Night of the Living Dead (1968)

A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse.

Director:

George A. Romero

Writers:

John A. Russo (screenplay), George A. Romero (screenplay)

Stars:

Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Duane Jones	...	Ben
Judith O'Dea	...	Barbra
Karl Hardman	...	Harry
Marilyn Eastman	...	Helen
Keith Wayne	...	Tom
Judith Ridley	...	Judy
Kyra Schon	...	Karen Cooper
Charles Craig	...	Newscaster / Zombie
S. William Hinzman	...	Zombie (as Bill Heinzman)
George Kosana	...	Sheriff McClelland
Frank Doak	...	Scientist
Bill 'Chilly Billy' Cardille	...	Field Reporter
A.C. McDonald	...	Zombie / Posse Member
Samuel R. Solito	...	Zombie / Posse Member
Mark Ricci	...	Washington Scientist

Storyline

The radiation from a fallen satellite might have caused the recently deceased to rise from the grave and seek the living to use as food. This is the situation that a group of people penned up in an old farmhouse must deal with.

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Plot Keywords:

farmhouse | grave | zombie | barricade | satellite | 

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Taglines:

They keep coming back in a bloodthirsty lust for HUMAN FLESH!...

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Genres:

Horror | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Official Sites:

Films sans Frontières [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 October 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

Laugh Track: Night of the Living Dead

Filming Locations:

Basement, Latent Image - Carson Street, South Side, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$114,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Image Ten, Laurel Group, Market Square Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The character of Ben was originally written as an angry person. When Duane Jones was given the role, he expressed concern that the character be rewritten to remove some of the anger - such as the scene where Ben hits Barbara - afraid of how it would be widely perceived in the United States at the time to see a black man acting in this way. The nation was still plagued with high racial tensions during the late sixties; the film was released to theaters shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King. Nonetheless, George A. Romero and most of the rest of the predominantly white crew decided against it, thinking they were being "hip" by not changing it. Years later, Romero lamented that he had not taken Jones' concerns more into consideration, and thought that he was probably correct. He's expressed that he wishes he could speak with the late Jones again, asking him how he felt about the film's legendary status, and believes Jones would just say "Who knew?" and laugh.

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Goofs

Before Tom tries to convince Judy to leave, his left sleeve in cleanly torn, like someone has cut it cleanly away with scissors. In subsequent shots it turns to messily torn and then intact when he leaves for the trek to the gas pump.

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Quotes

Field Reporter: Chief, do you think that we will be able to defeat these things?
Sheriff McClelland: Well, we killed nineteen of them today right in this area. The last three, we caught them trying to claw they're way into an abandoned shed. They must of thought someone was in there, but there wasn't though. We heard them making all kind of noises so we came over, beat 'em off and blasted them down.

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Crazy Credits

The credits play over still frames of the hunters dragging Ben out of the house with meat hooks. After the credits, there's a short scene of the hunters setting a pile of zombies on fire.

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Connections

Spoofed in Screen Wars: Night of the Living Indie Filmmaker (2007)

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Soundtracks

"Finger of Suspicion"
(uncredited)
Music by Harry Bluestone and Emil Cadkin

User Reviews

Classic bit of low budget horror

A wave of mass murder sweeps across America as the recently dead return to life to kill and feast on their victims. A group of people board themselves up in an abandoned house to try and hold out against a small army of the undead. This is the classic low-budget horror film that is the model for recent hits such as the Evil Dead and The Blair Witch Project. George Romero stages a national disaster but reduces it to a single house for greater effect. The story focuses on the weaknesses of each of the characters in the house - their cowardice, their greedy, their stupidity etc. This makes the drama inside the house almost as palatable as the danger from outside and makes the characters more believable and important.

The undead are not huge works of special effects, nor are they anything other than lumbering beasts. But the threat they pose is well demonstrated

• the film makes them feel unstoppable and relentless and makes their

lingering presence more menacing and less comical than it could have been. The use of an unknown cast also makes it more realistic as none of them have any baggage. Duane Jones is the standout actor as Ben - who is not without flaws himself.

The downbeat, realistic atmosphere to the film gives it a greater sense of tension and continues right through to the very depressing conclusion. An excellent flagship for low budget horrors.