If you’re looking for terrifying zombie movies to watch as companion pieces to World War Z, look no further than these incredible horror flicks. World War Z premiered back in 2013, starring Brad Pitt as former United Nations investigator Gerry Lane, a man who travels the world searching for a solution to a sudden outbreak causing the zombie apocalypse. 13 years after its release, World War Z is back in the Top 10 on Paramount+, but it’s not the only one of its kind.
At this year’s CinemaCon, Paramount Pictures confirmed that a much-anticipated sequel to World War Z is finally in development. Before its upcoming release, however, many similar zombie horror movies make perfect companion pieces to World War Z. Blending zombie horror with rich psychological and character depth, these movies rely not just on nightmarish scares, but also unique visuals and stylistic filmmaking to deliver stories that make World War Z’s fast-paced action even better.
Train to Busan Delivers a Zombie Story With Limitations
Taking place primarily on a KTX high-speed train traveling from Seoul to Busan, 2016’s Train to Busan delivers a high-stakes and frenetic narrative as passengers experience a zombie apocalypse breaking out during their journey. It’s the limitations in Train to Busan — characters trapped aboard a train — that make it one of the most notable and influential zombie movies in recent memory. Combining relatable human drama with intense, practical horror, Train to Busan makes the zombie apocalypse feel completely real and personal.
Train to Busan makes the perfect companion piece in a double feature with World War Z because it features the same kind of frenzied and all-out action as Marc Forster’s 2013 movie. Both feature fast, agile, and overwhelming zombies that behave like a hive mind, but while World War Z capitalizes on a macro, global view of the apocalypse, Train to Busan’s story is much smaller and more intimate. They give audiences different perspectives, making it fantastic to witness both back-to-back.
Night of the Living Dead Popularized the Zombie Horror Genre
Widely regarded as a touchstone in the development of the horror genre, especially zombie horror, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead from 1968 is one of the most influential and significant zombie movies of all time. Night of the Living Dead follows a group of people in a remote farmhouse in Pennsylvania who come under siege by reanimated corpses. The movie popularized the zombie horror genre and inspired many subsequent movies, making it the perfect companion piece to more modern zombie movies.
Night of the Living Dead ushered in a new era of filmmaking, revolutionizing the splatter and zombie horror genres and inspiring many subsequent movies and TV shows. Shaun of the Dead, 28 Days Later, The Walking Dead, Train to Busan, Get Out, and many more took inspiration from Night of the Living Dead. Given its influence, Night of the Living Dead always deserves a rewatch alongside contemporary zombie movies such as World War Z.
Dead Snow Is Comic Relief to World War Z’s Scares
Image via Eurforia Film
Blending zombie horror with satirical comedy, Tommy Wirkola’s Dead Snow is an unexpected addition to the zombie horror genre, but one that holds up perfectly alongside the likes of more terrifying movies such as World War Z. Dead Snow follows a group of students who fight zombified Nazis in the mountains of Norway while on Easter vacation. Hilarious, campy, and, at times, genuinely scary, Dead Snow delivers some comic relief in the wake of World War Z’s high-octane action.
Dead Snow acts as the slapstick horror counterpoint to World War Z’s intense action, once again keeping the action limited to the Norwegian mountains rather than spanning the globe. The opposing tones are highlighted by shared themes of human failures and the catastrophic consequences of past decisions. Dead Snow’s 2014 sequel explored a larger story, but the original 2009 movie is still the best to watch with World War Z.
Cargo Is a Personal Story That Holds Up Against World War Z
Based on Ben Howling and Yolanda Ramke’s 2013 short film, this 2017 post-apocalyptic thriller follows a couple and their baby traveling across remote Australia after the outbreak of a deadly disease that turns people rabid within 48 hours. Starring Martin Freeman and Susie Porter, Cargo is a low-budget and stripped-back zombie movie that removes the all-out action of films like World War Z in favor of a more intimate and personal narrative. Compact and concise, Cargo is the perfect companion piece to World War Z.
In a world saturated with zombie horror projects on the big and small screens, Cargo succeeds in delivering a fresh perspective. While World War Z captures expansive action and terrifying zombies that charge after their prey, Cargo presents a grueling story that puts the survival aspect of this genre front and center. Freeman stars as Andy Rose, who tests his persistence and commitment on his journey to protect his daughter, which is reminiscent of World War Z’s Gerry Lane, who sets out to protect his own family.
Quarantine Explores a Story That Fits in World War Z’s Universe
Similar to Train to Busan, Dead Snow, and Night of the Living Dead, Quarantine explores a zombie horror storyline set in a confined space following a select few characters, acting as the perfect opposition to World War Z’s globe-spanning narrative. Quarantine, directed by John Erick Dowdle, remade 2007’s Rec (more on that later), following a reporter and a cameraman who are assigned to firefighters answering a call to an apartment building where a mutated strain of rabies has broken out.
