Before I Am Legend was the box office phenomenon that modern society knows it to be, it was a science fiction novella renowned for its nightmarish ideas, inspiring movies like Dawn of the Dead. The book became an instant must-read for any horror enthusiast, including George A. Romero, the creator of Dawn of the Dead. Published in 1954 and written by Richard Matheson, the original story is about the last man alive in a world overrun by vampires. The novella follows Robert Neville in the aftermath of a post-apocalyptic world that turned the human population into monsters, chronicling his survival and personal war against the bloodsucking undead. Stories like I Am Legend that are passed around are the reason that movies like Dawn of Dead exist.
George A. Romero, the creator of Dawn of the Dead (1978), the semi-sequel to his cult-classic Night of the Living Dead (1968), attributes the novella as his inspiration to create a movie with the same premise; a global pandemic that turns humans into undead that destroy civilization. Romero chose to fashion his monsters as flesh-eating ghouls in Night of the Living Dead, rather than the traditional vampires in I Am Legend the book. George Romero invented the modern zombie horror genre as popular culture soon dubbed his shambling undead as “zombies” and the “Godfather of Zombiedom” was born. The film horrified audiences with the idea that anyone and their neighbor could become an indestructible bloodthirsty zombie. A full decade after his initial black-and-white feature, George A. Romero unleashed the terror of Dawn of the Dead, centering around a group of survivors trapped in a Pennsylvania shopping mall surrounded by a horde of infectious flesh-eating zombies.
How Dawn of the Dead Helped Make I Am Legend Movie
Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead, and the “of the Dead” series that followed, inspired a whole generation of zombie filmmakers. Romero was a pioneer into a new genre of horror gorier than anything before it and people were hungry for more zombie movies. Romero, after Dawn of the Dead’s three different cuts and a successful run in theaters, would create six films within the Night of the Living Dead series. Each new iteration finding ways to expand the genre and cement himself as a figurehead in this new horror subgenre. With his reputation in horror as an innovator, George A. Romero often spoke of his inspiration in interviews and documentaries. It was only a matter of time until those he inspired, and other filmmakers would also look to his muse; Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend.
With zombie films in such high demand, Warner Brothers sought to create a blockbuster using the classic novella that inspired the man who pioneered the zombie genre. I Am Legend had already been adapted to the big screen twice before, both times under a different title; once in 1964 as The Last Man on Earth (right before Night of the Living Dead) and again in 1971 as The Omega Man. The zombie genre regained its popularity in film in the early 2000s with 28 Days Later and a Zack Snyder Dawn of the Dead remake that introduced fast-running zombies, adding a new layer of terror to the genre. With the stage set, Richard Matheson’s novella received its third film adaptation due to the popularity of a genre it inspired, and I Am Legend featuring Will Smith fighting a world of terrifyingly fast flesh-eating zombies was released.
How Dawn of the Dead’s Backstory Makes The Movie Better
Knowing that George A. Romero was inspired by another writer in the horror industry to create his Dawn of the Dead classic makes the movie even better. Romero's Dawn of the Dead and Snyder's remake both benefited from this ideal of innovation. Without George having had the idea to attempt his own nightmare-infested world after reading I Am Legend, the “Godfather of Zombiedom” himself might never have inspired a whole subgenre of horror. Richard Matheson penned his nightmares, and George A. Romero created his own flesh-eating ghouls from the shadows of those horrors, creating a zombie craze that would infect popular culture throughout. Dawn of the Dead went on to inspire numerous zombie-centric stories across all entertainment mediums, not just horror films, all from Romero following an inspiration to change someone’s idea and experiment with their own.