Random Zombie Movies That Aren't Actually About Zombies (16 items)

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  (#5) Pontypool

  • Stephen McHattie, Daniel Fathers, Boyd Banks, Georgina Reilly, Hrant Alianak, Rick Roberts, Beatriz Yuste, Laura Nordin, Lisa Houle, Tony Burgess

  In most zombie films, the virus - or whatever it is that's turning people into zombies - spreads through being bitten or scratched. In some versions, anyone who perishes comes back as a zombie, no matter what does them in. Pontypool adds an entirely different spin to the idea.

  The film follows a radio DJ during an outbreak of bizarre aggression that seems to be tied to language itself. Director Bruce McDonald stresses that the individuals infected by this linguistic virus are not zombies, however. Instead, he calls them "conversationalists." In an interview, he describes the three stages of the virus:

  The first stage is you might begin to repeat a word. Something gets stuck. And usually it's words that are terms of endearment like sweetheart or honey. The second stage is your language becomes scrambled and you can't express yourself properly. The third stage you become so distraught at your condition that the only way out of the situation you feel, as an infected person, is to try and chew your way through the mouth of another person.
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  (#6) Bird Box

  • Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson, Rosa Salazar, Danielle Macdonald, John Malkovich, Trevante Rhodes, Jacki Weaver, Machine Gun Kelly, Lil Rel Howery, David Dastmalchian, Amy Gumenick

  Not every "zombie" movie actually needs zombies - or even zombie stand-ins. Take Bird Box, for example, the 2018 adaptation of Josh Malerman's novel of the same name. In the film, entities that we never see (for obvious reasons) cause anyone who sees them to take their own life. The societal unraveling that follows feels a lot like the kind of gradual apocalypse that you get in just about every zombie movie, but without the slow-moving (or fast-running) masses of the undead.

  Instead, everyone has to navigate their world blindfolded or risk accidentally sneaking a peek at something that they must not see.
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  (#12) The Earth Dies Screaming

  • Dennis Price, Virginia Field, Thorley Walters, Anna Palk, David Spenser, Vanda Godsell, Willard Parker

  Sure, there are blank-eyed, Romero-style zombies in this black-and-white British shocker, which was actually released four years before Romero's zombie classic, but they're not the main threat.

  Most of the population has been done in by a mysterious gas, while the survivors are hounded by silent, unstoppable robots who take lives with a simple touch. The fact that the targets of the robots return as zombies with "gray blobs" for eyes seems like adding insult to injury for the poor survivors by that point.
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  (#11) Stake Land

  • Kevin Kline, Danielle Harris, Kelly McGillis, Connor Paolo, Christina Cole, Larry Fessenden, Sean Nelson, Bonnie Dennison, Michael Cerveris, Dave Eggar, Chance Kelly, Adam Scarimbolo, Marianne Hagan, Stuart Rudin, Nick Damici, Gregory Jones, Heather Robb, Tim House, Laurent Rejto, Jim Mickle, Phyllis Bash, Graham Reznick, Brian Spears, Lou Sumrall, Jean Brassard, Beth Mickle, Eilis Cahill, Lorenza Ponce, Traci Hovel, Vonia Arslanian, Lizz Morhaim, Alexis Molnar, Adam Folk, James Godwin, Lou Lou, Eric Stanze, Peter Phok, Derek Curl, Brent Kunkle, Bryce Burke, Asa Liebmann, Angelique Biasutto, Vlad Iorga, Robert Bishop, Charlie Palmer, Joyce Northacker, Rich Kitchum, Garrett Jester, Rich Baker, Melissa Day, Dennis Michele, Wendy Dillingham, Andrew Adams, Michael Thomas, David Riegel, Richard B. Garcia, Dianne Marshall, Jonathan Spano, Erin Filuprit, Dorothea Swiac, Amanda Williams, Kyle Mieczkowski, Terri Seca, Anastasia Iorga, Corinne Nanghton, Brian Finnegan, Scott H. Thompson, Ethan Kitchum, Jackie Baker, Holli Evans, Lissette Almonte, Dave Strohm, Matthew Witte, Linda Cousin, Zsolt Zilary, Bea Blacksberg, Michael Weidner, Malcolm Haight, Geoff Samuels, John Johnson, Howie Futterman, Bella Reid, Robb McCleary, Skip Dillingham, Steve Witte Jr., Sage Byron, Robert Wenrich Jr., Lisa Hill, Robert Schlueter, Jacques Roy, Peter Molnar, Tanya Stake, Pamela Martin, Maximilian Frey, Mary Small, Carlie Owens, Patrick Cecilian, Dave Hartman, Ryan Owens, Lisa Scalf, Saul Elliott, Charles Freas, James Enfield Ashby, Adam D. Dries, Steven Futterman, Scott Prizier, Joyce Kennedy, Thomas W. Holdener Jr., Daniel Zimmerman, Rosie Simmons, Jofre Romarion, Arthur Kadyshes, Richard Blacksberg, Amber Plaut, Anthony Spina, Jack Walker, Brittany Dauber, Robin Williams, Alicia Caseler, Brandon Spano, Arlene D. Vining, Christine Byron-Steen, Amy Altarelli, Melissa Drexel, Glen Cooper, Sue Witte, Anastasia Neimann, Lisa Kern, Simon Kantola, Danny Mefford, Dominique Biasutto, Robert B. Maxim, Matthias Hickey, Jeremy Zook, Richard J. Treitner, Jeffrey W. Telepu, Lauren Baker, Paul McLain, Harley Shamro, Kimberly Sullivan, Tim Mcgee, Jason Wagner, Chris DeCicco, Henry Hyneman, Jessica Jester, Pamela Banner, Judi Jarvis, Jusin Farrell, Sharon Nichols, Shawn Snow, Austin Paterson, Caitlin Logan, Robin Linzey, Alex Fretz, Beth Marri, Jamis Kruger, Katie Bornhoeft, Carol Molnar, Jennifer Holz, Grant McCord, Mona Lessnick, Triston Daly, James Mickle, Kathleen Anderson, Ann Cover, Greg Kennedy, George Zook, William Palinski, Jeremy Stake, Alison O'Brien, Gregory Forsman, Ally Caselli, Brian Prizer, Dave Prizier, Chris Eddinger, Storm Stanley, Robert Joedicke, Sarah Hagakorz, Shane Delameter, Judy Johnson, Travis Baldwin, William McLain, Rich Deem, Robert Stanley, Dustan Miller, Terry Anderson, B. Beddoe, Michael Murphy, Amber Certain, Genesis Quinones, Richard Elliott, Mike Jensen, Z.Z. Tommsisco, Robert V. Vinning, Daru Oda, Victoria Baker, Bianca Molnar, Christopher Kijeh, Amy Spano, Emily Cain, Juan Pablo, Mike Hill, Kasey Bornhoeft, Josh Baker, Frank Brenkle, Eric Owens, Seamus Boyle, Yu Nagasaka, Joshua Hotz, Carl Steen, Steve Heller, Gary Robertson, Linda Reid, Jackson McCord, Jake Rasmussen, Shaun Keen, Briana Freymoyer, Kyle Fultz, Jack Fessenden, Jeanette Thompson, Gus, Piper, Dakota, Gibson, Carmine Simmons, Joseph Hodges, Frank Brewer, Frank Harris, Sebastian Naskaris, Tim Gehling, Kristi Ganette, Stanley A. Kijeh, Keith Spano, Gaudys Sanford, Aidan Ploutz, Cullan Lafferty, Cynthia Baldwin

