Once again, it’s Easter Sunday, a day which most of us spend eating too much chocolate and not thinking about Jesus. Traditionally, however, Resurrection Sunday is spent celebrating the messiah’s return from the dead. Combine that with giant, egg-bearing rabbits, chocolate hens with their heads gnawed off, and the hideous combination of lemon yellow with mauve, and Easter is a lot spookier than Halloween. Accordingly, here are a few of our favourite movies about the undead to aid your commemoration of Jesus Christ’s miraculous resurrection.
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)
Forty-eight years since its release, George A. Romero’s B-Movie Night of the Living Dead is still terrifying, concerning the fates of several strange characters trapped together in a house besieged by the menacing undead. Its dark and grainy black-and-white film and low-budget special effects only make it scarier. Luckily for you, and to the detriment of your Easter worship, you can watch the entire thing online.
THE HUNGER (1983)
Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon, David Bowie. The vampires in this 80s classics are chic, seductive, and so cool they make the south pole look like Benidorm. Also, they listen to Schubert. Need I say more? Unfortunately, the trailer above doesn’t do The Hunger justice, so get your hands on a DVD copy and subject it to multiple viewings.
DEATH BECOMES HER (1992)
Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn are incredible in this sublime piece of cinematic camp concerning the eternal lives of two Hollywood frenemies. Isabella Rossellini bestows the two women with the gift of immortality, one which she has also given to Elvis Presley, Andy Warhol, and Marilyn Monroe. However, the two most recent recipients of Rossellini’s gift obviously haven’t learnt from the story of Tithonus, and it turns out that eternal life doesn’t equate to eternal youth.
28 DAYS LATER (2002)
Danny Boyle’s zombie movie has become a classic of the genre, depicting a post-apocalyptic London overrun by the angry, angry undead. The most famous scene depicts protagonist Jim wandering the empty streets of London’s (usually) busiest areas, a miraculous achievement on Boyle’s relatively low budget. Although most of the film was shot prior to the events of September 11, 2001, it draws eerily upon fears of terrorism and societal collapse.
WORLD WAR Z (2013)
Although World War Z is guilty of every single Hollywood faux pas in the book (women and Jewish people ruin everything, gender stereotyping abounds, the nuclear family lives on), it is worth a watch for its zombies alone. Far from the groaning sleep-walkers of the 1960s, these ones travel in light-speed packs, not letting anything obstruct their path – and I mean ANYTHING. They’re like rotting, murderous Lemmings.
On that note, have a Happy Easter and eat chocolate, not brains.