Here we are at Z. It’s been a long old road, but we got through round one of this A! The fun, of course, is still ongoing as we go back around and give updates (you may notice a shift in the format of lists from Q onwards). There is still a lot to cover, and also, surprise, surprise, we have one bonus post to go tomorrow in the form of horror films to watch, starting with numbers! For now, let’s get through Z, which, as you will probably imagine, is mostly taken up with zombie films, but we have a few surprises in store of films you may not have thought of! Thanks for reading, and let’s start, shall we?
Z (2019)
Joshua has an imaginary friend, but not an overly nice one, it seems. In fact, this imaginary friend makes Joshua look like a bit of a bloody weirdo. Slowly, as this imaginary friend makes its presence more known to the family, the terrorising really begins.
No, this is not 2024’s boring and frankly terrible Imaginary; this is the far superior forebearer that does everything right for a modern horror. Brandon Christensen nailed it in his second feature with some legitimately sinister moments and effective shots that will bounce you a couple of inches off of your seat.
Creepy is the best word to describe Z; it gets that tone right early and just keeps rolling with it to try to unsettle us as that ante gets lifted higher and higher. Of course, we have some jumpscares (practically every modern horror does), but there are ones that are just perfect and get you, and all you can do is wag your finger at the screen and smile because of how well it got you. It’s a shame that this one snuck under the radar for so many as it deserves to have an audience, so throw it on and have a good scary time.
Zaat (1971)
A scientist decides that the best way to get through life and get revenge on those who have wronged him is to turn into the most vicious animal on all of Earth, the catfish. This walking-on-land catfish man fails at everything, but what if he made a catfish woman to ease his loneliness and breed some children?
From a good scary time to one that is solely made to laugh at. Should Zaat be on this list? Probably not. It’s not even a film that is so bad, but it’s good. It’s just… Zaat is a perfect example of a bad horror movie that, if you do not take it seriously, you are for a daft old time. This is a tongue firmly in cheek inclusion, but it really is hilariously awful. As someone wrote, this is the greatest catfishplotitation film you will ever see.
Gloriously rubbish, enjoy.
Zalava (2021)
Masoud is a gendarmerie sergeant who is sent to investigate reports of demonic possessions that have been occurring in a remote village in Iran in 1978. Also, a sceptic to such things, his beliefs on the matter are tested when he meets an exorcist. When his investigation begins to anger the villagers, he realises there is a lot more wrong with the village than he imagined.
Zalava is a really interesting film as, on one side, it is a drama about the battle between those who believe in things like demons and religion and even superstitions against those who base most of their thoughts on science. Yet, it is a horror if you believe more in that it is a horror about how demons want to stop the sceptics from making the villagers believe them and to move them past their beliefs. In essence, it comes down to one thing. Whether or not you believe what is in that glass jar is true or not is fascinating.
Arsalan Amiri does something few have and has you question everything while seeing both sides, bringing your beliefs to the story to further how you feel about it. The horror is as much in what is in that jar and the fear of it getting out as it is in the fear of what paranoia can do to people.
It is a horror film about the power of belief and paranoia that becomes an endurance test of how much intensity you can take in the final act. It is said that some films are underseen gems, and this is one of them. Find this film and watch it immediately. Not only do we need more horror films from Iran and other Middle Eastern countries, but we also need more films like Zalava.
Zana (2019)
Night terrors haunt Lume after losing her child during the war ten years prior, and she has been unable to conceive since. One day, her family pressure her with the additional threat of potentially being replaced as a wife hanging over her, and she goes to magical healers to help her. Past traumas arise, but is there more going on with Lume than meets the eye?
What is so great about horror as a genre is how it can be used in so many ways to elicit a response from the audience. If you want to scare someone, be ominous. You want to make people feel grossed out, go bloody, etc, etc. Antoneta Kastrati uses horror for another purpose in Zana; they are used to build upon the grief and pain that Lume is enduring and how that pushes her further into the darkness of her mind—leaving us with something quite special, such as a viewing experience. Horror is what you bring to it, and Kastrati uses personal horror to cement the pain we see.
Adriana Matoshi is sensational in this powerful film that utilises grief and agony in the aftermath of war in a patriarchal society to its fullest extent. She is heartbreaking here, and all the more so when you actively want to smack the majority of her family and those who are stopping her from getting the actual help she needs. Like Zalava, the town is rife with superstition, and this, plus Lume’s nightmares, are the flourishes of horror that make the events in the film all the more desperately sad. A fantastic film, whether you count it enough to be a horror, is up to you.
Zeder (1983)
Stefano, a journalist, is given an old typewriter by his wife Alessandra. One night, he discovers several hidden letters, with one from a man named Paolo Zeder from the 1950s. Curious, Stefano begins investigating the truth in specific fields named K-zones that can reanimate the dead.
