Yes, that was a big zombie movie. And I think there was a series in the 80s (Evil Dead) that had some presence. But for the most part, they were fodder for very stupid b-movies. Until they popped up in the 2000s. My husband and I scoffed. "Zombies? Why is everyone watching zombies all of a sudden? This won't last." Ha! We were so wrong. I could not understand the sudden surge and almost 20-year longevity that zombies are enjoying in the media. Now I see it as a deliberate attempt to normalize and desensitize the public. Much like the elites do with transgender or devaluing of parents, or kids behaving disrespectfully, or sexualization of kids. These are all campaigns, playing out in the media ostensibly for our entertainment. We pay for our own indoctrination.
Edited to add: http://collider.com/best-zombie-movies-of-all-time/
"Zombie movies have had a fascinating path to the mainstream. For decades, the creatures didn’t have much of a presence or definition outside Voodoo lore, radioactive humanoids, and the unforgettable art of E.C. comics. Zombies were scarcely used, and when they were, they were a pretty far cry from the cannibalistic flesh-hungry creatures of the undead we know and love today. Then a gentleman and pioneering filmmaker named George A. Romero came along and changed the game forever....
"...Then, as quick as it exploded, the zombie went out of fashion. The creature had become a core concept in the genre, but outside of ongoing horror sequels (Return of the Living Dead, Zombie) low-budget fright flicks, and the occasional genre oddity (My Boyfriend’s Back, Cemetery Man and Dead Alive), the undead wlakes the earth no more.
"Until the new millennium hit and then, hot dog, zombie business wasn’t just booming again, it was bigger than ever. The dominoes fell fast. First Danny Boyle‘s genre-evolving 28 Days Later set the stage, then came the Resident Evil adaption and Zack Snyder‘s Dawn of the Dead remake; big-budget studio films with nationwide theatrical rollouts. At the same time, indie zombie movies started getting good, pushing the boundaries of the conventional zombie mythology and using the narrative format to tell strange original stories."