From 'Shaun of the Dead' to 'Train to Busan': The 10 Best Zombie Movies of All Time, According to Letterboxd.

The users of Letterboxd found the best films that follow the hordes of the undead.

If you want to understand a people, look at its zombie movies. There might be no artifact more telling of a people than its depictions of the shuffling undead. After all, zombies are just us with a few key differences: all zombies carry echoes of a former life. These stories reflect their era, and are each a tombstone inscribed in eulogy to a time and a place.

When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the earth, preoccupied with the same things that troubled them in life: consumerism, xenophobia, government oppression, violence. And were some far-off archeologist to find a definitive record, there are few more telling than the list of most mentioned zombie movies on Letterboxd.

Shaun of the Dead' (2004).

Edgar Wright's Shaun of the Dead is the moment where the zombie mythos goes back to the basics. While the titular dead may not have any self-awareness, the movie itself is a winking love letter that embraces zombie movie history. From the title to the barricaded third act, this is a feature-length salute to the works of George Romero.

The characters, particularly Simon Pegg's Shaun, are all numbed, not just to violence, but to life itself. Shaun is so locked into routine that he misses life. In that way, he himself is almost zombielike, and viewers are meant to examine how closely they might resemble the slack-jawed dead.

Night of the Living Dead' (1964)

There are a few examples of the dead coming back to life in cinema prior to Night of the Living Dead. However, George Romero's 1964 work kick-started the zombie trend as audiences have come to recognize it. Many of the characteristics viewers identify with zombie movies were formalized in Night of the Living Dead.

Perhaps the most important trope codified in Night was the "zombie movie as social commentary" allegory. Here, the civil unrest of the sixties is literalized in gruesome detail. While the undead may pose the more exciting threat, ultimately, people should be more afraid of each other.

28 Days Later' (2002)

In 2002, Danny Boyle released 28 Days Later, reflecting back to us the unique fears of this new century. When the deadly Rage Virus is spread all across Great Britain, the isle is quarantined and survivors are left to fend for themselves after the collapse of the government.

Boyle reflected a world that's fearful of its own future. He intentionally mirrors images of historical ethnic conflict and genocide. The film stands in bleak contrast with Edgar Wright's more lighthearted depiction England; gone are all the tokens of un-globalised Britannia (the cozy pub, the cricket bat, the Jaguar). Instead, this is an England upended by the encroaching "other."

Zombieland' (2009).

Like Shaun of the Dead before it, Zombieland is less parody than it is a loving homage. Penned by Deadpool's Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, Zombieland is way more comedy than it is horror. However, this is absolutely a zombie movie, and it systematizes lots of the "rules" that have worked for survivors of the genre.

In this film, the zombies are infected, rather than undead. So, what separates humans from their ferocious ilk? Zombieland answers the question by slowly having its characters lower their guard throughout the runtime. The core characters all connect, showing that what differentiates people from their undead cousins is his need to relate to his fellow human.

'Dawn of the Dead' (1978).

Fourteen years after establishing the modern zombie genre, George Romero returned to show he was its master. This time, rather than concentrating on people stuck in a basement, Romero widens the scope to show zombies in a more urban setting.

The main characters in Dawn of the Dead become trapped in a mall, initially (and mistakenly) believing they've found sanctuary in this palace of consumerism. However, soon, the undead overtake the mall, doomed to repeat the rituals of commercialism that wasted away their lives.

[REC]' (2007).

In [REC], a camera crew and reporter follow a team of firefighters to a distress call involving an aggressive elderly woman. When it becomes clear the woman is infected, the building, and everyone inside, is placed into quarantine.

The filmmakers behind [REC] could not have understood how prophetic their found footage depiction of societal breakdown was. Bleak, and often disturbing, this movie is an accurate picture of frightened people under lockdown.

Day of the Dead' (1985)

By the time of the events in Day of the Dead, its characters have been living alongside the zombie plague for a few years. What few survivors there are left are depicted as either soldiers or scientists. The soldiers are attempting to destroy their undead neighbors, while the scientists search for a deeper understanding.

Train to Busan' (2016).

Train to Busan is popular because it so clearly understands people. Add to that the spectacle of a high-speed train in the zombie apocalypse, and you have an incredible movie.

This is, ultimately, a story about sacrifice vs. selfishness and what it means to the characters in conflict. Would you risk your life to save a stranger?