PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A low budget cult classic filmed in 1968 has earned Pittsburgh the title “Zombie Capital of the World.”

George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” was the first in a long line of zombie movies.

Now, just in time for Halloween, a shop in Lawrenceville has opened its doors to all things zombie.

Filled with zombie T-shirts, artwork and videos, it is fittingly called “House of the Dead.”

“One of the first things we had to do was put down a new floor,” says co-owner Stu Neft.

He teamed up with business partner Chuck Cramer to bring new “life” to the vacant space on Butler Street.

Neft says they got the idea watching TV.

“After watching an episode of ‘The Walking Dead’ we just turned to each other, almost simultaneously, and said ‘We should open a zombie store,’” he said.

Movie posters share wall space with local artists who are clearly off-the-wall.

Though Pittsburgh is considered the cradle of zombie filmography, Neft points out a poster that seems to say otherwise.

“Doing some research to open the store, we found that the very first zombie movie that we could find was a German film made back in 1919: ‘The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,’ Neft said. “So, zombies have been around for almost a hundred years.”

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