  Jim Mickle followed up his 2006 debut Mulberry Street - which is also a zombie movie that isn't really about zombies - with 2010's Stake Land, a post-apocalyptic flick that follows a young man named Martin (Connor Paolo) who joins up with a hunter who just goes by the name of "Mister" (Nick Damici) to survive in the Appalachian Mountains in the wake of an outbreak of vampirism that has slain or turned most of the populace. Think of it as The Walking Dead but with vampires.

  Mickle's blue-collar aesthetic - which he would later put to use adapting Joe R. Lansdale stories to the big and small screens - is on full display here, and the Rust Belt setting provides a very different backdrop from those of most post-apocalyptic films.
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  (#7) Assault on Precinct 13

  • Austin Stoker, Charles Cyphers, Tony Burton, Darwin Joston, Nancy Kyes, Peter Bruni, John J. Fox, Laurie Zimmer

  The vicious thugs in John Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13 may not be mindless zombies - but as far as the people inside the eponymous precinct are concerned, they may as well be.

  These villains may use side arms instead of teeth, but they are eerily silent and unwilling to listen to reason. Though their targets have no idea why, the band of bad guys have sworn a blood oath to take out everyone inside the precinct, and they'll do whatever it takes to get it done. As the crew swarms the building, turning enemies inside to unlikely allies, this classic siege picture owes as much to Night of the Living Dead as it does to Rio Bravo.
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  (#8) The Signal

  • Steve Warren, A. J. Bowen, Sahr Ngaujah, Justin Welborn, David Bruckner, Michael Wade, J. Jacob Adelman, Ben Bailey, Chad McKnight, Anessa Ramsey, Alexander A. Motlagh, Matthew Stanton, Nicholas Lyle, Kid Richmond, Scott Poythress, Claire Bronson, Suehyla El-Attar, Luanne Byrd, Bill Rampley, Stacy Melich, Thomas Wallis, Lindsey Garrett, Dan Bush, Cheri Christian, Christopher Thomas, Rebecca Napier White, Michael Germon, J. Howard Bach, Tracy Martin, Pat Yeary, Linda Burns, Nikki Bingham, Ngozi Lamar Beane, Jeremy Motlagh, Ryan Lewis, Steven Westdahl, Mark Holbrook, Eric Pace, Tonya Kennedy, Heather Young, Scott Hodges, Willie Stodhill, Marcellus Thurman, Edward Morgan, Terril A. Closs, Marirosa Hoffman, Jeremy Turner, John Clifton, Seth Zimmerman, Crystal Mitchell, Jenna Burke, Robert Sanders, Quillian Hightower, John Wroblewski, Patrick Thompson, Kasey Perdue, Tiffany Dennise, Kalina McCreery, David Strickland, Melissa Randle, Joy Burke, Tristan Towne, Joseph Waldrop, Crystal Thomas, Lawrence Johnson, Angele Masters, Robin Acker, Jennifer Caldwell, Alexis Hale, Marc McPherson, Biluxi, Becky Ballard, Robert Sterling, Johnny Burke, Peggy Randle, Robyn Elder, Robert Lane, Jenelle Warner

  All telecommunications devices, radios, TVs, etc. have begun to transmit nothing but a strange signal that amplifies a listener's emotional traits, causing most people who hear it to become extremely aggressive.

  Told across three distinct stories, or "transmissions," The Signal was written and directed by indie filmmakers David Bruckner, Dan Bush, and Jacob Gentry, with each one tackling a separate segment. The three filmmakers have since gone on to work on films like V/H/S, Southbound, The Ritual, The Vault, and Synchronicity.

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