Quarantine features no musical score and uses only sound effects to completely immerse the audience in the action and story, which reflects World War Z’s immersion perfectly. It might actually be easy to imagine Quarantine being a self-contained story in the universe of World War Z, with the latter focusing on the macro and the former investigating the micro. Combined, these movies explore the full spectrum of the government’s response to the zombie outbreak, from chaotic management to total failure.
Rec Released Only a Year Before Quarantine
While Quarantine delivered a story set in the United States, its predecessor and source material, Rec, explored the same story but followed firefighters answering a distress call in an apartment building in Barcelona. Rec delivered the found footage horror movie before Quarantine replicated it, following characters trapped in the sealed-off building after authorities put it under quarantine. The movie earned critical and commercial success, and spawned sequels and remakes, but there’s a magic in the original.
Rec is just a perfect companion piece to World War Z, as Quarantine is, and for all the same reasons. Rec and Quarantine’s narratives are practically identical, so Quarantine’s focus on the micro story involving the residents of a single apartment block perfectly complements World War Z’s globetrotting storyline. Rec is regarded as one of the most terrifying and effective horror movies in recent memory, so it’s fantastic to watch alongside subsequent horror flicks in the same vein.
It Stains the Sands Red Offers a Unique Perspective on Zombie Horror
This Canadian-American movie from Colin Minihan stars Brittany Allen as a woman who, after a slow-moving zombie kills her partner, is relentlessly pursued by the reanimated corpse across the desert outside Las Vegas. On their journey, Molly forms an unlikely bond with the zombie, whom she names “Smalls” (Juan Riedinger), delivering an intriguing and unique perspective on the typical zombie horror movie. It kind of falls apart towards the end, but the majority of the story is intimate, subdued, and entertaining because of its quietness.
Similar to Cargo, It Stains the Sands Red follows just one character on a journey across a desolate landscape, providing a more intimate and personal story as a foil to World War Z’s more expansive narrative. Molly forms a bond with Smalls in It Stains the Sands Red, but the movie does not attempt to explain or solve the zombie apocalypse. This gives it some added flavor when watched alongside World War Z, which is all about finding a way out of the chaos.
Dawn of the Dead Has a Long-Lasting Legacy
George A. Romero’s 1978 original and Zack Snyder’s 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead contribute to two of the most significant and memorable zombie horror movies of all time. Romero’s version followed Night of the Living Dead as a standalone sequel, this time showing the wider effects of a zombie apocalypse on society rather than focusing on a small group in a remote farmhouse. In both the 1978 and 2004 versions, a group of survivors barricades itself inside a shopping mall to survive.
2004’s Dawn of the Dead was Snyder’s directorial debut and was written by James Gunn, making it a rare gem in the cinema landscape of the 2000s. The movie is widely regarded as having reinvigorated the zombie horror genre after a lengthy lull, and it perfectly reflects World War Z’s focus on human society, the collapse of civilization, and a realistic depiction of the zombie apocalypse. Romero’s is considered more influential, but either would be a strong watch alongside World War Z.
Pontypool Showcases a Completely Different Zombie Apocalypse
Unlike any other zombie horror movie, 2008’s Pontypool, directed by Bruce McDonald and written by Tony Burgess, who also wrote the preceding novel, spreads its virus through language rather than bodily fluids. Pontypool follows shock jock Grant Mazzy (Stephen McHattie) and his producer, who find themselves secluded in their radio station as they experience the chaos erupting outside as the zombie apocalypse begins. This reflects the likes of Train to Busan, Quarantine, Rec, and more by trapping characters in a secluded space.
The perfect antithesis of World War Z, Pontypool’s small-scale story opposes the 2013 movie’s far-reaching narrative brilliantly. Primarily following just two characters as they come to terms with the apocalypse from the safety of their radio room, Pontypool delivers a completely different kind of apocalypse story while including similar, fast-moving zombies and capturing the same level of sheer intensity as World War Z. Pontypool is little-known, so partnering it with World War Z could give it much-needed recognition.
28 Days Later Brought Zombie Horror Back Into the Mainstream
Image via Fox Searchlight Pictures
It would be remiss to mention so many iconic zombie horror movies that would partner perfectly with World War Z and not mention Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later. Although very different in nature, 28 Days Later and World War Z actually complement each other brilliantly. Both show the intimate and psychologically-demanding nature of the zombie apocalypse’s beginnings, and both feature fast-paced and terrifying zombie creatures — humans infected with a Rage Virus in 28 Days Later — which adds to the scares and thrills.
28 Days Later follows Jim (Cillian Murphy), who wakes up from a coma a month after the start of the apocalypse. World War Z, conversely, shows the immediate aftermath of the outbreak, so they’re perfect companion pieces given their close time frames. 28 Days Later marked the start of a series that is now four-strong. World War Z could become just as expansive now that a sequel is in the works, so we could get a glimpse of weeks and years after Gerry Lane’s adventure.
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