Night of the Living Dead (1968)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

George A. Romero

Writers:

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

Release Date:

1 October 1968 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

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

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Farmhouse | Zombie | Barricade | Gasoline | Night

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Duane Jones	...	Ben
Judith O'Dea	...	Barbra
Karl Hardman	...	Harry Cooper
Marilyn Eastman	...	Helen Cooper / Bug-eating zombie
Keith Wayne	...	Tom
Judith Ridley	...	Judy
Kyra Schon	...	Karen Cooper
Charles Craig	...	Newscaster / Zombie
S. William Hinzman	...	Cemetery Zombie (original and new scenes) (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

Also Known As:

Night of the Living Dead: 30th Anniversary Edition (Philippines: English title) (recut version) (USA) (recut version)
George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead (Australia)
Laugh Track: Night of the Living Dead (USA) (video title (redubbed comic version))
Monster Flick (USA) (working title)
Night of Anubis (USA) (working title)
Night of the Flesh Eaters (USA) (working title)
A Noite dos Mortos-Vivos (Brazil) (Portugal) [pt]
Die Nacht der lebenden Toten (West Germany) [de]
Elävien kuolleiden yö (Finland) [fi]
I nyhta ton zontanon nekron (Greece) (DVD title) [el]
La noche de los muertos vivientes (Spain) [es]
La noche de los muertos vivos (Argentina) [es]
La notte dei morti viventi (Italy) [it]
La nuit des morts vivants (Canada: French title) [fr]
La nuit des morts-vivants (France) [fr]
Noc zywych trupów (Poland) [pl]

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Canada:R (Nova Scotia) (original rating) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | USA:Unrated (1968) | Finland:K-16 (cut) | Finland:K-18 (uncut) | Singapore:NC-16 (30th anniversary edition) | Iceland:16 | Canada:14A | Spain:13 | UK:15 (video rating) (2007) | Australia:R | USA:TV-14 (TV rating) (cut) | USA:TV-MA (TV rating) (uncut) | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Italy:T (original DVD rating) | Italy:VM18 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) (DVD rating) | Canada:R (Manitoba) | France:-16 | Germany:16 (re-rating) (uncut) | Ireland:18 | Norway:15 | Singapore:PG | Sweden:15 | Switzerland:16 | UK:X (original rating) | West Germany:18 (original rating) (cut) | Philippines:R-18 | Argentina:18 | Germany:BPjM Restricted

Filming Locations:

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

Company:

Image Ten

Trivia:

During the filming of the cemetery sequence, shot on two separate days, an unexpected accident caused a fast change of script. The car driven by Barbara and Johnny into the cemetery was actually owned by the mother of Russell Streiner. Unfortunately, sometime between the two filming sequences, someone ran into the car and put a dent in it that would easily be visible on camera. George A. Romero rewrote the scene so the car would come to a stop by crashing into a tree.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Harry and Tom first enter from the cellar, Tom yells "Don't shoot! We're from town!" We hear him say "We're from town" but his lips never move.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Barbara: They oughta make the day the time changes the first day of summer.
Johnny: What?
Barbara: Well, it's eight o'clock, and it's still light!
Johnny: A lot of good the extra daylight does us. You know, we've still got a three-hour drive back; we're not gonna be home until after midnight.
Barbara: Well, if it really bugged you, Johnny, you wouldn't do it.
Johnny: Heh, you think I'd wanna blow a Sunday on a scene like this? Now, I think we should have mother move down to the city or have father's body moved down to Pittsburgh.
Barbara: She can't make a trip like this!
Johnny: Yeah, well I bet she can.
[Reach for the wreath in the backseat]
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dead & Breakfast (2004)

Low budget, creepy and unique - legendary for a reason

This landmark 1968 horror-shocker is a great example of what can be done with a limited budget, a simple idea, and some dedicated and talented participants. Very nicely shot, mostly well acted, NOTLD grabs your attention from the very beginning to the very end - and what a classic end it is.

The story begins with Barbara (Judith O'Dea) and her brother visiting the grave of a friend of their mother, and takes off almost immediately, as they are attacked by a horde of cannibalistic zombies. Narrowly escaping, but losing her emotional balance in the process, Barbara escapes to a house a bit farther down the road where she meets Ben (Duane Jones), the hero of the film. They discover a family with a sick little girl and a young couple in the basement of the house and they all get to work barricading themselves in and preparing weapons and other defenses. The rest of the story concerns the group dynamics between these survivors as the dead close in on their refuge, the story of what is going on in the rest of the USA - revealed through TV reportage and radio broadcasts, and sheer survival. The human side of this film is an interesting and accurate character study concerning what happens to people whose very lives are threatened.

The horror of this film is, unlike a lot of its recent descendants, less a matter of blood and gore than a matter of the real active horror of realistically depicted scenes of murder, death and cannibalism. Though the black and white footage involving blood and gore is certainly effective, there may not be quite enough of it for today's average horror fan. The photographic techniques of this film are innovative and powerful - showing just enough of the sheer hideousness of the film's basic concepts to disturb viewers, but not enough to allow them to detach from the film's protagonists.

I strongly recommend this film to anybody interested in the art of film making, and to those who enjoy the horror genre, though it is hard to imagine any serious horror fan who hasn't already seen this.