Editorials
Stay Home, Watch Horror: 5 Lesser-Seen Zombie Movies to Stream This Week!
Zack Snyder’s zombie heist movie Army of the Dead releases in select theaters this week, just ahead of its Netflix drop on May 21. The R-rated feature marks Snyder’s first return to the subgenre since 2004’s Dawn of the Dead, but zombie horror was far from dormant in his absence.
Thanks in large part to The Walking Dead, zombies flooded the market. For many, the onslaught of undead in horror grew stale over the past decade. Yet, as with any subgenre, new innovative features continue to pop up and breathe new life into the zombie, especially on an international scale. However, for every One Cut of the Dead or Train to Busan, there are dozens more worthy horror movies awaiting audience discovery.
This week’s streaming picks belong to lesser-seen zombie movies from all corners of the globe. Some draw inspiration from George A. Romero and inject unique cultural commentary into their hordes of flesh-eaters. Some aim to make you laugh. And some play with subgenre rules.
Here’s where you can stream them this week.
The Battery – Kanopy, Tubi
This indie darling stars writer/director Jeremy Gardner (After Midnight). It follows two former baseball players turned best friends trying to survive long after a zombie apocalypse has ravaged the world. 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 being a zombie movie at all. It’s more of a unique road trip movie among buds, Ben (Gardner) and Mickey (Adam Cronheim), just trying to survive. Sure, there are occasional zombie encounters, some humorous and some harrowing, but Battery is a sort of anti-zombie zombie movie in its unique way.
Deathdream – Tubi, Vudu
Bob Clark is most well-known for his 1974 slasher classic Black Christmas, but his other 1974 horror release deserves attention too. Deathdream, also known as Dead of Night, follows young American soldier Andy Brooks (Richard Backus), killed in combat during the Vietnam war. His mother refuses to accept the news, demanding that her son return. One night, Andy does indeed show up at his family’s home. They’re overjoyed, but something is very wrong with Andy; he’s not exactly alive anymore. Deathdream presents a “Monkey’s Paw” scenario, set around a family torn apart by the war.
The Girl with All the Gifts – HBO Max
Based on the novel by Mike Carey, The Girl with All the Gifts is set in a near-future where a parasitic fungus has ravaged the world. Those infected turn into mindless “hungries.” Only a small group of children seem immune; they still hunger for flesh but retain the ability to learn and think. Among them is Melanie (Sennia Nanua), the most intelligent and remarkable of all. When the military base holding the children captive falls, Melanie embarks on a quest with her teacher and the survivors, discovering her new place in the world. Nanua’s casting lends a new layer to the narrative, and Glenn Close makes for a formidable, icy antagonist in an already brutal world.
Juan of the Dead – Starz
Juan is a 40-year-old content to slack off and get into trouble with his slacker friends in his Cuban neighborhood, much to the chagrin of his estranged daughter. Then a zombie outbreak happens, though the Cuban government and media initially brush it off as part of the revolution. Soon, Juan and his friends realize that the homicidal citizens aren’t dissidents but zombies. In this zombie comedy, Juan and company find inventive ways of dealing with the infected. A satire that seamlessly blends life in Cuba with gory humor, Juan of the Dead makes good use of its unlikely heroes. It also makes you want Alejandro Brugués to do more horror.
Little Monsters – Hulu
Lupita Nyong’o already proved her dramatic chops in the genre space twice over with Jordan Peele’s Us. So much so that Us overshadowed Nyong’o’s other 2019 release, the horror-comedy Little Monsters. The actress charms with a winsome performance as Miss Audrey Caroline, a kindergarten teacher forced to keep her students safe when their field trip gets invaded by zombies. It’s a heartfelt story with offbeat humor, and Nyong’o is once again the film’s MVP. Be warned, though: expect to get a Taylor Swift song stuck in your head by the time the closing credits roll.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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