Over the years, humankind has been continuously fascinated by the taboo of the undead. While death, itself, is a difficult enough concept to struggle with, the many ways that the walking dead have been depicted over the years signify a larger fight: humans are terrified by what they do not understand.
The one thing people can never know is what comes after death except for nothingness, and so they create zombie movies to at least give people a bit of hope — or a bit of a scare. Either way, many zombie horror movies ultimately end up leaving their audiences feeling hopeless. These are the darkest zombie movies of all time, and should not be viewed by the faint of heart.
10 Cemetery Man (1994) Is Equal Parts Horrific And Chaotic
The Italian film Dellamorte Dellamore, or Cemetery Man, may be a horror-comedy, but it is similarly equal parts horrifying and chaotic. Directed by Michele Soavi, a protégé of Dario Argento, Cemetery Man sees Rupert Everett playing Francesco Dellamorte, the caretaker for the cemetery in the small town of Buffalora, Italy.
Francesco has to stop the dead from rising again and overtaking Buffalora without any help. Even Death appears to him and suggests that he stop fighting the dead and instead take on the living, who are doing horrible things to those he loves while he tries to stop the zombies from taking over. In the end, Cemetery Man is a chaotic rumination on which is more important: stopping the dead, or stopping the living.
9 Day Of The Dead (1985) Shows What Happens When The Zombies Become The Majority
The third in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead series, Day of the Dead is not often considered one of the most tragic, the darkest, or even one of the scariest zombie movies of all time. However, those who think that are simply not paying enough attention.
This film sees not only what has happened after the initial zombie outbreak, but it shows just how hopeless the situation has become. The characters in Day of the Dead slowly come to realize that the world is no longer theirs, but belongs to the evolving zombies. Living humans ended up in the minority and were destroying themselves trying to fight the living dead.
8 Re-Animator (1985) Reminds Viewers Of The Dangers Of Playing God
Like Cemetery Man, the 1985 film Re-Animator, known also as H. P. Lovecraft’s Re-Animator, is not just a zombie horror movie, but also a comedy of sorts. This movie, based on “Herbert West—Reanimator,” a serial novelette by H. P. Lovecraft from 1922, Re-Animator was directed by Stuart Gordon.
The film features Jeffrey Combs as Herbert West, the eponymous character from the serial novelette. While the movie can be humorous, its horrifying and devastating ending reminds viewers that there is no humor and no success to be found in the gruesome science of reanimation.
7 Zombi 2 (1979) Is One Of The Most Graphic Zombie Films Of All Time
When George A. Romero made Dawn of the Dead, Dario Argento made his own cut of the film. This is now known as the European Cut of Dawn of the Dead, or simply as the film Zombi, which is how this version was released in Italy. After this movie, Lucio Fulci chose to adapt an original screenplay by Dardano Sacchetti, and directed Zombi 2.
This 1979 film was meant to serve as a direct sequel to Zombi, and is still considered one of the most gruesome and heinously graphic zombie movies of all time. While this "video nasty" status and perhaps over-the-top disgusting effects have proven too much for some, this film makes a valid point. If there were a true zombie outbreak, such as the one depicted in the film, the world would become as dark, as horrible, and, true, even as violent, as the world in this movie.
6 Rabid (1977) Shows How Hopeless Humanity Would Be
David Cronenberg is known for his more out-there creations, wild concepts, and grotesque body horror films, such as The Fly, Videodrome, and Shivers. However, not as many people know about his 1977 zombie-ish film, Rabid. Marilyn Chambers stars in this film as Rose, a woman who is in an accident and ends up needing to feed on the blood of other humans in order to survive following her surgery.
The humans that Rose feeds upon become infected and mutate; the people that they bite become infected and mutate, and so on and so forth. From Rose, who could be considered Patient Zero in the apocalypse that is soon to come, to the entirety of Canada, and likely to the world, Cronenberg explores exactly how zombies could come to be — and how hopeless humans would be at stopping them if they did.
5 Rec (2007) Is One Of The Best Found-Footage Films
The 2007 Spanish horror movie Rec, sometimes stylized as [•REC], is arguably one of the best movies in the found-footage genre. Directed by Jaume Balagueró and Paco Plaza, Rec takes place entirely in one apartment building in Barcelona, Spain, after a virus breaks out and starts to spread.
The virus, of course, is that of the living undead, and turns everyone infected by it into a zombie that wants to eat the humans around it. This movie spawned its own entire series, though a viewer would not be able to tell based off of the first film alone, which ends in such a horrifying way that audiences are left with little hope, if any.
4 Train To Busan (2016) Is A Claustrophobic Nightmare
A more recent horror movie is the 2016 Korean horror film Train to Busan, directed by Yeon Sang-ho. Like Rec, Train to Busan is a bottle narrative and takes place (almost) entirely in one location. In this case, that location is a high-speed train traveling from Seoul to Busan.
Also, as is the case in Rec, a virus breaks out on board the train, quickly sweeping through the passengers. Soon, the trapped travelers find themselves having to fight the zombies who are similarly trapped right alongside them on the train. Even worse, the film takes a devastating turn, and the ending provides barely a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel, as it were.
3 Maggie (2015) Explores A World Where The Zombie Virus Is Under Control
One of the most hopeless and devastating movies released in recent memory is the horror film Maggie, released in 2015. Directed by Henry Hobson in directorial debut, and starring Abigail Breslin as the titular Maggie Vogel and Arnold Schwarzenegger as her father, Wade, Maggie takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that actually managed to get their zombie outbreak somewhat under control.
Here, being infected is something like catching a terminal disease — and Maggie catches it. The way this movie ends would leave absolutely anyone feeling heartbroken and hopeless, and not least of all because Arnold Schwarzenegger delivers the performance of his life while doing so.
2 I Am Legend (2007) Shows How Lonely A Nearly Empty World Would Be
The most devastatingly dark zombie movie of all time is barely considered a horror movie, but it is undoubtedly just that. The 2007 film I Am Legend, directed by Francis Lawrence and based on the novel of the same name, I Am Legend, published by Richard Matheson in 1954, shows audiences a world after an apocalypse has already happened — and ended.
Will Smith stars as Dr. Robert Neville, who is left living alone in New York. Despite the fact that Robert believes he is completely alone, he keeps fighting to create a cure that could potentially save humanity. He refuses to let humanity die out, even if, as this movie suggests, that is the ultimate endgame for humans as a species.
1 Night Of The Living Dead (1968) Questions Who The Real Monsters Are
The first in George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead series is the very same movie that gave the series its name. The 1968 film Night of the Living Dead was directed, co-written, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero; John Russo co-wrote the script with him.
The cast size is similarly small, with really only two primary main characters: Duane Jones, as Ben, and Judith O'Dea, as Barbra. Ben fights through the entire night, defeats the zombies, keeps himself alive — and learns all too late that the people he should have feared most of all were still alive.