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 won't stay dead.

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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

200 extras were cast in the parts of townspeople and zombies.

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Goofs

The sound coming from the phone when Barbara (and later Ben) try to dial for help does not resemble any known telephone company signaling from the time, particularly anything from the kind of small-scale, electromechanical switching equipment that a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania would be served by.

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Quotes

Johnny: [while putting the wreath on their father's grave] I wonder what happened to the one from last year. Each year, we spend good money on these things. Then, we come out here and the one from last year's gone.
Barbara: Well, the flowers die and the caretaker has someone to take them away.
Johnny: Yeah, a little spit-and-polish could clean this up and sell it next year. I wonder how many times we bought the same one.

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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

Referenced in Aladdin: Night of the Living Mud (1994)

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Soundtracks

"Eerie Heavy Echo (L-1214)"
(uncredited)
Music by Spencer Moore

User Reviews

The film that redefined the horror genre overnight

The Shining, The Exorcist and The Omen are all films that owe some of their stylistic approach to this film. This is the film that re-wrote the rules of the horror genre as it went along, whilst acting as both social critique and fond homage to 'The Birds' as well.

Romero set in place a steady breakdown of all our assumptions of the horror film, which he then utilised to full effect through the rest of this film and the two superb sequels that followed.

This is perhaps one of the greatest low budget cult movies ever made, certainly one of the most influential, and in its brutally harrowing documentary style conclusion a harsh statement on American racial attitudes. A statement which is as relevant today as it was over thirty years ago.