Dawn of the Dead, is an excellent film and I can see your argument. But, I still consider Night of the Living Dead as being the first Zombie film. Either way Romero should get the credit for starting the Zombie genre.

The first zombie films were made in the 1930s or maybe earlier. "I Walked with a Zombie" is from maybe the early 40s, and is about a traditional zombie, not a ghoul like the ones Romero created and that got mistakenly called zombies by the media and the public.

But if you're talking about flesh-eating ghouls that are now and forever known as zombies, then it's impossible to say Dawn of the Dead was the first when Night of the Living Dead came first. So for that type of zombie, I'd say it probably was Night of the Living Dead. But yes, Dawn of the Dead has the zombies that even moreso than its predecessor are what today's zombies are based on. The ones in NOTLD almost seem evil, or intent on some purpose, more than just mindless and simply looking for food.

White Zombie (1932)

@Phasmophobia said:

White Zombie (1932)

Yes. I was going to mention that, but I've never actually seen it. Is it actually about a zombie? Something tells me it's not. Val Lewton's "I Walked with" does involve a reanimated dead woman, though she's not quite what her creator intended, and there is that man in the corn field (or whatever) as they're walking.... I'm not quite sure if HE is the zombie the title refers to or if she is.

My God, it's amazing how often people reply to a post without reading the first sentence. I was going to write "NOT WHITE ZOMBIE" in my OP just to make it blindingly clear. But then I thought, no I already made my post clear enough.

I guess I overestimate people.

I would consider Night of the Living Dead the first zombie apocalypse film.

I would consider Night of the Living Dead the first zombie apocalypse film.

By the letter of the law it is. But I still consider Dawn of the Dead to be the archetype.

Night of the Living Dead IMHO, defined the current genre, no matter what they called the things stammering around looking to eat you.

Night of the Living Dead IMHO, defined the current genre, no matter what they called the things stammering around looking to eat you.

There was not a single Zombie film made in the 10 years following NotLD. Untill Dawn of the Dead. To me that says it was not really influental.

@A to Z said:

Night of the Living Dead IMHO, defined the current genre, no matter what they called the things stammering around looking to eat you.

There was not a single Zombie film made in the 10 years following NotLD. Untill Dawn of the Dead. To me that says it was not really influental.

Romero did both films and it's not really influential?

Romero did both films and it's not really influential?

Romero said that The Last Man on Earth was a huge influence on NotLD. So if we are talking about Romero influencing himself, then that should be considered the first Zombie film.

@A to Z said:

Romero did both films and it's not really influential?

Romero said that The Last Man on Earth was a huge influence on NotLD. So if we are talking about Romero influencing himself, then that should be considered the first Zombie film.

I can see that. I do see Night of the Living Dead to be Romero's Genre defining film, where the idea was first brought out by him, but I agree that he was greatly influenced by The Last Man on Earth, and if one wants to consider it the first Zombie film of this type, I won't argue the point being made.

@A to Z said:

My God, it's amazing how often people reply to a post without reading the first sentence. I was going to write "NOT WHITE ZOMBIE" in my OP just to make it blindingly clear. But then I thought, no I already made my post clear enough.

I guess I overestimate people.

No, I actually did read your whole post.

All the zombie films I've seen tend to put their own unique spin on the genre regarding the nature of the zombies, how they attack, etc. I guess from my perspective, I don't really see there being one specific "modern zombie." But if we're talking specifically about zombie apocalypse-type films, then I guess I'd go with Night of the Living Dead.

There was not a single Zombie film made in the 10 years following NotLD. Untill Dawn of the Dead. To me that says it was not really influental.

Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things (which was clearly influenced by NotLD), Deathdream, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie, and Messiah of Evil

Children of the living dead is a cult gem

I'm surprised no one's mentioned Richard Matheson's novel I Am Legend. People have mentioned Last Man on Earth, which was an adaptation of that novel, but they haven't mentioned the novel itself. Romero openly called NOTLD a "ripoff" of the Matheson novel. He basically just took Matheson's vampires and changed them to zombies--or, as the TV reporters in the film call them, "ghouls" or "flesh-eaters." Still, I've often heard Legend described as the first zombie-apocalypse story; it's certainly the first tale in which a worldwide disease causes the dead to rise, leading to an apocalyptic situation, and like Romero’s ghouls it attempted a scientific explanation for creatures from folklore.

Dawn of the Dead was the first of Romero's zombie films (and the only one, if I'm not mistaken--I've only seen the first three) where the word "zombie" is actually heard in the dialogue. One of the characters talks about voodoo at one point, and later on the same character offhandedly refers to the creatures as "zombies." I think Romero was in effect trying to link his zombies with the older meaning of the term that originated in voodoo folklore. My understanding is that back when he made NOTLD, he had no idea people would come to call the creatures "zombies." For the most part, his characters don't bother to name the creatures at all- they just refer to them vaguely as "those things," if I'm remembering correctly. The 2004 remake of Dawn does the same thing, and it's probably what started the tradition of zombie fiction where the characters never utter the Z-word (the 28 Days Later series, The Walking Dead, and the 2008 adaptation of I Am Legend, where the creatures are made a lot more zombie-like than vampire-like).