Zombies are people too: 6 fun movies about the undead

We could learn a lot from zombies. No, not the queue of people screaming silently in anticipation of their skinny triple shot moccachino with a hint of nutmeg. We’re talking about the former people who are destined to roam the planet in their undying quest for ultimate oneness, served with or without fava beans and a nice chianti (IYKYK) – they’re not fussy.

They’re also not slaves to fashion, they’re other-centred, outgoing, always ready to mingle and don’t “have a type”. While their unquenchable appetite for human brains is a bit of a deal breaker when it comes to any long-term relationships, the good news is that if you can’t beat ’em over the head, you can join ’em. It takes one nibble or brief exposure to a typically airborne toxin to join the gang and if you’ve never been undead before, you may learn to love it!

Just like the undead, zombie movies are often prejudged. To get better acquainted, here’s a selection of entertaining zombie flicks now streaming on Showmax.

Zombieland

Zombieland is a horror thriller adventure that actually offers some excellent advice should the Earth ever devolve into a festering zombie playground. From cardio, the double tap, travel light and don’t be a hero to finding a kick-ass partner,  “someone who can kill, who you won’t”, it’s as if it was based on an official zombie apocalypse handbook.

Starting with a bang, Zombieland brandishes its star-studded line-up with solid performances from Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin. Slightly more bleak than Little Miss Sunshine, the cross-country road trip zomedy has a similar quirk and cult appeal to Shaun of the Dead. Along with a thick slice of Americana, there’s more than enough gore and splatter to go around as this hard-edged zomedy cranks up the zombie action in the dying stages.

Resident Evil series

Milla Jovovich has screen presence for days. Who would have thought that the enigmatic Monster Hunter action star would herald one of the most successful video game adaptations of all time when Resident Evil landed 20 years ago? Followed by the explosive sequels Apocalypse, Extinction, Afterlife and Retribution, the franchise culminated with the aptly titled Final Chapter.

Alice has enthralled audiences as self-confessed “Dirty Harriet”… Milla Jovovich. A joy to see her obliterate zombies in breathtaking action sequences, Resident Evil is one series that truly captures the imaginative and spectacular dopamine-fuelled escapist fun of playing video games.

Alone

The pandemic made all those viral sci-fi thrillers seem like life was finally imitating art. In this blood-curdled vein, we have Alone, a lockdown horror thriller starring Tyler Posey and Donald Sutherland. Unlike Tom Hanks, the Teen Wolf star didn’t have to travel to get the full “no man is an island” Castaway experience.

Beginning with a video log of a bearded man’s last words, the film rewinds 42 days earlier when a guy living like a rock star discovers it could be the end of days. An emergency television broadcast and bloody screams from the street reveal a violent outbreak as Aidan barricades himself in his apartment with only a few rations and his electric guitar.

World War Z

Brad Pitt showed his acting chops in Moneyball, kicked some Nazi butt in Inglourious Basterds and strung some words together in Snatch. Taking a bullet in The Lost City, he’s proven without a shadow of a doubt that he knows how to deal with a tricky situation on camera, which is why it’s easy to trust he can rid the world of looming zombie hordes in World War Z.

In this spectacular and suspenseful action horror thriller, he plays Gerry Lane, a pretty relaxed guy given the apocalyptic circumstances. Heading up a potentially world-saving investigation, Gerry begins an epic quest to find the source of a lethal virus that turns peace-loving human beings into tidal waves of mutilation.

Dead Trigger

Dolph Lundgren is a prolific actor whose colourful career has seen him star in almost 80 action movies. A tough slugger, his Rocky IV breakthrough was reinforced by Universal Soldier and immortalised opposite Sly Stallone once again in The Expendables. Having been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to do his Phd in Chemical Engineering at MIT, Dolph’s got brawn and brains.

Speaking of brains, the sci-fi action horror thriller based on the mobile video game, Dead Trigger finds the action man trying to keep his as he commands an elite next-generation squad of zombie killers to thwart a virus that has literally killed billions… billions! Each team member is headhunted and recruited for their “unique” skill set and trained to blast their way to a group of scientists who are flaunting a possible cure. 

Zoombies

If Jurassic Park’s monolithic dinosaur theme park intrigued you, chances are you’ve been to the zoo. These strictly no-petting animal sanctuaries are where ordinary city folk get a glimpse of life in Africa where elephants and lions roam the streets. An action horror thriller, Zoombies (a blend of zoo and zombies, if it wasn’t clear) is a zoologist’s worst nightmare.

When an infectious primate escapes a lab after becoming very attached to scientist’s faces, it’s not long before Eden Wildlife Zoo’s animal attractions zombify and run amok. Thankfully, a tour bus of new college recruits bears the brunt of an all-out zoombie apocalypse before they officially open their doors to the public. While it’s usually the animals that need protection from people, Zoombies shows what happens when giraffes and monkeys fight back.