George A. Romero's debut set the template for the zombie film, and features tight editing, realistic gore, and a sly political undercurrent. Read critic reviews
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Night of the Living Dead videos
Night of the Living Dead 50th Anniversary: Fathom Events Trailer
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Movie Info
A disparate group of individuals takes refuge in an abandoned house when corpses begin to leave the graveyard in search of fresh human bodies to devour. The pragmatic Ben (Duane Jones) does his best to control the situation, but when the reanimated bodies surround the house, the other survivors begin to panic. As any semblance of order within the group begins to dissipate, the zombies start to find ways inside -- and one by one, the living humans become the prey of the deceased ones.
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Genre: Horror
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Original Language: English
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Director: George A. Romero
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Producer: Karl Hardman, Russell Streiner
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Writer: George A. Romero, John A. Russo
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Release Date (Theaters): limited
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Release Date (Streaming):
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Box Office (Gross USA): $68.7K
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Runtime:
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Distributor: Master Movies, Sinister Cinema, Anchor Bay Entertainment, Elite Entertainment Inc., Something Weird Video, Vestron Video, Reel Media International [us], Image Entertainment Inc., Continental Distributing Inc., BijouFlix Releasing, Republic Pictures, United Video, Navarre Entertainment, UAV Entertainment
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Production Co: Off Color Films, Image Ten, Market Square Productions, Laurel
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Sound Mix: Mono
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Aspect Ratio: Academy (1.33:1)
Cast & Crew
News & Interviews for Night of the Living Dead
Critic Reviews for Night of the Living Dead
Audience Reviews for Night of the Living Dead
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George Romero revolutionizes the zombie genre with his classic indie horror film Night of the Living Dead. Simple but terrifying, the plot follows a group of people who take shelter at a farm house when the re-animated dead begin attacking. The writing is pretty good and feels grounded in reality; being very minimal so as to allow the unknown to create its own fear. And, the drama between the characters is intense. However, the score is asked to carry a lot of the film and isn't up to the task; lacking the suspense and atmosphere needed. There are also inconsistencies with the ghouls; which is a little problematic. Yet despite its weaknesses, Night of the Living Dead is visionary, setting the foundation for the modern zombie film.
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A family, a man, and a woman hold up in a farmhouse as they try to survive an attack of zombies. I should forgive this 1968 classic for its poor special effects, its misogyny, its predictable character types, it plot holes, its overwrought performances, and its lack of any ethical raison d'etre. But I don't. The female characters are all useless fools, and why doesn't the old lady in the attic ever wake up and attack the group of survivors? If the dead are walking and she's dead, why isn't she walking? Was her brain damaged? If so, that wasn't clear. Overall, while it's a horror classic, there have been improvements on this genre that have made it archaic.
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Its hard to review something that's been as influential as "Night of the Living Dead", sufficed to say I recognize and appreciate that influence, even if though it's been copied so many times that the "shocking" moments no longer disguise the film's more amateurish elements. However, the great ending still holds up remarkably well.
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Hard to believe there was a time when "zombies" weren't the big drawing factor they are today. Before "Night of the Living Dead" was release in October of 1968 the horror genre (just like today) was dominated by masked killers and involved the supernatural making it mark impossible to ignore. More significant is "Night of the Living Dead" redefined the word zombie even though the word is never said in the film. Quite an accomplishment to define a word and the film itself is more than a film that introduced the formula for the zombie sub-genre. Night of the Living Dead is about a group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse. One of the main reasons the film has sustained a large beloved following is it lack of tradition to the horror genre. It has no heroes nor villains. Just people trying to survive from an epidemic they don't completely understand. The lack of knowledge going into the film heighten the senses. Zombies are naturally slow and seemingly incapable, but appearances are deceptive in the film. The number of zombies appear endless, poorly coordinated yet working together for brains, and are bloodthirsty monsters going to great lengths to get their feast. The dialogue of the film doesn't hide the fact it's all plot device characters are spouting out, but it keeps a balance between the characters working out the best course of action for survival and the set pieces involving zombies. Isolation within a single location while a now common plot device in the genre provides the house a character. One of vulnerability as resource depletes and the inability to move to beyond the set boundary like the characters that inhabits the house The commentary provided through radio and television broadcasting adds a layer of depth to what otherwise would have ended up being a simple horror film. These broadcastings follow the golden rule of horror; Giving us answers to what we want to know, but hides enough to maintain intrigue. We are shown glimpses of how big the epidemic is which in a genius move makes convincing political commentary. Possibly disillusioning with the information presented to us. Questioning the the inhumanity committed towards our fellow men. With the tendencies for anyone with power to have a trigger happy approach against overwhelming odds. In particularly with the ending raising thoughts on who exactly is more of a monster of the epidemic. It message is secondary to the story making it subtle and not distracting from the main focus of being a horror film. The only major gripe with "Night of the Living Dead" are the characters of the story. None of them are given sufficient enough information to care about them. Only gaining a handful of tidbit telling us what happened to the characters before the zombie epidemic occurred. Therefore some viewers will find trouble placing themselves in the characters position as they have little definable traits, especially the women. Subjectively there's fewer things I hate more than an archetype or stereotype of women being passed off as a character. Here in particular the women are for a lack of a better term deadweight to the plot. They contribute nothing positive to the story. The women contribution includes getting a survivor killed, cutting up pieces of a draper, and even sit around doing nothing. George Romero direction shares a bit of similarity to early greats of the horror genre. It's grainy, hand-held, black-and- white cinematography adds a low-budget dirty quality to the film. Enhancing the effect of the light make-up on the living dead making them appear appropriately like a walking corpses. Along with dark lightning in the few moments with when blood and gore appear it sticks to your mind because of how sparsely it supplies it. The still photography puts us in place in the action where it's most important never having our eyes wander around. The acting from lead Duane Jones is solid carrying film nearly entirely on his shoulder. The performances are not bad, but don't stand out compare to the rest of the element of the film. That should be blamed more on the scripts than the actors, especially the actresses that do the best they can with the shallow material given to them. Night of the Living Dead introduced the formula for the common zombie film and created a new horror sub-genre. Unlike many in the same genre roaming around aimlessly "Night of the Living Dead" has brains to be a relevant potent film. Never succumbing to its limitations and masterful craftsmanship from George Romero delivering in execution. Going more for an atmosphere than sheer body pieces splattering on screen. It's a horror film that impacted the genre significantly and regardless of how many in the same genre uses the same formula few can combine them flawlessly as the one film that gave them the blueprint.
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