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to this genre. Returning to Romero's idea of the everyday world wreaking havoc on our souls, it really hammers home the point of needing something extraordinary to bring out the best in ourselves.
The hero is constantly in danger of being beaten down and losing his soul to the monotony of the everyday world. If it wasn't for his best friend and his small comforts he probably would have lost his soul along with his zombified neighbors. The zombie outbreak fully wakes him up in a way nothing else could. These films present the everyman as asserting his individuality among all the other zombies in the world, figuratively as well as literally.

28 Days Later is a wild departure from this sort of film. First, the zombies are fast. Second, this film has very few light moments. This film lives in the real world, with epidemics and a too powerful military. This film asks the question, what would become of you and your soul in this situation? Would you lose your humanity long before the zombies get you, or would you find your humanity by bonding with other survivors. This is an important entry with its unrelenting look at the nature of what makes us human and the power of rage and desperation.

Cemetery Man is the least known film on this list. It is bizarre and Italian, which could keep away some viewers. There is an English lead, and it is a fascinating film that many would highly recommend. The interesting thing about this film is the way it uses the zombie genre. It is an existentialist film, posing the question of whether the zombie attacks are somehow brought on by the hero, or if they are totally out of his hands. They allow the viewer to think about who the hero is, and how he could perhaps stop his predicament if he could only look at it another way. The ending takes a page from Sartre and allows the viewer to ponder the fate of the characters long after the end of the film. This film stretches the genre to its limits, but still makes it work.

There is a reason this genre is insanely popular. The fans are not just looking for the next awesome death scene (although that can be enjoyable too). The true fans are intellectuals who can enjoy these films on a multitude of levels, having constant fodder for debates and message boards. Zombie films will live on in history in a way most other horror films have no chance of doing.

Learn more about this author, Beth Laster.
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