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Top 10 Zombie Films Ranked
29 Plays1 month ago
Cut for time from the 28 Years Later pod, Rick and Trav debate and arrive at agreement on the best 10 zombie films of all time.
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Transcript
Introduction to Zombie Films Discussion
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, this is Travis. In our excitement for the film 28 Years Later, we ended up recording so much content that that episode alone is over an hour and a half long. But actually she just prior to recording that, Rick and I put together a consensus top 10 zombie film list.
00:00:17
Speaker
These were all the films we were watching in preparation for 28 Years Later, and we still wanted to share with that with
Establishing Criteria for Zombie Films
00:00:23
Speaker
you. So feel free to take a listen now.
00:00:40
Speaker
We're going to jump into trying to create our top 10 zombie film list. So we didn't want too many rules or restrictions with this. What we are going to do is since we definitely have differing opinions,
00:00:55
Speaker
we are each going to get one auto bid. So we're going to kind of try to create a list without necessarily having to use that. But we both get one auto pick to guarantee a film we feel passionately about that maybe the other person does not can be included.
Defining the Zombie Genre
00:01:08
Speaker
And the absolute worst case scenario, you can't veto someone else's auto bid, but we can have one extra veto if we feel very strongly that a movie is, you know, doesn't necessarily mean the film's not good, but just not deserving of our top 10 list.
00:01:24
Speaker
And so that is what we're looking at across, you know, decades of zombie films here. And so we'll, we'll get moving on that. And I, I think that's it for our list creation. Anything else you can think about? Yeah, I mean, I think we should. our zombie rules.
00:01:37
Speaker
Yeah, so some of our, just correct me wherever I'm wrong, but some of our zombie rules include, think the first one is that like it starts with the Living Dead. We know that there's white zombie and walk with the zombie, but we're not touching like the voodoo-oriented stuff, really. This is stuff that's led by or caused by, it's contagions, it's infected, it's ah undead, not any vampires, not any werewolves.
00:02:02
Speaker
um what are some other rules travis yeah exactly they they have to either be you know undead or infected where it could spread naturally so we we did want to rule out films like evil dead or reanimator where people are you know kind of frankenstein style bringing the dead back to life or possessed by a demon um or or possession ends exactly those are evil dead in evil dead's case correct Correct. Correct. So this is truly, it spreads through natural causes, whether that's virus or, you know, bites or whatnot. And it it is spreadable.
00:02:31
Speaker
And there's, there's multiple too, right? There's, there's more than one monster in the movie. There's going to be many. i think I think that's it. for Well, yeah, one more. I think
Acknowledging Missed Films
00:02:42
Speaker
one more disclaimer. um I think in our research, like we did a pretty good job of shoring up most of the important, you know, milestone zombie movies.
00:02:52
Speaker
I think that two that neither of us covered in any earnest way, as in we didn't watch them, was Zombie 2 by Fulci, the Italian director. which was an unofficial spinoff um to Dawn of the Dead.
00:03:05
Speaker
And then the Japanese one cut of the dead, which is more of a meta. So, you know, we'll have listeners say, what about this? so what about that? But I think those are the two that always came, you know, stay to the top of my radar as far as like, I wish I got to those, just not enough time.
00:03:19
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. I think we have pretty good completeness or comprehension of horror movies in general and zombie films, but those are two neither of us have seen. So for the sake of this list, we're only going to comment on films we actually have seen, or at least one of us for the vast majority of these
Debating Top Zombie Films
00:03:34
Speaker
both of us have seen. oh I want to reiterate that like this will be the definitive list.
00:03:37
Speaker
This will be the definitive list. No ifs, ands, or buts. We will share this. We'll sign our names to it. So that's why I expect some. I already know of a few titles that you're really going to be trying to bully up.
00:03:48
Speaker
towards the top half. All right. Well, let's, let's get going. Cause again, we're, we're hoping this takes less than 15 minutes. We'll see. im sure we'll actually talk about more than 10 films and getting the list of 10. I think the best way to do it truly starting at the top.
00:04:01
Speaker
um I know you didn't want to do individual drafts where we each pick our own movies, but in that case, again, like I think we need a lead with the best in all 10 of these films, you know, there's not a huge gap between the best and the 10th best film. Like, I think these are all incredible films. So,
00:04:16
Speaker
you know We will rank them in order of this is one to 10, but again, the difference between I think our 10th favorite and our first isn't gigantic. These are all good films. um Okay, so my thought process with going with number one is i think paying credit to where credit is due to George Romero.
00:04:35
Speaker
And again, my my general philosophy on movies in general, which I know differs from yours, is I don't always... have a lot of reverence for older films purely for the sake that it was maybe the first to do it or older. i do like to look at it through the lens of if I was recommending someone who's never seen a zombie film to go watch something today, what would I point them towards where I think they'd still actually like it right?
