...Usually end with nobody making it out alive.

Spoilers follow, in case anyone is sensitive to hearing them:

In "Night of the Living Dead", which pretty much launched the idea of a zombie apocalypse (as opposed to isolated witch doctors raising individual zombies and such), order does seem to be restored by morning as the authorities and good ole boys with guns get the situation under seeming control. However, they mistakenly kill the last survivor of the main cast without ever realizing it.

In the original "Dawn of the Dead" the version that got released had the last two survivors of the mall take off to a fate unknown in a helicopter low on fuel over a world ruled by the dead. This was actually considered the upbeat, changed ending... in the original ending, the characters were to commit suicide after realizing their lives were hollow and meaningless now.

The remake of "Dawn of the Dead" had a band of survivors make it to a boat and head for an island in Lake Michigan. Scenes shown during the credits suggest they found that island overrun with zombies as well and fell victim to them.

In "Return of the Living Dead" the survivors call the emergency number on the side of the busted chemical drum that started the outbreak in that film. The military sends help right away in the form of a missile that destroys the callers along with the entire town (and launches the chemical into the atmosphere to fall down upon a larger area as chemical rain.)


On the flip side, humanity actually wins in "World War Z" (the novel) and society seems more or less restored by the time of the book's narration. So I guess it's possible to come back to a happy ending.

Or, you can end up with something like "The Road". Yikes.