10 of Horror’s Most Memorable Movie Zombies
John Squires
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Zombies have dominated the landscape of the horror genre for decades now, of course ever since George A. Romero gave rise to the new breed of movie monster in the classic film Night of the Living Dead. But for the most part, zombies are background characters, blending together into massive hordes and rarely having any distinct personality traits.
There are, however, a handful of cinema zombies over the years who have dared to be special. Standing out from the pack, these rare zombies were as interested in being movie stars as they were in feasting on brains and ripping apart intestines, and in their respective movies they’re as memorable – sometimes more so – than any of the human characters.
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In celebration of Day of the Dead‘s 30th anniversary, today here on Dread we shine the spotlight on 10 of those movie zombies who stood head and shoulders above the rest. We thought it was a fitting movie to pay tribute to with such a list, and you better believe Bub is going to be on it. So read on for the full list, fiends!
In no particular order…
1) NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD – CEMETERY ZOMBIE
It was in 1968 that George Romero turned zombies from mindless slaves into genuinely terrifying movie monsters, and the late William Hinzman was the very first modern day movie zombie to shamble across the screen. Known to fans as “Cemetery Zombie,” Hinzman’s ghoul terrorized Barbra and her brother, Johnny, on a trip to the graveyard, the actor immortalizing himself in the annals of horror history in just a few short minutes of screen time. Zombies don’t get any more iconic than this one.
2) NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD – KAREN COOPER
Of course, the word “iconic” also goes hand-in-hand with another zombie seen in the original Night of the Living Dead – young Karen Cooper (played by Kyra Schon), who rises from the dead and kills her own mother with a trowel. The image of an undead Karen is ingrained into the minds of horror fans the world over, used on various posters and home video releases of the film. In fact, if there’s any single image that is most synonymous with Night of the Living Dead, it’s the one seen above.
3) DAY OF THE DEAD – BUB
In both Day of the Dead and Land of the Dead, George Romero played around with the idea of humanizing the monsters he created, and there’s no better example of a domesticated zombie than Day of the Dead‘s Bub (Howard Sherman). Quite unlike any other zombie to come before him, Bub is incredibly lovable and surprisingly human, and in the end he ends up becoming the hero rather than the villain. We salute you, sir. This year and every year.
MORE ZOMBIES ON NEXT PAGE!
