9 Funny Zombie Movies That’ll Leave You Dying of Laughter

Zombies are terrifying—slow, groaning, and dead-set on eating your face and brain. But filmmakers handed them a punchline somewhere along the way and turned the apocalypse into a comedy club.

The undead still stumble through cities, but now they also trip over their own feet, crack jokes, and sometimes fall in love mid-brain snack.

If you’ve had your fill of grim survival horror and want your zombies with a side of ridiculous, you’re in the right graveyard. Here are nine zombie movies that prove the end of the world can actually be pretty hilarious.

9. Little Monsters (2019)

Directed by: Abe Forsythe

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A washed-up musician (Alexander England) ends up chaperoning his nephew’s (Diesel La Torraca) kindergarten field trip—an already questionable setup made worse when a nearby U.S. military facility unleashes a zombie outbreak.

The group finds itself trapped at a petting zoo, with their only real hope resting on the relentlessly positive kindergarten teacher, Ms. Caroline (Lupita Nyong’o), who somehow manages to protect the kids while singing Taylor Swift songs and slicing zombies in half.

Little Monsters ranked ninth because, while delightfully absurd and anchored by Nyong’o’s pitch-perfect performance, the film leans more on charm than innovation. That said, its candy-colored cinematography, tight editing, and playful soundtrack make it a fun entry in the genre.

8. Fido (2006)

Directed by: Andrew Currie

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Imagine Leave It to Beaver, but with zombies as domestic help. That’s Fido in a nutshell.

In this alternate 1950s suburbia, a radiation cloud has brought the dead back to life, and corporations have found a way to tame zombies using electronic collars. One family buys a zombie servant named Fido (Billy Connolly), and their young son (K’Sun Ray) forms a bizarre friendship with him, until Fido accidentally eats a neighbor.

It earns its spot at number eight because of its strong world-building and fresh satire. The film’s washed-out retro color palette and stylized direction mirror 1950s American propaganda, cleverly critiquing conformity and repression. While the plot is straightforward, its mix of dark humor and social commentary is surprisingly effective. The restrained performances and deadpan tone sell the absurdity, even when the script drags a bit in the middle.

7. Anna and the Apocalypse (2017)

Directed by: John McPhail

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British high schooler Anna (Ella Hunt) wants to escape her sleepy town and travel. But then zombies crash the Christmas season, and suddenly, Anna and her classmates are fighting through musical numbers and blood-soaked halls.

Yes, it’s a full-blown zombie musical, with songs playing while heads get smashed in with candy canes and seesaws.

It sits at seven because of its sheer originality. Turning a zombie outbreak into a musical shouldn’t work, but the movie commits so hard to the concept that it mostly pulls it off. The choreography is smart, and the songs are surprisingly catchy. It also blends tones well: one minute it’s upbeat, the next it’s emotionally gutting. Where it falters is in its second-act pacing and occasional tonal confusion, but technically it’s tight, and the musical element gives it lasting novelty.

6. Warm Bodies (2013)

Directed by: Jonathan Levine

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In a post-apocalyptic world, a zombie named R (Nicholas Hoult) eats the brains of a teenage boy and absorbs his memories—then falls in love with the boy’s girlfriend, Julie (Teresa Palmer). Awkward? Sure. But somehow, it works.

R begins to recover his humanity, and his transformation sparks something larger, challenging the undead state of things. It’s a zombie Romeo and Juliet with less tragedy and more awkward grunting.

It earns the sixth spot for its creative take on zombie lore and surprisingly nuanced direction. Visually, the film leans into muted palettes that slowly warm as R “comes back to life,” echoing the central theme. The voiceover narration, usually a tired crutch, adds charm here instead of dragging things down. While the romantic subplot is clearly the hook, the subtle makeup effects and clean cinematography elevate this from quirky concept to solid execution.

5. The Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Directed by: Dan O’Bannon

The Return Of The Living Dead (1985) : "More Brains" Scene www.youtube.com

After a military experiment goes sideways, a couple of bumbling warehouse workers (James Karen and Thom Matthews) accidentally release a toxic gas that brings corpses back from the dead, with a twist. These zombies run, talk, and actively crave brains. What follows is an outrageous descent into chaos, punk rock, and acid rain in a grimy industrial town.

