Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American
independentAn independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
black-and-whiteBlack-and-white, often abbreviated B/W or B&W, is a term referring to a number of monochrome forms in visual arts.Black-and-white as a description is also something of a misnomer, for in addition to black and white, most of these media included varying shades of gray...
zombie film and
cult filmA cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
directed by
George A. RomeroGeorge Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
, starring
Duane JonesDuane L. Jones was an American actor, best known for his role as Ben in the 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead. He was director of the Maguire Theater at the State University of New York at Old Westbury...
,
Judith O'DeaJudith O'Dea is an American actress known for her role as Barbra in the George A. Romero film Night of the Living Dead .-Career:...
and
Karl HardmanKarl Hardman was an American horror film producer and actor. He produced George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and also co-starred as Harry Cooper. He also appeared in Santa Claws as Bruce Brunswick...
. It premiered on October 1, 1968, and was completed on a
USDThe United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
$114,000
budgetA budget is a financial plan and a list of all planned expenses and revenues. It is a plan for saving, borrowing and spending. A budget is an important concept in microeconomics, which uses a budget line to illustrate the trade-offs between two or more goods...
. After decades of cinematic re-releases, it grossed $12
millionOne million or one thousand thousand, is the natural number following 999,999 and preceding 1,000,001. The word is derived from the early Italian millione , from mille, "thousand", plus the augmentative suffix -one.In scientific notation, it is written as or just 106...
domesticallyThe cinema of the United States, also known as Hollywood, has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period...
and $18 million internationally. Night of the Living Dead was heavily criticized during its release because of its explicit content, but received critical acclaim and was selected by the
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
for preservation in the
National Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
as a film deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant." The film entered the
public domainWorks are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
due to an error by the distributor.
The plot of the film follows Ben Huss (
Duane JonesDuane L. Jones was an American actor, best known for his role as Ben in the 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead. He was director of the Maguire Theater at the State University of New York at Old Westbury...
), Barbra (
Judith O'DeaJudith O'Dea is an American actress known for her role as Barbra in the George A. Romero film Night of the Living Dead .-Career:...
), and five others trapped in a
ruralRural areas or the country or countryside are areas that are not urbanized, though when large areas are described, country towns and smaller cities will be included. They have a low population density, and typically much of the land is devoted to agriculture...
farmhouse in
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
while the house is attacked by reanimated corpses, commonly known as '
ghoulA ghoul is a folkloric monster associated with graveyards and consuming human flesh, often classified as undead. The oldest surviving literature that mention ghouls is likely One Thousand and One Nights...
s' or 'zombies'. Night of the Living Dead is the origin of six other
Living DeadNight of the Living Dead is a series of six zombie horror films written and directed by George A. Romero beginning with the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead written by Romero and John A. Russo. The loosely connected franchise predominantly centers on different groups of people attempting to...
films directed by George A. Romero and became the inspiration for two remakes of the film,
a 1990 film of the same nameNight of the Living Dead is a 1990 American remake of George A. Romero's 1968 horror film of the same name and was directed by Tom Savini. Romero rewrote the original 1968 screenplay co-authored by John A...
directed by
Tom SaviniThomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...
and
Night of the Living Dead 3DNight of the Living Dead 3D is a 2006 horror film made in 3D. It is the second remake of the 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead. The first was released in 1990 and was directed by Tom Savini from a revised screenplay by George A. Romero. Unlike the first remake, no one involved with the...
in 2006, which was directed by
Jeff BroadstreetJeff Broadstreet is an American film director. He directed the 2006 remake of Night of the Living Dead , titled Night of the Living Dead 3-D. Broadstreet has also directed films like Sexbomb , Area 51: The Alien Interview , Megalomania , and Dr. Rage...
and contained a different storyline.
Plot
The story begins as siblings Barbra (
Judith O'DeaJudith O'Dea is an American actress known for her role as Barbra in the George A. Romero film Night of the Living Dead .-Career:...
