ZOMBIE MOVIES: THE ULTIMATE GUIDE – 2ND Edition

by | Sep 26, 2012 | Reviews | 0 comments

As if you couldn’t tell from the title, this is a book all about zombie movies. No surprises there. What was surprising to me when reading it was just how complete it was. In encyclopedias like this, I always try to outthink the author. I play a little game where I see if I can think of any appropriate movies that the author missed and this book is one of the very few instances where I could not think of a flick that wasn’t covered in some way. I’m sure there’s got to be one or two, but the fact that I couldn’t think of any, and I’m an old school zombie fan from before zombies were cool, should tell you how minor such flicks are. So for film books like this, that’s one of the highest compliments you can give it as no one likes to see their personal favorite film get left out and this one really tries not to be that book. This is also a Second Edition and it is very up to date, covering movies up 2011 and even the current fan favorite, TV’s The Walking Dead. Now that’s pretty damn current.

The book is laid out in chronological order, starting with the voodoo zombie movies of the 1930s. It was nice to see that author Glenn Kay didn’t make the blunder that so many other ‘zombie experts’ do and think that zombies began in the 60s with Night of the Living Dead. From the 30s, the zombie movie coverage marches decade by decade, highlighting all the hits as they were released. Naturally some of the more influential ones get more coverage than the ‘also rans’ but they all get at least a few words written about them, not to mention lots and lots of pictures.

In addition to just listing each movie and giving statistics and dry facts about them, Kay reviews each movie as well and if I have any quibble with this book it’s with the reviews. Now Mr. Kay, I love Mr. Romero as much as the next zombie lover, but his Survival of the Dead is indefensible. The fact that you gave it a thumbs up is mind boggling to me. I mean, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but come on; it’s got zombies riding horses in it for crying out loud! Man that movie was bad. However, it is a testament to how enjoyable the book is that even with the sometimes glaring differences in opinion between Mr. Kay and myself, I kept on reading and enjoying his book.

Besides the usual movie rundown there are interviews, opinion pieces, a chapter on almost zombie movies (like 1973s The Crazies, and yet the remake is considered a zombie movie by Kay) and a list of 25 of the best zombie movies ever made that I also had a few issues with. Come on Mr. Kay, no Fulci films before number 21? Really? 1981’s Dead and Buried beats out anything by Fulci? Sorry but no. Just…no.

So fans of flesh eaters in film should enjoy the hell out Zombie Movies: The Ultimate Guide. It’s very complete, often amusing, has a wealth of information, a bunch of pictures, and lots of everything else that an (un)deadhead would want in their book about zombie flicks. If you love zombies like I love zombies then do yourself a favor and pick this one up.

About Brian Sammons