George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead was Originally Released to U.S. Theaters (1979)

George A. Romero’s cult classic 1978 zombie thriller Dawn of the Dead is the second film in Romero’s series of zombie films. Dawn of the Dead contains no characters or settings from the preceding film Night of the Living Dead, but chronicles the larger-scale effects of a zombie apocalypse on society. In the film, a phenomenon of unidentified origin has caused the reanimation of the dead, who feed on human flesh. David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott Reiniger, and Gaylen Ross star as survivors of the outbreak who barricade themselves inside a suburban shopping mall amid the mass hysteria that follows the outbreak.