10 Great Horror Movies Made By Non-Horror Directors

One of Britain’s most important directors is Danny Boyle. His works have transformed the world of British cinema and updated it to the 21st Century after a long period of stagnation. 1996’s Trainspotting is still essential viewing for film students to this day, and 2008’s Slumdog Millionaire is one of the most important movies of the modern era. However, Boyle is also responsible for creating the most important zombie movie ever made: 28 Days Later.

The genre of 'zombie movie' by 2000 was dead. After Romero’s revolution in the 60s/70s, zombies were overused time and time again in the decades to come, to the point that they weren’t effective horror material anymore. They were reduced to nothing more than a joke in 2002 with a zombie comedy after zombie comedy. However, 28 Days Later turned all of this around by changing the genre in one specific way: because of their speed and blood-thirsty determinism, Boyle’s ‘rage zombies’ were legitimately terrifying. This marked the end of the slow cumbersome zombie, and it opened up new ideas in horror.

Though 28 Days Later focuses more on relatable human survival than zombie slaughter, Boyle’s approach to the genre marked the way for future zombie hits such as Zombieland, Dawn Of The Dead, Train To Busan and World War Z. Boyle, however, refuses to recognize his rage monsters as ‘zombies' to this day, even if his audience says otherwise.