Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires will likely prompt a number of rewatches of the wider Zombies franchise, but some installments are better than others. The Disney Channel musical franchise kicked off in 2018, following the adventures of teenage zombie Zed (Milo Manheim) and half-human, half-alien cheerleader Addison (Meg Donnelly) after they overcome prejudice and fall in love.

The arrival of 2025’s Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires now sees the franchise tied as the longest-running series of Disney Channel original musicals of all time. It is currently ranked alongside Descendants (which has four movies) and High School Musical (which has three flagship movies and the 2011 spinoff movie Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure).

While it will soon be lapped by the upcoming Descendants 5, the Zombies franchise occupies a special place in Disney Channel history as both one of their most robust series and one of their most contemporary. Here is how they stack up against one another, including Dawn of the Vampires, which debuted on Disney+ on July 11.

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Zombies (2018)

The Original Sets The Stage For Things To Come

Zombies

Release Date

February 16, 2018

Runtime

94 minutes

Zombies is a solid Disney Channel Original Movie (DCOM), otherwise it would not have launched such a robust franchise. However, as is the fate of many franchise progenitors from Star Wars to The Terminator to The Evil Dead, it contains many elements that would be improved upon in later installments.

This includes the music. While the songs incorporate a rap element that is not foregrounded in earlier Disney Channel musical franchises such as High School Musical, Camp Rock, or Teen Beach Movie, the music is otherwise cheerful but generic bubblegum pop, the likes of which would be expected from a DCOM of the late 2010s.

The musical numbers themselves would also become more exhilarating down the road. The choreography in the original Zombies trends toward a generic, peppy Disney Channel style, though the creative spark of later movies can be seen in “BAMM,” a number that incorporates a trampoline floor, lending the choreography an almost supernatural aspect that highlights the special abilities of zombiekind.

Additionally, while the first movie boasts one of the least sprawling casts of the franchise, its storytelling isn’t very tidy. It attempts to use the rift between zombies and humans as a metaphor for a number of real-world historical issues, including school integration and apartheid, and the sheer number of parallels results in the allegory feeling unfocused and confusing.

However, so much of what the movie is doing provides a road map for the franchise. This includes setting up the character arcs of Addison discovering her true ancestry and Zed being torn between assimilation and embracing his uniqueness, as well as establishing characters who would become mainstays of the franchise, including Zed’s tech whiz best friend Eliza (Kylee Russell).

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Zombies 4: Dawn Of The Vampires (2025)

The Newest Installment Occupies A Middle Ground

There are a number of elements of Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires that are the best in the franchise. This includes the performances of Milo Manheim and Meg Donnelly, both of whom have spent four movies continuing to perfect their characters and who reach their pinnacle of both comedy and emotionality in the fourth installment.

Additionally, the soundtrack contains the most varied and exciting array of musical influences of the quadrilogy. While Zombies 2 and Zombies 3 also had more complex soundtracks than the original movie, the musical references range from 2010s R&B to Green Day and beyond, resulting in a textured and effortlessly listenable roster of songs.

However, there are some demerits that place Dawn of the Vampires at the middle of the pack. For instance, the Zombies 4 cast only includes four returning characters, namely Zed, Addison, Eliza, and the werewolf pack leader Willa (Pretty Little Liars: Summer School star Chandler Kinney).

It seems clear that the vampires and daywalkers introduced in the movie are meant to be the characters that Zed and Addison pass the torch to for future installments. However, the romance between lead vampire Victor (Malachi Barton) and lead daywalker Nova (Freya Skye) suffers from feeling like a more shallow retread of Zed and Addison’s romance.

Additionally, while the music is excellent, the choreography in Zombies 4 is the weakest since the original installment, featuring only a few scattered moments that harness the exuberant energy of the franchise’s best production numbers.

Ultimately, Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires is perhaps the most solid entry in the franchise in terms of its construction and execution. However, this results in it feeling the most like any other Disney Channel musical. In fact, its summer camp setting makes it seem like it is attempting to be something of an update on Camp Rock‘s format.

However, the Zombies franchise is at its best when it is at its most overloaded and chaotic, as its overstuffed nature allows it to pursue kooky story avenues that see it reaching dizzyingly creative heights.

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Zombies 3 (2022)

The Franchise Reaches New Heights Of Production Value (And Chaos)

Zombies 3

Release Date

July 15, 2022

Runtime

88 minutes

Zombies 3 is proof that the franchise biting off more than it can chew can pay dividends. The numbers reach their peak in this installment, which seeks to dazzle the audience at every opportunity, using the arrival of aliens to build an EDM rave element into both the music and the choreography.

This is what makes the massive production number “Alien Invasion” such a standout, in addition to the synchronized KPop dance moves of the extraterrestrials and the production value of the descending mothership wreaking havoc on one of Seabrook’s main streets.

However, Zombies 3 also excels at classic musical theater moments, as shown in the number “Ain’t No Doubt About It,” which sees Zed and Addison trying to forcibly ignore their doubts about the future of their relationship while dancing cheerily through dangerous situations. It’s an exquisitely designed and unforgettable sequence that feels like a live-action cartoon.

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However, the highs of Zombies 3‘s musicality are met with franchise lows in terms of storytelling. It would be more or less impossible for any franchise to sustain the number of characters that the third installment has, let alone one with as slippery a grip on metaphor and allegory as Zombies.

The movie’s narrative dashes around distractedly, groaning under the weight of a gargantuan ensemble that now has major speaking roles for four zombies, five and a half human cheerleaders, three werewolves, and three and a half aliens.

However, Never Have I Ever‘s Terry Hu and High School Musical: The Musical: The Series star Matt Cornett in particular do shine as two of the new aliens, so the addition of another group of characters to the franchise isn’t all bad.

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Zombies 2 (2020)

The First Sequel Is Firing On All Cylinders

Zombies 2 occupies the perfect middle ground between the original movie and Zombies 3. Narratively, it reaches a good balance, allowing the travails of the new werewolf characters, primarily Willa, Wyatt (Pearce Joza), and Wynter (Ariel Martin), to inform Addison’s character arc while servicing an unusually focused metaphor for how indigenous populations are treated by colonizers.

Additionally, while its musical numbers don’t reach the heights of Zombies 3, there are well-staged moments including the stick dance in “Call to the Wild,” and the music begins to stray from its uniform bubblegum tone.

While the introductory number “We Got This” shows that the franchise can still excel at bubblegum, the Bruno Mars-esque number “Like The Zombies Do” and especially the Rihanna-infused “We Own the Night” show that the sequel has a handle on a much broader spectrum of sounds.

While all four of the Zombies movies have their own unique strengths, Zombies 2 feels like a greatest hits package of what each of the other movies has to offer.