There’s nothing like finding an undiscovered gem on Netflix.
But for zombie movie fans, it’s hard to sort through all the trash. For every Shaun of the Dead, there are a thousand ghoulish flicks with laughably bad special effects, poor pacing, and awful acting.
Sure, you could watch a few minutes of each film in Netflix’s vast catalog (and there’s even a secret link to see just the zombie movies, which we’ll put at the end of the article). If you’re looking for one of those lost gems, however, we’ve got one ready to go.
Allow us to set the scene.
A workaholic father takes his daughter on a train trip to see her mother. While they’re on their way, they see a burning building. A woman gets on the train with a strange bite on her leg.
Then, they start to confront reality: There’s a zombie outbreak on the train. The father must fight to protect his daughter, all while meeting the vividly written characters on the train and fighting against hordes of the undead…not to mention an even greater threat.
Sound like a great way to spend a rainy night? The film is called Train to Busan, and it’s a masterwork from South Korean director Yeon Sang-ho. Yes, that means that it’s subtitled, but you’ll get over it.
Train to Busan has a 96 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and its story is different enough to allow for some truly disturbing thrills. It’s also a surprisingly emotional film, and it treats its horror seriously—you’ll watch with a sense of dread instead of just wondering which character will go down next.
Okay, let’s say that you’re not into subtitles.
You might check out Pontypool, a 2008 horror directed by Bruce McDonald. It’s based on a novel by screenwriter Tony Burgess, and it gives its zombie-like hordes a truly unique origin story. We don’t want to spoil much, since most of the horror comes from the slow, deliberate pacing.
The plot follows a radio announcer, played wonderfully by Stephen McHattie, who gradually realizes that the strange events he’s reporting are linked. That’s really as much as we can say. While Pontypool isn’t a perfect film, it’s filled with wild ideas and horrifying imagery. It’s extremely gory, but hey, you’re looking for a zombie film. You’ll be fine.
For something sillier, consider “Dead Snow” and its sequel, “Dead Snow 2: Red Vs. Dead.”
With excellent special effects, these flicks look amazing—but given that they feature Nazi zombies, they don’t take themselves too seriously. There’s a lot of gory humor, and the sequel actually lives up to the original.
The Dead Snow flicks are better than they have any right to be, as they’re absolutely ridiculous. Maybe that’s why they’re so awesome; you haven’t lived until you’ve seen a guy go on a chainsaw Nazi zombie massacre.
So, let’s say that you’ve already seen all three of those films. Where do you go next?
By using secret category codes, you can actually browse Netflix by sub-genre. We’ve written about it before, and it’s going to change the way you pick out movies.
The “zombie horror” category uses code 75405, and you can check it out on the Netflix website here. Enjoy.
