Movies
Explore a World of Zombie Movies That Aren’t Set In America
During the height of The Walking Dead, I remember people being curious about what was going on outside of the show’s relatively narrow scope. “What’s happening outside the United States?” was a common refrain. Well, the spinoff Daryl Dixon is here to answer those questions, as they pertain to France at least. But let us not rely on The Walking Dead to tell us everything about how zombies may affect the globe. Over the years, many international zombie movies have attempted to answer this question on their own home turf, and I’d like to present to you a sample platter of fun, classic, and/or unique installments in the genre from around the world.
During the height of The Walking Dead, I remember people being curious about what was going on outside of the show’s relatively narrow scope. “What’s happening outside the United States?” was a common refrain. Well, the spinoff Daryl Dixon is here to answer those questions, as they pertain to France at least. But let us not rely on The Walking Dead to tell us everything about how zombies may affect the globe. Over the years, many international zombie movies have attempted to answer this question on their own home turf, and I’d like to present to you a sample platter of fun, classic, and/or unique installments in the genre from around the world.
My goal is to highlight movies (no short films or TV shows) that are both shot and set in the home countries of the people who made them, though international cinema has an amount of crossovers and co-productions that prevents these lines from always being incredibly clear. But we will be avoiding American productions about global zombies, like World War Z. This has also unfortunately excluded the entire slate of Italian zombie movies, as far as I can tell, because Italian filmmakers were seemingly allergic to setting their movies in, say, Rome, instead of New York City or Papua New Guinea or wherever.
If I’ve left a country/territory off the list, it’s not necessarily because they have made no zombie movies (though many genuinely haven’t, especially in Africa). There are just a hell of a lot of territories, and we’re just covering a smattering. I’m already stretching my word limit way too thin.
Also, we will primarily focus on viral, bitey, George Romero-esque zombies (whether fast or slow), rather than voodoo zombies. The intention here is not to ignore the important folklore from which the word “zombie” sprung, but to recognize that what we are talking about here are two entirely distinct entities. Romero himself recognized this when he made the original Night of the Living Dead and called the undead revenants “ghouls” rather than “zombies.” But sometimes you just can’t stem the tide of language and how it shifts around a concept.
Without further ado, let’s adjust our flight caps and take off to explore how each continent has handled the undead plague…
A Selection of Standout International Zombie Movies
ASIA
Hong Kong – 生化壽屍/Bio Zombie (1998)
Right out of the gate, we’re exploring the range of genres to which zombies can be adapted, as this entry, released 20 years after Dawn of the Dead, applies screwball comedy tropes to the framework of the Romero classic, following two mall employees stumbling their way through the beginning of a zombie apocalypse in a wacky adventure that includes an infected soft drink, severed heads, and bootleg VCDs.
India – Zombivli (2022)
This Marathi-language outing is also a horror-comedy, but it additionally showcases the zombie genre’s penchant for social commentary, as it is set in the real Indian city of Dombivli. It darkly satirizes the bad reputation that the city has elsewhere in the country, and how citizens might be treated if there really was a zombie outbreak.
Indonesia – Zeta: When the Dead Awaken (2019)
This action-horror movie takes on a more serious tone, following a delinquent teenager and his mother, who is dealing with the early stages of Alzheimer’s, as they attempt to defend their apartment building from an undead menace.
Japan – バトルガール/Battle Girl: The Living Dead in Tokyo Bay (1991)
One Cut of the Dead doesn’t really count as a zombie movie, even though it’s great, so for Japan I’m offering up Battle Girl: The Living Dead in Tokyo Bay, which has a Night of the Living Dead-esque touch in having the zombie plague be brought to Tokyo by a meteor. It also engages with the common trope that humans can be just as dangerous as zombies during the apocalypse.
Pakistan – ذبح خانہ/Zibahkhana (2007)
This Urdu- and English-language movie follows teens encountering zombies while on their way to a concert and has many political overtones, including the first sign of trouble being protests over the dwindling water supply in the countryside.
