History’s greatest villains have also made for some of cinema’s scariest foes and the Nazi zombie movie offers a terrifyingly cathartic cinematic experience. The zombie as both allegory and a beast of carnage was popularized by the grisly classic Night of the Living Dead, and the undead’s reputation as resurrected titans of the screen was cemented by the likes of Dawn of the Dead, 28 Days Later, and Shaun of the Dead. Offering a grisly subgenre to the usual zombie fare, Nazi zombies represent a unique opportunity to scare that is drenched in the real-life terrors of history.
Since Romero devised the shambling undead concept in 1968, a variety of different zombie species have emerged in popular culture, and the zombie idea is one of the most flexible in horror history. The most influential zombie movies have totally revolutionized horror, and Nazi zombies have actually been around in cinema since WWII.
