15 Best Zombie Movies On HBO Max
There are an enormous number of zombie films in the world. This entertaining infection shows no signs of slowing, as new undead flicks are being made every day. But we're not in the market for a cure — these harrowing, inventive, and sometimes hilarious visions of humanity's demise are our jam. Streaming services like HBO Max are only too happy to oblige our bottomless hunger for zombie content, to the point that it can be difficult to know what to watch. Lucky for you, dear reader, we've combed through their library in search of the best zombie flicks around. From schlocky gems to survival tales, these are the 15 best zombie movies currently streaming on HBO Max.
Updated on December 29, 2021: As HBO Max changes its streaming library, we'll keep this list updated to reflect current offerings. Be sure to check back each month for information on all the best undead offerings to hit the site.
28 Days Later
When activists accidentally let a mysterious virus loose from a British research facility, the country is plunged into chaos. 28 days later, a man named Jim wakes with a morbid sense that something terrible has happened. After joining up with a small group of survivors, Jim and company must protect themselves from a virus that turns people into homicidal maniacs, and those already infected. Breathing new, manic life into the zombie genre, "28 Days Later" is an unbeatable adrenaline rush.
- Starring: Cillian Murphy, Noah Huntley, Naomie Harris
- Director: Danny Boyle
- Year: 2002
- Runtime: 118 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 87%
28 Weeks Later
This sequel to "28 Days Later" finds Britain absolutely decimated by the rage virus. With every infected citizen supposedly dead of starvation, a group of American soldiers dare to venture into the country. Things quickly go wrong, and the virus' resurgence ultimately threatens the whole world. Kinetic and daring, "28 Weeks Later" delivers a would-be post apocalyptic recovery story that escalates thrillingly. With a stacked cast and a nihilistic attitude toward mankind, this sequel is solid, entertaining, and scary as all get-out.
- Starring: Robert Carlyle, Rose Byrne, Jeremy Renner
- Director: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo
- Year: 2007
- Runtime: 100 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%
Army of Darkness
Picking up where "Evil Dead II" leaves off, this movie teleports wise-cracking renegade Ash Williams to the Middle Ages. There, he finds all manner of undead monstrosities. After publicly disposing of a Deadite monster, Ash is worshipped as a hero. But to get home, he'll need the Necronomicon Ex-Mortis. It's up to Ash to brave both the Deadites and his own stupidity to acquire the book and return to his own time. There are few truly great horror-comedies, let alone great horror-comedy epics. This is one. Bonkers, goofy as heck, and teeming with practical effects, "Army of Darkness" is an unconventional and wholly delightful send off to Raimi's unimpeachable horror trilogy.
- Starring: Bruce Campbell, Embeth Davidtz, Marcus Gilbert
- Director: Sam Raimi
- Year: 1992
- Runtime: 81 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 73%
Black Death
As the bubonic plague sweeps medieval Europe, hushed whispers circulate of a remote village led by a necromancer, which is immune to the disease. The church orders a knight, a monk, and a small group of soldiers to investigate. When the group finally arrives in the village, they are met with unspeakable torture and apparent proof of resurrection. Despondent to its core, "Black Death" paints a thoroughly grim portrait of plague mentality and opportunists who take advantage of tragedy. This period horror, which comes from the director of "Triangle" and "Creep," is well worth seeking out.
- Starring: Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Carice van Houten
- Director: Christopher Smith
- Year: 2010
- Runtime: 102 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%
Corpse Bride
"Corpse Bride" sees a nouveau riche only son named Victor Van Dort accidentally propose to a dead body. You know how it goes: You're practicing your vows for your actual wedding to a living woman, and you accidentally place a ring on a murdered woman's bony finger. We've all been there! Whisked away to the Land of the Dead, Victor must get home to his very-much-alive fiancée and unravel the circumstances around poor, deceased Emily's demise. Gothic, ghoulish, and good-hearted, "Corpse Bride" will delight anyone with a pulse.
- Starring: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Emily Watson
- Director: Tim Burton and Mike Johnson
- Year: 2005
- Runtime: 76 minutes
- Rating: PG
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 84%
Dead Man
In this psychedelic Western, an accountant named William Blake winds up fatally shot after an altercation with a sex worker's boyfriend. However, he does not die. Blake and a mysterious Native American man named Nobody must journey west, to allow Blake to fully cross over. An odd and marvelous film deeply interested in morality and Western culture, "Dead Man" features an excellent soundtrack by Neil Young and fantastic black and white photography. If you're in the mood for existential deterioration, you're in for a real treat.
- Starring: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, John Hurt
- Director: Jim Jarmusch
- Year: 1995
- Runtime: 134 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 71%
Evil Dead II
Just as they're settling into their romantic woodland getaway, Ash and his girlfriend Linda stumble across a tape recorder. Ash plays a tape from the cabin's previous inhabitant, an archeologist who recites from "The Book of the Dead." The recorded incantation unleashes an evil force upon the woods that wreaks havoc on the couple's weekend trip. Animated severed hands, possessed corpses, and all manner of demonic shenanigans ensue. A horror-comedy sequel to the notorious 1981 video nasty, "Evil Dead II" is what you get when you put "The Three Stooges" and "Night of the Living Dead" in a blender: A riotous, bloody, and thoroughly inventive undead party.
