When post-apocalyptic drama series The Last of Us made its big-time debut on HBO earlier this year, there’s simply no denying that the zombie sub-genre was completely turned on its head as Pedro Pascal’s Joel Miller came face-to-face with a variety of zombie-like creatures. But before Pascal was bashing zombified brains in as Joel, he took it upon himself to name which larger-than-life horror movie kickstarted the genre in the first place.
In an interview with Variety, the acclaimed “Daddy” of the internet wasted little time in making his pick for which horror movie successfully “reignited” and “reinvigorated” the zombie genre. With his pick, Pascal chose 2002’s 28 Days Later — an action-packed post-apocalyptic extravaganza which eventually grossed nearly $85 million with a budget of just $8 million. Unapologetically, Pascal insisted that the movie is a “masterpiece” and that it eventually caused him “adventurous nightmares” that thrilled him.
Pascal later explained in the interview that 28 Days Later undoubtedly pushed zombie-inspired Dawn of the Dead to get created on the film side, while The Walking Dead was spearheaded in the television aspect. Of course, the occasional rumblings about a sequel are still rampant, so perhaps we’ll get some more insight at some point.
Considering the way the horror-loving masses still hold the movie in high regard and constantly place the film in top-tier lists, it’s clear that Pascal definitely made the right selection — let’s be honest, it would have been far too hard to disagree with him, anyway.