The Zombies franchise shouldn't have worked. A Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM) about pastel-colored undead teens navigating high school politics? Absurd. But here we are—four movies deep, with Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires debuting July 11, 2025, and the franchise now tied with Descendants as Disney's longest-running musical series.
Not bad for something that started with a trampoline dance number.
So, which of the Zombies movies is the best? That depends on what you're looking for: narrative clarity, maximum chaos, killer choreography—or just the weirdest metaphorical gumbo Disney ever cooked up. Each entry carries its own set of charms and flaws, but only one nails the bizarrely earnest, gloriously messy identity of the franchise.
Let's rank them.
4. Zombies (2018)
The Blueprint with a Bland Beat
Release Date: February 16, 2018
Runtime: 94 minutes
This is where it all started: zombie boy meets cheerleader girl, town erupts in prejudice metaphors, songs are sung, hearts are changed. Zombies sets the stage with its central allegory (zombies = marginalized “others”), a few likable leads, and a bright, energetic tone—but it plays it too safe.
The soundtrack is full of serviceable, if forgettable, bubblegum pop, only spiced up when “BAMM” drops and briefly suggests what this franchise could become. The choreography? Peak Disney Channel pep rally—safe, inoffensive, forgettable.
To its credit, it introduces the core duo of Zed (Milo Manheim) and Addison (Meg Donnelly) with genuine chemistry and ambition. But the movie stumbles when it tries to juggle too many metaphors at once—segregation, integration, identity, conformity—all crammed into a 90-minute DCOM.
You can feel the franchise figuring itself out in real time. It's sweet. But it's also… a little dull.
3. Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires (2025)
The Polished Passing of the Torch
Release Date: July 11, 2025
Runtime: TBD (Approx. 92 minutes)
There's a version of Zombies 4 that could've been the best installment. It's the cleanest in terms of structure, the most emotionally grounded, and features the most varied soundtrack in the series—melding Green Day pop-punk with 2010s R&B. Manheim and Donnelly deliver career-best performances, clearly owning every beat of Zed and Addison's journey.
But ironically, Dawn of the Vampires suffers because it's too… good? Too neat?
With most of the original supporting cast missing—only Zed, Addison, Eliza, and Willa return—it's obvious this is a handoff movie. New leads Victor (Malachi Barton) and Nova (Freya Skye) feel like Diet Zed and Addison, with a romance that's more checkbox than chemistry. The summer camp setting echoes Camp Rock more than Zombies, and while the songs pop, the choreography lands with a thud.
It's an enjoyable, well-executed update. But that's the thing—it feels like an update. Not evolution.
2. Zombies 3 (2022)
Maximum Chaos, Maximum Style
Release Date: July 15, 2022
Runtime: 88 minutes
Aliens arrive. A mothership descends. K-Pop dance moves explode across suburban streets.
Zombies 3 is where the franchise goes full tilt into sci-fi lunacy—and it's glorious. It doesn't care if it's too much. In fact, it wants to be too much. And the musical numbers? Pure spectacle. “Alien Invasion” is an EDM banger with synchronized choreography straight out of a Seoul dance crew, and “Ain't No Doubt About It” feels like a live-action cartoon filtered through La La Land and Singin' in the Rain.
But with that high comes narrative collapse. The plot is barely held together by sparkly duct tape. The cast is enormous—dozens of characters, most with speaking roles, fighting for screen time. Metaphors blur. Themes splinter. Logic? Eh, optional.
Still, it's unforgettable. It's the franchise at its wildest—and for many fans, at its most lovable.
1. Zombies 2 (2020)
The Franchise's True Alpha
Release Date: February 14, 2020
Runtime: 84 minutes
The werewolves were the game-changer.
Zombies 2 is where everything clicks. The metaphors sharpen (colonization and indigenous erasure, anyone?), the music evolves, and the storytelling finally finds focus without losing the fun. Willa (Chandler Kinney), Wyatt (Pearce Joza), and Wynter (Ariel Martin) bring a new edge—and charisma—that makes the original cast better, not overshadowed.
Musically, the movie hits a sweet spot between pop sheen and genre experimentation. “Call to the Wild” is hypnotic, “We Got This” is an earworm, and “We Own the Night” is Rihanna-infused swagger.
But the real magic? It balances everything. Tone, pacing, themes, choreography—it's all there. No training wheels, no overstuffed spectacle, just a confident middle chapter that proves Disney Channel musicals can still be daring, stylish, and emotionally sharp.
It's not the flashiest entry. It's just the best one.
The Legacy: A Beautiful Undead Mess
It's almost funny how Zombies went from scrappy teen musical to one of Disney Channel's longest-running franchises. It doesn't have the royal drama of Descendants, or the nostalgic glow of High School Musical. But it has something else: heart, weirdness, ambition.
These movies throw metaphors at the wall—sometimes they stick, sometimes they splatter—but they never stop trying. They evolve, even when the choreography doesn't. And in the end, they're more than just musicals. They're time capsules of what Disney thought kids needed to hear in the 2020s:
Be yourself. Embrace the weird. Love loudly, dance harder. And never trust authority figures who want everyone to look the same.
Zombies 5? It's probably coming. And honestly—bring it on.
