6. George Romero References
Naturally, any zombie production is bound to feature some nods, whether conscious or otherwise, to the grandfather of the genre, George Romero, who is of course responsible for effectively inventing the genre, and all of the recognisable tropes that are now an essential part of it. And The Walking Dead is no different, making explicit homages to the master's work. One such reference comes in the fact that the Walkers will eat animals, and not solely humans. So far, we've seen Walkers take lumps out of deer, chickens, rats and dogs (or a Doner kebab, as it's more commonly known) though they do draw the line at anything that has already died, making them somewhat discerning in the source of their meat products. That sort of prudence is to be valued these days, with rogue animals sneaking in to the food chain. And more obviously, Dale's RV features a sign that reads "How about a nice cup of shut the hell up?" which is clearly a direct nod to Dawn of the Dead, which of course features the line: "The plan is you drink a nice tall glass of Shut The F*ck Up!"