) and Johnny (
Russell StreinerRussell Streiner , also credited as Russ Streiner and Russell W. Streiner, is an American film producer and actor.-Career:...
) drive to rural
PennsylvaniaThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
to visit their father's grave. When Barbra is afraid (presumably of
ghostIn traditional belief and fiction, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person or animal that can appear, in visible form or other manifestation, to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to...
s etc.) Johnny teasingly frightens her by repeating the words, "They're coming to get you, Barbra!"; whereupon they are attacked by a zombie (Bill Hinzman). Johnny tries to rescue his sister, but is then presumably killed when the man shoves him head first onto a tombstone. Barbra flees, with the killer in pursuit; eventually she ran off to an empty farmhouse where she discovers the half-eaten corpse of the apparent homeowner. Running out of the house, she notices several figures akin to her pursuer; whereupon a man named Ben (
Duane JonesDuane L. Jones was an American actor, best known for his role as Ben in the 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead. He was director of the Maguire Theater at the State University of New York at Old Westbury...
) arrives in a pickup truck, drags Barbra back into the house, and barricades the doors and windows. Barbra insists that they must rescue Johnny, she flips out hysterically slaps Ben, he slaps her back and she collapses in
shockAcute stress reaction is a psychological condition arising in response to a terrifying or traumatic event...
.
Meanwhile, hiding in the cellar are a married couple, Harry (
Karl HardmanKarl Hardman was an American horror film producer and actor. He produced George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and also co-starred as Harry Cooper. He also appeared in Santa Claws as Bruce Brunswick...
) and Helen Cooper (
Marilyn EastmanMarilyn Eastman is an American actress known for her role as Helen Cooper in the film Night of the Living Dead . She also appeared in the films Houseguest and Santa Claws ....
), their daughter Karen (
Kyra SchonKyra Schon is an American actress known for her role in the George A. Romero film Night of the Living Dead as Karen Cooper, the trowel-wielding zombie girl. She is a regular contributor to Dread Central, an online magazine dedicated to horror entertainment...
), and teenage couple Tom (Keith Wayne) and Judy (
Judith RidleyJudith Ridley is an American actress known for her roles in the George A. Romero films Night of the Living Dead and There's Always Vanilla...
). Ben activates a radio while Barbra awakens. Harry asks everyone to hide in the cellar, but Ben deems it a "
deathtrapA deathtrap is a literary and dramatic plot device in which a villain, who has captured the hero or another sympathetic character, attempts to use an elaborate and usually sadistic method of murdering him/her....
" and remains upstairs. Tom agrees with Ben and asks Judy to come upstairs.
Harry returns to the cellar to Helen and Karen, who has fallen ill when bitten on the arm by one of the zombie attackers. Radio reports explain that a spate of mass murder is sweeping across the
East Coast of the United StatesThe East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, refers to the easternmost coastal states in the United States, which touch the Atlantic Ocean and stretch up to Canada. The term includes the U.S...
. When Ben finds a television, the emergency broadcaster reports that the recently deceased have become reanimated and are consuming the flesh of living people. Experts, scientists, and the United States military do not know the cause, though one scientist believes the cause to be
radioactive contaminationRadioactive contamination, also called radiological contamination, is radioactive substances on surfaces, or within solids, liquids or gases , where their presence is unintended or undesirable, or the process giving rise to their presence in such places...
from a space probe that exploded in the Earth's
atmosphereAn atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...
.
When news reports reveal local fortifications wherein to take refuge, Ben plans to reach the nearest of these and obtain medical care for Karen. Ben and Tom then go to refuel Ben's truck while Harry hurls
Molotov cocktailThe Molotov cocktail, also known as the petrol bomb, gasoline bomb, Molotov bomb, fire bottle, fire bomb, or simply Molotov, is a generic name used for a variety of improvised incendiary weapons...
s from an upper window to keep the ghouls at bay. Fearing for Tom's safety, Judy ran out from the house and follows him. At the pump, Tom accidentally spills fuel, setting the truck ablaze. Tom and Judy attempt to get the truck away from the pump to avoid further damage; but it explodes, killing them both.
