What Zombie movie started the new craze in Zombiemania ?

[Mikey]

I'm not asking which came first.

Which was the most influential in getting the ball rolling ?

I think the big 3 would be Sean of the Dead, Land of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead (remake)

Which one do you think ? ... or add your own pick

[megowgsh]

Zombieland

[knight errant00]

The original "Night of the Living Dead" started the whole random-mindless-dead-returning-to-eat-the-living thing, so any list has to start there.

[Godzilla]

I think the success of the Dawn of the Dead remake (2004) either started it or pushed it into overdrive.

[Nostalgiabuff]

I think Zombieland really kicked it up a notch but yeah, the DotD remake and Sean of the Dead helped get it started

[pmwasson]

28 Days Later

[ZombieJimC]

Have to agree with Godzilla on this one.

[4NDR01D]

Resident Evil the game for playstation should not be over looked. It came out in 1996, a full 8 years before DOTD remake. George Romero was originally attached to direct the movie adaptation.

[4NDR01D]

The original "Night of the Living Dead" started the whole random-mindless-dead-returning-to-eat-the-living thing, so any list has to start there.

Mikey's asking about what movies inspired the rebirth of the zombie craze.

[fallensaviour]

I think the ball was building up steam right from evil dead 2 in 87' then the remake of Nothld in 90' kicked it up again..
The long awaited army of darkness in 93' gave the genre a kick in the arse. Amped it up a notch and started the ball really rolling but then it was more about ash/Campbell and not zombies.
One could say 28 days in 02', one could argue pirates of the Caribbean from Disney was the catalyst...lol
then dawn remake in 04,with Shaun of the dead in 04' as well.lastly I'd give credit to zombieland.
once the walking dead hit the scene it was over,everybody and their dog jumped on the band wagon.I would say they brought it to mainstream.
I've been a zombie fan for over 30 years and never remember it being as accepted as it is today.It has become today what westerns were of days gone by.

[samurainoir]

28 Days Later

2002... I'd say this was the opening salvo, playing off of the real world pandemic fears of SARS, bird flu and ebola (the Hot zoen). Which IMHO is the real root of the current zombie craze. Which, as an early outlier in the video game world, is the same fears Resident Evil plays up... genetically engineered virus.

There is also a great deal of our collective fear of civilized society collapsing embedded in the genre. From all the anticipation leading up to Y2K, to 9-11, to Katrina and other natural disasters showing us the possible ugliness that could ensue on an ever larger scale. Whether that possible collapse stems from any number of factors or combinations looming large in our news cycle... pandemic, economic, natural disasters, energy crisis, terrorism etc.

Notice time and again within the zombie genre, the biggest threats aren't zombies... it's other humans. Zombies simply let us play out our fears comfortably within a fictional genre context.