10 Animated Shows and Movies About Zombies
The Simpsons: Dial Z For Zombie
ParaNorman
LAIKA's second feature was a family friendly zombie flick. The zombies are brought to life (or should that be death?) with considerable flare, as you would expect from the stop-motion masters from Portland. In this case, though, it just turns out these zombies aren't so fearsome after all, and are just misunderstood.
Adventure Time
Adventure Time's first zombie episode Slumber Party Panic is actually the show's very first episode full stop. Finn and Princess Bubblegum's science experiment causes an outbreak of sugar-hungry candy zombies. Of course, because most of the residents of the kingdom of Ooo are candy-people, it turns out be the cutest zombie apocalypse ever, and it all turns out OK in the end. The kingdom suffers another undead outbreak in the season three episode From Bad To Worse.
Highschool Of The Dead
Based on the manga of the same name, this anime plays out a fairly conventional zombie story following an outbreak at a Highschool. However, it's also notorious for its fan-service and the pneumatic designs of its female characters. So much so that it often seems more concerned with boobs and panty-shots than the actual zombies, but the whole thing is so daft and gloriously over-the-top that it feels like the anime equivalent of a cheesy B-movie.
South Park: Pinkeye
Matt Stone and Trey Parker did a zombie episode as part of the show's first season back in 1997- years before zombies became as prevalent as they are today. The zombie outbreak is sparked (naturally) by the ill-fated Kenny, turning many of the town's residents into flesh-munchers. Luckily, for most of the infected, killing the original zombie turns the (surviving) victims back to normal. The episode also features a fun parody of Michael Jackson's Thriller from the temporarily zombified Chef.
School Live
Another High School zombie anime, but this could hardly be more different to HSOTD. Part apocalyptic thriller, part slice-of-life, this charts the story of a group of High School girls trying to live as normal a life as possible in the shadow of the possible end of days. By turns funny, disturbing and oddly moving School Live is a unique piece of work. (Check out our review here)
Ugly Americans
In Devin Clark's Comedy Central sitcom, humanity lives alongside various other supernatural creatures and the main character Mark has a zombie roommate named Randall. The show's version of zombies have most of the usual zombie characteristics but retain their human intelligence and personalities. In Randall's case, this includes his overactive sex drive- he only became a zombie in the first place to try and impress a girl.
Seoul Station
This Korean animation is a companion piece to the ace live-action Train To Busan (aka Zombies On A Train) both from writer/director Sang-ho Yien. Unlike most of this list, this is a full-blooded, genuinely creepy zombie movie, complete with impressive set-pieces. Like the best of its ilk it is also a pointed exploration of social issues, in the tradition of George Romero's original Dead Trilogy.
Kabaneri Of The Iron Fortress
Studio Wit's follow up to Attack On Titan has a lot of similarities with their breakout series, in particular, that it sees humanity taking shelter from an overwhelming threat. In this case, the survivors live in Iron Stations, using armoured steam trains to travel between them. And the threat are the undead "Kabane" who are typical zombies in most respects apart from their "steel hearts" and glowing molten blood.
Empire Of Corpses
This alt-history sci-fi/horror depicts a Victorian era where Viktor Frankenstein was a real figure, and reanimated corpses are used for both industrial and military purposes. But it's not long before a mysterious force causes the dead to turn on their living masters. Also features appearances from real-life and fictional figures from the era, sexy robots and exploding zombies.
