Michael A. Appel 
Avoiding handy fruits can be tricky when selecting the worst zombie movies, the subgenre is littered with movies so bad they’re good that seem to go out of their way to be taken seriously by audiences. . However, those who do can often distinguish between intense horror and laughable silliness.
Since George Romero resurrected the dead from their shallow graves in 1968, the zombie flick has been a box office staple, recently experiencing a resurgence after the success of AMC’s hit series, The walking dead. Yet few have managed to replicate the same critical and commercial success and now find themselves lying face down, alongside the corpses that are failed zombie movies.
ten Army of the Dead script lacks brains for audiences to feast on
Director Zack Snyder showed he can bring the zombie genre to life in 2004 with his remake of Dawn of the dead. His second zombie outing although, Army of the dead, was a very different story. A convoluted storyline with a concept that is never fully realized, the film centers on a heist in an infected and infested city of Las Vegas.
The film fails to make sense, with wild changes in tone leaving stars Dave Bautista and Garret Dillahunt lost and indifferent to their performances. And with a battery life of just under 2.5 hours, it’s a far cry from the fast-paced popcorn fun that zombie fans have come to expect.
9 The Dead Don’t Die cradles the audience in dead silence
Few Undead Adventures boast the quality of the cast of The dead don’t die. Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Steve Buscemi, Chloe Sevigny, the list goes on. Still, on-screen talent was unfortunately not enough to save this zom-com, it opened at the Cannes Film Festival in 2019 with a mixed reception, and its mediocre IMDb score of 5.5 shows that it did not quite live up to expectations.
The movie’s mediocre pace and no-fun script left audiences with more yawns than laughs or scares, pale in comparison to hilarious hits like Murray’s other zombie flick, the land of zombies, and the beloved Shaun of the Dead.
8 Resident Evil: Afterlife is a disappointing resurrection for director Paul WS Anderson
An absolute juggernaut in the video game world, Capcom’s resident Evil the franchise shows no signs of slowing down, with comics, movies, and video games released every year. Paul WS Anderson directed the film series, wrote and directed the original film, Resident Evil, in 2002. The sequels that followed diminished in quality without his director’s advice, and Anderson therefore took over the director’s chair for the fourth installment, Resident Evil: the afterlife.
Anderson’s return hasn’t stemmed the tide of the show’s decline. Even Wentworth Miller returning to his Michael Scofield roots, escaping from prison then resident Evil Chris Redfield, was not enough to make the film a success.
7 REC 3 marks a sharp drop in quality for the series
The original REC was a revelation, bringing a new take on the zombie movie with its found images style. Horror and fear galore, the Spanish film was a huge hit in 2007 and led to an American remake the following year. A Spanish sequel followed, with the original director and the main cast.
Then came the third movie, REC 3: Genesis. He made an admirable attempt to turn things around for the franchise, leaving behind the subgenre of the footage found at the start of the film, as well as the change of director and star. The changes alienated fans and almost derailed the franchise. Fortunately, a fourth film would follow, REC 4: Apocalypse original star and director restored, and put the series back on track.
6 Ving Rhames is no match for this zombie apocalypse
Before Zombie apocalypse, the sight of Ving Rhames on a poster for a zombie movie naturally aroused excitement. The actor received praise for his performance in Zack Snyder’s film Dawn of the Dead remake, leading a group of survivors with its cool and effortless style.
He pains the living dead here again, but a lackluster story, low budget, and horrific CGI make Rhames’ performance and the film as a whole much less enjoyable. The movie featured a zombie tiger before it was cool, so it still has that edge.
5 Romero’s career ends at rock bottom with Survival of the Dead
The Godfather of the Dead, George A. Romero, started it all in 1968 with his trilogy of classic zombies. The director’s filmography is a showcase of the genre at its best. Still, Romero’s later years have failed to replicate the success he started out with, and Twilight in his career features the least inspired subgenre, with the worst offender being Survival of the dead.
A loose sequel to the 2007s Journal of the Dead, Survival attempts to return to the roots of the series, abandoning the found images technique used in Personal diary, however, the combination of poor acting and a boring storyline disappointed fans.
4 Cell Wastes Talent A-List
Cinema legend Samuel L. Jackson is arguably the master of enhancing a movie with nothing more than pure charisma. The actor can take a questionable concept like Snakes in an airplane and turn it into a devilishly enjoyable popcorn movie. As the title suggests, Cell is a movie about an apocalypse triggered by a cell phone signal. Based on a book by Stephen King and featuring real talent like the aforementioned John Cusack and Jackson, there was certainly potential for a great viewing experience.
While this movie doesn’t feature the walking dead per se, it consistently follows the tired tropes of the zombie movie, giving audiences a watch and earning its place among the worst the subgenre has to offer.
3 House Of The Dead Should Have Continued To Live On Consoles
Video game adaptations have seen their quality increase in recent years, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and Sonic the hedgehog being fine examples of the transition made to perfection. But for a long time, video game movies seemed meant only for bargains at the local DVD store.
The undisputed king of these bad video game films was German director Uwe Boll, with his 2005 adaptation of Alone in the dark being considered one of the worst movies ever made, regardless of genre. However, this was not the first disastrous video game adaptation of Boll, the 2003s. House of death, based on the popular Sega game of the same name, was arguably even worse. The film currently has an embarrassing 2.1 score on IMDb.
2 Rave To The Grave Isn’t A Party You Want To Be Invited To
Horror as a genre tends to get a bad reputation for regurgitating the same old ideas, recycling franchises and characters like the environment depends on them. Return of the Living Dead was once a thrilling, fun, and tongue-in-cheek look at hordes of the living dead, but after many brainless episodes it has become the movie equivalent of whipping a dead horse.
Although director Ellory Elkayam has experience in the horror comedy genre (he directed the years 2002 Eight Legged Freaks) Return Of The Living Dead 5: Rave To The Grave takes the series to new lows. Gruesome acting, incredible special effects, and a nearly nonexistent storyline make this movie nothing more than an exploitation of an established name.
1 Night Of The Living Dead has gone public (and unfortunately in 3D)
George Romero essentially invented the genre with his Night of the Living Dead trilogy, but due to mismanagement of legal issues, the original zombie flick fell into the public domain. Cheap cash-in, Night of the Living Dead 3D was born, and the public suffered for it. Offensive in every way to the original, the tasteless reimagining of the classic Romero did not please fans or critics.
This was not the first remake however, in 1991 Tom Savini had much better results with his refresh of the title. that of Savini Night of the Living Dead also featured an excellent performance from a young Candyman himself, Tony Todd.
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