DAWN OF THE DEAD 
                                           POSTERS & LOBBY CARDS

Lanny Powers is the artist responsible for the famous bald zombie head on the horizon used first on a crew shirt then adopted as the official press graphic. "We didn’t want a realistic photograph of a zombie so we looked to establish a label that people could recognize and that did say something about what they were going to see but wouldn’t be graphic" Rubinstein explained in The Zombies That Ate Pittsburgh.

The 27x41 advance one-sheets had pink/purple skies and a yellow title graphic with United Film Distribution Company in the lower right corner. The theatrical one-sheets were identical, with red titles instead. In the lower corner, the title of the film replaced UFDC. All original posters can be authenticated another way: the D in Dawn being firmly within the border. Beware of some obvious reprints, though rolled, with the noticeable fold lines still in the image!

 

This artwork would recur in many countries. Italy first displayed the image albeit black and white, in their Zombi two-sheet and locandinas. The Spanish displayed it with a yellow Zombi logo below and the four heroes at the horizon line. Australia also used the US poster image, tinting the whole poster bright red. An R appears in a diamond shape as well as this gimmicky disclaimer from its distributor United Artists: "Due to the horrific content of this film we are not permitted to display photographs."


A sinister face in a twilight sky overlooked thousands of zombie figures on the Manhattan bridge in the United Kingdom quads. Zombies: Dawn of the Dead appears in a yellow, stencil font.


The Italians also used artwork first seen on a UFDC billboard in New York’s Times Square for a three-sheet. Known as Style B art, this painting was based on stills of various zombies crowded together, with their hands in air. 


The French primarily advertised Zombie with Style B and their Style A which was a black and white line drawing of the gaping jawed machete zombie publicity still. Like in France, all other countries saw Dawn as Zombie. One of the goofiest posters emerged from Belgium. Their one-sheet is a red/black drawing of a zombie face while a 13x20 daybill more effectively used tinted photos from the film in red and blue.


The 23x33 German advance poster used the splashy logo the French did, but with a very faithful painting of the nurse and other zombies gazing through the department store glass. The Style A half-sheet poster presented the familiar bald head with the four heroes in the lower left corner (also used by the Danish minus the heroes). A harder-to-find and for this author, harder-to-describe, second style has a pink logo and a Peter-Max style painting with blue-ish hands on the sides.

 
In Asia, Thai posters (about 21.5x31.5) were most impressive of all, combining Roger shooting, the bald zombie in middle and various other character zombies. The infamous zombies bursting through the elevator scene is captured on the Japanese one-sheet, framed in a bloody splash. Japanese 7x10 handbills (mini posters) were mainly the elevator designs again, coupled with other Herald Pictures. One with UFDC’s cult comedy Kentucky Fried Movie and another with martial arts flick Exit the Dragon Enter the Tiger. In South America, Brazil reverted to a cartoonish zombie crowd variation.

Fangoria posters could be found in their Poster Magazine #2 (16x22 horizontal of exploding head) and in issue #120 from March 1993 (11x15 vertical of Roger zombie).

US 24x36 Posterbook large poster 1979
Note: This is not a separate poster from the Posterbook. To hang these up, you should own at least two posterbooks so you can mount them. 


Japan 14x22 foldout posterbook 1979
"Zombie." Long-haired zombie being shot in field with inset pictures.

Video Posters:
US 26x33 Thorn EMI Video 1983
Has Flyboy ghoul in upper left corner like the posterbook cover.

Germany Marketing Film poster 1983

Other Posters:


Germany novel ad poster 1979
Style B German art with black and white novel ad on bottom.

Lobby Cards:

US-8 numbered b/w 8x10's (title on bottom border)
1.  Nurse leading pack of ghouls
2.  Bald zombie entering house (as he is shot at)
3.  Publicity still of posed heroes in mall
4.  George Romero (looking like Fulci)
5.  Roger with rifle covering face in tenement
6.  Peter with M-16
7.  Flyboy zombie close-up
8.  Fran in chopper



United Kingdom-Zombies- set of 8 color 8x10's
1.  Redneck zombie hunters walking in line
2.  Nurse zombie in mall medium shot
3.  Fran with flare and Hare Krishna ghoul
4.  Zombies in parking lot and trucks down hill in distance
5.  Roger zombie in bed looking at you
6.  Fran at dinner scene
7.  Zombies greeting bikers at night in front of entrance
8.  Zombies just as elevator opens (note: diff. shot than Jap. poster/LP)



France-Zombie-set of 12 color 9 ½ x 11 ½'s with brown "Zombie" envelope
1. Three basement zombies
2. Longhaired hangar zombie shot at in chest
3. Roger, Stephen, Fran on mall roof
4. Roger and sailor ghoul with half face
5. Roger and blonde zombie lady in truck struggle
6. Peter aiming M-16 in truck (at Roger's truck struggles)
7. Roger with bloody face (after truck struggle)
8. Zombie by Roger's belt (as he gets into truck)
9. Zombies led by bandana lady in mall
10. Elevator zombies
11. Stephen fending off zombies in elevator
12.  Flyboy zombie leading pack into hidden corridor



Germany-Zombie-set of 18 numbered, color 9 ½ x 11 ½'s with brown Constantin Films envelope
1.  Zombies with hands on glass of store window
2.  Stephen in elevator fending off zombies
3.  Zombies led by nurse
4.  Roger with rifle covering face in tenement
6.  Peter with M-16 in charthouse
7.  Army firing in countryside
8.  Roger and blond zombie in truck
9.  Aerial view of emergency vehicles in countryside
10.  Stephen comforting Fran in countryside
11.  Zombies led by bandana lady
12.  Fran and nun zombie
13.  Zombies ascending up tenement stairs
14. Biker zombie (Pat Buba) getting attacked by zombies
15.  Bald airport zombie
16.  Zombies breaking through boards in tenement building
17.  Zombie touching Roger's pistol ( This lobby is stamped on back "Nur zur
Information, nicht fur den, Aushang bestimmt" which translates into "For
Information only, not intended for display")
18.  Skating rink zombies

Italy-Zombi-set of 12 color 18x28 Fotobustas with red title cards
1.  Three basement zombies
2.  Army soldiers and vehicle
3.  Longhaired hangar zombie shot in chest
4.  Peter with M-16 in charthouse
5.  Bald airport zombie
6.  Roger, Stephen, Fran on mall roof
7.  Zombies at store window (nurse in front gaping jaw)
8.  Roger and blonde zombie lady
9.  Zombies led by nurse
10.  Skating rink zombies
11. Bikers raiding (front shot)
12.  Stephen in elevator with zombies
 


Spain-Zombi-set of 12 color 9x13's
1.  Roger with rifle in tenement
2.  Army firing  in countryside
3.  Bald zombie approaching Peter
4.  Peter with M-16 in charthouse
5.  Peter getting out of Chopper after it landed on mall
6.  Zombies by store window
7.  Roger with sailor zombie with half face
8.  Roger with blonde truck zombie
9.  Zombie goes for Roger's belt (as he climbs into truck)
10.  Zombies led by nurse
11. Zombies in mall led by bandana lady
12.  Flyboy zombie medium closeup



Japan-Zombi-set of 8 color 8x10's
1. Basement zombies (one eating hand)
2. Longhaired hangar zombie
3. Bald zombie
4. Roger, Stephen, Fran on mall roof
5. Zombies at store window (nurse gaping jaw)
6. Zombies led by bandana lady
7. Elevator zombies
8.  Stephen zombie leading pack