Philippines – Day Zero (2022)
Day Zero has political overtones that simultaneously allow it to be an action-packed adventure, as the hero is a former soldier who has just been released from prison and is expertly fighting through a zombie wasteland to save his family.
South Korea – 부산행/Train to Busan (2016)
You probably don’t need me to sing the praises of Train to Busan, but long may it reign, and long may it continue to not get that English-language reboot they keep threatening to make.
Taiwan – 哭悲/The Sadness (2021)
This is our first proper encounter with a “rage virus” movie, where it could be argued that they’re not technically zombies. But you know what? I don’t care one bit about splitting hairs, personally. The Sadness acts as any good zombie outing should. It’s gnarly, terrifying, large-scale, bleak, and an experience you won’t soon forget.
Turkey – Ada: Zombilerin Düğünü/Island: Wedding of the Zombies (2010)
This Istanbul-set zombie comedy is an example of one of the most common zombie movie tropes (“What if we set an undead uprising in this unusual place?”) but also an example of the found footage subgenre at the height of its popularity.
AFRICA
Nigeria – Ojuju (2014)
This low-budget zombie movie is to the slums of Lagos what Zombivli is to Dombivli, and it has a deeply felt message about how pollution affects the disenfranchised.
South Africa – Last Ones Out (2015)
This one isn’t necessarily fully South African, as it has an American protagonist who becomes trapped in a zombie-infested area, but that feels about right considering how much of South Africa’s filmmaking economy is designed to appeal to Hollywood sensibilities.
NORTH AMERICA
Canada – Pontypool (2008)
Probably the most unique outing on this list, Pontypool, which is set in a radio station in the real Ontario town of the same name, follows a zombie virus that is spread through language. It’s a head trip and a half, but uses its limited scope to craft an unforgettably chilling apocalypse outside of its isolated location by mostly using just sound and language.
Cuba – Juan de los Muertos/Juan of the Dead (2010)
This Goya Award-winning zombie comedy follows a small business owner putting his zombie killing skills to good work.
Mexico – Santo Contra los Zombies/Santo vs. the Zombies (1961)
This is my lone exception to the voodoo-style zombie rule, but if you’re dropping by Mexico, you’ve got to check in on what Santo is up to. I don’t make the rules. The iconic silver-masked luchador fought many a monster in his day, and zombies were no exception.
SOUTH AMERICA
Argentina – Plaga Zombie/Zombie Plague (1997)
This low-budget affair isn’t the most respected on the list, but it did launch a four-film franchise, so mad props to Plaga Zombie.
Brazil – Mangue Negro/Mud Zombies (2008)
This movie about zombies attacking in and around a mangrove swamp is another pollution parable. It just goes to show that across the world, we’re fighting the same battles, whether they be against the environmental crisis or the undead.
Uruguay – Virus-32 (2022)
This “rage virus” outing introduces a unique wrinkle that gives its protagonists 32-second periods during which they can regroup. They’d better think quick.
Venezuela – Infección/Infection (2019)
This movie takes on a relatively familiar plot – a father crossing a zombie hellscape to save his son – but by doing so allows you to experience the multitude of ways that this same story can be told in a variety of different cultural contexts.
EUROPE
Denmark – Sorgenfri/What We Become (2015)
What We Become turns small town Sorgenfri into an orgy of bloody terror over the course of a brutal summer that blends a coming-of-age movie with a family drama with the end of the world.
France – La Horde/The Horde (2009)
This is essentially a crime movie slamming into a zombie movie, as the main characters are police officers and gangsters locked in a bloody battle. And honestly, very little feels more in tune with the sensibilities of French cinema than that concept.
Germany – Rammbock: Berlin Undead (2010)
In another very European move, the rage virus at the center of Rammbock can be controlled by regulating one’s adrenaline and staying calm. If this was French, it might lean in on ennui, but here it feels like an evocation of pure, stereotypical German efficiency, for better or worse.
