Connect with us

Editorials

10 Unconventional Zombie Movies!

Published

on

George A. Romero forever changed the way cinema handled zombies with Night of the Living Dead, and the zombie sub-genre spent the subsequent decades emulating the rules and formula he’d created. To the point where most zombie releases tend to be met with groans, having long since become a bit stale and repetitive.

But, like most sub-genres of horror that have waned in popularity, all it takes is one innovative twist to breathe new life into the undead. Take 2016’s Train to Busan, a zombie outbreak film set mostly on a train and with a ton of heart. Or Irish horror film The Cured, out on VOD now, that posits what happens after a cure for the infected has been found and implemented.

While most zombie films tend to be a dime a dozen, there are a great number of worthwhile horror films breaking the mold. Here are 10 good zombie films that defy convention.


Seoul Station

This prequel to surprise hit Train to Busan takes a drastic unconventional aesthetic choice; it’s animated. From there, it leans heavily into genre tropes to make a social critique on how the homeless population is perceived and treated. So, looking past the unique look of the film, that doesn’t exactly scream unconventional. Until you realize that writer/director Yeon Sang-ho has been playing you the entire time, knowing you’ll play into every single expectation the zombie sub-genre has taught us before pivoting and pulling the rug out from under us. In that sense, Seoul Station weaponizes zombie convention, giving viewers an equally emotional viewing experience as Train to Busan; just in a completely different way.


The Battery

This indie darling written and directed by Jeremy Gardner on a micro-budget follows two former baseball players slash best friends trying to survive long after a zombie apocalypse has ravaged the world, or at least the New England area in which the film takes place. Even though the rules of the zombie apocalypse fall right in line with every zombie apocalypse before it, it still manages to reinvigorate the sub-genre by not really being a zombie movie at all. It’s more of a unique road trip movie among buds, Ben and Mickey, trying to survive. Sure, there are occasional zombie encounters, some humorous and some harrowing, but in its own unique way, The Battery is a sort of anti-zombie zombie movie. It works.


Dead & Buried

Gary Sherman’s underrated ‘80s horror film is unconventional for both its unique undead rules and for its mysterious atmosphere. Set in a small coastal town, Sheriff Gillis must investigate a series of grisly murders of visitors, only to discover that the town’s dead are re-animating. The walking undead in this town aren’t your cookie cutter zombies, but to explain further would be stepping into massive spoiler territory. The narrative also pays homage to the original zombies, in which the dead were reanimated by way of voodoo (don’t worry, that’s not a spoiler). Though this was a story that favored chills and atmosphere over gore, Stan Winston’s makeup effects made the few gore scenes really stick their landing.


28 Days Later

Best Horror Films

Before Alex Garland toyed with sci-fi and horror conventions in Ex Machina and Annihilation, he forever altered the way we perceived zombies by penning 28 Days Later. Stemming from a simple concept of wanting to do a movie featuring running zombies, Garland and director Danny Boyle gave us one of the most terrifying collapses of society on screen. Stemming from a rage-inducing virus that spread like wildfire, the infected aren’t exactly undead. They might as well be, though, as any semblance of humanity is long gone once the virus takes root; just an inherent instinct for swift brutality.


Shaun of the Dead

Edgar Wright’s breakout hit wasn’t the first zombie comedy, or even the first zombie rom-com, but it was the first to give zombies a massive mainstream appeal. It affectionately played with deconstructed zombie tropes, giving audiences outside of our genre a zombie education they didn’t know they were getting by using sharp-witted humor. By paying homage to the films that came before it but with a mass market approach based in laughs, Shaun of the Dead paved the way for many genre comedies, and even zombie films, that would follow.


Pontypool

Based on a novel by Tony Burgess, also adapted for screen by Burgess, director Bruce McDonald takes an Orson Welles’ The War of the Worlds type approach to this unique micro-budget horror film. Shock Jock radio announcer Grant Mazzy, stuck inside his radio station during a blizzard, finds himself and his co-workers isolated from the outbreak happening outside in the town of Pontypool, relying on field reporters and callers to fill in the blanks on a mysterious virus spreading by uttering words. Yes, words. It’s clever and witty, and Stephen McHattie sells both his character and the intensity of a viral zombie outbreak often heard but not seen.


