Think less about the big-budget blowouts and more about the underdogs; these movies made do with what they had, turning shoestring budgets into cult classics.
Fact is, while everyone was buzzing about blockbuster hits, these zombie movies were building a dedicated fanbase that's kept them alive – well, undead – for nearly 40 years. In 2024, amidst a sea of remakes and reboots, these 80s classics stand out for keeping it real – and real scary.
A medical student invents a serum that can reanimate dead bodies; however, his experiments lead to unforeseen and horrific consequences as the dead return with a violent hunger for life.
2. "The Return of the Living Dead" (1985) Rotten Tomatoes score: 91%
When two bumbling employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas, it reanimates the dead, leading to chaos and a punk rock-fueled fight for survival against brain-eating zombies.
3. "Day of The Dead" (1985) Rotten Tomatoes score: 86%
In an underground bunker after the zombie apocalypse, tensions rise between surviving scientists and military personnel as they research the undead, leading to a catastrophic breakdown in order and a fight for survival.
4. "Night of the Comet" (1984) Rotten Tomatoes score: 79%
After a comet wipes out most of life on Earth, two Valley girls discover they are among the few survivors; armed with cheerleader charm and assault rifles, they battle cannibal zombies and a sinister group of scientists.
5. "Zeder" (1983) Rotten Tomatoes score: 75%
A journalist discovers a used typewriter that contains an article about 'K-Zones', areas where death ceases to exist; his investigation leads him into a dark world of the undead and a scientist's unethical experiments.
6. "The Fog" (1980) Rotten Tomatoes score: 75%
A coastal town prepares to commemorate its centennial when a glowing fog envelops it, bringing vengeful maritime ghosts who seek to fulfill a 100-year-old curse by claiming the lives of the descendants of their betrayers.
7. "Night of the Creeps" (1986) Rotten Tomatoes score: 73%
College students accidentally release a frozen alien experiment causing slug-like creatures to infect people, turning them into zombies; a group of friends, with the help of a hard-boiled detective, must stop the infestation.
In a small coastal town, the dead begin to return to life without any explanation, leading the local sheriff to uncover a horrifying connection between the town's mortician and the reanimated corpses.
9. "The Beyond" (1981) Rotten Tomatoes score: 68%
A woman inherits a dilapidated hotel in Louisiana only to discover it's built over one of the entrances to Hell, leading to supernatural occurrences, zombie attacks, and her fight for survival as the dead begin to cross over.
10. "The Serpent and the Rainbow" (1988) Rotten Tomatoes score: 62%
An anthropologist travels to Haiti to investigate a drug used in voodoo rituals that allegedly turns people into zombies, finding himself entangled in a dangerous web of black magic and political unrest.
Guests at a luxurious villa near an ancient crypt unwittingly release a curse that awakens the dead, leading to a desperate struggle for survival against flesh-eating zombies.
12. "City of the Living Dead" (1980) Rotten Tomatoes score: 40%
After a priest's suicide opens the gates of hell in a small town, a psychic and a reporter team up to close it; facing gory supernatural phenomena, they must stop the rising dead and the impending apocalypse.
A team of scientists and a journalist embark on an expedition to a remote island where they encounter a tribe of cannibals and a mad scientist creating zombies, leading to a fight for escape from the horrors they discover.
14. "The Video Dead" (1987) Rotten Tomatoes score: 32%
A family receives a mysterious television set that is a gateway for zombies to enter the real world; the surviving son and a group of teenagers must find a way to send the undead back to their realm.
15. "The Soultangler" (1987) Rotten Tomatoes score: 0%
A mad scientist develops a drug that allows him to transfer his consciousness into the bodies of others; when his experiments on the dead lead to chaos, a group of unsuspecting individuals must stop him before it's too late.