Ben returns to the house with the ghouls after him to find Harry retreating to the cellar door, leaving Ben outside to contend with the ghouls. Angered by Harry's heartlessness, Ben kicks the door down and attacks him. Meanwhile, the ghouls approach the truck to feed on Tom and Judy's carcasses. In the house, a report on the television reveals that a gunshot or heavy blow to the head will stop any ghoul and that
possesPosse comitatus or sheriff's posse is the common-law or statute law authority of a county sheriff or other law officer to conscript any able-bodied males to assist him in keeping the peace or to pursue and arrest a felon, similar to the concept of the "hue and cry"...
of armed men are patrolling the countryside to restore order.
After the ghouls attempt to break into the house, Harry grabs Ben's rifle and threatens to shoot him; but is himself shot, while the ghouls pull Helen and Barbra through the windows. Dying of his wounds, Harry stumbles into the cellar to find that his daughter Karen has died of the infection on her arm. Helen frees herself from the ghouls and goes down to the cellar to find a reanimated Karen consuming Harry's flesh, Karen starts to walk slowly towards Helen whereupon Karen killed her by stabbing her a number of times with a garden trowel.
Barbra upon seeing a reanimated Johnny among the mob of ghouls, becomes distracted by her brother's presence and is carried away by the horde. Karen attacks Ben, but he escapes and seals himself in the cellar, where he kills the reanimated Harry and Helen with a rifle.
The next morning, Ben awakens as a posse arrives; but is killed when a member of the posse, mistaking him for a ghoul, fatally shoots him in the head. Ben's body is then placed onto a burning
pyreA pyre , also known as a funeral pyre, is a structure, usually made of wood, for burning a body as part of a funeral rite...
along with other dead bodies.
Cast
- Duane Jones
Duane L. Jones was an American actor, best known for his role as Ben in the 1968 horror film Night of the Living Dead. He was director of the Maguire Theater at the State University of New York at Old Westbury...
as Ben: The lead role of Ben was played by unknown stage actor Duane Jones. His performance depicted Ben as a "comparatively calm and resourceful NegroThe word Negro is used in the English-speaking world to refer to a person of black ancestry or appearance, whether of African descent or not...
", according to a contemporary (1969) movie reviewer. Casting Jones as the hero was, in 1968, potentially controversial. At the time, it was not typical for an African-American man to be the hero of a film when the rest of the cast was composed of European-Americans. Social commentators saw that casting as significant; but Romero said that Jones "simply gave the best audition". After Night of the Living Dead, he co-starred in Ganja and HessGanja & Hess is a 1973 horror film directed by Bill Gunn and stars Marlene Clark and Duane Jones. The film follows the exploits of archaeologist Dr. Hess Green who becomes a vampire after being stabbed by his intelligent, but unstable, assistant with an ancient cursed dagger...
(1973), VampiresVampires is a 1986 horror film directed by Len Anthony. The film stars Orly Benyar, John Bly, Jackie James, Duane Jones, Kit Jones, and Robin Michaels. The plot revolves around mysterious events at a private girls' school in which the students' life-energy is drained by a mad scientist's machine....
(1986), Negatives (1988) and To Die ForTo Die For is a 1989 horror-romance film directed by Deran Sarafian. The film stars Brendan Hughes as vampire Vlad Tsepsh along with Duane Jones , Philip Granger, Julie Maddalena, and Amanda Wyss.-Plot:Forbidden passion, unquenchable vengeance, and the kiss of darkness all play a deadly role in this...
(1989) before his death in 1988. Despite his other film roles, Jones worried that people only recognized him as Ben.
- Judith O'Dea
Judith O'Dea is an American actress known for her role as Barbra in the George A. Romero film Night of the Living Dead .-Career:...
as Barbra: Judith O'Dea, a 23-year-old commercial and stage actress, had once worked for Hardman and Eastman in Pittsburgh. At the time of audition, O'Dea was in Hollywood seeking to enter the movie business. She remarked in an interview that starring in the film was a positive experience for her, although she admitted that horror movies terrified her, particularly Vincent Price'sVincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
House of WaxHouse of Wax is a 1953 American horror film starring Vincent Price. It is a remake of Warners' Mystery of the Wax Museum without the comic relief featured in the earlier film, and was directed by André de Toth...
