3. Dawn of the Dead (1978)
A much gorier follow up to Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead expands everything about Romeros original into a much bigger, bolder picture. Dawn of the Dead follows a group of refugees as they hole up in an abandoned shopping mall to escape the ever escalating zombie apocalypse outside. They fight not only zombies, but also other humans who are seeking to ensure their own survival at all costs. Dawn of the Dead explores larger, more long term ramifications of the breakdown of society that Night of the Living Dead only touched on. It may not be as creepy as the first film, but it has more substance to it, more meat. Romero also uses the film as a biting criticism on American consumer culture. That our protagonists are holed up in what is essentially a temple of material goods is one thing; that the zombies return to the mall seemingly out of instinct goes to show that they may have been a bit braindead before the outbreak anyway. One of the most infamous and essential horror films of all time, Dawn of the Dead is a zombie classic.