The Z Word: 10 Badass Women in Zombie Films

After watching a zombie film that had an amazing female character in it that demoted her to being the sister of the protagonist who spent most of the film bound & gagged with her hands over her head it made me think, once again, about women's role in zombie films. It made me wonder how many times we'd seen the zombie film cliché of a killing your family after they've been turned but with women killing their husbands - Dawn of the Dead came to mind but that was about it. Then a lot of time was spent trying to think of zombie films I'd seen where a woman was definitely the protagonist and from what I could think there are only 7 – four of those are one franchise, 2 of those are the remake of said franchise, and one separate one. Zombie films, like most other horror films (and most films full stop), have a problem with women and often can’t find the balance between objectifying women and making them male badass characters with boobs. So I thought I’d write a list of some great female characters – and protagonists – in zombie films for those women like me who love zombie films and awesome female characters.

Zombieland: Wichita and Little Rock

Zombieland is a comedy horror that follows the weedy Jesse Eisenberg as he survives a zombie apocalypse by creating rules and following them. In his journey he meets the great Wichita and Little Rock played by Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin respectively. Both characters get the chance to be a bit complicated, a bit devious, and very human. It’s a staple of the genre and it’s pretty unlikely that if you’re reading this list you haven’t already seen this film.

Dawn of the Dead: Ana

Dawn of the Dead is a 2004 remake of Romero’s film, the third in his franchise. It’s a great film that looks at how different people fit together in times of crisis, and what would happen if you gave birth during a zombie apocalypse. Ana handles the whole thing in her pyjamas which in my opinion is how I want to experience an apocalypse, it might not be practical but I’d sure be comfortable. It’s not often remakes become brilliant films in their own right but this one certainly does.

Cockneys Vs Zombies: Katy, and others

Cockneys Vs Zombies is another great example of what happens when British people make a zombie film – see: Shaun of the Dead but disregard Doghouse. The protagonists, two brothers, start by trying to rob a bank to keep their Grandad’s care home open and they end up leaving the bank into, yep, a zombie apocalypse. It has its hilariously British moments and it’s a great film overall. Katy is that female character who has to keep stepping up to save her cousin’s lives because they’re useless and she’s awesome. I also just have to mention the amazing Peggy played by Honor Blackman who shows that age means nothing when there are zombies to fight.

Night of the Living Deb: Deb

I’ve mentioned this film before, here, as an alternative Valentine’s Day film but that doesn’t mean this film is first and foremost a romance film. It follows the totally unique Deb as she gets awkwardly forced out of the door by a one night stand and walks into a weirdly quiet town full of zombies. It has some sigh inducing sexist moments but Deb turns this film into something special. It’s definitely one for those who love their comedy mixed with horror and weird, wonderful women.

Fido: Helen Robinson

Fido is what would happen if after a zombie apocalypse in a world resembling the 1950s where they domesticated zombies and used them as servants. I’ve written about it in detail here because of the great Helen Robinson as played by Carrie Ann Moss. It is a weirdly lovely film, parts horror and comedy (you can tell I have a favourite genre), and it is quite a gem of the genre. Helen is a great example of what happens when you don’t disregard female characters and limit them by the limiting ideals of the time.

Pontypool: Sydney and Laurel-Ann

Pontypool is a seriously underrated film. It’s set in a radio station and follows a radio host as people around him get infected. It’s hard to talk about it without giving the plot away but if you love inventive zombie films I’d definitely give it a watch. Its slow burn nature is part of its beauty and all of the main characters involved play their parts brilliantly. It’s very loosely based off a book, mainly using its premise, which is also unique and has its moments that are pretty terrifying when they’re read in a creepy voice when you’re listening to the audiobook late at night like I was. Helen, Helen, Helen anyone?

Warm Bodies: Julie

Warm Bodies is basically Romeo and Juliet with zombies but also if zombies started to become more human, that old chestnut. It’s a really enjoyable film, with some pretty hilarious moments and though I haven’t read the book yet I all but guarantee it’s a great book too. Julie reacts kind of weirdly to what happens in the film when you remember that R is a zombie, who has murdered people, people she knows. But then you remember it is using Romeo and Juliet as its basis and it reinforces yet again how weird and inappropriate that play is. But either way Julie is a female character that manges to be a proper person the whole time and everything. The way films are these days I’m classing that as a win.

28 Days Later: Selena

Another great British zombie film, though this time pure horror. Selena is awesome and helps make this into the great film that it is. Though I, controversially, prefer 28 Weeks Later I still recommend this film for the lovers of fast zombies – even if they’re not technically zombies, hush. What I will also recommend you do after you’ve watched this film is play the game Left 4 Dead and play In the House, In a Heartbeat (“That was more than a heartbeat”) and it makes the finales of the maps something truly intense.

Rec 3: Genesis: Clara

This film sometimes gets a bad rap because it’s so different from the other Rec films but I think it’s a perfect example of how to expand an established universe. It’s a really enjoyable film, part horror and part romance. It follows Clara and Koldo at their wedding as their reception gets interrupted by zombies; the found footage style stops as we watch both Clara and Koldo get separated and try to find each other again. The moment where Clara has a chainsaw and she rips her wedding dress because it’s getting in the way is more than badass enough to earn her a spot on this list.