Greece – Το Κακό/Evil (2005)
This movie, in which the undead descend upon Athens, is credited as the first Greek zombie movie, which shows how late in the game certain cinema cultures have been despite the genre’s decades-long popularity. Glad to have you joining the party, Greece!
Norway – Død snø/Dead Snow (2009)
Let’s not put on airs here. This movie about Nazi zombies ripping through a group of vacationers in a mountain cabin is simply a rip-snorting good time.
Spain – [REC] (2007)
This one – which follows a news anchor doing a ridealong with firefighters who end up getting quarantined in a Barcelona apartment building – is essentially a “rage virus” movie, though the origins of the zombie menace get more and more Catholic as the franchise continues. That’s how you know it’s from Spain, after all! Regardless, found footage horror has never been more claustrophobic or terrifying than [REC].
UK – 28 Days Later (2002)
This is the seminal “rage virus” movie, but it is also perhaps the best zombie or zombie-adjacent movie at evoking the eerie emptiness of iconic real-life locations.
OCEANIA
Australia – Little Monsters (2019)
With a cast that includes Lupita Nyong’o and Josh Gad, this movie doesn’t lean in as hard as possible on its Australian-ness, but drawing a parallel between a gaggle of schoolchildren and an undead horde is nevertheless a recipe for a good time.
New Zealand – Braindead/Dead Alive (1992)
Speaking of a good time, Peter Jackson’s seminal zombie film Dead Alive is one of the most distinctive entries in any genre. It is unquestionably a zombie movie, but it also carves out its own unique aesthetic and tonal niche at every turn. It is a thing all its own, and that thing is glorious.
Movies
How Lucha Libre Birthed Mexico’s Wildest Horror Films
Though schlocky B-horror is often associated with American films of men in cheap rubber monster suits and small casts running around in the desert, past our southern border Mexican pop culture has a strong, storied history of B-horror surrounding luchadores, masked wrestlers. Movies where the kings of the ring beat down on anything demonic or alien that crosses their path. But those films themselves have a wild origin, stemming from a post-war hunt for identity and censorship on the basis of sex. Truly, the luchador films that became the bulk of mexploitation cinema as we know it today didn’t come from a strong desire to uplift lucha but from attempts to suppress it. To understand lucha libre and how it became popular enough to be banned from television, we have to get back to the first half of the 20th century, with the end of the Mexican Revolution.
Today’s story is one of domino effects. Of how cultural moments and political decisions can send out ripples that no one can see coming, to the most unlikely of places sometimes. It’s about the unpredictable and ephemeral nature of life, on and off film. And about how cool it is to see a guy in a silver mask elbow-drop a werewolf. This is the story of how Lucha Libre birthed some of Mexico’s wildest horror films.
Though schlocky B-horror is often associated with American films of men in cheap rubber monster suits and small casts running around in the desert, past our southern border Mexican pop culture has a strong, storied history of B-horror surrounding luchadores, masked wrestlers. Movies where the kings of the ring beat down on anything demonic or alien that crosses their path. But those films themselves have a wild origin, stemming from a post-war hunt for identity and censorship on the basis of sex.
Truly, the luchador films that became the bulk of mexploitation cinema as we know it today didn’t come from a strong desire to uplift lucha but from attempts to suppress it. To understand lucha libre and how it became popular enough to be banned from television, we have to get back to the first half of the 20th century, with the end of the Mexican Revolution.
Mexicanidad and the Rise of Masked Wrestlers
To those unfamiliar with the particulars of the Mexican Revolution, it stands as one of the most violent times of political upheaval in human history. After the deposition of decades-long oligarchical dictator Porfirio Diaz and his regime, multiple parties began to fight for control of the country as its residents sought economic relief, agrarian reform, and the cession of land back to indigenous populations.
The Revolution saw a revolving door of commandants, a cadre of different political groups fighting for a variety of different reasons, and the loss of (by the most conservative estimates) over a million lives in a civil war never before seen in Mexico. Needless to say, the Mexican national identity had been wounded severely by the conflict as doubt and fear filled the populace, and political figures like Lázaro Cárdenas, who found themselves in power following the Revolution, began to try and restore that identity.