This will be a great introduction to his films for those unaware of the filmmaker, Pupi Avati. With Zeder, he has given us a mystery zombie horror that pulls you in from the prologue onwards. One thing you cannot escape in this one is just how dense the story is; that mystery aspect is really amped up as moments that are almost unexplainable to us at the time suddenly make sense as the film progresses, so if you watch this, make sure you are concentrating at all times as Avati will have you on your toes!
Taking the interesting idea that it is, in fact, the soil in these K-zones that is reanimating the dead really makes the film stand out. A reason is presented, and then all of the thought processes and possibilities of what could be done with such zones come into play. The fact that the zombie side is mixed in tone with a mysterious (veering towards Giallo-esque at times) allows for intrigue to settle in and keep you watching.
The star of the show is, without a doubt, Gabriele Lavia, who does some of his best acting work throughout the film, especially in that ending sequence when you feel nothing but pity for Stefano. If the synopsis is familiar to you but the title isn’t, the film went under the title Revenge of the Dead but was heavy. I mean, it was heavily edited down, so the version to watch is ideally the Italian one with this title.
The Zero Boys (1986)
A group of friends set off into the wilderness to play one of their usual survival games. Only this time, the survival situation that this group of six find themselves in is a lot more real than they could ever think of; as the sun sets, their survival instincts will need to kick in, or else.
It is an action horror that would be an absolute blast if it were made today. Sadly, The Zero Boys doesn’t strike the “utterly fantastic” levels you want it to, but it is still inventive and enjoyable enough in its own right. The film has a great pivot where it turns from being a bro’s being bro’s style film to something much more ominous and threatening. The horror aspect of the film is, without a doubt, its strongest, and with nice touches like the killer wanting to film the last breaths of the victims to THEN show to the next, it is great.
The main shame is in hiring strong female actors and giving them weak characters, but their performances are saved by what they do later on in the film. But let’s be honest, the real shame is how wasteful this group are with actual bullets, to the point that it almost becomes comedic, especially the barn scene. There aren’t nearly enough action slashers out in the world, and this is a wondrous 80s cheese of viewing, and we are all the better for having it.
Zombeavers (2014)
A group of friends and their little dog did go off to a lake to have a weekend of utter debauchery that would have a nun blush, only to find that not only is the lake full of beavers who have built a great dam, but that those beavers are now zombies and its not wood they want to gnaw at, its humans!
Sometimes, there is a film that you know deep down is not the best, yet you want to include it merely so you can write the synopsis and chat about how stupid it is. This, my friends, is my chance to introduce you to Zombeavers, a truly stupid film, but one that is happy to turn to the camera and give the most exaggerated wink it can think of.
But Scott, what makes this stupid-sounding Syfy channel mess stand out? How about the fact that the beavers are practical? Yep, the filmmakers of this daft thing decided to go out of their way to make an abundance of zombie beavers and go wild with it. From them swimming in the lake and attacking our group to them being ripped in half and still trying to kill (they are zombies, and their hind legs will not stop them!). There has been an actual effort to make these, and to me, that warrants this film being on the list.
Add in the fact that director and co-writer Jordan Rubin is well aware of what he is making, and we have a film that is pure silliness and actually works as a dumb horror comedy. It isn’t going to pull you in with emotional moments like Shaun of the Dead, but it is going to have you laughing and feeling a little grossed out at the same time, and that’s what we need in something like this. It has a line that goes, “We cannot turn against each other right now. That’s exactly what the beavers would want,” automatically, yes.
Zombi Child (2019)
In 1962, a man in Haiti is buried after death by voodoo, only he isn’t dead, and when he rises out of his grave, he is made to be a slave. Skip ahead to the present. Fanny has recently moved to France from Haiti after the catastrophic earthquakes. She struggles to make friends until eventually she does with Mélissa, who reveals that her family is linked with voodoo and tells the tale of the zombie slave. Mélissa, wanting to help Fanny after a breakup, comes up with a downright stupid idea that will change both their lives.
Thought-provoking horror film, who would have thought that was coming your way? Certainly not me when I started this list, yet Zombi Child danders on in and makes its presence felt in as slow a way as possible.
This is a film that takes the “build up” approach where not much in horror happens for the first half, and then slowly (or quickly in some film cases) that horror aspect kicks in, and we are off to the races. What gets focused on here is the idea of colonialism and the legacy that countries like France have with what they have done, even as recently as what we know of in Haiti. It tackles much in its short run time (a swift 85 minutes) that you could be forgiven for believing you are watching a drama.
The horror is there, though, even when it’s not your typical horror. We have the horror of the idea of what happened to that man in 1962, the horror of the thought of how Haiti has been left. It’s not your typical Romero zombie flick, which is something mentioned in these lists that I love about the genre. Romero’s Dead films tackled topics but threw in every gross thing he could think of. This doesn’t need that full-force horror, but both work in their own way. Not many other genres can say that. Anyway, back to the film, in truth, it is a film that doesn’t wholly keep up with the premise that it has set up; it over-explains itself a touch too much.
