonathan Levine. Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Dave Franco, Rob Corddry, Lio Tipton, Cory Hardrict, and John Malkovich are among the movie’s stars.

The film centers on the emergence of a romantic relationship between zombie R (Hoult) and Julie (Palmer), which eventually leads to R’s gradual transformation back into a human. The movie is renowned for telling its story from the perspective of a zombie and for giving human traits to its zombie characters.

6. Army of Thieves (2021)

Matthias Schweighöfer is the director of the 2021 heist comedy film Army of Thieves, which is based on a script he co-wrote with Zack Snyder. It is the second film in the Army of the Dead franchise and a prequel to Army of the Dead (2021). Schweighöfer plays Ludwig Dieter again, and the supporting cast also includes Jonathan Cohen, Guz Khan, Stuart Martin, Nathalie Emmanuel, and Ruby O. Fee. In October 2020, filming got underway in Germany and the Czech Republic, and it was finished by December 2020.

On October 29, 2021, Army of Thieves was made available on Netflix in digital format. Although critics complimented Schweighöfer’s direction and Emmanuel’s performances, they faulted the plot for being unoriginal. The reviews were mediocre.

7. Zombieland (2009)

2009 saw the release of Zombieland, an American post-apocalyptic zombie comedy film written and directed by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (in Fleischer’s cinematic debut). Bill Murray, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, Abigail Breslin, and Woody Harrelson are among the actors who star. In the movie, a long cross-country car trip is undertaken by Tallahassee (Harrelson), Columbus (Eisenberg), Wichita (Stone), and Little Rock (Breslin) in search of a sanctuary free from zombies.

Zombieland’s development started in 2005, when Reese and Wernick penned the movie as a pilot script for television. Fleischer contributed to the teleplay’s development into a script for a stand-alone film. As the special effects makeup designer for the movie, Tony Gardner was brought on board to create the zombie look mostly with physical prosthetics. Principal photography for the movie started in February 2009 and ran until March of the same year, with filming taking place in and around Georgia, Hollywood, and Atlanta. The actors improvised in a few of the movie’s parts.

On September 25, 2009, Zombieland made its cinematic debut at Fantastic Fest in Austin. On October 2, Sony Pictures Releasing released the film in theaters nationwide. The film was well-received by critics, who praised the cast performances (particularly Murray’s), comedy, dialogue, and storyline. In addition to $54 million in home sales, it brought in $102 million globally, making it the highest-grossing zombie movie in the United States at the time until World War Z (2013) was released. In October 2019, Zombieland: Double Tap, the follow-up, was made available.

8. Day of the Dead (2008)

Day of the Dead is a 2008 American horror movie that Jeffrey Reddick and Steve Miner wrote and directed. It is the first of two remakes of the original 1985 movie, the other being Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2017). It is a remake of George A. Romero’s 1985 film of the same name, the third in Romero’s Dead series. In the movie, a virus outbreak turns people into vicious, zombie-like beings. With some additional shooting done in Los Angeles, California, the project was mostly completed in Bulgaria.

First Look Studios released Day of the Dead straight to video on April 8, 2008. Critics gave it a bad review.

9. Zombie Reddy (2021)

Zombie Reddy is an action zombie comedy film from 2021 in Telugu language, directed by Prasanth Varma. The film features Teja Sajja, Anandhi, and Daksha Nagarkar. The movie, which is being touted as the first zombie movie in Telugu theaters, was produced by Apple Trees Studios. The movie, which is partly based on the COVID-19 pandemic, is set in the Kurnool district. The movie came out on February 5, 2021. On March 26, 2021, it made its premiere after being acquired by Aha.

10. I Am Legend (2007)

Featuring Will Smith as US Army virologist Robert Neville, I Am Legend is a 2007 American post-apocalyptic action thriller film directed by Francis Lawrence from a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman and Mark Protosevich. The film, which is loosely based on Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel of the same name, takes place in New York City after a virus that was first developed to treat cancer has killed off most humans, leaving Neville as the last living person in the city save for nocturnal mutants. Since he is immune to the infection, Neville attempts to protect himself from the hostile mutants while researching a cure. It is the third full-length motion picture adaptation of Matheson’s book, after The Omega Man (1971) and The Last Man on Earth (1964).

I Am Legend was first developed by Warner Bros. in 1994. A number of actors and directors were involved in the project, but production was put on hold because of script-related financial issues. Filming for the project primarily took place on location in New York City starting in 2006, with a $5 million scene shot at the Brooklyn Bridge.

On December 14, 2007, I Am Legend was made available in both the US and Canada. It debuted with the highest-ever box office (not adjusted for inflation) for a non-Christmas movie released in the United States in December of 2007. It went on to become the sixth highest-grossing movie of 2007 with a total of $585 million, having made $256 million domestically and $329 million worldwide. While Smith’s performance was praised for its overall excellence, the film’s criticism centered on how much it deviated from the text, especially towards the climax. A sequel was reportedly in the works in 2022. Smith was expected to play Neville again and co-produce the movie alongside Michael B. Jordan, who would also play a major part.