28 Years Later releases in cinemas this week and if its has given you an appetite for some gore, here are some zombie-filled treats you can watch from your sofa.
Director and writing duo Danny Boyle and Alex Garland return to the 28 Days later franchise with their new film 28 Years Later, starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer and Ralph Fiennes.
Excitement is high for a return to the bleak world, which has seen the Rage Virus sweep across Britain and leave devastation in its wake.
While horror fans will be relishing a visit to the cinema to catch the new ‘three-quel’ instalment in the franchise, here are some zombie-filled flicks you can settle down and hide behind your sofa cushion at home with.
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
This gory classic in the zombie genre comes from the mind of horror legend George A. Romero, who is credited with popularising the zombie film as we know it with his previous flick Night of the Living Dead.
In Dawn of the Dead, a group of survivors made up of SWAT team members, a traffic reporter and a TV executive find refuge in an abandoned shopping mall in Philadelphia amid a growing zombie apocalypse. While they hope to find their safety inside the huge building, they soon realise that they may not have escaped the zombies just yet…
The 2004 Zack Snyder remake was critically acclaimed (although Romero found it to be in poor taste) but unfortunately this version is currently unavailable on UK streaming services.
Dawn of the Dead (1978) is available to stream as part of your Amazon Prime Video subscription. You can also rent or buy the title on Apple TV and Sky Store
Train to Busan
Hopping over to South Korea, Train to Busan is considered a modern classic in the zombie genre, directed by Yeon Sang-ho. The film’s popularity and success launched a franchise, that has so far included an animated spin-off and other projects, and an American remake is in the works.
The film follows divorced dad Seok-woo who boards a train with his daughter Su-an from Seoul to Busan to visit the child’s mother for her birthday. However, after boarding the train, a fast-travelling zombie virus breaks out in South Korea, with all the passengers trapped onboard battling for survival in the claustrophobic carriages.
Train to Busan is available to watch with the STUDIOCANAL PRESENTS add-on with your Prime Video or Apple TV+ account. You can also rent or buy the title on Apple TV or Sky Store.
Shaun of the Dead
Shaun of the Dead is the beloved comedic spin on the zombie genre from the minds of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg, and launched the so-called ‘Cornetto Trilogy’ that shot the pair and actor Nick Frost to big-screen fame.
The film centres on an uninspired shop assistant named Shaun (Pegg) who initially is completely oblivious to the zombie infection taking hold in the world around him. Alerted to the impending danger by a zombie who breaks into their garden, Shaun and flatmate Ed (Frost) devise a plan to gather Shaun’s parents and ex-girlfriend Liz and hold up at their local pub, The Winchester, until the apocalypse blows over.
Shaun of the Dead is available to watch with your Prime Video subscription. It is also available to rent or buy on Apple TV, Sky Store and YouTube.
Zombieland
Zombieland is another comedic take on the zombie genre, but this time we travel across the pond as Jesse Eisenberg, Emma Stone, Abigail Breslin and Woody Harrelson star in this flick, which spawned a sequel and short-lived television spin-off.
Shy college graduate Columbus (Eisenberg) is traveling towards Ohio in the middle of a zombie apocalypse to reach his parents when he joins forces with a Twinkie-hunting gunman named Tallahassee (Harrelson) and two sisters, Wichita (Stone) and Little Rock (Breslin), who are aiming to reach a reportedly zombie-free theme-park.
Zombieland is available to watch with your NOW TV and Prime Video subscription. You can also rent or buy the film on Apple TV and Sky Store.
[REC]
For the found-footage horror fans among you, this Spanish film mixes the zombie genre with the hyper-realistic filmmaking method that had been made famous by cult horror flick The Blair Witch Project.
Rec centres on reporter Manuela as she and her cameraman accompanying a group of firefighters visiting an emergency call inside an apartment building, only to find that a deadly virus is sweeping through the inside. The film is shown from the point of view of the cameraman’s device, giving an ultra-realistic vibe to this terrifying undead film.
Rec is available to watch with an Arrow Video add-on on your Prime Video account. You can also rent or buy Rec on Apple TV or YouTube.
28 Days Later
What better place to start your half-dead journey than with the film that launched Danny Boyle’s grim universe. 28 Days Later is the film that kicked off the franchise upon its release in 2002.
It catapulted Cillian Murphy and Naomie Harris to fame and sparked a modern revitalisation of the zombie genre. Bike courier Jim (Murphy) wakes up from a coma 28 days after the Rage Virus has swept across the UK, devastating the population and leaving once-bustling cities baron. After meeting fellow survivor Selena (Harris), they go on a journey to find what they think is sanctuary from the infected-filled world.
28 Days Later is currently to watch for free on the BBC iPlayer until July 15. You can also rent or buy the film on stores such as Prime Video, Sky Store and Apple TV.
28 Weeks Later
The follow-up to Danny Boyle’s 2002 film 28 Days Later was released in 2007. 28 Weeks Later saw director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo take the reins this time and stars Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Idris Elba and Jeremy Renner among others.
Set 28 weeks after the outbreak of the rage virus, survivors and refugees are being assigned homes in new designated ‘safe-zones’ in London as part of a NATO-led military operation. The film centre on Don (Carlyle), who is reunited with his children in one of these safe zones, but after a breach the Rage Virus takes hold once again.
28 Weeks Later is available to watch as part of your Netflix subscription or on Disney+. You can also rent or buy 28 Weeks Later from Prime Video, Apple TV or Sky Store.
Night of the Living Dead
No6 Cinema has teamed up with Action Stations, both in the Historic Dockyard, to offer the chance to play an hour of Laser Quest before the screening on Saturday.
Tickets including the game and film are £15.
There will be free zombie makeup in the bar from 5.30, with Laser Quest from 6-7pm and the film starts at 7.15pm.
Go to no6cinema.co.uk.
There would be no zombie films as we know them without George A. Romero’s horror classic Night of the Living Dead. This 1968 flick kickstarted the genre and became the ultimate cult hit, garnering fans across the world and going on to inspire some of the biggest horror films in the world.
Night of the Living Dead follows a group of people who are trapped in a rural farmhouse in Pennsylvania who are being hunted by flesh-eating undead corpses.
Night of the Living Dead is available to watch for free on Tubi and Plex, and is also available in-colour as part of your Prime Video subscription.
