Just because you survived the zombie apocalypse doesn't mean you are missing tasty brains...

Please note, the article below is chock-full of spoiler-y goodness! If you don't want to know who survives the zombie apocalypse (and by extension, who does not) then read no further!

As Halloween fast approaches and Slingshot's urban zombie game, 2.8 Hours Later (www.2.8hourslater.com) is due to take over London, Shadowlocked's Leo Owen provides you with some fancy dress inspiration with her top ten zombie film survivors...

10. Shaun and Liz: Shaun Of The Dead

Edgar Wright's breakthrough feature is just as much a bromance as a romantic comedy, exploring the love between Shaun and Ed and Shaun and Liz. Once double-act Shaun and Ed have sobered up enough to realize there's an apocalyptic uprising of zombies, they're already under attack. Quickly formulating a flawed plan, they gather weapons from the shed and go to rescue their friends and family. Holing up in their local, The Winchester, seems like a good idea until Ed wins on the fruit machine and inadvertently attracts the army of prowling zombies to their hide-out, leaving Yvonne, Shaun and Liz as the only survivors from the original group.

9. Lionel and Paquita: Braindead

According to Peter Jackson's legend, the Sumatran Rat-Monkey resulted from the rape of Skull Island's tree monkeys by plagued rats. Unfortunately for Lionel Cosgrove one of these Rat Monkeys bites his mother in Wellington Zoo, resulting in her gradual transformation into a zombie. Ever dedicated, he resolves to care for his sick mother but is soon having to cover up her indiscretions while also trying to win the heart of the clueless Paquita, a local shopkeeper's daughter.

8. Columbus, Tallahassee, Wichita and Little Rock: Zombieland

After a mutated strain of Mad Cow Disease, zombies have taken over America. Shy college student Columbus has managed to survive, following his own set of personal rules. Deciding to travel from Texas to Ohio to see if his family have made it, he bumps into the Twinkie-loving Tallahassee. Reluctantly traveling together, they meet sisters Wichita and Little Rock and decide to all go to Pacific Playland amusement park as it's rumored to be zombie-free. After the inevitable final showdown, our four survivors realize that although they may have lost loved ones, they've also gained a new surrogate “family”.

7. Rene: Undead

Strange meteorites falling nearby the small fishing community of Berkeley wreak havoc as the townsfolk turn into blood-hungry zombies. Finding salvation in a small isolated farm house (owned by gun collector, Marion) our heroine ex-beauty queen Rene teams up with other survivors to fight the enemy.

6. Cherry Darling: Planet Terror

When deadly biochemical gas DC2 is released into the Texas air, the locals rapidly become deformed bloodthirsty killers, affectionately nicknamed “sickos”. Ex-lap-dancer Cherry Darling teams up with her mysterious ex, El Wray, to fight for survival against the new zombie breed and the evil clutches of the demented Lieutenant Muldoon who takes them as his prisoners. Robert Rodriguez's zombie tribute was of course designed as part of a double Grindhouse feature with Tarantino's Death Proof. Both films feature kick arse lead females but Rodriguez's Cherry Darling certainly has the visual edge, making a memorable zombie survivor.

5. Francesco Dellamorte and Gnaghi: Dellamorte Dellamore/Cemetery Man

Caretaker Francesco Dellamorte has his hands full in the small Italian town of Buffalora. Above the cemetery's gate, an all too accurate motto reads "RESVRRECTVRIS" ("They Will Resurrect"). With the help of his mentally handicapped assistant, Gnaghi, Francesco destroys the reanimated “returners” who rise from their graves prior to the seventh day of their internment, spending his nights tending the cemetery grounds, attempting to protect the living from an uprising of the undead. The town's mayor is so preoccupied with his campaigning, he ignores Francesco's pleas for an investigation, leaving our heroes to reluctantly accept their fate.

4. Ace and Guitar Wolf members: Wild Zero

On the way to a Guitar Wolf concert, wannabe rock star Ace is set upon by zombie humans, infected by aliens invading earth. Enlisting the help of his rock heroes and the mysterious Tobio, Ace tries to clear the countryside of Asahi from flesh hungry demons. Japanese trio Guitar Wolf star in this electric screwball love story, donning plenty of leather and riding roaring motorbikes.

3. Ben: Night of the Living Dead

George A. Romero's mind blowing 1968 debut feature, Night of the Living Dead, spawned a series of successful sequels and is often considered the beginning of the zombie film genre. Experts, scientists and the United States military are mystified by the reanimation of the dead but one scientist believes the cause to be radioactive contamination from a space probe that has exploded in the Earth's atmosphere. Romero's heroic near survivor, Ben, is the only one to evade the undead, safely barricading himself inside a seemingly abandoned house until he's mistakenly identified as a zombie and tragically killed by a posse of survivors.

2. Ash: Evil Dead

Finding The Book of the Dead ("Morturom Demonto"), proves fatal for five Michigan students who venture into the Tennessee hills for a weekend break in an isolated cabin. Unwittingly resurrecting malevolent demons by playing a tape of demonic incantations, the gang soon find themselves fighting for their lives. And of course any horror fan knows, lone survivor Ash's predicament results in two equally enjoyable sequels.

1. Selena, Hannah and Jim: 28 Days Later

An animal rights group triggers the disintegration of society in Danny Boyle's reinvention of the lurching zombie. When lab chimps who are infected with a virus dubiously called “Rage” are freed, 28 days later the world has come to a standstill as the psychotic "Infected” rampage London's streets. Bicycle courier Jim and a group of survivors make their way across England towards Manchester where they've heard of the existence of a safe army blockade.

While Shadowlocked recognizes there are plenty of other great zombie film survivors out there, this band of misfits are perhaps the most easily recognizable. Other survivor costumes can be found in films' less distinctive roles, such as nameless hospital patients in medical gowns, fall-out jump suits, ski wear (Dead Snow), lumberjack shirts (Redneck Zombies), lab coats (Resident Evil's Umbrella Corporation)... the list can go on and we hope you'll help us add to it...

See also:

9 ways to keep us watching The Walking Dead

Tucker & Dale, The Tunnel lead Telluride Horror Show selections

10 cinema classics that flopped

Walking Dead Video Game

Walking Dead S2 Trailer: Here

Walking Dead Web Series

Six Degrees to R.I.P.D. Villain

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