The Zombie Archive

To be a Zombie in DAY OF THE DEAD.

Written to me by Rob Buck (a teenager at the time, the zombie pictured on the left with the trench coat, who was lucky enough to be cast as a zombie extra in Day)

"It was 1984, and my friend, Matt and I worked at a video store, and as it turns out, Matt was enrolled in the film program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. One of his professors was Roy Frumkes (the guy who had made 'Document of the Dead'). He reached out to Frumkes and said that if any of his students wanted to be extras and visit the set, that they should contact the casting person (Holly) with their measurements and whatnot. Well, knowing what a huge fan I was (having seen 'Dawn of the Dead' over 50 times at that point), and that my birthday was only days away, Matt wrote down all of this info and shared it with me and another friend. In the end, only myself and a different friend, ended up making the call. So, we ended up in the film, while Matt, the real student, did not. That note with the contact information was the ticket!"

"At one point, my friend and I decided that since no personal cameras were allowed inside the fence, that we would run out to my car and take a few photos of us as our zombie-selves. As we tried to exit the fence line, one of the security guards stopped us and said we couldn't leave. We explained what we wanted to do and he said there were no pictures allowed. We pleaded and made several different offers of reasons why he should let us do it and I assume, in an effort to shut us up, he relented and actually took several of the snapshots of us in the parking area!'

From RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD PART II (1988). These original screen-used zombie masks just arrived in the mail today! Created by Kenny Myers who did special effects make up on ROTLD 1 & 2. These are absolutely beautiful! The one on the right does show signs of wear and tear but the one on the left, looks absolutely perfect!

Totally LOVE this film and never could of imagined the day that I would ever actually own pieces from the film. Super happy to add these to my growing zombie collection!

Original call sheets used on the set of George A. Romero's 'Night of the Living Dead' (1990). This is the picture that Tom Savini directed. One of my personal favorites.

Just dropped off by Fed-Ex. New addition to my growing Living Dead collection, and it's an absolute BEAUTY!

From George A. Romero's LAND OF THE DEAD (2005) -- this is Big Daddy's screen-used zombie outfit from the scene where he emerges out of the water leading his zombie army to the city of Fiddler's Green to extract revenge on the human survivors!

Thought there was only ONE proper way to display this piece...and personally, I think it came out just the way I had envisioned 🙂 Super thrilled about this one!

An original prism sticker of DAY OF THE DEAD from the late 1980's.

In years past, various outlets (usually grocery stores & restaurants) would have a vending machine with stickers of all kinds -- pop two quarters inside and out would pop a cardboard holder containing a mystery sticker! These were all the craze back in the day. Horror being as popular as it was back then, it only made sense that many horror-movie related stickers were apart of that trend.

From George A. Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead' (1978).

This authentic prop bullet was fired on the set during filming. Originally owned by the weapons coordinator, Clayton Hill (who was also the escalator zombie in the picture) and Bob Michelucci (who played the scope zombie that Peter kills). Pretty cool that two on-screen zombies owned this piece at one time!

From Night of the Living Dead (1990). Bought this polyfoam hand from my friend Christian Stavrakis who created it in May 1990. Christian was a special effects assistant for Night. It was to be affixed to the dummy body & charred remains of the character in the picture, Tom. Unfortunately, this one came out 'too floppy' and was not used for the scene. Since 1990, Christian had this as a keepsake and to show that he worked on this horror classic. I now proudly have it on display in my Living Dead collection.

From NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1990) -- one of the original prop rubber stunt hammers used on set, while the human survivors attempt to board-up the inside of the farmhouse as the living dead advance towards them. Purchased from a special effects crew member who worked on Night.

"I'm running this monkey farm now Frankenstein... and I wanna know, what the f*** you are doing with my time?!'

Joe Pilato as Captain Rhodes from George A. Romero's 'Day of the Dead' (1985). 1 of 1 fully customized 12" action figure.

"A widespread investigation of funeral homes, morgues, and hospitals has concluded that the unburied dead have been returning to life and seeking human victims."

An Original George A. Romero's 'Night of the Living Dead' (1968) 16mm trailer. One of the many trailers I have in my personal collection.

This trailer was likely one shown in schools and colleges in the 1970's - 1980's. A cult horror classic that opened the doors for many zombie films & television to come!

A very unique piece in my collection.

Grauman's Chinese Theater is home to legendary legacies and movie & television history. For the last nearly 100 years, celebrities have left their imprints for many generations to see.

