The other creator of the modern day zombie

“Night of the Living Dead” (1968) was the creation of the modern zombie. No longer were they  henchman to choke people out, this was an apocalypse of undead cannibals. And if you died, you became one of the creatures you were fighting against.



A lot of people credit George Romero as the sole creator of the new breed of zombie. But in fact he was only half the equation. John Russo co wrote the script of “Night of the Living Dead”. It was a combination of Romero’s variation on “Last Man On Earth”, (the first adaption of “I Am Legend”),  and Russo’s story of flesh eaters. And it was Russo who’s idea it was to start the movie at a cemetery.



In my opinion, “Night of the Living Dead” was the best of the Romero directed zombie films. After that they became too satirical, and too on the nose with social commentary.

“The Walking Dead” has best realized the potential of the zombie subgenre created by “Night of the Living Dead”.  It’s not trying to make fun of it’s creatures or push heavy handed politics. It simply shows what the world could become as the zombie apocalypse wears on. A world where man is equally as dangerous as zombies.



In 1978 Russo wrote a novel for his idea of a “Night of the Living Dead” sequel called “Return of the Living Dead”. The title would later be used in an unrelated 1985 horror/comedy, but this story was a straight forward follow up to Night. The situation of Night had been contained, and everything was back to normal, until ten years later when it started up again. In this world it was still something that could be contained, not the post apocalypse zombie world that's the norm nowadays. But this story felt like a “Walking Dead” story in that man was the bigger threat, and the protagonists had to deal with a group of killers and rapists.



If you’ve never seen “Night of the Living Dead”, or haven’t watched it in awhile, it’s definitely worth viewing where the modern day zombie first came to life.