00:05:00
Speaker
Not, not because purely like this was where it started and, and I can appreciate that, but because like i can watch this movie today without the context of other zombie films, it's still really fucking love it. yeah,
00:05:11
Speaker
This is my very long pitch for the original Dawn of the Dead 1978, I think would be my number one pick. Could you, you stand think that's, I think it's a perfect concession or not concession of meet a meeting in the middle. And here's why.
00:05:24
Speaker
Um, my favorite one My favorite zombie movie of all time is a one of the OG Romero um his of have have his original trilogy.
00:05:37
Speaker
um Yours is ah one of the original trilogy. And then that leaves a third. As long as one of them is number one, because whether it's Night, Day, or Dawn, I think one of those has to be number one.
00:05:51
Speaker
um While Dawn isn't my favorite Romero film, and it's actually... on the, from an enjoyment perspective, I can recognize it's, yeah, it's impact, it's commentary and consumerism, all that.
00:06:06
Speaker
I don't enjoy it as much as day or night. However, if I'm looking at it as a representation of just like making sure Romero's at number one somewhere, cause I think he deserves it and I think his films deserve it. Then yeah, I'm okay with it.
00:06:19
Speaker
Yeah. Well, um, I, I'm glad you're giving that point. And again, for just the lightest of synopsis, like I love this movie because this was Romero's second. The first was truly, it felt like a small film.
00:06:32
Speaker
This is you get a larger budget, larger ensemble. You're at the late seventies now. So the practical effects have come a long ways from where the first one was as well. So you, when you see zombies ripping people up, it's, you know, now they have a lot more makeup and effects to make this look.
00:06:48
Speaker
true truly scary and it's fun you know they go to uh like you said it's a you know maybe a shot at american consumerism but it's also like a practical zombie plan of people like regular civilians shoring up in a shopping mall and defending themselves there so cool i'm glad we can agree on a number one since i led with that i'll let you pitch what you think our number two should be or if you have a few feel free to yeah kind kind of put it in but i'll let you lead here i'm I'm taking a bit of a different approach than you are in the sense that like, I'm not going purely with what my personal, my my personal favorites are going to always sometimes overlap with what I think is objectively the best. Right. But I do maybe in ways that you don't, I do get kind of give points for influence or the first to do something or just like, you know, lasting, enduring spirit.
00:07:39
Speaker
And so, um, that said this, this next film, um,
00:07:47
Speaker
I like Day of the Dead more than this Lexfilm, but I feel good about Romero already getting some representation. My second favorite zombie movie of all time is 28 Days Later. That's right. I have is number two as well. okay I love it.
Exploring Comedic Zombie Films
00:07:59
Speaker
I love it. we should also also say that we're not including 28 years later in this exercise. The movie just came out. We're still kind of contemplating what we think. We're going be doing some live contemplation on this pod.
00:08:09
Speaker
But do not fear if we don't mention it here. We're going to talk about it a lot later in this podcast. But yeah, number two 28 Days Later. Don't need to say much about this considering we just gave an hour of our time to it two weeks ago.
00:08:21
Speaker
But ah yeah, I mean, what else can you say that we haven't said? It it moved the genre forward in ways that it hadn't been about 15, 20 years. It um it is more resonant now than ever.
00:08:34
Speaker
I love and we'll we'll talk about it because I don't think it's any secret that we love this new movie. That's not a spoiler to say that we both really loved it and can't wait to talk about it. And it just makes this one shine even more um in the sense that like it was so so sociopolitically poignant and um they're not tarnishing legacy at all. And it made me appreciate 28 days later and more. So that's that I'm confident that that's number two. I'm glad you perfect.
00:08:58
Speaker
All right. Well, that's nice to be in sync so far. And yes, I think we've said enough about this film where you go listen to our podcast episode on 28 days later. If you haven't already heard of, heard it because we love that film. Um,
00:09:10
Speaker
All right. Next up. Do you want to lead again? Kind of a stick order. Do you want me to take? Okay. let's Let's do, I'll let you know if if something doesn't survive. I think this is where we might get to controversial. The top three is important though. So let's, let's see how this goes. because I've waffled a lot with a few different films, but I think when I looked at my heart of hearts, it's a bit of a redundancy because it is a remake.
00:09:30
Speaker
But I think I'm going to go with Zack Snyder and James Gunn's remake of Dawn of the Dead that came out just two years after 28 Days Later, kind of in this horror renaissance or sorry, zombie renaissance that we got in the early 2000s.
00:09:46
Speaker
I absolutely love that movie. It was a foundational one for me for why I got turned on to the horror genre. They don't seem to agree here. Well, no hold on. This is this is why it's important to do this the right way.
00:09:58
Speaker
I have it in my top ten. But i need I need some help. I need some convincing. like i'm happy what I'm happy to keep it in in the top eight, but I think top three is way too high. i think it's an amazing movie. I really wanted to rewatch it before this pod. I don't need to really because I know what it is. It's fun. It's fast.
00:10:16
Speaker
It's explosive. Can we... Okay, how about this? I'm going to give you two others because I am open to that. Okay. Because I waffled as well. Two other films I had.
