Editorials
Stay Home, Watch Horror: 5 Zombie Movies With Scene-Stealing Characters to Stream This Week
Zombie movies tend to focus on the survivors trying to evade getting bitten while grappling with the fall of civilization. That usually results in an emphasis on characterization, which brings a wide variety of memorable villains, heroes, and supporting players to raise the stakes as we root for or against them during a zombie apocalypse.
This week’s streaming picks are dedicated to some of the zombie subgenre’s most unforgettable scene-stealers—the charming oddballs, sleazy eccentrics, and unexpected supporting players that capture our attention.
Here’s where to stream these zombie movies this week.
For more Stay Home, Watch Horror picks, click here.
Burial Ground – Screambox
This Italian zombie siege movie directed by Andrea Bianchi brings the zombie mayhem. An archaeologist accidentally unearths zombies from a crypt near a sprawling mansion. They go on a rampage, causing the archaeologist’s arriving guests to lock themselves inside and try to survive the night. But the one thing that makes this stand out as a must-see is then 25-year-old Peter Bark’s performance as young child Michael. As if his eccentric portrayal isn’t enough, Michael harbors a disturbing attraction to his mom. It’s as insane as it sounds.
Cooties – IMDb TV, Plex, Pluto TV, Roku, Tubi, Vudu
Aspiring writer Clint Hadson (Elijah Wood) thinks his first day as a substitute teacher in his hometown of Fort Chicken is off to a rough start, thanks to awkward encounters with the faculty. Then contaminated chicken nuggets cause a mysterious viral outbreak that transforms the children into feral zombies. Clint must lead the unlikely crew of adults if they have any hope of making it through the school day alive. Co-written by Leigh Whannell, Cooties doesn’t just want to make you laugh; it wants to gross you out at every possible turn. The stellar cast is more than up to the task of playing hilarious and unwitting horror heroes, but Whannell steals every scene as the socially inept science teacher.
Day of the Dead – Kanopy, Pluto TV, Shudder, Tubi
The third entry of George A. Romero’s Dead series shows the world entirely inundated by zombies. Though the numbers have vastly dwindled before the film’s start, the future of civilization looks bleak due to the handful of remaining survivors being unable to get along. Dr. Matthew Logan (Richard Liberty, The Crazies), the cheerful lead scientist, and his favorite test subject Bub (Sherman Howard) lie in the middle of warring factions in this zombie movie classic. The docile, loyal, and music-loving zombie will steal your heart.
Little Monsters – Hulu
With Jordan Peele’s Us, Lupita Nyong’o already proved her dramatic chops in the genre space twice over. 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 the film’s MVP once again. Josh Gad also stands out as a scene-stealing children’s TV personality with a secret vulgar side. Be warned, though: expect to get a Taylor Swift song stuck in your head by the time the closing credits roll.
Train to Busan – AMC+, Pluto TV, Prime Video, Roku, Shudder, Tubi, Vudu
This hit zombie movie, directed by Yeon Sang-ho, follows a workaholic, divorced dad on a train to Busan to bring his estranged daughter to her mother for her birthday. Their plans are derailed by a zombie outbreak, forcing the passengers to band together to survive. Yeon Sang-ho changes up the zombie tropes, but what makes this film special is the way it tugs at your heartstrings. It’s not just the dad bonding with and protecting his daughter that infuses this high-paced film with emotional depth, but some of the other memorable passengers as well. Ma Dong-Seok ran away with the entire movie with his humorous and heroic supporting character Yoon Sang-hwa.
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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