5 – Shark Attack – Zombi 2 (1972)
You may say, the zombie in this scene didn’t necessarily die, and you would be right, but this scene is definitely worth noting, since the shark did draw first blood, biting off the zombie’s arm. The film Zombi 2, also known as Zombie, was Lucio Fulci’s unofficial sequel to Romero’s popular Dawn of the Dead film.
In this scene, “Susan” decides to take a leisurely dive (topless) in the ocean, and while underwater she happens to encounter a shark. Scared, she hides in some ocean brush, only to discover a zombie, that had somehow found its way into the ocean. As she swims away, the zombie follows, only to be attacked by the shark. This scene is legendary, as a real person literally clung to a tiger shark underwater. The zombie character has his arm bitten off by the shark, to which in retaliation he begins biting the shark himself, drawing lots of blood and suggestively creating the world’s first zombie shark. Yikes.
4 – The Pepsi Challenge – 28 Days Later (2002)
The whole premise of 28 Days Later is that our main protagonist “Jim” goes into a coma on the same day as a zombie outbreak and awakes 28 days later to a completely changed environment.
In this particular scene, Jim is carrying a plastic bag full of Pepsis, that he scrounged from the hospital’s vending machine. He is not yet aware that the vast population has been infected, and are now, in fact, zombies. Jim enters a church, where he finds a priest in a dark hallway, writhing, gasping and lurching ever closer to him. After pleading with the priest to “fuck off” several times, he decides to take action, and clubs the zombie priest over the head with his bag of sodas. Repeatedly. Most likely the first time ever in film that a zombie was killed by a bag of beverages.
3 – Zombie Smoothie – Dead Alive (1992)
The product of zombie love between an undead nurse and an equally zombified priest, born a baby zombie of complete evil and disgustingness. Oh yeah, and it’s punched into a blender. Enough said.
2 – Death By Helicopter Propellers– Planet Terror (2007)
The better half of the Grindhouse double-feature, Planet Terror was a throw-back to campy ’70s drive-in exploitation horror culture. The story tells a tale of a group of survivors fighting against both an onslaught of zombies and a military unit trying to keep it in their control for their own personal gain.
The scene in question was actually highlighted in the original trailer for the film, and I can honestly say that scene alone gave me more then enough reason to watch this movie. Attempting to leave an over-taken army base, a protagonist commandeers a helicopter, and before completely taking off, leans it forward and chops dozens of zombies into mince meat by way of helicopter propellers. I do a touch of online gaming, and trust me, this scene has inspired me to re-create this event several of times with a helicopter while playing online “Grand Theft Auto 4”.
1 – Lawnmower Massacre – Dead Alive (1992)
Long before Peter Jackson was known as “that dude from New Zealand who directed the Lord of the Rings trilogy,” Jackson directed a film titled Dead Alive, that was equal parts gory and hilarious. I first saw the movie when I was about 13 years old, and nearly two decades later the film has still left a scathing mark of morbidness and zombie-slaying satisfaction on my mind. Dead Alive made Hostel look like Hotel for Dogs.
In the climactic scene of the film, where our main character “Lionel Cosgrove” is surrounded by a house-party full of killer zombies, Lionel decides to take action and clean house with a push-mower. Lifting it up, blades spinning, Lionel pushes his way through hordes of zombies, turning them from the undead to the undistinguishable. One can only imagine the amount of buckets of fake blood used in this scene, and it will perhaps go down in history as the goriest scene ever filmed.