00:10:27
Speaker
um And maybe if you're higher on one of these, then we could agree that this could be number three. um Another, the next one is brain dead. So this is Peter Jackson's 1992 film. This is more comedy and slapstick. But to think Peter Jackson of Lord of the Rings fame, in the same decade, he he filmed the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy.
00:10:49
Speaker
Just a few years earlier, he made this low budget. um unbelievable, like practical effects over the top gore. I think it's, you know, that it might still have the record, but at the time it did for like the most blood, um fake blood ever used in a movie.
00:11:03
Speaker
And it is amazing. I think it's, um you know, it's not a deep film if you're looking for that, but it's more of a testament to how successful the zombie subgenre had become where you could start to make these satire films like this and it still do really well.
00:11:18
Speaker
Let's do this. i like ah that no no i like how list is being built. I think it's better that we just start to mention these films we really love. And then I have the letterboxd list in front of me because ordering it as we build Maybe you should do the same. See how we feel about it. And we can start to rearrange maybe towards the end so we can get to talking about these films because i don't want you to have to like give me three or more. You know what i mean? like I think Brain Dead belongs on the list too.
00:11:41
Speaker
Is it number three? Let's put it there for now and see how we feel. But I agree. i just I literally just watched it coming into this pod right now. It is so sure of itself. It is so zany. Oddly enough, you can see some of some of the transferable skills into the way that Jackson directs Lord the Rings.
00:11:59
Speaker
Not in its epic, sweeping, romantic ah elements, but more so whip pans, close-ups, ah right under the chin of the characters. You see that Legolas. You see that Gimlet. You see that with a lot of characters, and it's like he does provide a little...
00:12:14
Speaker
pulp comic kind of spin on something that's really grand. And then here it's all pulp, all gross. so It's a vehicle for gross out special effects, which he does phenomenally.
00:12:25
Speaker
um I had a blast. the The only thing I really like i didn't vibe with was the score. I think a different score. I'm levitating. It's just like the same strings over and over and over again. It was a low budget film. I know.
00:12:37
Speaker
they Well, actually, it wasn't that low. It was it was his most expensive film to date. Actually, it was $3 million. dollars Before he would have made Lord of the Rings. Right, right. It was $3 million, which now that in today's money, that's like probably, what, $10? Yeah.
00:12:48
Speaker
um yeah So it is low, but it wasn't an indie. um But I think... and But that's that's what you get, though. yeah You get those practical special effects. They do take more time and in some in some cases money, but it pays off.
00:13:02
Speaker
My other knock on it is that it
Historical vs. Contemporary Films
00:13:04
Speaker
felt very derivative of Evil Dead 2. So bloodshed, zaniness, craziness. And i should maybe I shouldn't very derivative, just felt of ah Evil Dead 2's kin.
00:13:16
Speaker
Yeah. Just because it has those like... everybody's eyes are popping out and everything. nothing Nothing's really taken it seriously, but they they are serious about the craft. And I couldn't find a meaningful separation between Brain Dead and Evil Dead 2. And what did what did Brain Dead 2 that was was better?
00:13:33
Speaker
yeah Maybe some of the special effects. That's ah that's a fair point. And I think a criticism i'm I'm agreeing now because I think i I'd have to use that same criticism later with some films I know you like potentially more than me, but um But um yeah, I agree there. I do think it's kind of a, ah it's a rom-com almost premise as well. Yes. so it's it's's it's ah It's a Kafka-esque, it's a Kafka-esque circular nightmare that a kid's going, it me a lot Scorsese's After Hours and just like these movies where everything go wrong. He's trying to juggle all these plates.
00:14:02
Speaker
This girl who likes him is- An overbearing mother. An overbearing mother, which was just awesomely fleshed out, no pun intended. um You know, this uncle who's a greedy trying to get the inheritance of his mother who may or may not be passing away and may or not be very rich.
00:14:18
Speaker
So it's going to be somewhere on the list. Let's keep it three for now. um i can Can I give you my last of, because I could tell I haven't hit with either of those two. So I just have one other, which I don't think will be in your top three either, but I'm curious just to hear maybe where you would rank these three, because this is kind of all the same tier for me.
00:14:36
Speaker
So if you wanted to kind of order them, I'd be more open to that. Got it. The only other one for number, I think one and two are tier of their own with Dawn of the Dead and 28 Days Later. So like those, but The other one, potentially, I could be open to higher up on the list, but definitely want to include it in the top 10. It's Shaun of the Dead.
00:14:51
Speaker
um Again, this came out right when Dawn of the Dead did year. year um And this is maybe the, I think this is more famous than brain dead or again, brain dead's called dead alive. I believe in the U S when it was released because it was originally, it's a New Zealand film. It's one of the other it's um the title sequence is the title sequence is dead alive, but, but Sean of the dead, Sean of the dead is probably the most popular zombie.