From this turning point comes the concept of Mexicanidad, a push for Mexican pride and a reaffirming of the image of the Mexican people that was driven by the tastemakers of Mexican society in politics and media. And for Mexican men, and specifically Mexican working-class men, that evolved into an emphasis on masculinity, virility, athleticism, and what would eventually evolve into our modern conceptions of machismo.
The Television Ban That Birthed Lucha Libre Horror Films
And so came the revitalization of lucha libre, for many reasons. Wrestling as a sport had and still has a fairly low barrier to entry, making it the perfect cheap entertainment for the working class. It had previously captured the hearts of Mexican citizens as far back as the late 1800s when wrestling made its way to the country. It involved masculine displays of strength and agility, which was perfect for the Mexicanidad crowd to endorse. The sport also had a rotating cast of colorful characters, usually the same guys you saw last week but fighting with different masks on, which was the perfect draw for young audiences who soon began to see their favorite luchadors at the comic stands and in wider media.
The craze of professional wrestling spread like wildfire, and more importantly, it spread to a female audience. As female athletes became a point of cultural interest, luchadoras became a very popular element of lucha libre despite being in the minority of performers. There began a melding between the rigid roles of masculine and feminine energy, undesired by many of the political and cultural elites of mid-century Mexico.
The cultural thermometer rapidly cooled due to lucha, and in 1954, federal authorities imposed a 30-year-long ban on lucha libre on Mexican television to prevent the waters from being muddied by such “dangerous” concepts. Soon, lucha had gone from a sport beloved by all people to a brutish, lowbrow event. Which, couldn’t be further from the truth, but cultural hegemony is a hell of a drug!
CDMX’s airwaves had become a no-fly zone for masked wrestlers, and a lost media massacre ensued that caused little to no recordings of those classic matches from the 40s and 50s being kept in circulation. Whole careers had evaporated from record overnight.
But…that didn’t stop luchadors from going to the movies.
Gothic Horror Revival in Mexican Cinema
The film wasn’t just a smash hit at the box office, it was a superkick to the mouth of Mexican cinema that ended up causing a true gothic horror revival. The film’s producer and star, Abel Salazar, found enough success with the film that the Mexican market was soon saturated with gothic horror of his own design, as Hammer Horror took over the British film market.
EL SANTO, BLUE DEMON, AND THE RISE OF LUCHA LIBRE IN HORROR
Despite the television ban, you couldn’t make Mexico forget its masked heroes so easily. The two most significant of which were El Santo y Demonio Azul (more commonly referred to as Blue Demon). Well, technically both of them began as rudos (heels, or bad guys) and later became tecnicos (faces, or heroes). The point is, Santo and Blue Demon’s rivalry was a legendary one, with their masks becoming a piece of indelible Mexican iconography and recollections of their matches being burned into people’s brains.
El Santo was convinced by fellow wrestler, Fernando Osés, to join him on the set of a film he was shooting, as the recent TV ban opened up opportunities in film for wrestlers. Santo was initially signed to star in one of the first lucha films called El Enmascarado De Plata (The Man in the Silver Mask), but backed out last minute because of fears the film would fail and damage his reputation.
Santo’s actual debut pulled him into the world of monster movies that had begun to thrive in Mexico, with his first film being Santo Contra El Cerebro Del Mal (Santo vs. The Brain of Evil) in 1961. From there he went on to do Santo Contra Los Zombies (Santo vs. The Zombies), and by the time he had shot Santo vs. The Men from Hell and Santo in The Hotel of the Dead, he had been locked in as a b-horror icon.
He was of course reunited with Blue Demon throughout his career, and the two often teamed up like superheroes to fight a wide variety of fiends. Ranging from alien spiders to vampire women to Mesoamerican mummies on a rampage, there was nothing they weren’t willing to powerbomb into oblivion. Blue Demon starred in 25 films over his lifetime– Santo starred in more than 50. The two were prolific actors and artists, and despite the often irreverent nature of the films they made and the questionable quality of many of them, the two were horror icons that most of the world is simply unaware of.
