10 Zombie Films Livelier Than Fear The Walking Dead

Take a lifeless drama with uninteresting characters and soap opera-level dialogue, throw in a zombie or two and you’ve got Fear The Walking Dead, whose pilot episode became the highest-rated cable series debut ever.

10.1 million people watched a programme that committed every storytelling sin imaginable, from clunky foreshadowing (a teacher tells his class that when man fights against nature, “nature always wins”) to characters who wander off alone down dark corridors, discover a pool of blood and say, “Something really bad happened.”

It’s apt that one character talks about painting by numbers because this is storytelling by numbers, a one-from-column-A drama so dull it feels like time is standing still. If you’re going to exploit the zombie genre for the umpteenth time, and you have nothing new to offer, at least have the decency to be entertaining.

Before wasting your time with a show whose title is as original as its content, be aware that there are several lesser-known zombie films far more deserving of your time. They’re not all "good" (they certainly weren’t endorsed by critics), but each one goes hell bent for leather to give the audience a good time.

Some of them are rude, most of them are crude, and one of them even throws in a few music numbers. Anything for the sake of an entertaining show, right, gang? 

Bruno Mattei, the king of Italian knock-offs, stepped in to complete this in-name-only sequel when original director Lucio Fulci fell ill, turning it into one of the funniest zombie films ever to reach the screen.

When a biological weapon (codenamed Death One, obviously) is stolen in broad daylight by a thief without a getaway vehicle, it contaminates everyone who comes into contact with it, turning them into bug-eyed bad actors who lumber around in green goo make-up. Moments later, zombies are everywhere, blocking bridges, hiding in abandoned hotels and even lurking in swimming pools (there’s also a flying disembodied head, a zombie DJ and a mutant baby, but enough already).

When shown in long shot, the undead are the standard shuffling horde, but whenever they come within ten feet of their intended victim, they transform into kung-fu fighting, machete wielding ninjas capable of running, leaping and swimming after their prey. Eat your heart out, Resident Evil.