- Starring: Bruce Campbell, Sarah Berry, Dan Hicks
- Director: Sam Raimi
- Year: 1987
- Runtime: 85 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
House
In the wake of her father's sudden marriage, a young woman named Gorgeous takes her six friends to visit her aunt in the countryside. Soon, the girls discover that both the house and Gorgeous' aunt have many strange secrets. What follows is a supernatural terror trip featuring flying decapitated heads, killer pianos, and blood-spewing paintings. "House" is surreal vision of madness, childhood, and psychedelia that truly needs to be seen to be believed.
- Starring: Kimiko Ikegami, Ai Matsubara, Miki Jinbo
- Director: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi
- Year: 1977
- Runtime: 87 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
I Am Legend
Robert Neville is the sole survivor of a man-made virus that turns its victims into cannibalistic mutants. A virologist, he picks through the ruins of Manhattan as he works to find a cure. With only storefront mannequins and his dog for company, Neville hopes that one of two things comes fast: A scientific breakthrough, or a response to his daily radio broadcasts.
The sun-fearing beasties in "I Am Legend" are often labelled as "vampiric." But why can't vampires be zombie-like, or vice versa? All's fair in love and flesh-eating! A horror adventure that does right by Richard Matheson's classic story, "I Am Legend" is a poignant nightmare, carried by a wonderful central performance from Will Smith.
- Starring: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Dash Mihok
- Director: Francis Lawrence
- Year: 2007
- Runtime: 101 minutes
- Rating: PG-13
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 68%
I Was a Teenage Zombie
Teens on the hunt for pot accidentally usher in a zombie outbreak when they dump their dead drug dealer in a lake full of toxic waste. A rough-and-tumble, no-budget horror-comedy, "I Was a Teenage Zombie" features music by The Fleshtones, the Violent Femmes, Los Lobos, Alex Chilton, and other '80s titans. Is it a "good" movie? No. But it is a schlocky delight when taken on its own terms.
- Starring: Michael Rubin, George Seminara, Steve McCoy
- Director: John E. Michalakis
- Year: 1987
- Runtime: 91 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 20%
Night of the Living Dead
While visiting their father's grave in rural Pennsylvania, siblings Barbra and Johnny stumble headfirst into the zombie apocalypse. While Johnny quickly succumbs to a shambling corpse, Barbra makes it to a farmhouse where she and a group of survivors attempt to survive the night. This genre-defining film sees a violent sickness overtaking the nation, exacerbating tensions and fueling all manner of insidious anxieties. If you haven't checked "Night of the Living Dead" out because of its age, check again: This thoughtful, bizarre, and incredibly entertaining film is considered one of the greats for a reason.
- Starring: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman
- Director: George A. Romero
- Year: 1968
- Runtime: 96 minutes
- Rating: NR
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
Rabid
After undergoing a radical skin graft for injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident, a young woman grows a bizarre, stinger-like appendage and develops a ravenous appetite for human blood. As she rips through Montreal, her victims are left in a zombie-like state, attacking bystanders and spreading a violent epidemic throughout the city. "Rabid" is a well-structured and deliciously mean-spirited horrorshow from one of the biggest names in scary cinema. It's weird, wild, and absolutely wonderful — the Cronenbergian trinity.
- Starring: Marilyn Chambers, Frank Moore, Joe Silver
- Director: David Cronenberg
- Year: 1977
- Runtime: 91 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%
The Evil Dead
A gaggle of Michigan State students take a vacation to an isolated cabin in rural Tennessee. In the basement, they find a Sumerian translation of "The Book of the Dead," and a tape recorder. Overwhelmed by curiosity, the kids play the tape, which resurrects a demonic force. One by one, the students fall prey to the entity's influence, which transforms them into homicidal, necrotic monsters. A dark classic with a wholly deserved NC-17 rating, "The Evil Dead" is a raw nightmare that hits the ground running and never looks back.
- Starring: Bruce Campbell, Ellen Sandweiss, Betsy Baker
- Director: Sam Raimi
- Year: 1981
- Runtime: 85 minutes
- Rating: NC-17
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 95%
The Return of the Living Dead
Set in a world where George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" exists as a fictionalized account of a real military experiment, "The Return of the Living Dead" is one of the funniest and most gruesome zombie films ever made. Evidence of the aforementioned military mishap is collecting dust in the basement of a medical supply facility. When a bumbling employee decides to show the contagion-containing drums to a new hire, they accidentally release the contents, setting off a series of poor decisions and frantic attempts to contain the infection. "The Return of the Living Dead" nihilistically (and hilariously) depicts all the chaos and confusion of a self-inflicted apocalypse.
- Starring: Clu Gulager, James Karen, Don Calfa
- Director: Dan O'Bannon
- Year: 1985
- Runtime: 91 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 91%
Trick 'r Treat
The "Halloween School Bus Massacre" segment of this Halloween-centric horror anthology sees a group of trick-or-treaters share a ghoulish urban legend about eight dead children. While making light of the tragedy, the prank-loving youngsters accidentally incur the wrath of the not-so-dearly departed. "Halloween School Bus Massacre" is a retribution-rich ghost story urging viewers to pay heed, and respects, to the dead. Even in an anthology without a weak link, it still manages to stand out.
- Starring: Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, Dylan Baker
- Director: Michael Dougherty
- Year: 2007
- Runtime: 82 minutes
- Rating: R
- Rotten Tomatoes Score: 83%