10 Most Unique Plots In Zombie Movies

Those zombie movies that like to think outside the undead box.

by Andrew Pollard
Cooties 2014
Lionsgate

Much like so many other horror subgenres, the trusty zombie movie is one that brings to mind certain stereotypes, certain familiar tropes and a whole bunch of fist-chewing clichés.

For the most part, a good chunk of these undead pictures feature a slew of the shuffling corpses swarming the landscape, while a group of would-be survivors battle themselves and the zombies in their desperate quest to live another day.

Thankfully, there are those other films in this groaning, moaning corner of cinema that try to think outside of the box a little bit rather than just rehash the ideas that are commonplace and overdone.

Sure, that 'outside of the box' thinking may not always lead to a particularly great movie, but hey, god loves a trier, right? And boy, have some filmmakers clearly tried their hardest to come up with something way, way above the norm when it comes to serving up offerings based around the undead.

With all of that in mind, then, here are ten such zombie movies that, for better or worse, at least had some damn original premises at play.

10. Aaah! Zombies!!

Cooties 2014
Level 33 Entertainment

Whether you know it as Aaah! Zombies!! or Wasting Away, Matthew Kohnen's 2007 movie is a hugely intriguing beast due to how it flipped the script on what audiences had largely come to expect from zombie films.

In Aaah! Zombies!!, the majority of the action is told from the viewpoint of the zombies of the picture.

Having become infected after eating ice cream that had been contaminated by a military test serum, our core group of undead here aren't quite privy to the fact that they are actually in fact zombies.

With an obvious dose of humour on display, Aaah! Zombies!! delightfully switches the perspective throughout its 90-minute run time. The scenes seen from the zombies' perspective are shown in colour and at normal pace featuring normal interactions - just with a dollop of brains being eaten here or there.

Away from this, the movie utilises black and white scenes to show how these undead sorts are viewed by the rest of the world. As in, very much your regular zombies from your regular zombie films.

There are numerous zombie flicks which embrace comedy as part of their tale, yet few do it as well or as uniquely as Aaah! Zombies!! does.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.