00:15:18
Speaker
satire film so at least when you talk yes critical masses and recognition and it's amazing this this again was um not necessarily scary but it's an edgar wright film and i know he's not your favorite director but i think he killed it in this film and i love simon pig and nick frost this is my introduction to them and they're kind of comedic bits which they then reprised in other other edgar wright films you You were exactly right. Edgar Wright is and not my guy, really. not it doesn't I don't share those same sensibilities as him, but I cannot deny what he did with this movie in terms of providing a synthesis of horror and comedy in a really fun way and
00:15:56
Speaker
and it It's an important, important zombie film. It's got to be somewhere up high. Even if it's not one that like I grab the table. Where would you rank? Because, again, I'm open. So i'm giving you some agency here. I just list a lot of my films.
00:16:08
Speaker
Between Braindead, Dawn of the Dead, and Shaun of the Dead. You don't have to say which slot they would get in, but just relative to each other, how would you rank those? So I'm going to give you two rankings. If it's my personal... my What do you want for our list?
00:16:24
Speaker
Representing... our podcast that we'll see. That's the ranking I care about. I'm still going to tell you my personal so you know where I'm at. okay It'd be Dawn of the Dead 2004, Brain Dead, then Shaun of the Dead.
00:16:35
Speaker
For the purposes of this pod and this list, and I'm doing a mix of greatest versus personal faves, so it's an art, not a science, um I would go Shaun of the Dead, which contributed more to the genre than I think the other two did, and then Brain Dead, then Dawn of the Dead. So completely different.
00:16:54
Speaker
ah Where I was gonna go with this, Trav, was i couldn't escape at least the top five without putting Nine of the Living Dead somewhere, just because, again, right. Should we have this conversation?
00:17:05
Speaker
Let's let's have it. OK, so this is George Romero's. It's his it's his coming out party. It's we wouldn't have any of these films without this movie. 1968. The world's changing.
00:17:17
Speaker
um You know, we're we're leaving the hippie movement and getting into some reality. The a new American wave is coming. movies are starting to push the boundaries more in ways that old production codes wouldn't really let happen. And now things are, you're seeing intestines getting eaten and you're seeing really bleak endings.
00:17:35
Speaker
And while I don't enjoy the the watch as much as I do some of these other films we're talking about, I don't feel good about any list that has Night of the Living Dead 1968 not in the top five somewhere. I'm okay having it be literally number five. If it slips down but beneath that, i just I just feel icky. I can't explain it, Trav. i can't i can't Look, i'm not i'm not I'm not a perfect person. I'm a flawed human. But um I just want it somewhere.
00:18:01
Speaker
Somewhere... and and And we i can even talk about Day of the Dead because I know you're low on that as well. I can't believe I'm going to do this, but here's my two cents. But going to lead it with the more impactful part.
00:18:13
Speaker
um I made these rules for a reason. I'm going to veto Night of the Living Dead on our top 10 list. We will have a top 10 zombie list without it included at all. Now let me explain myself. This this is our this is our fourth episode. We're going to get canceled. It's very commonplace, right? It's been any AI generated, ask ChatGPT, one the top 10 zombie films, Ranker, any site, they're going to put Night of the Living Dead in there. So that that is not a mistake.
00:18:41
Speaker
Not necessarily that we have to distinguish ourselves, but that is very common. I think there is a lot of weight, a lot of weight placed on this being, like you said, the first of really a resurgence of zombie films. Prior to this, that there's a few and they're voodoo related, but we they're not necessarily, and you know, maybe even that's a hot take, but we weren't even considering those for this list. I think you'd agree with that.
00:19:05
Speaker
I think it is Romero's you know first film and the start of his zombie trilogy. I also with Romero by doing this, I am acknowledging that I did a direct wild comparison send for me. This is a hot, this is the hottest take between all three of his films.
00:19:20
Speaker
And I knew we were going to have more than one Romero film and we should because they're great.
Analyzing Thematic Elements
00:19:25
Speaker
But if I had to do a direct comparison, you know, I would take Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead any day over Night of the Living Dead.
00:19:33
Speaker
I think you watch this film for, again, if you are a super deep zombie fan, to pay your respects and for reverence. But I don't think, again, if you're someone who is horror curious or zombie curious, you haven't seen that many films, if you start by watching this film before watching other zombie films, it's...
00:19:53
Speaker
you're not going to enjoy it as much. it it It does feel like a small movie with a small plot, um you know, all set within one home. It's great because you can definitely look back if you watch other zombie films to see this is where the foundation was laid.
00:20:08
Speaker
But in and of itself, again, I don't want to make a list purely for the sake of saying we need to pay respects or agree with critical consensus. So That is why I've exhausted already. You're making lot friends here. That is my film. I do not want on our top 10 list.
00:20:23
Speaker
But at least know by doing that, I'm essentially guaranteeing you that we can have a day of the debt. We can have more Romero our list. Well, know the other part of your rule was that a... You could.
