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To celebrate the upcoming release of the completly bonkers and gruesome new sleazy Asian zombie film, Zombie 108 we’ve compiled a series of blogs of the best zombie flms around. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the previous three installments in this series;

• Alternative Zombies: Part One – The Asian Years
• Alternative Zombies: Part Two – Undead Oddities
• Alternative Zombies: Part Three – Night Of The Sleazy Dead

Unlike vampires, werewolves and psychotic killers, zombies have always lurked in the shadows of the low budget horror films, rather than the bigger Hollywood productions. With the recent exception of films such as Zombieland, Dawn Of The Dead (2004) and The Walking Dead, the living impaired have plagued cheaper films right from the start with White Zombie, throughout the 40′s poverty row surge and up to recent days with the boom in straight to DVD releases. There’s low budget. Then there’s no budget!  So, in celebration of this, here’s a list of the top 10 ‘backyard bloodfests’ zombie films with low budgets – proof that money does not always make a great, fun zombie flick.

1. Die You Zombie Bastards

This film has it all; the good, the bad and the plain WTF! The film follows a cannibalistic superhero, dressed in a human-skin cape attempting to find and rescue his equally demented lover from the evil clutches of a green psycho with an incredibly bizarre looking penis. Featuring a whole host of freaky and bonkers characters including three topless zombie girls, a creature that pours hot melted cheese on sleeping women’s nipples, dog men, ninjas and an infamous porn star,  to call it unbelievably weird would do it a injustice.  Zombie 108 is very similar to this film’s utter craziness, with enough gore and nudity to get even the most hardened zombie fans excited.

2. Shatter Dead

Here we have the quintessential Shot-On-Video low-budget zombie flick. Director Scooter McCrae presents the much-loved genre with some interesting new and very fresh ideas that makes this misfit of a movie stick out like a sore thumb in a sea of shoddy (but often fun) underground zombie films.  Shatter Dead takes place in a not-to-distant future in which Death has been defeated. With no one meeting their makers and clocking their clogs however, people soon begin to start ‘killing’ themselves at a young age to stay youthful forever. Not a clever idea. With constant bursts of brilliance, Shatter Dead offers something original and very enjoyable.

3. Das Komabrutale Duell

Come away with us now into the kingdom of no-budget schlock epics; Germany. From the 1980s, underground German filmmakers have been creating some of the most gruesome, violent and blood-soaked movies ever created despite the country’s strict rules of film censorship. With examples such as The Violent Shit trilogy, these movies have become favourably revered to as German Splatter. No surprise that amongst these is a very healthy dose of zombie fare, most notably Das Komabrutale Duell; perhaps the bloodiest zombie film you’re EVER going to see. This blows Braindead clean out of the crimson-coloured water, with a feeble plot about a group of invincible people who chop, butcher and dismember one another, only to be able to stich and staple their limbs and organs back together again. Things don’t get any more violent than this!

4. The Dead Next Door

Taking some money from legendary director Sam Raimi, J. R. Bookwalter created the SOV ‘classic’ The Dead Next Door which is often said to be responsible for kicking off the zombie SOV movement. Although this is rumoured to be the most expensive film ever shot on 8mm, the film still plays as nothing more than an elaborate home video. Lots of gore, some cool looking zombies and a good Romero-esque vibe make this an important if flawed addition to this trend.

5. Bone Sickness

This low-budget 2004 treat is one zombie fans will adore. Following the tale of a terminally ill husband who develops a taste for human flesh, this film has earned itself quite a large underground cult following since its inital release. Why? Well, the gore of course! And there’s plenty of it on display here. Not for those with a weak stomach or expecting any other than gore.

Don’t forget the new Zombie 108 is out very soon (pre-order yours here) and is set to topple all of these in its levels of gruesomeness, gruell and gory! Pure zombie goodness at its very best. Take a look at the below exclusive clip…