How did "Night of the Living Dead" go from horror to punk rock and then back again?

What are you asking, exactly?

You mean the overall tone of the movies?

No, first it was classic horror as in “The Blob” etc. then it was punks who were zombies then It loops back to classic camp horror. What is the theme here is the question?

Believe it or not, things like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” were in large part responsible for turning the zombie from something frightening to something more of a joke.
Zombies weren’t scary anymore, so they turned into humour and tongue in cheek horror.

Tom Savini remedied to this with his remake of NotlD and made zombies scary again. Part of his plan was to not have the word zombie being said too much in his work, so that people would not associate them with the joke which they had become, but instead concentrate on the sheer but simple horror which they are.

Okay, thank you. Zombies, it’s always the quiet ones.

Night of the Living Dead – horror.
Dawn of the Dead – Horror.
Day of the Dead – Horror, with a little comic relief (Bub)
Land of the Dead – also horror.
Diary of the Dead – still horror.

Survival of the Dead is still awaiting release, so I haven’t seen it yet to make a judgement, but it’s Romero, so it’ll be horror.

I guess… I don’t understand what you’re asking. Romero zombies have always been slow, determined, hungry, and damned frightening, so unless you’re trying to bring non-Romero movies into Romero-esque context, I’m confused.

I may not have a question except in my head, you are not the first person not to understand. That’s an impressive list.

@Seek_Kolinahr There is also Sean of the Dead, which is terrific, and very funny.

@filmfann

Shaun of the Dead is not a Romero movie.

I think when you mean by “punks” you are referring to Return of the Living dead, no?

@Mike_Hunt

Which also isn’t a Romero movie.

Yes I know that, but when OP mentioned punks , I just thought the OP, like most people, got confused ROTLD with the other Romero movies just because it has the word “living dead” in the title, even though the two are not related.

I just watch them.

Maybe you’re thinking about the “Return of the Living Dead” series that alternately continues after the original Night of the Living Dead.