00:20:34
Speaker
You could overrule me. An auto bid will overrule you. And i i am I'm going to wait to use that to see how things shake out. Okay. But just know that... That's true. i'm i'm hoping I'm hoping you almost come to your senses on your own so I don't have to use that auto bid, but it's going to be hard for me to leave I'm looking at a list of more than 10 other films that I'd much rather have. Again, it to be very, very clear, when I say it's not on our top 10 list, it it could really be like the 11th film for me. I am not saying it is not a great film because it is.
00:21:05
Speaker
It's just for the sake of our top 10 list, I believe it should be just outside of those top 10. Well, we'll return to the night of the living dead. Until you decide or if you decide to use that, is there anything else um you think should be in discussion for that number three film?
00:21:20
Speaker
Because I. Yeah, so where where I was going to go with this, I was going to go to outside of not just the US, but into South Korea. I thought Tran Ducusan has always been a fantastic movie. Yeah.
00:21:35
Speaker
From a kinetic perspective, how it's shot. um the the character through line, the mission, the objective, um the stakes, it's it's just the setting on a train.
00:21:47
Speaker
And again, you you add in fast zombies and gore. I'm a sucker for that. And I was I haven't seen it probably in two years, but I just remember being incredibly impressed by it. And I let's let's put that at four. We have Shauna that at three.
00:22:01
Speaker
Let's do train bus on four. I can agree with that. Yep. Train to Busan was definitely on my list okay as well. So So, um, so Sean, the dead at three train to Busan at four, um, potentially brain dead and Dawn of the dead.
00:22:16
Speaker
I'm okay with either order there, but they're kind lingering around five and six, but tell me some others that you think next, my, the only one next that I, I I've already kind of defended night of the living dead. And I, and I don't think that'll be the last week we hear of talking about that movie, but, um,
00:22:32
Speaker
I just gotta, i gotta speak to Day of the Dead, even if it's, depending on where it lands on this list, maybe won't even be on this list. Um, we already, you know, have Romero rep, but, uh, It was everything I want in a zombie movie.
00:22:45
Speaker
Everything I want in terms of it's a localized space where there is no unnecessary intro exposition. We're thrown into a situation that we're already familiar with. He's already set the ah kind of the place settings in this earlier two films.
00:23:02
Speaker
This is 1985 coming off the almost, i guess, shorter gap between dawn and day than night and dawn. But, uh, I thought the color palette was amazing.
00:23:15
Speaker
I thought the lines from, um and it's only a cast of 12 people. It's very much an 80s film. There's a lot of memorable one-liners. But really, i thought some really salient whys, like from the helicopter pilot specifically, um just talk, hes he's lamenting on like why this is happening. and Maybe God felt that we got too big for our britches or that he wanted to remind remind us who he is or that he forgot about us.
00:23:40
Speaker
And so these are just things that you kind of think about even when your day's going bad, much less when the zombie apocalypse is happening. um There are some iconic scenes that are in my mind, especially the recurring nightmare she has of her of the protagonist's lover.
00:23:54
Speaker
He's in bed and he's like... It's like this wide shot and his guts just spill out out of the side of his stomach. And then she sees this happen again in a recurring kind of nightmarish vision. um Also, I'm a sucker for sentient zombies. Like Bub with yeah slowly learning to things. Bub was the MVP of that movie, 100%. And he's wielding a gun at the end. I mean, come on. like so i I would like, i would like to if if we're going to have Brain Dead at five, I'd like to slot Day of the Dead around six, right up above the Dawn of the Dead remake.
00:24:26
Speaker
Well, so it's it's a five star movie. morningly again. and I think at some point, and hopefully sooner rather than later, figure out if you want to overrule my veto or not.
00:24:37
Speaker
But my thought process was I do. I agree with you I like Day of the Dead better than Night of the Living Dead. But again, in our looking at relativity, the only thing I have against Day of the Dead is that movie came out in 1985, which was the same year that Return of the Living Dead came out. And now a bit of the backstory there. Return of the Living Dead, directed by Dan O'Bannon.
00:24:58
Speaker
He was the writer with Romero. No, John john Russo was. Or sorry, John Russo. But John Russo, who worked on the Return of the Living Dead. And this is kind Was a co-writer, yeah. Was a co-writer. And this is where the the rights, essentially, to the film, the IP from Night of the Living Dead got split.
00:25:15
Speaker
Where, while Romero's rest of his trilogy is just dawn of... the dead, day of the dead. And then you get the living dead phrase, which was, again, agrees with the original night of the living dead.
00:25:29
Speaker
It's kind of the splitting of ways. It's their first film they made subsequent to night of the living dead and the return of the living dead. And both these films coming out in 1985, the two different camps stemming from Romero's first picture.
00:25:42
Speaker
i actually liked return the living dead better there. I, I think return of the, the, the Day of the Dead is campy to some degree in an 80s sense, which is what you expect from a film. from the eighty you know You have a synth soundtrack. You have the big bad army.
