Prime Books will publish Zombies: The Recent Dead this October. Edited by Paula Guran, the anthology looks at the first iconic monster of the twenty-first century. In the last decade, the pop-cultural war for the hearts and minds of the masses has been won by creatures who want to eat our hearts and minds. The zombie has proven to be mutable and open to endless interpretations: thralls of voodoo, Romero’s living dead, viral victims, reanimated ramblers, video gaming targets, post-apocalyptic permutations, shuffling sidekicks, literary mash-ups, the comedic, and, yes, even the romantic.

Times have changed. It used to be that people would recoil from someone claiming to be a fan of fantasy, as if at any moment they’d be swarmed by pixies and carried to a strange land, where they’d be forced to fight unicorns for money. Now, if you say you like fantasy films, people are more likely to lean in and whisper their favorite Hogwarts house affiliation. It’s a brave new age for the fantasy fan. However, not every fantasy movie has to be a 3D extravaganza. Sometimes you want your fantasy a little subtler, just enough to skew the standard. Below, in no particular order, our ten favorite flicks with a magical-realist bent.