The zombie genre hasn’t exactly exploded on the big screen in the way that many have hoped it would. Considering the success of zombie video games, books, and television shows, or at least one television show in particular, zombie movies have been rather undewhelming as of late. With the exception of Shaun of the Dead in 2004 and Zombieland in 2009, as well as a few indies and blockbusters here and there, zombies can’t seem to catch a break in movies.

However, World War Z is coming out in theatres this weekend and it’s hoping to change all that. That is… if anyone ends up seeing it and not immediately writing it off as “just another zombie movie.” Because if anything, World War Z isn’t just another zombie movie, it’s the zombie movie. It’s the zombie movie to end all zombie movies and here’s the top 6 reasons why you need to see it when it comes out.

6. All The Zombies
Surprise surprise, World War Z has zombies in it. However, it doesn’t have just a few zombies, it has like, more zombies than any movie has ever had. Ever. Also, not only does World War Z have all the zombies, but they’re fast zombies. While the merits of fast zombies vs. slow zombies can be debated again and again, here the zombies are fast and they’re awesome. Sure, there’s less of a slow building tension because of it, but there’s more of a fast building “HOLY CRAP WATCH OUT FOR THOSE ZOMBIES!” type thing going on. So that’s always cool.

5. Smart Storytelling… In A Blockbuster?
World War Z was adapted from the Max Brooks novel of the same name and although liberties were taken with the adaptation, a lot of the “smart” from the novel remained intact. So while World War Z is no doubt a big budget blockbuster with a ton of crazy zombie action, a smart and political story is still at it’s core and it serves the movie well. Thanks to the nature of the story and the parts that didn’t get dumbed down for a blockbuster audience, World War Z is more Contagion or District 9 than Transformers… Or Transformers Revenge of the Fallen. And especially Transformers Dark of the Moon.

4. Brad Pitt
If you’re into Brad Pitt than this movie has Brad Pitt. So there’s that.

3. CGI
Good CGI can make a movie into a 2 hour fireworks show where even the most unbelievable effect looks amazing. Bad CGI can make a movie look like an N64 game from the 90s… or at the very least make you wish you were playing an N64 game from the 90s instead of watching the movie. Thankfully, World War Z not only has good CGI, but it has some of the best effects in recent memory, and definitely the best effects in the history of zombie movies. Also working in World War Z’s favor; the CGI isn’t overused and the movie isn’t packed with explosion after explosion like a similar, yet not to be named, movie that opened recently. Okay, it was Man of Steel.

2. Small Moments
If it’s the little things that count then World War Z must count for a lot. Rather than going big scene after scene World War Z director Marc Forster knows that to make a well rounded movie it needs some time to breathe. Luckily there are some great small moments in World War Z that combine innovative storytelling with tense moments in a way that brings the film together perfectly and makes for a more satisfying end result. However, having said that…

1. Scope
World War Z’s biggest achievement no doubt lies in it’s massive scope. The film literally spans the globe and shows off how truly devastating the zombie virus is to the world’s population. Never before has a film so perfectly shown the effect that a zombie outbreak would have on the entire world, and never before has it all looked so cool. When the movie goes big it really goes big. With each helicopter shot showing the thousands if not hundreds of thousands of people running, biting, and jumping all over the place the film really solidifies the idea of how fast this virus can spread. Thanks to the killer CGI mentioned before, whenever there’s a scene with thousands of zombies clawing at each other and using each other as living-impaired step stools everything looks great and everything looks real. And it’s terrifying.