Zombies have the issue that they aren't a real threat to society anymore. Even if they can sprint, modern weapons just make them too easy to deal with. So you can have the initial stages of the main characters making it to safety, which is commonly included in Zombie media. But then the phase from initial outbreak to collapse of society can't be explained, skipping it is way easier. You would need to go rather unrealistic ways to explain the collapse but the genre kinda lives on the plausibility of the events. World War Z for example can't be taken seriously. That doesn't necessarily mean it's bad but it's a different kind of genre.
Then you also run into the issue of the initial stages being rather boring. If a big part of humanity died rather quickly, there is an abundance of resources for those remaining. Looting a single supermarket would give you enough food for months or years. And anyone semi-intelligent would just hunker down somewhere safe. It's easier to create urgency if there is a lack of resources.
This also applies to many other apocalyptic events. Either humanity dies out almost immediately or the collapse becomes hard to explain.
You would need a slow moving apocalyptic event to show the collapse of humanity. Something like climate change. But then it's more interesting to focus on other parts rather than the survival of the main character. So we end up with a different genre.
I thought The Leftovers did a good job with this. The premise is that one day 2% of the world’s population just vanishes with no explanation which is not devastating to the population, but the world sort of gradually collapses under the psychological weirdness of the whole thing.
Honestly, not a great top list. These first 5 positions, for example, feel too 90s centric to me. I’ve checked the first 50 movies in the top and, come on, The Invisible man (2020) in 14th position and A quiet place (2018) in 10th place? Way above classics like The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby or Night of the Living Dead?
Overall, though, an interesting list to explore the genre these days. I will be watching some good horror movies I’ve missed recently. Thanks for sharing.
Amazing effects. The PE team worked before on the 2011 “The Thing” prequel, which flopped also for the decision from the film studio to redo all the scenes in CGI. So the Void success is basically their middle finger to that.
Love cosmic horror. Haven’t seen The Empty Man yet. Just from a quick search, I’m reading that it’s got great ideas, just a bit too long and needs better editing. Still, it should be a fun watch. Thanks!
So I started the book at 10 pm before going to bed. I finished it a little after 3:30 am with work starting in a few hours. I was absolutely miserable the next day, but couldn’t put the book down.
It’s stranger than the movie but also better. Not the films fault as I don’t think it would be an easy direct adaptation.
Annihilation felt more magical than cosmic simply because it was so similar to the concept of exploring a fae wild. Loved the movie. Also loved, on rewatching, that it wasn’t “we need a group of WOMEN who are LADIES going on a journey with each other and bonding as WOMEN to be watched by WOMEN.” The characters simply existing as people rather than set pieces really elevated it. Once you call attention to an all male/female cast, it instantly becomes campier.
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