Casey Chong with nine underrated zombie movies of the 2000s…
By the 2000s, the era marked the rise of the undead – a significant turning point where the zombie genre, previously popularized by George A. Romero, was no longer restricted to typically slow-moving reanimated corpses. They became more aggressive and even capable of charging forward, evidently seen in Danny Boyle’s gritty 28 Days Later, and Zack Snyder’s updated remake of Romero’s Dawn of the Dead, which was more visceral in its tone and style.
The 2000s zombie movies also provided many filmmakers with an opportunity to explore the genre in various styles, notably the found-footage approach in the Spanish-language [REC] and the irreverent blend of horror and comedy in Shaun of the Dead. Beyond these familiar and popular zombie movies, there are several others that either slipped under the radar or were largely forgotten at the time of their release. Below is our curated pick of nine underrated zombie movies of the 2000s worth checking out if you haven’t done so already…
The Roost (2005)
Years before Ti West hits critical breakthrough in The House of the Devil, the acclaimed indie horror filmmaker already got off to an ambitious start with The Roost. The story follows four friends (Karl Jacob, Vanessa Horneff, Sean Reid, and Wil Horneff) as they are on their way to a wedding, only to end up in a car accident after a sudden encounter with a bat. Stuck in the middle of nowhere, their only chance to get help is heading to a farmhouse. What they find instead is a colony of vampire bats and zombie-like creatures terrorizing the night.
Despite the zombie movie setup, West eschews the gore-heavy approach typically associated with the genre in favor of slow-burn tension and atmospheric dread. The pacing is deliberate, and even by the time the zombies start attacking from the second half onwards, West maintains the same foreboding mood throughout the movie while keeping the gore sparse. Sombre tone aside, West manages to slip in meta humor in between, notably the grainy black-and-white footage featuring Tom Noonan as a late-night horror host speaking in front of the camera as he presents the story structured in a movie-within-a-movie style.
La Horde (2009)
Leave it to French cinema when it comes to extreme violence and gore. Benjamin Rocher and Yannick Dahan’s La Horde a.k.a The Horde is simply one of them — a no-holds-barred zombie horror that doesn’t shy away from the matter-of-fact brutality associated with the undead. The story goes like this: A team of vengeful cops led by Ouesse (Jean-Pierre Martins), are on a mission to hunt down Markudi (Eriq Ebouaney), the drug dealer responsible for the death of their colleague. He is hiding inside a building along with his gang members, José (Jo Prestia) and Markudi’s volatile younger brother, Bola (Doudou Masta). However, the cops’ mission goes awry, which also includes the sudden zombie apocalypse that somehow brought the city to a standstill.
Rocher and Dahan aren’t interested in feeding the viewers with explanations or exposition of any kind about the zombie outbreak. It just happens all of a sudden, and the only thing that matters now is the surviving cops and the bad guys are forced to work together to fight their way out as more zombies storming into the building. La Horde is essentially a movie about survival, like a zombie version of Assault on Precinct 13 and even The Raid (despite the latter being released in 2011), but instead of a police station, they are trapped within the confines of a high-rise building. The gore and violence are unrelenting, the pacing is brisk, and the whole thing is simply gritty as hell. The kind that is designed to satisfy the gorehounds looking for nothing more than a no-nonsense, unadulterated zombie-movie mayhem.
Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane (2007)
Originally titled Plane Dead, the rather in-your-face Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane is exactly what the title promises. There’s a zombie outbreak within the confines of a plane, thanks to a group of scientists who figure it’s a good idea to transport a highly classified container in the cargo area. This is especially true with the plane being a commercial airliner filled with civilian passengers on board as the container in question holds a reanimated corpse infected with a genetically engineered virus.
Director and co-writer Scott Thomas takes his time establishing the tone by going through the introduction of the scientists, passengers, and the flight crew. It takes a long while before the movie gets to the zombie part, but it’s worth the wait once the reanimated corpse starts infecting others, and it’s a full-on gorefest from here, all visceral shock and thrills with the prominent use of practical effects and zombie makeup. The movie may have been hampered by occasional shoddy CGI effects, but if you can look past that, Flight of the Living Dead: Outbreak on a Plane remains a gory fun for fans of the genre.
Versus (2000)
Ryuhei Kitamura’s go-for-broke filmmaking in his indie Japanese zombie horror is equivalent to assorted sushi and sashimi with a dash of wasabi and sake, tossed into a blender, and what you get here is an eccentric mix of Evil Dead-style movie mayhem, with a distinct Asian twist, that is, notably with its kinetic elements of the samurai genre and even Hong Kong-style action movie. The story takes place in the forest, where Prisoner KSC2-303 (Tak Sakaguchi) becomes the last man standing to fight against the Yakuzas, while protecting the mysterious Girl (Chieko Misaka).
Versus is unapologetically fun and wild to the core, and Kitamura knows it, showering his movie with enough outrageous gore and violence. The fight scenes are expertly choreographed with none of the jittery-cam nonsense, favored only by crisp camerawork, allowing you to enjoy the elaborate choreography. Kitamura’s frequent use of dynamic camerawork helps a lot to accentuate the engrossing experience, while Tak Sakaguchi’s brooding anti-hero persona, oozing enough roguish charm to his role as both skilled fighter and protector.
