The best zombie movie you can stream now is Train to Busan (2016), which holds a 95% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. The other nine on this list range from George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) to the Netflix film Cargo. They cover fast zombies, slow zombies, a zombie romance and a found-footage nightmare.
Updated October 11, 2026.
I have watched more zombie movies than I can count. The ones I keep recommending all do one thing well: they make you care who gets bitten. Gore wears off fast. A father trying to get his daughter to safety does not.
Zombies go back further than most people think. White Zombie, directed by Victor Halperin and starring Bela Lugosi, came out in 1932. Its zombies were living people under a voodoo master’s control, not flesh-eaters.
World War Z (2013)
Brad Pitt plays a former United Nations investigator who travels the world looking for the source of an outbreak. Paramount released it, and Box Office Mojo puts its worldwide gross at $540.5 million, with $202.8 million of that in North America. Its swarming, sprinting hordes piling up against a wall became the defining zombie image of the 2010s.
It is a disaster movie more than a horror movie. If you want blood, look elsewhere on this list. If you want scale, nothing else here comes close.
28 Days Later (2002)
Danny Boyle directed and Alex Garland wrote this story of a bike courier who wakes from a coma into an empty London. Its “infected” are not technically dead, but they run, and that changed the genre. It cost about $8 million and earned $82.8 million worldwide.
The home release carries three alternate endings, all of which end with Jim dying. The US theatrical run showed one after the credits. More than two decades later, the story kept going. 28 Years Later opened on June 20, 2025, and 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple reached US theaters on January 16, 2026.
Warm Bodies (2013)
A zombie named R falls for a living girl, and the more he cares, the more human he becomes. Lionsgate released it, and it grossed $117.0 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. It is the one zombie movie on this list you can put on for a date night. The narration, told from inside R’s foggy head, is genuinely funny.
[REC] (2007) and Quarantine (2008)
/Quarantine (2008)](https://www.flipspins.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/0_8aDLnf5iCnUi94d3.jpg)
A Spanish TV reporter and her camera operator follow firefighters into a Barcelona apartment building that is then sealed by the authorities. Everything is shot from the news camera’s point of view. That makes the last ten minutes brutal. Quarantine is the 2008 American remake.
Watch the Spanish original first. It is tighter and meaner. It also became a four-film series: [REC] 2 (2009), [REC] 3: Genesis (2012) and [REC] 4: Apocalypse (2014) followed.
Train to Busan (2016)
Yeon Sang-ho’s Korean film puts a workaholic father and his young daughter on a high-speed train as an outbreak spreads through the cars. Rotten Tomatoes lists it at 95% across 130 reviews. The tight space turns every carriage door into a decision, and the film treats its passengers as people, so each loss hurts.
This is the one to watch if you only watch one. It works as an action film, a horror film and a family drama.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
George A. Romero’s black-and-white film traps a group of strangers in a farmhouse while the recently dead attack from outside. The Library of Congress added it to the National Film Registry in 1999, and it also makes our list of horror movies you can stream now. Nearly every rule the modern zombie follows, from the slow walk to the shot to the head, starts here.
The Evil Dead (1981) and Evil Dead II (1987)
Sam Raimi sent five friends to a cabin in the woods. A recording read from a book of the dead raises demons that possess them one by one. Fans still argue about whether these count as zombie films or possession films. The second film keeps the same setup and plays it as slapstick, with Bruce Campbell fighting his own hand.
Both are worth watching back to back. The low budget of the first shows, and that is part of the charm.
Cargo (2017)
Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke directed Martin Freeman as a father in rural Australia. He is bitten and has about 48 hours to find someone to raise his baby daughter. Netflix began streaming it on May 18, 2018, and Rotten Tomatoes lists it at 88%. It is quiet, sad and patient, the opposite of a gore film.
I Am Legend (2007)
Will Smith plays a scientist who seems to be the last healthy man in New York. He lives with his dog and hunts for a cure. Warner Bros. released it, and Box Office Mojo lists $585.5 million worldwide, the biggest gross on this list. Its “Darkseekers” sit somewhere between zombies and vampires. The first half, with Smith alone in an empty Manhattan, is the strongest part.
The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)
Colm McCarthy directed this film from Mike Carey’s screenplay. Its heroine is a young girl who is one of the infected, yet can think, learn and love. It reached US theaters on February 24, 2017, and Rotten Tomatoes lists it at 86%. The twist is that the most dangerous child on screen may also be the future. Few zombie films end somewhere this bold.
Best zombie movies to stream: quick answers
What was the first zombie movie?
White Zombie, released in 1932, is usually named as the first. Victor Halperin directed it and Bela Lugosi starred as a voodoo master who controls the living. The flesh-eating zombie came much later. George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead in 1968 set the rules most zombie films still follow, from the slow walk to the shot to the head.
What is the highest-rated zombie movie on this list?
Train to Busan holds a 95% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes across 130 reviews, the highest here. Cargo follows at 88% and The Girl with All the Gifts at 86%. For box office, I Am Legend leads at $585.5 million worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. World War Z follows at $540.5 million.
Is there a new 28 Days Later movie?
Yes. After 28 Weeks Later in 2007, the series returned with 28 Years Later on June 20, 2025. A second new film, 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, opened in the UK on January 14, 2026 and in the US on January 16, 2026. Watching the 2002 original first gives the new films much more weight.
Which zombie movie is good for people who hate horror?
Warm Bodies is the easiest pick. It is a romantic comedy told by a zombie, with very little gore. Lionsgate’s release earned $117.0 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo. Evil Dead II is another option if slapstick appeals to you, though it is much bloodier. Both are more likely to make you laugh than lose sleep.
Want more scares? Try our picks for Halloween movies you can stream now or the top cult classic films.