(1953). Besides acting, O'Dea performed her own stunts, which she jokingly claimed amounted to "lots of running". Assessing Night of the Living Dead, she stated "I honestly had no idea it would have such a lasting impact on our culture". She was just as surprised by the renown the film brought her: "People treat you differently. [I'm] ho-hum Judy O'Dea until they realize [I'm] Barbra from Night of the Living Dead. All of a sudden [I'm] not so ho-hum anymore!" Following Night of the Living Dead, O'Dea appeared in the television film The Pirate in 1978 and feature films Claustrophobia, October MoonOctober Moon is a 2005 independent horror film directed by Jason Paul Collum about a male homosexual relationship that turns sour. The film stars Judith O'Dea, Brinke Stevens, Sean Michael Lambrecht, Jeff Dylan Graham, Tina Ona Paukstelis, Darcey Vanderhoef, and Jerod Howard. It spawned the sequel...
, and The Ocean.
- Karl Hardman
Karl Hardman was an American horror film producer and actor. He produced George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and also co-starred as Harry Cooper. He also appeared in Santa Claws as Bruce Brunswick...
as Harry Cooper
- Marilyn Eastman
Marilyn Eastman is an American actress known for her role as Helen Cooper in the film Night of the Living Dead . She also appeared in the films Houseguest and Santa Claws ....
as Helen Cooper: Eastman also played a female zombie who plucks an insect off a tree and eats it.
- Keith Wayne as Tom: The role of Tom remained Keith Wayne's only film role (he committed suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in 1995).
- Judith Ridley
Judith Ridley is an American actress known for her roles in the George A. Romero films Night of the Living Dead and There's Always Vanilla...
as Judy: Judith Ridley later co-starred in Romero's There's Always VanillaThere's Always Vanilla is a 1971 film and was director George A. Romero's second motion picture and, , his only romantic comedy. It is one of the few Romero films that does not deal with a zombie apocalypse or other supernatural horror themes...
(1971).
- Kyra Schon
Kyra Schon is an American actress known for her role in the George A. Romero film Night of the Living Dead as Karen Cooper, the trowel-wielding zombie girl. She is a regular contributor to Dread Central, an online magazine dedicated to horror entertainment...
as Karen Cooper: Karen was played by Hardman's 11-year-old daughter.
- Charles Craig
Charles Craig was an American actor. He appeared in 120 films between 1909 and 1931.-External links:...
as Newscaster / Zombie
- Bill Hinzman as Cemetery Zombie: The cemetery zombie who kills Johnny in the first scene was played by S. William Hinzman
Scott William Hinzman is an American actor and film director.-Acting career:His first role was the cemetery zombie in the horror film Night of the Living Dead . Hinzman also played roles in the films Legion of the Night , Santa Claws , Evil Ambitions , and The Drunken Dead Guy...
(credited as Bill Hinzman), in a role that launched his horror film career. Hinzman also appeared in new scenes that were filmed for the 25th anniversary edition of the films. Hinzman was later involved in the films Season of the Witch (1973), FlesheaterFlesheater, sometimes written as FleshEater or Flesh Eater, is a low budget 1988 independent horror film, specifically a zombie movie, by Bill Hinzman. Hinzman, who wrote, produced, edited, directed and starred in the film, is best known for playing the cemetery zombie in George A...
(1988), Legion of the NightLegion of the Night is a 1995 horror film directed by Matt Jaissle and stars Tim Lovelace, Jeff Rector, Ron Asheton, Heather Fine, and S. William Hinzman. The film revolves around a scientist who experiments with reanimation of corpses, accidentally creating zombies...
