12 Hidden Gem Zombie Movies You've Probably Never Seen

Released within a few months of Cargo, but existing at the far opposite end of the tonal spectrum from that film's pensively serious approach, we have this chaotic DIY Japanese comedy, a meta cheap zombie movie about making a cheap zombie movie.

Major award winning drama 1917 has drawn huge critical praise for its long, unbroken takes, but this low budget zomcom uses a similar technique to skewer primma donna egotistical control freak directors so convinced of their own genius.

The first 40 minutes of One Cut Of The Dead take place in a single unbroken shot in which Takayuki Hamatsu's demanding director attempts to shoot a cheap zombie horror in an abandoned industrial facility once used for secret military experiments. The film continues without cutting as the zombie film-within-a-film gets attacked by actual zombies, all while the director enthusiastically insists his crew keep filming.

The film may struggle a little to maintain this level as it moves into a more conventional structure - flashing back to set up the characters and then paying off all those flashbacks in some creative final act gags - but it's still a remarkably inventive little comedy that doesn't hold back on the blood.

Made for a meagre 3 million yen (about $25,000), the movie went on to take over 3 billion yen at the Japanese box office, a sensation at home that deserves to be more widely seen around the rest of the world.