00:25:59
Speaker
You have a mad scientist. But Return of the Living Dead really embraces its satirical role in zombie films more. I think it's just more self-aware. And because of that, I actually liked it more for embracing kind of the eighty s flavor of horror.
00:26:15
Speaker
I will say i will say that I felt day of the dead was just using archetypes really well. I didn't feel it. didn't you I mentioned when you texted me after I finished it, you're like, yeah, this an eighties film. Yeah. It's made 85.
00:26:30
Speaker
I honestly didn't feel the eighties exaggerated. and really It's like every trope from like big, bad, but I think the military, a mad scientist synth soundtrack, but when you have one liners, first of all, I'm a sucker for synth soundtracks. So I'm going to listen to a soundtrack any day that I love Michael Mann.
00:26:49
Speaker
you know, Tangerine, all that. Uh, I think for Day of the Dead, though, it's it's capturing a real life look at like what a military overthrow looks like.
00:27:02
Speaker
It's people angling for power. And yeah, it's it's exaggerated because there's only 12 of them. But you're looking at military power versus science power and these ideologies competing with against each other.
00:27:13
Speaker
And it's like what you have in Congress happening right now. You know what i mean? Like you have people's I didn't find it campy, to be honest. I found it like sure sure-footed. i really did. Yeah.
00:27:26
Speaker
So I'm fine with ah Return the Living Dead being taking the place of da Day of the Dead um because i think it achieved something completely different.
00:27:38
Speaker
So this is more negotiation, I guess, than anything else. than anything else But I could be okay with Day of the Dead being above Return of the Living Dead in exchange for... they They're probably back to back, at least on my list.
00:27:54
Speaker
And I'd also go back to like... When you talk about your personal list, I want you to embrace that a bit more. And I do think we should maybe consider... putting dawn of the dead um the remake zack snyder's remake higher and at five um and maybe it's something like i think we both really personally love that film and so it seems a disingenuous to you know i don't want us to feel beholden to okay maybe what other people need and then in return i i'm okay to have you know like day of the dead right after that or it could be brain dead as well but if we need to do day of the dead i know this is
00:28:31
Speaker
probably your favorite zombie film personally. So I'm okay. Even having day the dead higher up at six. Um, if that makes now we have dawn of the dead, 78, number one, 28 days later, 2002, number two, Sean of the dead, three, uh, train of the sun for
Finalizing the Top 10 List
00:28:48
Speaker
dawn of that. Oh, four at five and day of the dead at six brain dead at seven.
00:28:53
Speaker
And then I guess we returned living dead at eight. Yeah, I'd probably put Return on the Living Dead. today do you have an issue with that? I know I'm kind of now just railroading that one into our list as well because I compared it to Day of the Dead.
00:29:05
Speaker
Would that be making your top 10 list as well? Do you think it's deserving? I'm not kicking this list out of bed. Oh, yeah. So we got two spots left. This is where I have a handful of films that I would be open to any of them. Now, what's tough is I know one of these movies you haven't seen.
00:29:24
Speaker
do Do you want me to share my list or do you want to go through your short list first of ones you think could be deserving of those last two spots? um Tell me ones you're trying to shoehorn in the nine and 10 here.
00:29:35
Speaker
nine and ten here Okay. I'd say a pretty equal. I'm only going to say three because there's, I love World War Z. I don't think it belongs on our top ten. I think it's just outside. I would have vetoed that anyways. I'm dropping that. So it's between three films.
00:29:51
Speaker
um Can I guess what they are before you'd say? Yeah. Yeah. I love it. The Crazies, 2010. Yep. yep but just And then Wreck 2007. Yep. And i think your last one will 28 weeks later. Yeah, okay. So you have it exactly.
00:30:05
Speaker
yeah Those would be my three. And is there anything else you think we should add to that list? You already know. i you You mean aside from Night of the Living Dead? Yeah, aside from Night of the Living Dead. um The only one... one on the The only other one would have been Zombieland.
00:30:21
Speaker
um But yeah of all the movies you mentioned, I'll just give it a quick shout out. I think it's the closest thing we had. Tough to live in the shadow of Shaun of the Dead. It was only five years after Shaun of the Dead came out.
00:30:34
Speaker
um It does its job. It got a sequel. It made money. Woody Harrelson's great. I don't have much to say about it except that I'm glad it exists. it's You always want zombie movies to be pushing each other and reminding ourselves that they can be satirical and set in many different wild places.
00:30:49
Speaker
So good film. Wouldn't want to see it in the top 10, but wanted to mention it. Yeah, I think that's totally fair. um Cool. So I guess we really have four films. Again, I would love to hold the line on Night of the Living Dead. And again, that that would really be like my number 11 or maybe 12 because I think I do prefer these three other films more than that.
00:31:09
Speaker
um Wreck, is I think our only found footage one that we're potentially considering for the list. And i I think the more time has passed, this might be my favorite found footage film of all time.