(1995), Santa ClawsSanta Claws is a 1996 horror film written and directed by John A. Russo. It stars Debbie Rochon as a Scream Queen B-movie actress who is stalked by an obsessed fan....
(1996), and Evil AmbitionsEvil Ambitions is a 1996 horror film directed by Mark Burchett. The film stars Paul Morris, Amber Newman, David Levy, Lucy Frashure, Renae Raos, Debbie Rochon and S. William Hinzman. The plot revolves around a public relations firm that is secretly a front for Devil worship. Young female models...
(1996).
- George Kosana as Sheriff McClelland: Kosana was Image Ten's production manager.
- Russell Streiner
Russell Streiner , also credited as Russ Streiner and Russell W. Streiner, is an American film producer and actor.-Career:...
as Johnny
Romero's friends and acquaintances were recruited as zombie
extrasA background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking, nonsinging or nondancing capacity, usually in the background...
. Romero stated, "We had a film company doing commercials and industrial films so there were a lot of people from the advertising game who all wanted to come out and be zombies, and a lot of them did". He adds amusingly, "Some people from around Evans City who just thought it was a goof came out to get caked in makeup and lumber around".
Development and pre-production
While attending
Carnegie Mellon UniversityCarnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
in
PittsburghPittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
, Romero embarked upon his career in the
film industryThe film industry consists of the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking: i.e. film production companies, film studios, cinematography, film production, screenwriting, pre-production, post production, film festivals, distribution; and actors, film directors and other film crew...
. In the 1960s, he directed and produced television commercials and
industrial filmsSponsored film, or ephemeral film, as defined by film archivist Rick Prelinger, is film made by a particular sponsor for a specific purpose other than as a work of art: the films were designed to serve a specific pragmatic purpose for a limited time...
for The Latent Image, a company he co-founded with friends John Russo and
Russell StreinerRussell Streiner , also credited as Russ Streiner and Russell W. Streiner, is an American film producer and actor.-Career:...
. During this period, the trio grew bored making commercials and wanted to film a horror movie. According to Romero, they wanted to capitalize on the film industry's "thirst for the bizarre". He and Streiner contacted Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman, president and vice president respectively of a Pittsburgh-based industrial film firm called Hardman Associates, Inc., and pitched their idea for a then-untitled horror film. Convinced by Romero, a production company called Image Ten was formed which included Romero, Russo, Streiner, Hardman and Eastman. The initial budget was $6,000 with the ten members of the production company investing $600 each for a share of the profits. When it was found that another $6,000 was required another ten investors were found but this was also soon found to be inadequate. Image Ten eventually raised approximately $114,000 for the budget.
Writing
Co-written as a horror comedy by John Russo and George A. Romero under the title Monster Flick, an early screenplay draft concerned the exploits of teenage
aliensExtraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
who visit
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
and befriend human teenagers. A second version of the script featured a young man who runs away from home and discovers rotting human corpses that aliens use for food scattered across a meadow. The final draft, written mainly by Romero during three days in 1967, focused on reanimated human corpses — Romero refers to them as ghouls — that consume the flesh of the living. In a 1997 interview with the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Forbidden Weekend, Romero explained that the script developed into a three-part
short storyA short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
. Part one became Night of the Living Dead. Sequels Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985) were adapted from the two remaining parts.
Romero drew inspiration from
Richard MathesonRichard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
's I Am Legend (1954), a
horror/science fiction novelHorror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
about a
plagueIn epidemiology, an epidemic , occurs when new cases of a certain disease, in a given human population, and during a given period, substantially exceed what is expected based on recent experience...
that ravages a futuristic
Los AngelesLos Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. The infected in I Am Legend become
vampireVampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
-like creatures and prey on the uninfected. Discussing the creation of Night of the Living Dead, Romero remarked, "I had written a short story, which I basically had ripped off from a Richard Matheson novel called I Am Legend." Romero further explained:
Official
film adaptationFilm adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a feature film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even...
s of Matheson's novel appeared in 1964 as The Last Man on Earth, in 1971 as
The Omega ManThe Omega Man is a 1971 American science fiction film directed by Boris Sagal and starring Charlton Heston. It is based on the novel I Am Legend by American writer Richard Matheson...