It’s ranked fifth because it was ahead of its time in many ways. The practical effects are grotesquely imaginative and still hold up, the editing is spot-on, and the direction is unapologetically energetic. Its sound design and punk-heavy soundtrack push it into cult territory.

But what really sets it apart is how it introduced new zombie behavior that’s now a genre canon (“Brains!”). Its only drawback is tonal inconsistency—it doesn’t always decide if it wants to be scary or funny—but that manic energy is also part of its charm.

4. Braindead (Dead Alive) (1992)

Directed by: Peter Jackson

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A mama’s boy (Timothy Balme) struggles to control his undead mother (Elizabeth Moody) after a Sumatran rat-monkey bites her. Spoiler: it doesn’t go well. Soon, the entire neighborhood is infected, and what follows is an all-out splatterfest featuring lawnmowers, intestines with minds of their own, and the bloodiest dinner scene ever filmed.

This is Peter Jackson in unhinged mode, and it ranks fourth because of how far it pushes the limits of zombie comedy. The editing is frenzied, the camera work is wild, and the practical effects are insanely ambitious, even by today’s standards. The sheer volume of gore is cartoonish, not gross, and the comedic timing lands more often than it should. It’s not subtle, but it’s a class in controlled chaos.

3. One Cut of the Dead (2017)

Directed by: Shin’ichirō Ueda

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A low-budget film crew is making a zombie movie in an abandoned warehouse when a real zombie outbreak crashes the shoot. But here’s the trick: the first 30 minutes are one continuous take, and the rest of the film rewinds to reveal how the madness was choreographed behind the scenes.

Third place feels right because this is a love letter to filmmaking disguised as a zombie comedy. The one-take opening is a technical feat, sure, but it’s the second half that makes the movie brilliant. The structure is risky, the payoff is huge, and the humor is layered—watching chaos explained backwards is as funny as it is satisfying. You don’t need a massive budget to create something smart, fresh, and hilarious.

Fun fact: This film was remade by Oscar winner Michel Hazanavicius as Final Cut (2022).

2. Zombieland (2009)

Directed by: Ruben Fleischer

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The zombie apocalypse, but make it a road trip comedy. Four unlikely survivors (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Emma Stone, and Abigail Breslin), each with quirks, rules, and trust issues, team up across a ruined America to find safety, Twinkies, and possibly friendship. Add a surprise celebrity cameo and a theme park shootout, and you’ve got a bloody buddy comedy with brains.

Why second place? Zombieland is the tightest package on this list in terms of pacing, editing, and tonal balance. The narration works, the graphics are clever, and the cinematography finds beauty in ruins. It knows when to slow down and when to get full blast.

The performances are sharp across the board, and Ruben Fleischer’s direction keeps the energy high without ever getting sloppy. It’s slick, stylish, and absurdly rewatchable.

1. Shaun of the Dead (2004)

Directed by: Edgar Wright

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Shaun (Simon Pegg) is stuck in a rut—dead-end job, failed relationship, and a social circle that’s mostly pints and PlayStation. Then the zombie apocalypse hits, finally giving him a reason to step up… by grabbing his hungover best friend (Nick Frost) and a cricket bat, and storming the local pub. What starts as a rescue mission quickly becomes a full-blown undead disaster, as Shaun fumbles through survival.

Shaun of the Dead is at the top of the list because it’s the blueprint. Edgar Wright directs with sniper precision, turning quick cuts, mundane routines, and background chaos into storytelling gold. Every beat is timed to perfection, from jokes to jump scares to heartbreak. The script is airtight, the transitions are exemplary in visual rhythm, and the humor lands to stick.

But beneath all the blood and banter, there’s actual emotional depth. You come for the laughs, but stay because you start to care. It’s sharp, stylish, stupidly clever, and endlessly rewatchable.

Conclusion

Each of these movies shows that, in addition to giving us the regular genre staples like jump scares and gore, zombies are surprisingly great at comedy, too. These movies are a true testament to how hilarious the apocalypse can be.

Sure, the world might be ending, but at least we’re going out grinning. Next time you need a break from the serious stuff, queue up one of these and let the undead do the heavy lifting.

Are there any we missed? Let us know.