Deadgirl

Writer Trent Haaga (Cheap Thrills, 68 Kill) penned one of the most polarizing takes on the zombie genre perhaps of all time with bold social commentary and uncomfortable subject matter. Why? The plot follows two teen boys as they find a naked female zombie in an abandoned psychiatric hospital, chained to a table. How they decide to handle this discovery makes for one of the bleakest horror films I’ve ever witnessed, and epitomizes the concept of humanity being the real monsters. Unlike most zombie films, there’s only the one zombie here, and the eponymous Deadgirl earns unwavering viewer sympathy for enduring what toxic teens J.T. and Rickie dole out. Love it or hate it, it’s unlike any zombie film you’ve ever seen.


Re-Animator

Re-Animator

Stuart Gordon’s classic horror comedy, loosely based on H.P. Lovecraft’s novella Herbert West-Reanimator, is an unconventional zombie film in that it was born from Gordon’s desire to see a Frankenstein film in a genre inundated by Dracula films. Though the reanimated dead in this film are far more closely aligned with what we’re used to seeing in zombies, there’s no question that the manic Dr. Herbert West (played by the amiable Jeffrey Combs) shares a lot in common with mad scientist Dr. Frankenstein.


Cemetery Man

Otherwise known as Dellamorte Dellamore, this quirky horror-comedy follows Rupert Everett as cemetery caretaker Francesco Dellamorte. He and his mute sidekick Gnaghi spend their days ensuring the new revived dead are put back in their graves.  All is going well, if a bit mundane, until Francesco falls hard for a young widow (Anna Falchi) and Gnaghi falls for the mayor’s daughter. Things get crazy and very surreal, not least of which is Death incarnate visiting Francesco to demand he stop killing the dead. There’s a wry tongue-in-cheek, dream logic approach in director Michele Soavi’s work. Between the unique plot, characters, and style, there’s nothing like Cemetery Man.


[REC]

Best Horror Films

Paco Plaza and Jaume Balaguero unleashed one of the most terrifying zombie films with 2007’s [Rec]. Even more shocking is that they managed to do it with found footage. But most of all, is that their viral outbreak that turns its infected into violent, biting killers introduces a brand-new mythology to the zombie sub-genre. We’ve seen toxic waste, space debris, voodoo rituals, and viral outbreaks as the cause for zombie apocalypses. [Rec] falls right in line with the latter for most of the running time, until a late game reveal changes everything. There’s nothing typical at all about this surprise zombie franchise.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Editorials

‘Leprechaun Returns’ – The Charm of the Franchise’s Legacy Sequel

Published

on

leprechaun returns

The erratic Leprechaun franchise is not known for sticking with a single concept for too long. The namesake (originally played by Warwick Davis) has gone to L.A., Las Vegas, space, and the ‘hood (not once but twice). And after an eleven-year holiday since the Davis era ended, the character received a drastic makeover in a now-unmentionable reboot. The critical failure of said film would have implied it was time to pack away the green top hat and shillelagh, and say goodbye to the nefarious imp. Instead, the Leprechaun series tried its luck again.

The general consensus for the Leprechaun films was never positive, and the darker yet blander Leprechaun: Origins certainly did not sway opinions. Just because the 2014 installment took itself seriously did not mean viewers would. After all, creator Mark Jones conceived a gruesome horror-comedy back in the early nineties, and that format is what was expected of any future ventures. So as horror legacy sequels (“legacyquels”) became more common in the 2010s, Leprechaun Returns followed suit while also going back to what made the ‘93 film work. This eighth entry echoed Halloween (2018) by ignoring all the previous sequels as well as being a direct continuation of the original. Even ardent fans can surely understand the decision to wipe the slate clean, so to speak.

Leprechaun Returns “continued the [franchise’s] trend of not being consistent by deciding to be consistent.” The retconning of Steven Kostanski and Suzanne Keilly’s film was met with little to no pushback from the fandom, who had already become accustomed to seeing something new and different with every chapter. Only now the “new and different” was familiar. With the severe route of Origins a mere speck in the rearview mirror, director Kotanski implemented a “back to basics” approach that garnered better reception than Zach Lipovsky’s own undertaking. The one-two punch of preposterous humor and grisly horror was in full force again.

