Late zombie master George A. Romero directed six films featuring the undead in his long career, and here's how they rank, from worst to best. It's a rare honor to be able to invent a horror sub-genre, and Romero's legendary status was immediately cemented by his invention of the zombie movie. Zombies had technically existed before, but most were tied to voodoo curses and the like. Night of the Living Dead introduced the idea of zombies as shambling, flesh-eating corpses on the hunt for the living.
While Romero directed many memorable films not involving zombies, the undead would always be his primary claim to fame, sometimes to the filmmaker's consternation. While that's understandable from a creative standpoint, Romero had a knack for making zombie films that few have ever possessed, with his sequels Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead also becoming beloved horror classics. The ideas introduced in Romero's various Living Dead movies are still part of most zombie lore today, and will likely continue to be so for generations to come.
Sadly, George A. Romero passed away in 2017, ensuring we'll never be lucky enough to take another journey into his post-apocalyptic zombie world. Still, Romero leaves behind no less than six zombie films, all of which are worth watching at least once, and some of which are the very best the sub-genre has to offer. Here they all are, ranked worst to best.
Unfortunately, Survival of the Dead, Romero's last zombie film as a director, is easily his worst. That said, it's not completely without redeeming qualities, and has some interesting ideas, such as a zombie that continues to ride around on her horse after turning. It's also the only Romero zombie effort to feature a returning character, a solider from Diary of the Dead, played by Alan van Sprang. Survival of the Dead won't top anyone's zombie list, but it's worth checking out for Romero completists.
Diary of the Dead saw Romero make an unlikely venture into the world of found footage horror, and for the most part, the end result is pretty good. Diary of the Dead is in some ways a soft reboot of Romero's universe, seeming to start the zombie rise over again. Romero maintained that Diary shared a world with his prior films though, making things on that front a bit confusing. While found footage horror has garnered a deserved reputation for being used as a crutch by indie directors with no budget and a weak script, Diary of the Dead is definitely one of the better entries into that arena.
A somewhat rare instance of George A. Romero working within the Hollywood system, Land of the Dead came about due to the resurgence of zombies in pop culture during the early 2000s. Kinda zombie movie 28 Days Later, and then Zack Snyder's remake of Dawn of the Dead, proved that audiences were ready for zombies in theaters, which was reinforced by the success of British zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead. Universal, the studio behind the Dawn remake, handed Romero his biggest budget to date, and the resulting film was a critical and commercial success. Land of the Dead saw zombies begin to evolve in intelligence, and boasted a recognizable cast, including Simon Baker, Dennis Hopper, John Leguizamo, and Asia Argento.
Romero's original plan for Day of the Dead was pretty epic, but unfortunately, nobody wanted to fund it without forcing an R-rating on him. Romero didn't want to compromise his vision for the film, so he ended up making a smaller story that was released unrated. Day of the Dead focuses on a group of scientists and soldiers holed up in an underground bunker, and the escalating distrust between the two groups. Day of the Dead also features Bub the Zombie, who ends up displaying some semblance of his former human self. Horror legend Tom Savini does some of his best gore effects ever here, stressing the need to stay unrated.
There's really not much left to say about Night of the Living Dead, Romero's original zombie classic. Even 50-plus years later, it still holds up, and is still one of the best zombie movies of all time. While an unfortunate copyright mixup prevented Romero from making the fortune off of Night of the Living Dead that he deserved, its public domain status ensures that access to the film will be easy and free for young horror buffs to come.
Truth be told, it's hard to pick a favorite between Night of the Living Dead and Dawn of the Dead, as both are excellent films, and probably #1 and #2 on most fans' zombie best list. Dawn of the Dead takes everything Night does and improves on it though, sporting a great location in a large shopping mall, some amazing gore effects and zombie kills, and a truly epic apocalyptic feel. It's also a bit more playful than Night, and more willing to have fun with its wild concept. Zack Snyder's Dawn is one of the better horror remakes, but Romero's original is still the undead king.
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