In Orlando, Florida at the 2006 Comic Con FX Show where George A. Romero was the horror guest of honor, George pressed his hands and signed his name onto the wet concrete. Two of these pieces were created that day. The other still exists and it's currently owned by Disney, surprisingly...

This is a literal piece of horror history.

'We are going to eat you!' From my 35mm film collection. This is an original full feature 35mm print of Lucio Fulci's 'Zombie' (1979), also known as Zombi 2 -- the Italian sequel to George A. Romero's 'Dawn of the Dead'.

With 5 total reels, the film is presented in its full cult classic entirety. It has a red hue due to age, however it does not smell like vinegar, it's very well preserved!

The print comes in two original Jerry Gross film canisters (Jerry is listed on the crew for the film, as a presenter). He purchased the rights to the film, so that ZOMBIE could see distribution in the US and play in theaters. This particular print was played in a US Cinema in October of 1984.

In my collection, I own many original 16mm and 35mm film pieces related to zombies & Living Dead films. Here is one of them...

It's a very rare original 16mm full length trailer of 'Hell of the Living Dead' (1980); also known as, 'Night of the Zombies' & 'Virus'. It's an Italian zombie horror film directed by Bruno Mattei who was inspired by Romero's 1978 Dawn of the Dead. Inspiration led to similar looking characters & using the film score by Goblin throughout the picture.

'The Darkest Day of Horror the World has ever known!'

This original latex zombie mask was screen-used in George A. Romero's DAY OF THE DEAD. Created by David W. Smith & Crew in 1984, this mask was used by a background actor in the elevator lowering into the complex scene after Anthony Dileo Jr's character, Miguel -- lures zombies onto the platform, sacrificing himself.

The mask shows wear and tear due to age. Very few original production used masks exist. What makes this one extra special, is that it was autographed by the Late-Great George A. Romero himself!

Original Photograph showing the background zombie masks on the set of DAY OF THE DEAD, taken by Mike Ancas on December 06, 1984.

Original Behind the Scenes Photograph from DAY OF THE DEAD taken on December 6th, 1984 by Mike Ancas (who was a friend of Tom Savini and a zombie in the film). Image shows George A. Romero directing two of the Living Dead for the scene where Taso Stavrakis's character is killed off in one of the greatest death scenes in zombie movie history.

'HELLOOOO! HELLOOOO! IS ANYONE THERE? HELLOOOO! HELLOOOO! IS ANYONE THERE?"

From George A. Romero's 80's Horror Classic "Day of the Dead". This is an Original 'The Dead Walk' Newspaper. It is NOT a replica like you will find available for sale on eBay or other various websites. This is a production made prop that was originally obtained in the early 2000's from Norman Beck who was the head carpenter on the set of Day of the Dead.

These newspapers were given to actors who appeared in the film as a zombie extra back in 1984. In addition to this newspaper, all extras were also given a white hat which read 'I was a Zombie in Day of the Dead' and $1.00. Truly...awesome!

"Why do you eat people? Not people ... BRAINS!"

If you are a fan of the 80's Classic "Return of the Living Dead", you must check out these original behind-the-scenes 35mm photo slides, taken during filming. Features the infamous half lady co**se zombie.

Ken Foree as Peter, the one and only screen-used ammo belt from 'Dawn of the Dead' (1978). Originally owned by and purchased from Tom Savini. I own many pieces from a plethora of zombie films but if I had to pick one that I cherish the most, it's unquestionably this. Ken wears this throughout the entire duration of the film.

This slip on Walker Zombie Mask was used by background actors in various seasons of AMC's "The Walking Dead" (2010-2022). Made of a thin rubber latex. This mask was originally obtained from the legendary special effects makeup artist Greg Nicotero directly. Super realistic piece.

The original screen-used flower arrangement prop as seen in the opening cemetery scene in George A. Romero's "Night of the Living Dead" (1990). This prop was used in the ensuing struggle between Barbara (Patricia Tallman), Johnny (Bill Moseley) and The Cemetery Zombie (Greg Funk).

This piece was built by Chris Martin who was a special effects intern for Night. I was told by Chris that this is the only existing example of its kind, as the duplicate, was destroyed during filming.

Welcome to The Zombie Archive. My name is Mark Bushey. I live in the US. I am lifelong fan of George Romero, Tom Savini & the zombie genre in general. On this page, I will share my growing Living Dead collection complete with my latest acquisitions. I am ALWAYS looking for new pieces. I certainly hope you enjoy what you see and I greatly appreciate you stopping in. Please feel free to give me a follow. Thank you. :-)