6 of the Most Terrifying Zombie Ambushes in Horror History
What is a more quintessential moment in a zombie movie: the rush of flesh-hungry undead, ripping with atrophied limbs at the survivors’ stronghold, swiping at any human flesh within reach? Or is it the moment just before, where the extended, calmer suspense of people trying to survive among their fellow human beings is suddenly and totally upended by, often, one moment of indecision or lapsed security.
The zombie ambush relies on the quick transition from a perceived stability into inevitable chaos, revealing how unstable survival is in a world of zombies and how much tension has been placed on the systems and relationships protecting us. In Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later, silence and volume are played with expertly; the film revels in the mad rush of blood-caked bodies but is just as upsetting (if not more) when its characters roam a desolate, haunted city or highway.
The mechanics of a good zombie ambush change depending on what the zombie film wants to stress—is human infighting responsible for the vulnerabilities that let the zombies in? Are survivors living under authoritarian and military rule already unsafe without realizing it? Are the few characters who escape a mad ambush acting smart or selfishly? With Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland returning to the series that turned the tide on zombie films in the early 2000s, we compiled a list of the most striking and terrifying zombie ambushes that are thrilling as they are insightful of the genre’s power dynamics.
1. Night of the Living Dead (dir. Tom Savini, 1990): Thwarted truck escape
There’s no reason why George A. Romero’s definitive zombie film should be remade, but having Tom Savini in the director’s chair and Tony Todd in the lead ensured that the classic, chilling original was honored with a suspenseful and compelling remix. After holing up in a farmhouse, Ben (Todd), Barbara (Patricia Tallman), and their fellow survivors watch a shambling horde close in, and they hatch an ill-fated plan to escape by fuelling Ben’s truck at a nearby pump.
Suffice it to say, everything goes wrong: Ben is trapped by a crowd of zombies, the gas pump key is nowhere to be found, when Tom (William Butler) tries to shoot off the lock, the truck explodes. The foundational survival mechanics of the zombie film are laid bare, reminding us that what slow zombies lack in ferocity and intensity, they make up for with a constant application of overwhelming pressure on stranded, panicked survivors.
2. 28 Weeks Later (dir. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007): Don’s flight
Because 28 Years Later shares a director and screenwriter with the zombie culture-shifting 28 Days Later, expect the majority of comparisons to be between these two films. But in terms of pulse-pounding terror, the opening ambush from the less successful sequel, 28 Weeks Later, is the one to beat. The film, directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, covers the “rage virus” outbreak from a different perspective than Jim’s (Cillian Murphy), beginning with a band of survivors in remote, barricaded English cottage who let a fleeing young boy into their stronghold and attract a catastrophic number of raving, blood-spewing, flesh-tearing “infected”.
The frenzied digital camerawork captures with nightmarish intensity the flight of Don (Robert Carlyle), who leaves his wife to be torn apart by zombies (don’t let Danny Boyle hear us call them that) while John Murphy’s dread-inducing score heralds the flock of baying monsters on his tail. Don’s escape and ensuing guilt eventually shatter Britain’s fragile post-outbreak peace; a fitting consequence for one of the grimmest zombie ambushes captured on film.
3. Train to Busan (dir. Yeon Sang-ho, 2016): A new termination station
In Train to Busan, a high-speed train headed for Busan, South Korea, is filled with zombies. If we are to view the train as a stand-in for the human body, then it has been compromised by zombie infection. The film’s standout and most costly horror set piece comes when the train stops at Daejeon Station, where the calm the passengers initially encounter is betrayed by the discovery of a city completely fallen to the zombie horde. Rabid flesh-eaters—many clad in Korean military uniforms—smash through glass windows, pin down fleeing survivors, and act with viscous hostility to underline the true futility of the scene. Our survivors got off the train, many were immediately killed, and they had to fight to get back on it—a pointless exercise in suffering.
4. Patient Zero (dir. Stefan Ruzowitzky, 2018): Underground silo is breached
Patient Zero is not what comes to mind when someone asks you to suggest a cynical, brutal zombie film starring British and Irish talent. But this mid-tier zombie thriller does an admirable job of capturing the bare bones functional mechanics of the genre. It doesn’t update the structures and motifs established by Romero’s original zombie trilogy but rather replicates them to see if they still hold up. They do, of course.
Patient Zero positions scientists against the military in a locked-down silo as experts fight to devise a cure for a lethal rabies strain. Romero covered similar power hierarchies in both Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead, but Patient Zero delivers the goods when we learn that the infected have smuggled a transmitter into one of the zombified patients to access the secret base. Is it an ingenious evolution of the zombie hivemind or a too-ludicrous plot invention? Who cares! The ensuing silo ambush is filled with enough nasty, acrobatic zombie kills to sing the film’s praises.
5. Resident Evil, 1×07 (2022): Jade Wester attracts a horde
With two Netflix shows, four animated adaptations, and seven (soon to be eight) live-action films, Capcom’s ongoing Resident Evil franchise is the horror video game property that won’t stop giving. Admittedly, the American live-action TV series wasn’t one of the high points—the eight-episode inaugural season turned out to be its last. But the short-lived saga of Albert Wesker (the late, great Lance Reddick) and his daughters Jade (Ella Balinska) and Billie (Adeline Rudolph) gave us a zombie siege for the ages. Held captive by her twin sister, Jade smashes a vial of pheromones to attract hundreds of “zeroes” to lay waste to the Umbrella Corporation fortress; in broad daylight on top of picturesque cliffs, the zombie assault has a relentless, inevitable weight to it that highlights the subgenre’s lean towards self-destructive motifs.
6. The Last of Us, 1×05, “Endure and Survive” (2023): Saved by the Bloater
In one of the most chaotic and bloodthirsty scenes from the first season of HBO’s The Last of Us, it appears that the authoritarian insurgent Kathleen (Melanie Lynskey) has cornered Henry (Lamar Johnson) and Sam (Keivonn Woodard) in a fiery cul-de-sac, poised to take them out for their treachery. But from a sinkhole, swarms of screeching, faceless infected come pouring out—including a huge, thick-skinned “Bloater”—who may threaten the immediate safety of Henry, Sam, and our lead characters Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey). However, these creatures indirectly save them from merciless execution.
There’s a helplessness to the apocalyptic action that underlines how narrow Joel’s control over his and Ellie’s safety is, and how more vulnerable they are when getting tangled with other survivors. “It ends the way it ends,” says Kathleen matter-of-factly before the zombie ambush that ultimately kills her. She doesn’t know how right she was.
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