Many of their films were not distributed widely, let alone localized to English-speaking territories; only a total of 4 Santo films ever got English language versions. But even if those dubs never came, we can stand and salute the wild history of b-horror that these luchador legends have given us.
Top Lucha Libre Horror Films to Watch Today
Arañas Infernales (Hellish Spiders) is a really fun piece of schlocky, monochrome, nuclear bug horror from the late 60s; the little evil alien spider puppets in this film are so doofy looking, I want ten of them. It’s pure ham and cheese as far as content goes, but it’s impossible to say it isn’t fun.
Santo y Blue Demon Contra Los Monstruos (Santo & Blue Demon vs. The Monster Men) is some oh-so-glorious technicolor nonsense that brings us a six-man grudge match between the heroes, a mummy, a werewolf, a vampire, and a Frankenstein. I don’t even have to say anything else, you know it’s too hype of a concept to turn down.
Santo Contra Las Mujeres Vampiro (Santo vs. The Vampire Women) has some genuinely unparalleled ambiance and set design, with this black and white gothic horror mixing a modernized Mexican aesthetic with the pseudo-Victorian mansion where the finale takes place. Santo dives into a nest of female vampires in white dresses to rescue a damsel in distress, and hilarity ensues. It is probably the most technically competent of all of these when it comes to its directing.
The Mummies of Guanajuato was ultimately one of if not the biggest moneymakers, as it brought the three most famous luchadores together: Santo, Blue Demon y Mil Máscaras united to put the squeeze on some mummies killing Mexican citizens. Those monsters by the way, actually look great thanks to their makeup! All the ring exhibition stuff of them wrestling in the film is impressive as well. This one is my true favorite. If I could only watch one, it would be this.
And that’s all! Well, I’m off to go watch Santo vs The Zombies again, stay chill Horror Press rea–
What’s this?
ITS EDITOR JAMES-MICHAEL WITH THE STEEL CHAIR?
HES COMING IN BECAUSE OF MY HELLBOY ARTICLE BEING TOO LONG?!
LORD HAVE MERCY!
***
Major thanks to Marjolein Van Bavel, a professor of Modern Cultural History at Radboud University, whose writing formed most of the research on the historical part of this article. She discusses luchadoras in much more detail in her article “Morbo, lucha libre, and Television: The Ban of Women Wrestlers from Mexico City in the 1950s”, which I highly recommend you check out. Her writing was one of the major resources used for this article, and as such, deserves a shoutout.
And another shoutout to Brian Schuck of Films From Beyond, who pointed me towards Doyle Green and his book Mexploitation Cinema, which is a huge resource on lucha libre in horror. Both of them are incredible, please show them some love!
And as always, good luck, and happy watching horror fans!
Movies
Menstruation Meets Mayhem: 5 Horror Films That Bleed Terror
While periods are not quite trending in horror, there are more movies than one would suspect in this niche subgenre. Obviously, Carrie’s shower scene is historical for a reason. However, using a soaked tampon as zombie bait in It Stains the Sands Red is fantastic. Even finding a gruesome murder while using a truck stop bathroom to change a tampon in Candy Land felt like relatable cinema for me as a Midwesterner. So, I thought I would pull five bloody horror movies about “Aunt Flo” going to the “Red Wedding”. These titles know that being “on the rag” is great for the genre. This is why I am cordially inviting you to step into the restroom with me so I can show you some pretty wild shit. Here are five movies that will make you hesitate the next time someone asks you what your favorite period film is.
I hate having a period. I know that is a cold take for many people who menstruate. No one enjoys the cramps, migraines, or a three to seven-day disruption from certain fun activities. Who among us is giddy when Aunt Flo arrives unless we are having a pregnancy scare? However, the thing that salts my tines the most about this painful and bloody part of life is the stigma surrounding it. Many places still charge the tampon tax. Tons of Republicans take office without understanding basic anatomy but want to regulate AFAB bodies anyway. This pisses me off, and that is why I love horror films that shove periods right in the audience’s faces. After all, menstruation is a goldmine for body horror and the perfect excuse to add buckets of blood to any movie.
