Peter Jackson Said the Dawn of the Dead is the Greatest Horror Movie Ever

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To most movie fans, Peter Jackson is best known as the director of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies. While The Hobbit films aren’t as universally loved as The Lord of the Rings, Jackson’s influence on fantasy movies and filmmaking in general remains significant. However, before he became famous for large-scale adventures, Jackson started his career making low-budget horror films.

Peter Jackson has said that his entire career, including blockbuster films like The Lord of the Rings, wouldn’t have been possible without his early work on low-budget horror movies. He specifically credits George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead as the film that shaped him into the director he is today, which makes sense considering how influential that 47-year-old zombie classic has been.

Peter Jackson Cited Dawn of the Dead (1978) as One of the Most Influential Films of His Life

In 2009, while discussing his film The Lovely Bones, director Peter Jackson shared his five favorite movies with Rotten Tomatoes. He chose the 1933 version of King Kong, George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead (1978), The General, Goodfellas, and Jaws. Looking back, these selections are fitting, considering Jackson’s talent for combining the gritty feel of low-budget horror with the grand scope of big-budget films.

Jackson spoke very highly of Dawn of the Dead, noting its critical and audience success – it currently boasts a 92% score on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer and a 90% audience score. He explained that the film was a major inspiration for his career in filmmaking, expanding his creative vision. In fact, Jackson credited Dawn of the Dead with influencing his storytelling and filmmaking style, particularly in his early, more graphic films.

Before directing The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Peter Jackson was known for making funny and often gruesome comedies. He started his filmmaking career in New Zealand with films like Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles, and Braindead (also known as Dead Alive). His final film in that style, and his first big project in Hollywood, came right before he became famous for his epic fantasy movies.

Peter Jackson’s first horror movies were heavily influenced by Dawn of the Dead and the style of George Romero. Like Romero’s work, they featured dark, often humorous gore, but Jackson’s films weren’t quite as bleak. They also enthusiastically showed monsters attacking people. Crucially, Jackson, like Romero, learned to be incredibly resourceful and make compelling films even with limited budgets and the challenges of independent filmmaking.

George Romero revolutionized independent filmmaking, and his influence on directors like Peter Jackson is clear. He demonstrated that low-budget, genre films – like horror or science fiction – didn’t need to be held back by limited resources or low expectations. Romero skillfully blended social messages and emotional stories with thrills and scares. His film Dawn of the Dead is often considered his masterpiece because it achieved all of this and fundamentally changed the horror genre.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Defined What the Zombie Genre Can & Should Be

George A. Romero is widely considered the creator of the modern zombie, establishing many of the tropes we see in zombie movies today – like the idea that you stop them with headshots, or that the zombies themselves are often less frightening than the living people around them. His film Night of the Living Dead started it all, and Dawn of the Dead continued the story, becoming the second film in his popular Living Dead series.

The Living Dead films all share the same universe and follow a consistent timeline, but each movie focuses on different groups of people trying to survive at various points in the outbreak. Of all of them, Dawn of the Dead is the most famous and highly regarded film in the Living Dead series, and is considered Romero’s best work. It’s also a prime example of how a film can be made effectively with limited resources, and embodies the raw, independent energy of outsider art.

When it was released, Dawn of the Dead became one of the most successful independent films ever made. Considering it was made with a budget of just over $500,000 (about $2 million today), that’s remarkable. While more recent zombie movies and shows have better special effects, they often fail to recreate the intense atmosphere and sense of fear that George Romero achieved in this, his second zombie film. It’s not surprising that this low-budget film had such a big impact on a young Peter Jackson.

Dawn of the Dead is the film that truly established George A. Romero’s unique style – blending low-budget horror with sharp social commentary. While Romero consistently critiqued people and society, his observations felt particularly timeless and impactful in Dawn of the Dead. This film is largely responsible for turning zombies into a powerful symbol of unthinking consumers driven by capitalist systems, and the fact that they instinctively flocked to the mall speaks volumes about that idea.

George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead is particularly well-known for showcasing his pessimistic view of people. The bleakness often found in zombie movies is largely thanks to Romero’s work, and Dawn of the Dead is a prime example. In the film, even when the survivors make all the right choices, they can’t escape a sense of boredom and ultimate failure. This feeling is made worse by others who use the apocalypse as an opportunity to be cruel and violent. While the zombies are a constant threat, they’re almost less frightening than the behavior of some of the living characters.

Romero, deeply disillusioned with humanity and the world, responded to that feeling in Dawn of the Dead by depicting the apocalypse and then satirizing it. Many zombie films that followed explored similar ideas, but few matched the impact of the original. Some would argue that only Day of the Dead is even more pessimistic. While Dawn of the Dead is a darkly humorous commentary on the failings of society, Day of the Dead is a furious lament for it.

Dawn of the Dead (1978) Is One of the Most Important Horror Films Ever Made

It’s no exaggeration to say that Dawn of the Dead is foundational to the modern zombie genre. While Night of the Living Dead created the idea of the cinematic zombie, Dawn of the Dead truly refined it. Today’s zombie stories – and even horror that uses other monsters to comment on society – still owe a lot to Dawn of the Dead. For example,…

This film remains incredibly influential, to the point that even its creator, George Romero, never quite matched its success. Many believe Dawn of the Dead was Romero’s high point, and they’re probably right. While his later films were uneven, none reached the same level. Remarkably, even the 2004 remake – which is the strongest adaptation of his work – didn’t measure up to the original.

The impact of Dawn of the Dead is enormous, influencing movies even those unrelated to zombies. Peter Jackson’s early work, for instance, mirrored the film’s fast pace, practical effects, and energetic style. His films also shared Dawn of the Dead’s blend of dark humor and genuine scares. These influences are noticeable throughout his work if you know what to look for. Jackson rightly considered Dawn of the Dead a masterpiece, and its importance extends beyond just horror – it’s a landmark film in the history of cinema itself.

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2026-03-28 00:39