The 1980s are considered by more than one source as the best decade for horror. And one of the ways in which it excelled the most is with zombie movies. Birthing now-famous franchises such as Evil Dead, continuing the Romero Dead movies, and Russo’s Living Dead series, it sparked unlimited and undeniable creativity and potential, changing horror movies, especially those involving zombies, for decades to come.
The amount of zombie movies made in the ’80s alone is staggering, but the most iconic ones stand out to this day. Every movie on this list has either had a remake or reboot, sometimes several. The references and parodies to these legendary movies are endless, as their place in culture is known even well outside of horror fandom.
So, among this impressive and extensive list of ’80s zombie movies, which are the best?
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
6 The Fog (1980)
AVCO Embassy Pictures
The Fog opens with a campfire ghost story, and retains that creepy style as it delves into its story. Directed by the horror movie titan John Carpenter, the film is a surprisingly short movie that could have used another 20-30 minutes for its brief, but fantastic climax. It still went on to be a success, starting the decade of the ’80s horror movies off spectacularly. Lead actresses Jamie Lee Curtis and Adrienne Barbeau are especially fantastic in their roles - Curtis even credits The Fog with changing her life. With an aura of jazz and the moody fog surrounding everything, the best part about this film is the atmosphere that Carpenter manages to create as he tells the story of the nightmarish undead who arrive with the fog into the small coastal town of Antonio Bay, in Northern California.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
5 Day of the Dead (1985)
United Film Distribution Company
Day of the Dead is George Romero’s third movie in the Night of the Living Dead series, and starts with what is probably one of the most memorable opening scenes of any zombie movie. The success of this movie, and of the whole series, resulted in two remakes, as well as a recent TV series. Though the ratings for the movie are often mixed, it has a secure status as a cult classic, with the amount of parodies and references uncountable. Most notably, the movie explores the nature of intelligent zombies who can learn how to do things such as listen to music, communicate, and even hold a gun. 1985 would go on to be a wildly successful year for notable zombie movies.
4 Re-Animator (1985)
Empire International Pictures
Re-Animator is loosely based on an H.P. Lovecraft story, which partly explains why it was so good and signature - it helps that it stars the excellent Jeffrey Combs. This hilarious horror movie tells the story of a scientist at a university who discovers a way to bring people back from the dead - to reanimate them. He brings his roommate into the project, and they go further with their experiments, reaching a point where their entire campus is plagued by zombies. With a deadpan style of absurd humor, bizarre and gory special effects, and the perfectly cast Combs at the center, this move was an immediate hit, spawning two sequels and cementing its place in zombie horror flicks.
3 The Evil Dead (1981)
New Line Cinema
The Evil Dead was a thrown-together, low-budget horror that bent the rules of all horror before then - and had unprecedented success for it. A pet project by then-unknowns Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, the small amount of money they had for the film helped them to get creative with their special effects, which resulted in a supremely entertaining style that launched Raimi into lasting fame as a director. Raimi originally wanted to make comedy movies, but he was fascinated by the skill and fun that horror movies looked to be, so he and Campbell were set on making a horror film themselves.
The main question here is whether Evil Dead counts as a zombie movie. “Deadites” are demonically possessed, but they are also, in a way, undead corpses. The characters are reanimated back to life, even if it’s because of necromancy rather than some kind of virus or experimental science. At the very least, it sits in a gray area between a zombie movie and a demonic possession movie - maybe we can call them “demonic zombies”. If we count Evil Dead as a zombie movie, it undoubtedly sits near the top.
The movie stars Bruce Campbell as the absolutely legendary Ash, who is one of the most well-known horror protagonists ever. Each sequel film gets subsequently more ridiculous and more fun, but the first one is the most horror-like and eerie, starting with a truly disturbing scene, and progressing into both creepy terror and entertaining effects, as each character becomes tainted with demonic possession or is murdered trying to fight them - except Ash of course, who goes on to have bizarre and fantastic adventures. The movie was so well received that even Stephen King, after watching it, wrote a stellar review that called Evil Dead “the most ferociously original horror film of the year.” This movie spawned sequels, video games, comic books, a truly terrifying remake (which is described as a remake, sequel, and reboot all in one), and even a TV series.
2 The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Orion Pictures
Co-creators John Russo and George Romero made the first modern zombie movie, Night of the Living Dead, in 1968, setting the stage for all zombie movies that came after. But Russo and Romero had a dispute about how their sequel movie would be done, so they agreed to split into two different franchises: Romero’s called the “Dead” series, and Russo’s called the “Living Dead” series, with both branches sharing the same original movie.
The compromise worked well, and thus The Return of the Living Dead was born. Russo went into a more comedic, zany, slapstick style than Romero did, with the New York Times describing the movie as a “mordant punk comedy.” The film follows Freddy and his boss Frank, who talk about the events of Night of the Living Dead, before moving to Freddy’s girlfriend and punk friends in a cemetery. Notably, the movie invented the concept of zombies eating brains - and they don’t die from a headshot either. The ending is especially ironic, and the film reached cult classic status over the years, spawning four more sequels afterwards.
1 Evil Dead II (1987)
Rosebud Releasing Corporation
Sam Raimi made his mark with the first Evil Dead movie, but it was the sequel, Evil Dead II, where he really honed in on the signature style of the Evil Dead series, and the wild story of Ash. This movie stepped up intensely on everything that made the first one successful - the low-budget special effects, the over-the-top story, the slapstick humor, the cheesiness - all of it. And it worked even better, glorifying in exactly the right kind of movie magic that fans wanted again. It’s one of those rare examples where a sequel is actually better than the original, and it defined both Raimi’s style, and the style of the Evil Dead franchise.
After the resounding success of his first movie, Raimi went on to direct Crimewave, which wasn’t nearly as well-received. In light of that, he decided to revisit Evil Dead, and amplify everything that people had loved about the first movie. Campbell’s exaggerated acting serves the movie well, making the character’s story engrossing. He manages to be both campy and sincere, as does the movie itself, and the result is a fun ride that is definitively the best zombie movie of the 1980s.