While periods are not quite trending in horror, there are more movies than one would suspect in this niche subgenre. Obviously, Carrie‘s shower scene is historical for a reason. However, using a soaked tampon as zombie bait in It Stains the Sands Red is fantastic. Even finding a gruesome murder while using a truck stop bathroom to change a tampon in Candy Land felt like relatable cinema for me as a Midwesterner. So, I thought I would pull five bloody period horror movies with a visit from “Aunt Flo” or going to the “Red Wedding”. These titles know that being “on the rag” is great for the genre. This is why I am cordially inviting you to step into the restroom with me so I can show you some pretty wild shit. Here are five movies that will make you hesitate the next time someone asks you what your favorite period film is.
5 Must-Watch Horror Films That Turn Periods Into Terrifying Tales
Blue My Mind (2018)
Where You Can Watch: Prime Video and Tubi
A teen gets her period and begins to experience radical body transformations. Director and co-writer Lisa Brühlmann crafted a moody world, uninterested in playing by the rulebook. While Mia (Luna Wedler) has much bigger fish to fry than her period, I do not think we should overlook that moment in the film. It is easy to forget it in the grand scheme of things. However, nothing ushers in frightening bodily changes quite like menstruating. That moment also firmly plants this body horror movie as a unique coming-of-age tale.
Excision (2012)
Where You Can Watch: Fandango at Home, Plex, and Tubi
A high-school outcast with medical career aspirations concocts a wild plan to save her ailing sister. So much happens in this movie! There are plenty of cameos in front of this bloody backdrop, which is Pauline’s (AnnaLynne McCord) canvas. While she spends a lot of time fantasizing about blood and worrying about her sister, she does not let that stop her from cashing in her V-card. She is very upfront about her plan to lose her virginity while on her period, and she gets her bloody way. If you are looking for a movie with a period sex scene, Excision is your girl.
Ginger Snaps (2000)
Where You Can Watch: AMC+, Peacock, and Shudder
Two sisters who are loners in their suburban neighborhood find their relationship changing when one gets bitten by a werewolf. No list of period films is complete without Ginger Snaps. Both Brigitte (Emily Perkins) and Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) are teens who are so late to get their period it has become a household concern. So, it is pretty awful timing for Ginger to get hers right when her life is about to be changed forever. We love when periods are the beginning of the horror story because that is all too relatable.
Read our review of Ginger Snaps here.
Tiger Stripes (2023)
Where You Can Watch: AMC+ and Shudder
An 11-year-old girl’s world is changed when she gets her first period and begins to change into something ferocious. Writer-director Amanda Nell Eu definitely has the cutest movie on this list. I enjoyed watching Zaffan (Zafreen Zairizal) learn that it is okay to be different. More importantly, she learns that sometimes you need to rip a guy’s head off to get peace. This coming-of-age body horror movie has a lot of heart, and I am so glad it is finally streaming. Please insert this into your watch list to break up your steady diet of nightmare fuel.
Read our review of Tiger Strips here.
Verónica (2017)
Where You Can Watch: Netflix and Pluto TV
An evil entity attaches itself to a teen girl who made contact with a Ouija board. This Spanish film is inspired by true events and is possibly the most sinister period film on the list. Poor Verónica gets her first period while battling the demonic spirits invading her body. That is a lot for anyone to deal with at any age, and I am not surprised this movie lives rent-free in so many of our minds. If you enjoy this movie, you might want to watch the prequel Sister Death, also available on Netflix. However, in my opinion, Verónica is the better film.
Hopefully, some of these period films will leave you wanting more. If so, I suggest checking out what Alter has to add to the conversation. I also encourage you to boost filmmakers who know the real meaning of period horror.
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