12 Hidden Gem Zombie Movies You've Probably Never Seen

12. Cargo

Back in 2013 Australian duo Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke's short about a man trying to protect his infant daughter, while infected with a virus that would turn him into a zombie in 48 hours, went appropriately viral on YouTube.

Five years later its feature-length expansion was picked up by Netflix. But the streaming giant haven't really pushed this emotionally resonant zombie story, meaning that many are unaware it even exists.

Martin Freeman brings his embattled everyman quality to the father journeying into the Australian outback to find somewhere for his child to be safe before his time inevitably runs out. Meanwhile, the short's story expands to add newcomer Simone Landers as an aboriginal girl in the opposite situation of trying to protect her infected father.

The post-apocalyptic outback setting provides new and different ground for a zombie story, recalling the stark survival stories of Aussie directors like John Hillcoat and George Miller. This sense of a zombie story that could only have come from this particular country is also present in the themes of the zombie virus as a sort of cosmic payback for the colonial atrocities committed toward Australia's original inhabitants and landscape.

Cargo pushes back against the wider tendency toward modern zombie movies as comedic fun or splatterfests to create a story with real pathos where the horror elements are tied to genuine human fears of loss, both of loved ones and of oneself.