9 Classic Horror Films That Spawned Countless Imitators

Though the basic concept of zombies has been around for centuries, Romero invented the modern zombie, and just about everyone in the world copied him. In movies prior to Romero like White Zombie, the zombies were usually just people under a spell or who were being controlled in some way. It was more like they were possessed, and there were typically only a few rather than a massive horde.

Then George Romero came along with Night of the Living Dead and introduced nearly every zombie trope that exists: the zombie apocalypse, a friendly person being bitten and then needing to be killed, shooting the zombies in the brain, and the whole idea of eating human flesh.

Dawn Of The Dead brought in the concept of holding up in one location, often somewhere like a mall that allows the characters to have fun, and also the idea of the zombies being a metaphor for society as a whole. These are now just accepted elements of zombie lore, and it's been taken for granted that most of these stories lift these ideas from Romero without adding a whole lot new.

Occasionally a really unique zombie film hits theaters, but usually, even the best ones will boil down to "Dawn Of The Dead on a boat," "Dawn of the Dead on a plane," etc.