Which is odd, as it is still a decent film, jumping back and forth seeing what happened to the man and with the Baron is great, but maybe not worth the effort to left our main story for. Flawed but worth your time.
Zombie (1979)
A group of people decide to assist the daughter of a scientist in helping her find him since he went missing on the tropical island of Matul. What they do not know until it is too late is that Dr Menard has discovered that, due to a disease, the islanders have turned into horrifying zombies that crave the taste of human flesh.
Subtle, thought-provoking, this one is certainly not; Lucio Fulci goes for it with both barrels in this film and thank goodness he does. Now, this one has a few titles: Zombie, Zombi 2 (as it is a “sequel” to Romero’s 1978 Dawn of the Dead), Zombie Flesh Eaters and, of course, Woodoo. We are going with Zombie for this one for our own sanity. There is always a discussion (depending on what circles you partake in) on which zombies look better, Romero’s or Fulci’s; for me, it’s Fulci’s. There is a better decayed look to these folks than what we get in any of the Night films, though you then face the argument on who’s special effects for when those zombies start munching. That one we will try and settle another time.
What Fulci does, though, is not waste a single second, plunging us right into the chaos and never letting us free from it until those merciful credits roll. Is this one of the greatest zombie films of all time? For me, it is up there, very much up there. It takes the ideas of zombies and takes them to another level, one that I am sure the USA tried to match in its madness. Fulci has presented a nightmare before our eyes, but a dreamlike one; you feel you are not really there as that sense of dread continues to push you down into your seat, stopping you from turning away.
Also, we get a zombie vs a shark scene; what more could you ask for in the schlockiest of films?
Zombieland (2009)
The zombie apocalypse is upon us, and a student is trying to get across the country to his family in Ohio. Along the way, he links up with a gun-loving nut and a pair of sisters who just want to get to the amusement park. They are all looking for something in this new world; who knew it would actually be each other?
A horror comedy that throws a lot at you from both genres and perhaps shouldn’t work as well as it does, Zombieland hits that perfect sweet spot for a film like this and keeps the foot down in this post-apocalyptic road movie. Leaning more on the comedic side than the horror, this is effectively a comedy based on a horror backdrop; you can’t help but love our ragtag group.
For those who do not know, there is a great cameo here, and it will probably single-handedly give it another extra star in your rating (if you are a star-rating type of person, of course). Of course, there is good gore and a couple of tense moments; it is a zombie apocalypse, so you are safe to presume not everyone in this group is going to make it to the end. Mostly, though, this is a comedy through and through and a mighty solid one at that.
Zoo (2018)
John and Karen are starting to go through a rough patch in their marriage; all couples go through it; it’s natural. One of the troubles for this couple is that their rough patch just so happens to be during a zombie apocalypse.
Much along the lines of Zombieland, only this time, we have a horror dramedy that puts the zombie horror aspect in the background until needed as we watch our characters go through their own troubles. There is enough horror to keep the zombie lover happy while we watch these two people who should be a part of the struggle through life because they have little to no other option. When you get little twists on the zombie genre, you have to appreciate them as they are trying to, at worst, be original with their concept.
The performances of our two leads, Zoë Tapper and Ed Speleers, are what makes the film really work. For those of us who have gotten to the point in a co-habituating relationship where you stop living together and start living alongside one another, this can be a bit of a hard watch. You feel that within their characters, they care for one another, but that love has dwindled; too much pain has gone on for it to be still lit.
Be warned, the gore level is at a minimum here, but the horror and fear you have for the characters really pick up once the ground is settled on their situation. They finally begin to talk about what caused the fracture in their relationship, culminating in a painful ending.
To check out our previous letters have a click below! Otherwise, come back for the letter Z!
Horror films to watch: Letter A
Horror films to watch: Letter B
Horror films to watch: Letter B (Part 2)
Horror films to watch: Letter C
Horror films to watch: Letter D
Horror films to watch: Letter E
Horror films to watch: Letter F
Horror films to watch: Letter G
Horror films to watch: Letter H: Part 1
Horror films to watch: Letter H: Part 2
Horror films to watch: Letter H: Part 3
Horror films to watch: Letter I; Part 1
Horror films to watch: Letter I – Part 2
Horror films to watch; Letter J
Horror films to watch; Letter K
Horror films to watch: Letter L
Horror films to watch: Letter M
Horror films to watch: Letter M (Part 2)
Horror films to watch: Letter M (part 3)
Horror films to watch: Letter N
Horror films to watch: Letter N (Part 2)
Horror films to watch: Letter O
Horror films to watch: Letter P (Part 1)
Horror films to watch: Letter P (Part 2)
Horror films to watch: Letter Q
Horror films to watch: Letter R (Part 1)
Horror films to watch: Letter S (Part 1)
Horror films to watch: Letter T (Part 1)
Horror films to watch: Letter U
Horror films to watch: Letter V (Part 1)
Horror films to watch: Letter W (Part 1)
Horror films to watch: Letter X
Horror films to watch: Letter Y
Horror films to watch: Letter Z
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