LEPRECHAUN

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

With Warwick Davis sitting this film out — his own choice — there was the foremost challenge of finding his replacement. Returns found Davis’ successor in Linden Porco, who admirably filled those blood-stained, buckled shoes. And what would a legacy sequel be without a returning character? Jennifer Aniston obviously did not reprise her final girl role of Tory Redding. So, the film did the next best thing and fetched another of Lubdan’s past victims: Ozzie, the likable oaf played by Mark Holton. Returns also created an extension of Tory’s character by giving her a teenage daughter, Lila (Taylor Spreitler).

It has been twenty-five years since the events of the ‘93 film. The incident is unknown to all but its survivors. Interested in her late mother’s history there in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota, Lila transferred to the local university and pledged a sorority — really the only one on campus — whose few members now reside in Tory Redding’s old home. The farmhouse-turned-sorority-house is still a work in progress; Lila’s fellow Alpha Epsilon sisters were in the midst of renovating the place when a ghost of the past found its way into the present.

The Psycho Goreman and The Void director’s penchant for visceral special effects is noted early on as the Leprechaun tears not only into the modern age, but also through poor Ozzie’s abdomen. The portal from 1993 to 2018 is soaked with blood and guts as the Leprechaun forces his way into the story. Davis’ iconic depiction of the wee antagonist is missed, however, Linden Porco is not simply keeping the seat warm in case his predecessor ever resumes the part. His enthusiastic performance is accentuated by a rotten-looking mug that adds to his innate menace.

LEPRECHAUN RETURNS sequel

Pictured: Taylor Spreitler, Pepi Sonuga, and Sai Bennett as Lila, Katie and Rose in Leprechaun Returns.

The obligatory fodder is mostly young this time around. Apart from one luckless postman and Ozzie — the premature passing of the latter character removed the chance of caring about anyone in the film — the Leprechaun’s potential prey are all college aged. Lila is this story’s token trauma kid with caregiver baggage; her mother thought “monsters were always trying to get her.” Lila’s habit of mentioning Tory’s mental health problem does not make a good first impression with the resident mean girl and apparent alcoholic of the sorority, Meredith (Emily Reid). Then there are the nicer but no less cursorily written of the Alpha Epsilon gals: eco-conscious and ex-obsessive Katie (Pepi Sonuga), and uptight overachiever Rose (Sai Bennett). Rounding out the main cast are a pair of destined-to-die bros (Oliver Llewellyn Jenkins, Ben McGregor). Lila and her peers range from disposable to plain irritating, so rooting for any one of them is next to impossible. Even so, their overstated personalities make their inevitable fates more satisfying.

Where Returns excels is its death sequences. Unlike Jones’ film, this one is not afraid of killing off members of the main cast. Lila, admittedly, wears too much plot armor, yet with her mother’s spirit looming over her and the whole story — comedian Heather McDonald put her bang-on Aniston impersonation to good use as well as provided a surprisingly emotional moment in the film — her immunity can be overlooked. Still, the other characters’ brutal demises make up for Lila’s imperviousness. The Leprechaun’s killer set-pieces also happen to demonstrate the time period, seeing as he uses solar panels and a drone in several supporting characters’ executions. A premortem selfie and the antagonist’s snarky mention of global warming additionally add to this film’s particular timestamp.

Critics were quick to say Leprechaun Returns did not break new ground. Sure, there is no one jetting off to space, or the wacky notion of Lubdan becoming a record producer. This reset, however, is still quite charming and entertaining despite its lack of risk-taking. And with yet another reboot in the works, who knows where the most wicked Leprechaun ever to exist will end up next.


Horror contemplates in great detail how young people handle inordinate situations and all of life’s unexpected challenges. While the genre forces characters of every age to face their fears, it is especially interested in how youths might fare in life-or-death scenarios.

The column Young Blood is dedicated to horror stories for and about teenagers, as well as other young folks on the brink of terror.

Leprechaun Returns movie

Pictured: Linden Porco as The Leprechaun in Leprechaun Returns.

Continue Reading