6. Army of Darkness (1992)
Five years later, Sam Raimi reinvents Evil Dead and brings us the third part, with the title Army of Darkness. Somewhere in the 13th or 14th century, we find Ash trapped and caught by King Arthur’s men. Yet, Ash killing a deadite made him a hero in the eyes of the medieval knights and is allowed to retrieve the magic book Necronomicon Ex-Mortis.
But once Ash enters a haunted forest, he is attacked by an unseen force and a clone of him is created. Ash kills the clone, but his mistakes lead to an entire army of zombies being risen from all over the place. But somehow he manages to destroy the army, save his love interest, get back to his time and get a job at a warehouse. Not very impressing for a savior.
Deadite
Any creature possessed by a Kandarian demon – be it a plant, animal or human – becomes a deadite, a zombie demon from hell. Deadites are depicted as connected to each other and in possession of its vessel’s memories and behavior. They have white eyes without pupils, reverbered voices, distorted facial features, sharp teeth, various skin tones and blood colours.
What is shocking is their ability to transform into a bat creature, growing wings, becoming less human in terms of aspect and flying. These insane violent creatures are difficult to kill and as seen in the movie, a lot of effort and removing body parts is required.
Ash vs Evil Dead
After the release of the Evil Dead remake, it was rumored and a huge desire was expressed to create an Army of Darkness remake, too. Unfortunately, the Army of Darkness remake was not brought to life as the zombies in the original movie. Though, Sam Raimi managed to create a horror comedy TV series – Ash vs Evil Dead, which will premiere in October 2015 on Starz, with Bruce Campbell reprising his role as Ash Williams.
The official synopsis announces that Ash will return as a monster hunter “who has spent the last 30 years avoiding responsibility, maturity and the terrors of the Evil Dead. When a Deadite plague threatens to destroy all of mankind, Ash is finally forced to face his demons – personal and literal.” Now that is something to add on your “to be watched in fall 2015” list.
5. Resident Evil (2002)
Based on a video game series and with Milla Jovovich as the main star, Resident Evil is an action-horror movie. Starting with the members of a genetic research facility being contaminated with a genetically engineered virus and later killed by the auto-defense program, the action moves to Alice (Jovovich), an amnesiac woman, who, despite her lack of memories, is asked by a group to investigate the reasons why the system murdered everyone from the Hive.
What she founds is the staff not completely deceased, as they have turned into an army of zombies. Alice and the team fight the zombies, but they eventually fail their mission and are captured by a group of scientists. With her memories once more erased, Alice discovers that the zombie virus has spread to the surface.
Apocalypse and Extinction
In 2004, Resident Evil: Apocalypse is brought to the zombie movies lovers. 30 days after the events of the previous movie, the Umbrella Corporation is afraid of the zombie virus outburst and fear a worldwide infection and to make things worse, the daughter of the virus’ creator goes missing, possibility kidnapped. Alice arms herself to fight whoever is behind this situation and the zombies.
Eventually it is revealed the origins of the virus, while Alice becomes the victim of an attack and ends badly hurt, yet she still has a reason to fight and so returns in 2007 in Resident Evil: Extinction. This time Alice awakens in a mansion only to be killed shortly and dumped along hundreds of clones. Meanwhile, the remaining human citizens of Raccoon City are trying to escape the virus, which has spread all over the world. But the real Alice is still somewhere out there, with her blood being the only hope of curing the disease and owning a developing army of her clones.
Afterlife and Retribution
Alice returns in 2010 and in 2012 in Resident Evil: Afterlife and Resident Evil: Retribution. One year later, Alice and her clones are after those who altered the serum which became the T-virus. Once they achieved their purpose, the real Alice travels back to the USA, but what she finds is a bunch of people refuged in a prison away from the infected zombies. With Alice’s help, the prisoners are trying to break free, though they are attacked by Majini. An epic battle goes on and Alice manages to send a message to all remaining survivors.
Later, our heroine’s former ally turned foe causes an accident which lets unknown the fates of our characters. Alice is put into a comatose state which makes her believe she is living a perfect suburban life, until zombies disturb her utopia and she awakens. Like always, things are not easy for her, this time struggling with her memory playing tricks on her, her attachment to her fake daughter and not being able to distinguish the evil clones from the originals, but she has a mission and her mission leads her to the White House. And if thought this was over, you still have to wait until 2017 when Resident Evil: The Final Chapter to see Alice once more.
4. 28 Days Later (2002)
This British creation starring Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Megan Burns and Brendan Gleeson, starts with a group of animal rights activist, who, despite the scientists’ warnings, release the animals which were submitted to experiments. As expected, one creature attacks them and they are soon infected. 28 days later, a young man, Jim, awakens from coma only to find abandoned buildings.
While searching for a living soul, he encounters a zombie priest who attacks him. He is rescued by a squad who informs him about what has happened. The survivors are eventually taken to a mansion under the command of Major Henry West, yet soon the squad realizes that his radical ideas and his desire to repopulate the world through sex slavery are not normal, they leave the mansion and are rescued by a Finnish jet, while the zombies die from starvation.
28 Weeks Later
In 2007, we were brought a spin-off starring Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner, Harold Perrineau and Catherine McCormack. After the Rage Virus has spread all over the country, in London, a group of survivors is invaded by infected monsters. NATO forces take control of the British Isles and after the zombie’s starvation, 28 week later, settlers are brought in, including the children of the last of the survivors from the previous attack.
The children find their parents in a poor state, infected and slowly transforming into zombies, while finding out that their genes made them only carriers and not possible victims of the zombification, making the virus similar to the HIV.
Legacy
With each movie bring something new to the genre, the 28… later franchise is slowly growing into something bigger. With the first film being declared as one of the best horrors of the decade – “Zombie movie? Political allegory? Humanist drama? 28 Days Later is all of those things and more – a genuine work of art by a director at the top of his game. What’s so amazing about the film is the way it so expertly balances scenes of white-knuckled, hell-for-leather horror with moments of intimate beauty.” – a comic book series has been created and a third movie is expected under the title “28 Months Later” and it was even hinted that a forth part will follow and it will be named – yes, you guessed it – “28 Years Later”. But probably a “28 Decades/Centuries Later” film will not follow.