Still haunted by 28 Days Later? These 10 zombie movies will ruin your sleep too

When 28 Days Later hit screens in 2002, it didn’t just redefine the zombie genre - it crawled under our skin and stayed there. Gone were the sluggish undead of old; in their place came rage-infected humans who sprinted after you like they’d been training for a nightmare marathon. The desolate London streets, the haunting quiet before the chaos, and that eerie soundtrack still echo in the minds of anyone who’s seen it. But what happens when you want to chase that feeling again? That strange, urge to be scared, unsettled, and fully immersed in another waking horror?

Well, you’re in luck (or not, depending on your relationship with sleep). The following ten films each carry the dread, tension, or emotional weight that 28 Days Later delivered - just in their own twisted ways. Some lean into gore, others into atmosphere, but all of them will leave you glancing at dark corners a little too often.

---

10 zombie movies like 28 Days Later

1) Train to Busan (2016)

Train to Busan will definitely make you dread public transportation! Set almost entirely on a speeding train, this South Korean thriller traps its passengers with an outbreak spreading faster than the conductor can say “next stop.” What sets it apart is how much it makes you care. The action is relentless, but it’s the relationships - especially between a father and daughter - that leave the real bruises.

---

2) The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)

Like 28 Days Later, this British entry shakes up the genre. Set in a post apocalyptic world overrun by “Hungries” (zombie-like infected), the story follows a young girl who may hold the key to humanity’s survival. It’s quiet, unsettling, and strangely poetic. There’s a certain scientific coldness here that’s reminiscent of 28 Days Later’s more introspective moments, especially when it comes to questioning what makes someone human - and what we’re willing to sacrifice.

---

3) The Night Eats the World (2018)

Instead of large scale chaos, The Night Eats the World brings the apocalypse down to a whisper. It follows a man who wakes up after a party in Paris, only to find the city deserted and overrun by the undead. There’s barely any dialogue, and the zombies are disturbingly silent, creating a slow burning dread. Isolation is the real enemy here! You start to question what’s scarier: the zombies outside or your own mind turning on you inside.

---

4) Pontypool (2008)

Not your typical zombie flick - and that’s what makes it brilliant. Set in a small Canadian radio station during a mysterious outbreak, Pontypool suggests that the infection spreads through language itself. You read that right: words are the virus. The film plays heavily with sound and suspense, leaving much of the horror off-screen. If 28 Days Later made you anxious about silence, this one makes even normal conversations feel dangerous.

---

5) Dawn of the Dead (2004)

Directed by Zack Snyder before his superhero days, this remake wastes no time getting to the panic. The film opens with chaos spilling straight into suburbia, then narrows its focus to a group of survivors locked inside a shopping mall. The zombies are fast, the tension never really dips, and you get that creeping sense that nothing is going to hold for long. It’s not just about survival - it’s about how people unravel when the world stops making sense.

---

6) The Battery (2012)

Here’s one that goes small to go deep. The Battery focuses on two ex-baseball players wandering the post-zombie-apocalypse world. It’s slow, minimalistic, and character driven, leaning more on mood than gore. The zombies are present, but the real horror lies in isolation and the breakdown of the human spirit. This film is not afraid to let scenes breathe...or get uncomfortably quiet - before twisting the knife.

---

7) Cargo (2017)

Set in the haunting stillness of the Australian outback, Cargo follows a father who’s been bitten and has just hours before he turns. He’s racing to find someone who can care for his infant daughter before it’s too late. What makes this one hit hard isn’t the zombies - it’s the emotional weight of the story. Martin Freeman plays it quiet but raw, and the film leans into themes of parenthood, survival, and regret in a way that sticks with you long after it’s over.

---

8) The Crazies (2010)

This one leans more into the conspiracy horror angle. A small town’s water supply gets contaminated, turning residents into violent killers. Sound familiar? While not technically zombies in the traditional sense, the infected behave similarly to the 28 Days Later “rage” creatures. The tension builds steadily as the military gets involved, and things spiral out of control. It’s a film that reminds us that the horror isn’t always in the outbreak - it’s how people handle it.

---

9) It Comes at Night (2017)

This one’s a slow burn, and it won’t give you easy answers. Set in a world decimated by a mysterious infection, the story centers on two families sharing a remote house. There's no horde of zombies, but the sense of dread is thick. It explores fear, trust, and the paranoia that grows when survival is the only priority. What’s outside is scary, sure - but what’s inside might be worse.

---

10) Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2014)

A wild ride from Australia that throws everything at the screen - zombies, Mad Max-style survival vehicles, even a little zombie mind-control. While it’s more stylized and chaotic than your average zombie movie, it channels that same sense of the world gone completely off the rails. The pace is relentless, and the creativity in the carnage is oddly energizing.

---

28 Days Later truly redefined the way we look at zombie films - less camp, more existential horror. The movies above, though varied in tone and style, all offer echoes of that feeling: the loss of normalcy, the breakdown of society, and the raw, unfiltered panic of survival. They don’t rely solely on jump scares. Instead, they build worlds that feel just a few bad days away from our own. And that’s the scariest part, really!