Dawn of the Dead (also known as George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead) is a 1978 American independent horror film, written and directed by George A. Romero. The film featured David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger and Gaylen Ross. It is the second in Romero's Living Dead series, preceded by 1968's Night of the Living Dead, and followed by Day of the Dead in 1985. Dawn of the Dead contains no characters or settings from its predecessor, and shows in larger scale the apocalyptic effects a zombie epidemic would have on society. In the film, a plague of unknown origin has caused the reanimation of the dead, who prey on human flesh. Several survivors of the outbreak barricade themselves inside a suburban shopping mall.