Some great opinions so far, that I can't "like" unfortunately, from my work computer.
it is indeed a very difficult choice to make and one I'd rather cop out of by saying that each has it's moments.
Like others, my first watch of NOTLD was the colorised version, as that was the only available VHS copy at the time. It's a powerful movie and I agree that it is an important movie in cinematic history.
I first saw a cut version of Dawn, frustratingly, but it left a huge impression. Like any of the trilogy, there are such deep subtexts if you care to look. One, potentially original take that I have on Dawn (original as in i've never seen it written anywhere but it's obvious as heck) is that Fran's mental state was being tested by all sorts of factors, but one subtle one was her relationship with Steven. She learnt, during the course of time that the movie covers, that she didn't really like Steven a whole lot. I actually feel sorry for Steven in this film; a mixture of pity and irritation. He's annoying, but he isn't built for the world he's escaping into. Yet, it's Roger who loses it.
I think Roger lost it in the tenement building when he sees the young probie shoot himself in the kitchen. After the other probie gets shot in the head, 2 seconds into the breaking of the siege, something starts to slowly unravel. It takes some time for Roger to mentally fall apart and start saying things like;
"We got this by the ass!"
The realism portrayed in relationships elevates Dawn above the hokey EC Comics and 70s style that it has.
I was lucky to see Day in the cinema upon it's release. I was a bit bummed that scenes pictured in Fangoria mag had been cut but there was so much gore it hardly mattered in the end. It was a great movie but Day became my least favourite of the three. AS i got older I developed a new appreciation of it. I recognised that as over the top as Joe Pilato's performance was, it wasn't outside reality. People sometimes do get like that, scarily enough. Sarah's breakdown gets to me more now. I'll admit that when I last saw it my eyes stung. I put it down to life lessons and knowing more about loss than I did when I was 16 and first saw it.
Apart from zombies, one thing all three have in common is a weird score. NOTLD has library music as does Dawn, along with the iconic Goblin score. Dawn really has some interesting cues taken from library sources, particularly the cue used at the airport (and at the beginning of Shaun of the Dead). John Harrison's score for Day is oddly upbeat but I can't imagine any other music being used.
So, after my long diatribe of musings on the trilogy, my choice is Dawn. It had the most impact and is the richer movie of the three, in my view.
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