00:31:22
Speaker
I think it's up there with two non-zombie movies, which is Paranormal Activity, as well as The Blair Witch Project, are probably my big three for found footage. um I rewatched Wreck recently. mean, those are like the three iconic, it doesn't, I mean, I think, I think,
00:31:39
Speaker
Blair Witch and Paranormal are like in a class of their own. you know what I mean? Like those are the Titans. yeah you're You're probably right. But I think part of that too is because Wreck was a foreign film, right? this This came out in Spain. And so it probably didn't reach the masses to the degree that those two US films did.
00:31:55
Speaker
um Travis, international film is the is the more preferred. Thank you. Thank you. just trying to help you out um Yeah, not foreign international, which is a weird way of saying like, these are all us s automation there' are all films fearing the other Travis come on. um But yeah, i I think those are my three. So I really like rec. We've shared a lot of our thoughts of 28 weeks later.
00:32:16
Speaker
And there's part of me that it's always had a bit of chip on my shoulder. I feel like it got unfairly. yeah it's It's still pretty well received, but it didn't do as well at the box office as the original 28 days later did.
00:32:29
Speaker
I think even we talk about 28 years later, they almost retcon a bit of it. And I do think it is a standalone, really good film as we, as we covered on our pod when we covered it. So I, I really liked that one. And then of course the crazies, which you have not seen.
00:32:43
Speaker
That's the only one. This is also a remake of Romero's original, the crazies, but it's one of those cases where I like the remake more. Oh, so you saw the original too. I have no, okay. This is, I, yeah.
00:32:54
Speaker
Yeah. I need to be honest on this, but I haven't. I've seen reviews. i you I'm using a widely circulated opinion. You like it more than the trailer you saw for Crazy's 1977. From the little bit of half-ass internet research here. so that's fair.
00:33:08
Speaker
um So maybe I'm not giving credit where it's due for the original Crazies. I just know I... The craziest movie that came out in 2010. Again, this is us at 20 years old. I went, I saw this in theaters. It blew my mind.
00:33:20
Speaker
The start of that movie, especially, i think the only criticism is it kind of meanders in the end, but the first 30 minutes that movie are like all gas, no breaks. Brett Geisner, lesser known director, but he brings in Timothy Oliphant for the lead role.
00:33:35
Speaker
And he was, he was so fucking good. It's the sheriff of the small town that slowly gets overrun. Again, you kind of have the big, bad government. where it's another one those zombie films with who is the real monster? Is it, is it the zombies or the infected in this case? Again, they're not undead or is it military? Is it the government?
00:33:53
Speaker
Who is the real big bad? And so I just thought they did it so
Compromising on Final Choices
00:33:57
Speaker
well. So I know that's a tougher one to make the case for cause you haven't seen it, but. you You know, and I wanted to watch it before this pod you you've been, and I will watch it soon. you You've, you've, you've recommended this for years actually. So I want to, I'll want to watch it before Romero's original, honestly. yeah um Okay. So you're, what about, tell me one of those three that you feel like has to be on the list, even if you want to make the hit right. Yeah, I'm with you. I think Rex, the most clear choice. So that I think that would be our number nine.
00:34:23
Speaker
And then it leaves us with, do you, do you want to over, do you want to acquiesce and join me again? Cause we'll both sign our names on this, that we could leave night of the living dead off.
00:34:35
Speaker
Or do we want to pick one of these other two films I mentioned in 28 weeks later or the crazies. And so, I think now's the time to either shit or get off the pot, Rick, with where you want to go here. Yeah, considering we're 40 minutes in and we haven't started talking about 28 years later.
00:34:50
Speaker
um um I'll start off with saying this. i love... I can't speak to the crazies. I can't speak to the crazies. I haven't seen it. um But I do know I love 28 Weeks Later.
00:35:01
Speaker
i do think it's the underserved stepchild of that franchise and will be for a long time, since basically since Boyle's back in the and Alex Garland's back. In my opinion, i think I've already conceded enough by letting the Night of Living Dead be out of not just the top three, not that just top five, not just top eight, but the top yeah top nine.
00:35:25
Speaker
I'm going to use my auto bed to slide it in to number 10. I'm going to keep it on there. You may feel disappointed that it's on there at all. I feel disappointed it's even that far. So when two people are both not happy with the deal, that's probably a good deal, right?
00:35:39
Speaker
That's fair. It's ah it's a classic lose-lose situation. i was going for a win-win-win. I know. trave travis I've been in enough competitive situations you, Travis, where I know your game. Yeah.
00:35:49
Speaker
and And I think we can respect each other's angles here. um I will watch the crazies. I love 28 Weeks Later. and think we're both fine with World War Z and Zombieland staying out. But let let let's I'm going to read off the list. Yeah, recount it back real quick. All right. You want it from 1 to 10?
00:36:05
Speaker
Yep. Number 1, Dawn of the Dead. We're solidifying it there. nineteen seventy eight yeah nineteen seventy eight 1978. 1978. Number two, 28 days later. Number three, Shaun of the Dead.
