1978's Dawn Of The Dead was a landmark accomplishment in horror movies. It took the rather straightforward premise of George Romero's seminal Night Of The Living Dead and crafted a much bigger, more visceral, and far more poignant sequel with a large focus on satire.
The comic book nature of the film is evident in its outrageous gore and stylistic violence, not to mention its sharp script and witty quotes. Here's 10 of the best quotes (in no particular order) which continue to stand the test of time, and allow new generations of moviegoers to enjoy the best zombie flick ever made.
"Wake up, sucker! We're thieves and we're bad guys. That's exactly what we are!"
When Peter, Roger, Fran, and Stephen escape in a chopper for greener pastures (wherever that may be), Stephen attempts to justify their stealing of fuel and supplies while simultaneously claiming they're different from the looters and scavengers out there.
Peter has none of it, immediately chastising Stephen for being a hypocrite, before saying that "we gotta' find our own way." It's a sobering quote that puts things into perspective, and eventually leads to them justifying the takeover of the mall for their own interests.
"The only person who could miss with this gun is the sucker with the bread to buy it."
When the gang busts into the mall's gun store (which was not actually a thing in the 1970s), they stock up on an army's worth of firearms and ammunition to prepare for the task of cleaning the mall of the zombies within.
Peter utters this memorable quote when he picks up a scoped rifle and tests both its weight and range, making fun of the weekend warriors who may have bought it for the sake of a little bravado.
"We got this man, we got this by the ass!"
As the four attempt to block the mall entrances using large trucks, they're forced to contend with the zombies roaming around outside. The plot is challenging, but both Roger and Peter seem more than up to the task.
That is of course, until Roger starts coming apart at the seams from the psychological stress, which was glimpsed at briefly in the film's opening act. After teetering on the edge of insanity, a worried Peter tries to bring him back down to Earth. Roger responds with this confident-sounding quote, which doesn't do much to alleviate Peter's concerns.
"You are stronger than us, but soon, I think they be stronger than you. When the dead walk, señores, we must stop the killing, or lose the war."
This quote is a dreadful foreshadowing of future events, uttered by a Priest who kept the reanimated dead in a basement. After eliminating the leftover undead, the Priest uses this quote to remind them that for all their ingenuity, technology, and weaponry, fighting among ourselves is not the answer.
Romero was keen to inject his zombie films with the kind of social commentary that put a spotlight on humanity's inability to work together, and this quote is another example of what happens when humanity fights itself, while locked in a crisis.
"I don't want to go. I really don't."
After his dream of keeping the mall goes up in flames following the break-in by the biker gang, and the death of Stephen, Peter has seemingly had enough. He encourages Fran to take the helicopter and survive on her own, without him.
He utters this quote before ushering Fran to the rooftop, then hides himself in his room with a Derringer pistol pointed at his own head. The canonized ending shows Peter have a change of heart at the last minute, fighting through the zombie hordes and making it to the helicopter to continue on with Fran.
"Don't do it until you are sure I am coming back! I'm gonna try...not to! I'm gonna try...not to...come back! I'm gonna try...not to!"
As Roger succumbs to his bites, so too does his mental state deteriorate. For a while, it seems like a combination of rest and antibiotics may be all that's required to help ward off the sickness endured by a zombie attack, but it's a false illusion at best.
Roger's body begins to break down, inflicting him with horrible pain and torment. Sensing the end is near, he asks Peter to hold off on shooting him unless he's absolutely sure that he's turned into a zombie. His final words are both brave, and heartbreaking.
"Every dead body that is not exterminated becomes one of them. It gets up and kills! The people it kills get up and kill!"
One of the most chilling exchanges in Dawn Of The Dead takes place on TV during an interview panel between scientists who are arguing about what the zombie plague is, and how best to deal with it.
This quote remains one of the film's most effective and foreboding quotes, delivered with extreme intensity for the purpose of shocking human beings into taking the infestation seriously.
"Some kind of instinct. Memory of what they used to do. This was an important place in their lives."
Upon touching down on the roof of the mall, the four begin to gauge the situation taking place inside. They note an infestation of zombies on the first floor, but none on the second, which acts as the impetus for them to storm the mall and take it over.
When Fran asks why the zombies come to the mall in the first place, Stephen responds with this memorable quote - a direct social commentary jab at we, the human beings who pursue materialistic goals with the singular mind of a primitive zombie.
"We've got to remain rational! Logical. Logical. We've got to remain logical. We've got to. There's no choice. It has to be that. It's that or the end."
When Roger dies after being bitten several times by the undead, he slowly succumbs to the sickness running through his bloodstream, and dies overnight while sleeping. His corpse reanimates just as Fran and Stephen turn on the local news station to watch scientists continue to discuss the zombie pandemic.
As the exchange grows more heated and aggressive, Roger's corpse begins to rise, only to be put down by Peter with a single bullet to the head. What follows is this quote from a scientist who's mind is clearly coming apart at the seams as he struggles to keep himself from falling into insanity.
"When there's no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth."
After clearing the shopping mall of the zombie infestation and setting up blockades against the entrances to keep them out, the foursome decide to take a little rest by enjoying everything the complex has to offer.
When the night ends, they survey their conquered turf and remark upon the zombies' tenacity to get back inside the mall. When Fran asks "What are they?" Peter responds with this quote given to him by his grandfather, who was a Voodoo Priest in Trinidad. It also served as the film's main tagline.