Category Archives: Zombie Movie Trailers

King of the Zombies

The 40s were a bad time for zombie films. I Walked with a Zombie is widely considered the best film of that era, but I haven’t seen it, though I do own it. So instead, here is King of the Zombies. King of the Zombies isn’t that bad of a film, but Jesus is it racist. Black character actor Mantan Moreland plays a servant and is the comic relief, and while he does have some good lines, his style of acting is… let’s say troubling. The trailer should give you a taste of what you are in for. The full movie is below… if you are in to that sort of thing.

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White Zombie

So I finished my top 5 zombie movies, so I’m now going to put up a zombie movie from every decade. For the 30’s the obvious go to is 1932’s White Zombie, the first zombie movie ever made. Keep in mind that this way before George Romero so these early zombie flicks are going to have more Haitian type zombies. These zombies are just mindless automatons that are controlled by Bela Lugosi’s character Murder Legendre (one of the best villain names). The trailer’s voice over is great, and definitely check the trailer out to get the tone of the film. Unfortunately the film itself does feel a bit like homework, but it is worth watching for Bela Lugosi’s performance. If you care about the history of zombie cinema White Zombie is required viewing. The full movie is below:

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Shaun of the Dead

We have reached the end of my top 5 zombie movies (in no particular order) but I’m going to keep putting up other trailers. Shaun of the Dead is a perfect film. It has the exact right mix of comedy and horror, never allowing the comedy to defang or deflate the danger. It is one of the few zombie movies that would still be a great movie with compelling characters and conflicts even if the zombies were removed. Infinitely quotable and rewatchable Shaun of the Dead is the most fun movie on my list.

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The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue A.K.A. Let Sleeping Corpses Lie

Here is the next movie in my top 5 zombie films.  The early to mid 70s was an interesting time for zombie movies because it was before Dawn of the Dead had redefined the genre, making things more comic bookish, action oriented, and apocalyptic.  If you want things more somber and that have settings such as crypts, vaults, and cemeteries, the 70s are a good place to look.  The Blind Dead series is a great example of this, but the best is The Living Dead at the Manchester Morgue.  There is some great social commentary, an interesting mechanism that creates the zombies and some great zombie gore.  Someone was kind enough to upload the entire movie on Youtube, so check it out:

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Zombie A.K.A. Zombie 2

I realized that I have already done the trailers for 2/5th of my five favorite zombie movies, so I’ll continue with that. I also brought up European ripoffs of Dawn of the Dead, and this is the best example of one. Lucio Fulci’s Zombie came out one year after Dawn of the Dead and shares similar stylistic choices (i.e. the extreme gore) but it is a bit unfair to call it a ripoff (though I just did). Zombie does a lot of things different, for example the tropical location, crazy action sequences (zombie vs. shark!) and amazing makeup design (which I much prefer to Dawn of the Dead’s, sorry Tom Savini!). Moreover it was conceived and largely made completely independently of of Dawn of the Dead. The ripoff aspect is more about how the film was marketed. Granted, the sequences at the beginning and end of the film in New York City were added to the script to capitalize on the success of Dawn of the Dead, but it gets most of its reputation as a ripoff from its title. Dawn of the Dead was titled Zombie in Europe and did very well at the box office, so this movie was titled Zombie 2. In the U.S. it was just known as Zombie, but the tag line was “When the earth spits out the dead, they will return to tear the flesh of the living” sounds eerily similar to Dawn’s famous tag line “When there is no room in hell, the dead will walk the earth”. I much prefer Zombie’s other tag line, the simple and direct “We are going to eat you!”. Regardless, enjoy the trailer for Zombie A.K.A. Zombie 2.

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Dawn of the Dead

Obviously the only way to follow Night of the Living Dead is with Dawn of the Dead. This is not only my favorite zombie movie it is my favorite horror movie. One of the few sequels that are better than the first, Dawn of the Dead expands on the universe by creating a more apocalyptic and epic tone. Dawn’s success led to countless ripoffs/homages from ultra violent European Zombie movies (sqee!) to video games like Dead Rising. Don’t just listen to me though, check it out for yourself below:

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Night of the Living Dead

If you know me then you know that I have an obsession with zombies. I’m going to start sharing some zombie movie trailers and there is no better place to begin than with Night of the Living Dead. George Romero created the modern concept of the zombie. Granted, the Haitian Zombie predates Night of the Living Dead and was first mentioned in 1929 with William Seabrook’s The Magic Island (I own a copy), but the concept of reanimated corpses eating the flesh of the living is all Romero. Night of the Living Dead is quite simply a masterpiece, and this trailer is a lot of fun.

Updated 9-12-12:
Oh man, how did I forget that Night of the Living Dead is actually in the public domain, so of course the entire movie would be on youtube:

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