It’s quite rare for the creator of a genre to also be the one responsible for making the most iconic entries within that genre, but I think it’s safe to say that the late, great George A. Romero remains unmatched as the master of zombified horror. Even after decades of remakes and homages like Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later, we still find ourselves going back to the classics that popularized undead brain-eating in the first place.
And with the Halloween season finally upon us, I thought that this might be a good time to look back on Romero’s spooky filmography with a definitive ranking of his ‘Living Dead’ films. After all, not all zombie flicks are created equal – even when they’re made by a veritable master of the craft.
That being said, I’d like to make it clear that every single one of these movies is worth watching, as even Romero’s lesser work is still filled with unbridled creativity and an undeniable passion for genre storytelling.
With that out of the way, don’t forget to comment below with your own ranking of the zombie king’s classic movies.
Now, onto the list…
6. Survival of the Dead (2009)
Survival of the Dead isn’t necessarily a bad film, boasting a strong premise and some surprisingly impressive cinematography when compared to previous entries in the Dead franchise, but it’s honestly the one movie that I don’t mind skipping when revisiting Romero’s filmography.
Telling the story of a group of rogue National Guardsmen who find themselves caught in the middle of a Western-inspired conflict between rival families on a zombie-infested island, the flick has a lot going for it when it comes to originality. Unfortunately, these big ideas are marred by a woefully inadequate budget and a severe case of zombie fatigue (which likely explains the film’s disproportionately poor reception by critics).
5. Diary of the Dead (2007)
I’ve already written about how much I appreciate Romero’s attempt at modernizing his filmmaking toolbelt with his 2007 Found Footage thriller Diary of the Dead, but I’ll take any opportunity I can get to talk about this deeply odd experiment. Taking place on day one of the zombie outbreak in a chilling throwback to post-9/11 paranoia, this eerily prescient exercise in multi-media storytelling is still highly entertaining even if the director can’t quite get the hang of the format’s limitations.
It may not capture the same emotional weight and overall scale of Romero’s previous endeavors, but Diary is still one hell of a fun time, featuring some clever kills and meta-humor elements that help it stand out from the undead crowd.
4. Day of the Dead (1985)
Day of the Dead had a long road to travel before it finally shambled onto cinema screens in 1985. Originally envisioned as a Gone-With-the-Wind-inspired epic meant to conclude Romero’s thoughts on the zombie genre, the filmmaker ended up having to rewrite the entire script at least five times in order to conform to both studio and budgetary constraints.
With that in mind, it’s a miracle that the finished film is as good as it is, offering up some chilling political allegory as scientists and military personnel are forced to co-exist within the same bunker after the end of the world. It may not be quite as iconic as some of its peers, but Day happens to feature the best gore effects in the entire franchise – and I’d also argue that its allegorical elements hit a lot harder after the Covid-19 pandemic.
3. Land of the Dead (2005)
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‘Land of the Dead’
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The movie that Day of the Dead wanted to be, Land of the Dead is a miracle of Hollywood filmmaking. For the first time in his career, Romero was given a decent budget in order to flesh out his apocalyptic ideas, with the ensuing project becoming the zombie movie epic that fans had always dreamed of.
It’s not a perfect experience by any means, relying on some wonky CGI to enhance practical effects and being a bit too heavy-handed with its metaphors, but the movie is still an impressive love letter to horror cinema and boasts one hell of a kick-ass cast. Genre veteran Guillermo del Toro even went so far as to liken the production of the film to Michelangelo being given the chance to paint another church ceiling, and I couldn’t have put it better myself.
2. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
It may seem like heresy not to put the film that started it all in the number one spot, but the fact is that Romero’s work became more interesting the more he matured as a filmmaker. That being said, there’s no denying the guerilla thrills of the very first modern zombie movie. In fact, Night of the Living Dead actually boasts several firsts, as it also features the first Black protagonist in horror cinema while also being the first indie horror film to rake in hundreds of times its original budget at the box office.
And while much of the film’s ubiquitous nature in horror media can be traced back to the copyright blunder that prematurely placed it in the public domain, there’s a reason why this independent riff on I Am Legend started an entire sub-genre of scary stories that continues to this day.
1. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
The quintessential zombie movie, pretty much everyone and their mother has at least heard the tale of a group of survivors becoming trapped in a mall once undead flesh-eaters begin to walk the earth. Spawning numerous parodies, remakes and homages, Dawn of the Dead isn’t just the best Dead film, it’s also one of the best films of all time in any genre.
Featuring memorable characters, subtle social critique and some of the most gruesome effects that you’ll ever see in a horror flick, this is the film to choose if you can only bring yourself to watch a single movie from Romero’s filmography. And while there are several versions of this classic out there (I’m a huge fan of Argento’s fast-paced recut of the experience), you really can’t go wrong with any of them as long as Romero’s behind the wheel.