Rec: 1/2/4: Apocalipsis: Ángela

Rec is the Spanish found footage zombie film to rule all Spanish found footage zombie films. Some may know it as the film that inspired Quarantine, and the terrible Quarantine 2. Ángela is a news reporter who was filming a segment about firefighters when the building she is in gets quarantined due to, you guessed it, zombies. It’s an iconic film of the genre for a reason and as the films go on Ángela continues to be a tour de force. She is a perfect example of how amazing it can be when you let women be the protagonists of not just zombie films but any film. More of the same please.

Honourable Mentions

Kelly in Dead Set – a series by Charlie Brooker on Channel 4 that asks and answers what would happen to the Big Brother contestants if there was a sudden zombie apocalypse.

Many, many female characters (particularly Michonne and Carol) in The Walking Dead – both in the comic and in the show, they are badass and human at the same time.

Liv Moore in iZombie – loosely based on a comic this show looks at what would happen if eating someone’s brain (when you’re a zombie of course) helped you solve their murder.

Mia in Evil Dead (the 2013 remake) – the franchise has a very erm mixed relationship with female characters but the finale of this film shows why Mia is getting an honourable mention.

Amy in In the Flesh – a BBC three show about what might happen if, after the initial apocalypse we found a way to stop zombies being rabid and helped them assimilate back into the normal world. It’s an underrated show that sadly got cancelled on a cliff-hanger.

All the women, Julie in particular, in Les Revenants – A French TV show that looks at what would happen if people who had previously died came back from the dead. There’s also a French film that the show is based on, and a Canadian film of similar theme with a great female character too.

The Most Honourable Mention: Z Nation

Warren, Addy and Cassandra in Z Nation – my favourite zombie thing by far. Z Nation is a TV show that follows a group of people crossing American to get a man who might hold the cure to the zombie apocalypse to doctors who can do something about it. It’s just a shame that guy is a jerk. It is brilliant, hilarious, and it truly came into its own in the second season as its bigger budget allowed each episode to be explorations of how zombies would fit with aliens, Native Americans, and so much more. Not to mention that Warren and Addy are totally incredible.

Dishonourable Mentions

This is for those films that are pretty sexist but still managed to give us great female characters – even if time watching is spent wishing they were in a better film.

Brooke in Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead – a character that could have held an entire film herself, but sadly wasn’t given that chance. It's an Australian Mad Max style zombie film that has it's moments but ultimately didn't live up to it's potential.

Kim in Kill Zombie! – A Dutch comedy horror about a guy trying to save a female colleague, it has a fair amount of sexism but I really enjoyed Kim’s character as she kicked ass – one scene aside, ugh.

Aurore in La Horde – a French film about a group of police officers who are trying to get revenge for the murder of one of their own that very quickly turns into a fight to survive. It has one scene in particular that is disgustingly misogynistic, but Aurore stands strong with a great fight in a kitchen.

Cherry Darling in Planet Terror – a Tarantino zombie film that is terribly sexist, I really didn’t enjoy watching it at all but I will concede that Cherry is pretty badass, even if it is ultimately in a male wish fulfilment way; see: the line about her only having one leg making it easier to ‘get access’, gross.

'Little' Note about my love for zombie films and feminism:

A really annoying thing about films about the apocalypse is that they are often written by men – this is weirdly true for zombie films – and as such they tend not to know how to deal with women. They can quickly fall into boring exaggerations of patriarchy as though that’s the best they could come up with, see Doomsday (here). Zombie films can be have this problem too as they give us female characters that are either there to be saved, to be objectified/killed, and to fall into the Badass Female Character trope; the latter often being your standard action hero male character, but one they see as being great because they’re kicking ass whilst being a woman, as though that makes it fundamentally harder.

In all other non-apocalyptic films I talk about how male violence is a problem and that often it’s gratuitous and is a lot of the time there so men can watch women get hurt. With zombie films, and TV, this can also be the case such as in The Walking Dead where their biggest problem is not surviving in a decimated world, or protecting themselves from zombies but is in fact fighting violent men time and time again; this was evident in Fear the Walking Dead when even in the throes (ish) of the start of the apocalypse we’re still treated to men torturing others and it bored me half to death. So this is where zombie films get to be different, they need to be violent in order to live because zombies are strongest in numbers; if you don’t kill one zombie then chances are it will come back to literally bite you or it will get its friends and turn into a horde that will kill everyone.

But my main reason for loving zombie films, books and TV shows is nothing to do with the violence and the gore but for all the other things. It’s for the little moments of terror, that voice on the other end of the phone going “hang on? Steve? Are you alright?” and knowing exactly what is happening. It’s because I love the sheer creativity that can come out of the genre as people take all sorts of situations and add zombies. It can be a great genre for women too as it gives them a chance, despite what crappy male writers think, to shake off the daily sexism they experience and just focus on getting through the day in a world where it’s all humans versus zombies. Sexism, if you write zombies right, becomes a distraction. But mostly, I just really love zombies.

If you think there’s any women in zombie films - or TV - I’ve missed (mostly because I haven’t seen every zombie film ever, yet) then let me know in the comments or on Twitter at @FeministFilms! Or even if you just want any more recommendations of zombie related things, such as zombie books with great women in.