I'm shocked, I thought everyone loved Zombies.
I do think the reason these movies are popular is that they do two things:
1. Get rid of the mundane and the banal trudging existence of the workaday world by demolishing it. Now we're free to live by our wits.
2. Introduce a threat to make things exciting. Otherwise we'd been trying to figure out how to light a fire, cut wood, cook without a stove or what have you. Then we'd be right back at step one.
Though the fast moving zombies are a bit much. Much prefer Romero's slower moving zombies.
And yes, both MUBI (30 curated art movies) and the Criterion channels are great places to get away from the glut of vampires and zombies and supernatural things on Netflix.