00:36:16
Speaker
This is where we started to diverge in our opinions. How do we feel about that at three based on everything we've talked about? I like it. I think i' kind of looking back the list as well. I like i like it there. I do too. It would never be in my top five, but I can appreciate it.
00:36:31
Speaker
It did wonders for, like you said, it's the most famous satirical version of this story. And you got to give credit for that. Number four, we have Train to Busan. ah How do I say this? It's like probably the best, the most well made from a technical and kinesthetic and blocking perspective of a lot of these movies.
00:36:53
Speaker
It's enjoyable. It's clinical. It's it's clinical it's enjoyable. It's yeah. Okay. i'm still good if you are four all right five dawn of the dead remake 2004 shout out to snyder and james gunn shout out that was like peak zack snyder sorry i don't want to take more time but that's when the promise of zack snyder films was everything to me where oh well i mean his one two punch of dawn of the dead and then two years later 300 mean that was every middle schooler's dream yeah that's when that was when he was really on top
00:37:25
Speaker
A mention of this, this is also why I didn't feel too bad leaving the Crazies remake out. We already have another Romero remake here. And so it's like, let's let's reward originality, but also the remakes that do it well, let's reward them. yeah This is one that wasn't original, but it did enough of its own flair that it deserves a higher spot.
00:37:43
Speaker
Also, fantastic opening sequence, if you remember the remake. Yeah, the neighborhood, right? Yeah, in the neighborhood, that little girl stumbles into their bedroom. Yeah. Similar to 28 Weeks Later, but in a different way.
00:37:55
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Um, my personal favorite zombie film, but totally comfortable with the number six, Day of the Dead, 1985, which I appreciate. I recognize that this would be lower for you.
00:38:07
Speaker
um and then we move on to number seven, Brain Dead or Dead Alive, 1992.
00:38:14
Speaker
which again, I'm still reeling from really fun, lot of blood, good times. Number are we good with the list so far? Yeah, so good. Number eight, Return of the Living Dead, 1985.
00:38:25
Speaker
Punk rock dance hall in the cemetery. Number nine, Wreck, 2007. two thousand and seven And then number 10, The Lightning Rod, the controversial selection here, the Living Dead, 1968. Yeah.
00:38:38
Speaker
yeah Okay. So maybe one edit. it Okay. Now I'm thinking. sense Since you got your way with putting Night of the Living Dead on there, I feel like I might be one film short.
00:38:50
Speaker
Tell me truly how you feel about the Return of the Living Dead. Again, I liked it more than Day of the Dead, but I think relative to Return the Living Dead, I actually liked The Crazies and 28 Weeks Later.
00:39:03
Speaker
So I could be okay bumping it off the list, knowing how you feel about those two films relative to it. Hmm. And just like how Romero screwed.
00:39:14
Speaker
his original writer out of zombie superstardom and in history forevermore. We can also write him off here. Honestly, this sounds weird, but I'm all about representation.
00:39:27
Speaker
And it's important to me that the weird punk offshoot of Romero's lineage is still represented. I'm fine. No, listen, but here I got it. I can offer you something else. you You're offering me two woods. I'm giving you one sheep, whatever, how that works.
00:39:43
Speaker
uh, I'm okay leaving day of the dead off. And I, um that could be my crazies. You love the crazies. I love day of the dead. Those aren't high, highly as regarded as maybe, ah maybe for us personally, if you're, trying if you're just trying to get 28 weeks in there is if i don't know if that's what you're trying to do, but, uh, I think, I think I'm actually trying to get the crazies in there if I had to compare them all. So that's why that would be the trick. I just have no dog in that fight. i just have no dog in that fight. I mean, yeah,
00:40:12
Speaker
You know what? Fine. Let's let's put the crazies in there because I think... could be number 10. Well, that means... Okay. Hey. Yes. Then then I get... Night of the Living Dead is not last. Yeah. I like that.
00:40:23
Speaker
um And look you know what? The crazies, what that does is I'm always fine with people having a reclamation project for, you know, horror films that not a lot of not enough people talk about anymore.
00:40:34
Speaker
All right. So I'm going to read this again. Number one, Dawn of the Dead, 1978. Number two, 28 Days Later, 2002. Number three, Shaun of the Dead, 2004. Number four, Train to Busan, 2016. Number five, Dawn of the Dead, 2004. Number six, Brain Dead, 1992. Number seven, Return the Living Dead, 1985. Number eight, Wreck, 2007. Number nine, Not a Living Dead, 1968. And number 10, Your Beloved Crazies, 2010.
00:40:58
Speaker
two thousand ten I will sign off on it. We got our list. um This is a weird list. And we're weird people. And I'm fine with it, too. I think we know too for next time, but we should just do our list making as a bonus episode, but here we are 47 minutes. Thanks for sticking with us so far. you're listening here. Let's take minute for sure.
00:41:18
Speaker
you listening let' let's just take a million
00:41:36
Speaker
Bye.