Pontypool (2008)
This Canadian horror thriller is unlike anything you usually find in the zombie genre. Based on Tony Burgess’s 1995 novel Pontypool Changes Everything, the movie takes place predominantly within the radio station in Pontypool, Ontario. Radio announcer Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) along with his colleagues, Laurel-Ann (Georgina Reilly) and Sydney (Lisa Houle), find out there’s an unusual outbreak in the midst of a snowstorm. A disease in the form of a language transmitted through specific English words, which is capable of turning anyone into violent zombie-like creatures.
Director Bruce McDonald favors both atmospheric and psychological dread to evoke a sense of claustrophobia in Pontypool. The strange yet contagious disease serves as a cruel metaphor of viral misinformation, media integrity, and linguistic weaponization, primarily seen from Grant’s shock jock approach. Backed by McHattie’s solid lead performance, Pontypool is one-of-its-kind zombie movie that subverts the usual tropes, offering fans and viewers something different for a change.
Fido (2006)
What if the traditional 1950s suburbia is given an alternate timeline, where humans and zombies serve as an allegory for racial and social segregations? This is especially true with the zombies in Andrew Currie’s satirical horror comedy, Fido, who are depicted as lower-class “people” being exploited as slaves to perform menial labor and household chores with the help of remote-controlled collars secured around their necks. The collars in question are designed to prevent zombies from attacking humans, which in turn makes them obedient to their masters.
One of the zombies is Fido (Billy Connolly), who serves the Robinsons (Dylan Baker, Carrie-Anne Moss) and their young son Timmy (K’Sun Ray). The latter treats Fido like a pet zombie, and even a friend, where the unlikely bond between the human and zombie becomes the movie’s heart and soul. Not to mention Billy Connolly’s Fido, whose limited emotions as a zombie expressed through varied grunts and eye movements, perfectly capture his signature idiosyncratic comedic style. Despite the occasional display of gore and violence, Fido is surprisingly heartwarming for a zombie movie.
Dead & Breakfast (2004)
Long before Oz Perkins became synonymous with directing atmospheric horrors, he was also an occasional actor, with appearances such as the low-budget zombie comedy Dead & Breakfast. He plays Johnny, one of the six friends (among them played by Jeremy Sisto, Ever Carradine, and Erik Palladino), who are on the way to their friend’s wedding in an RV. But somehow, they got lost and decided to make a stop at a local bed & breakfast in the small town of Lovelock. Writer-director Matthew Leutwyler gamely incorporates musical elements into his zombie comedy, highlighting the on-and-off appearance of Zach Selwyn’s Randall Keith Randall, who shows up as the movie’s narrator and musician. The latter would see him occasionally strumming his acoustic guitar and singing bluegrass-style songs, which at one point, the zombies lined up for a synchronized dance. And that scene contains Selwyn’s infectiously catchy tune.
Although the movie slacks around in the earlier stretch, Dead & Breakfast eventually delivers its goods, especially after Johnny discovers a little wooden box and opens it, causing the malevolent spirit of Kuman Thong to release from captivity. Well, the next thing you know, Johnny got possessed, and so did the local townsfolk. Perkins has a field day playing the unhinged role of a possessed Johnny, who leads a pack of zombies towards the bed & breakfast. Then, there is enough over-the-top gore and violence to please the genre fans, with a mix of witty and broad humor thrown in for a good measure.
Undead (2003)
The Spierig Brothers’ (Peter and Michael) feature-length debut Undead is an ambitious, low-budget indie Australian horror. Initially looking like your average zombie apocalypse film terrorizing the small town – in this case, Berkeley in Queensland — where the meteor shower hits the ground, turning the local townsfolk into zombies. Rene (Felicity Mason) is among the few survivors, who manage to seek refuge in the house owned by a peculiar, gun-toting local named Marion (a brooding Mungo McKay). The latter has a history in the past, and he seems to be all prepared and knows something about the apocalypse.
This is where the Spierig Brothers start to mix things up, incorporating elements of sci-fi and all things surrealistic in between. It’s tonally weird, but in a good way, thanks to the directing duo’s overall scrappy energy. It’s equally amazing even with a limited budget, the movie looks like it costs a lot more, given its excessively gory parts and the suspended animation scene where the chosen abducted are being beamed above the sky.
Dance of the Dead (2008)
It’s a high-school comedy, but with a zombie twist. Directed by Gregg Bishop, Dance of the Dead follows a group of unlikely heroes saving the day as the zombies made their ways to the high school in the small town of Cosa in Georgia, where the prom happens to take place. The heroes in question are teenage misfits, who can’t score a date, with the exception of Jimmy (Jared Kusnitz) and Lindsey (Greyson Chadwick)’s on-and-off relationship.
Bishop does a commendable job making us root for the characters as we watch them go through the ordeal. He also packed the movie with plenty of quirky and cheesy humor, and even with a measly budget at his disposal, he manages to incorporate plenty of worthwhile gore and violence. The highlight, however, lies in the unexpected places: the zombies somehow become defenseless upon listening to the three-person band’s live music, led by Nash Rambler (Blair Redford). At one point, the band plays the cover version of Pat Benatar’s “Shadows of the Night” during the climactic zombie-infested prom scene, easily the movie’s most memorable moment.
What are your favourite zombie movies of the 2000s? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Casey Chong