, and the 2007 release
I Am LegendI Am Legend is a 2007 post-apocalyptic science fiction film directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Will Smith. It is the third feature film adaptation of Richard Matheson's 1954 novel of the same name, following 1964's The Last Man on Earth and 1971's The Omega Man. Smith plays virologist Robert...
. Matheson was not impressed by Romero's interpretation, feeling that "It was ... kind of cornball", though he later said, "George Romero's a nice guy, though. I don't harbor any animosity toward him". Critic Danél Griffin remarked, "Romero freely admits that his film was a direct rip-off of Matheson's novel; I would be a little less harsh in my description and say that Romero merely expanded the author's ideas with deviations so completely original that [Night of the Living Dead] is expelled from being labeled a true 'rip-off'".
Russo and Romero revised the screenplay while filming. Karl Hardman attributed the edits to lead actor Duane Jones:
.
Eastman modified cellar scenes featuring dialogue between Helen and Harry Cooper. According to lead actress Judith O'Dea, much of the dialogue was
improvisedImprovisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
. She told an interviewer, "I don't know if there was an actual working script! We would go over what basically had to be done, then just did it the way we each felt it should be done". One example offered by O'Dea concerns a scene where Barbra tells Ben about Johnny's death:
.
Principal photography
The small budget dictated much of the production process. According to Hardman, "We knew that we could not raise enough money to shoot a film on a par with the classic horror films with which we had all grown up. The best that we could do was to place our cast in a remote spot and then bring the horror to be visited on them in that spot". Scenes were filmed near
Evans City, PennsylvaniaEvans City is a borough in Butler County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,009 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Evans City is located at ....
, 30 miles (48.3 km) north of Pittsburgh in rural
Butler County-Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 174,083 people, 65,862 households, and 46,827 families residing in the county. The population density was 221 people per square mile . There were 69,868 housing units at an average density of 89 per square mile...
; the opening sequence was shot at the Evans City Cemetery on Franklin Road, south of the borough. The interior upstairs scenes were filmed in a downtown Evans City home that later became the offices of a prominent local physician and family doctor (Allsop). This home is still standing on South Washington St. (locally called
Mars-Evans City RoadPennsylvania Route 855 was a former state highway located in Butler County, Pennsylvania. When the highway was established in 1928, it became a spur route of PA 68. The highway was deleted in 1946...
), between the intersecting streets of South Jackson and Van Buren.
The outdoor, indoor (downstairs) and basement scenes were filmed at a location northeast of Evans City, near a park. The basement door (external view) shown in the film was cut into a wall by the production team and led nowhere. As this house was scheduled for demolition, damage during filming was permitted. The site is now a
turf farmSod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of thin material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns...
.
PropsA theatrical property, commonly referred to as a prop, is an object used on stage by actors to further the plot or story line of a theatrical production. Smaller props are referred to as "hand props". Larger props may also be set decoration, such as a chair or table. The difference between a set...
and
special effectThe illusions used in the film, television, theatre, or entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called special effects ....
s were fairly simple and limited by the budget. The blood, for example, was
Bosco Chocolate SyrupBosco Chocolate Syrup is a brand of chocolate syrup first produced in 1928. The company that produces it is based in New Jersey, and it is sold throughout the United States, Western Europe, Asia and the Middle East.-Production process:...
drizzled over cast members' bodies. Consumed flesh consisted of roasted
hamHam is a cut of meat from the thigh of the hind leg of certain animals, especiallypigs. Nearly all hams sold today are fully cooked or cured.-Etymology:...
and entrails donated by one of the actors, who also owned a chain of butcher shops. Costumes consisted of second-hand clothing from cast members and
GoodwillGoodwill Industries International is a not-for-profit organization that provides job training, employment placement services and other community-based programs for people who have a disability, lack education or job experience, or face employment challenges...
. Zombie makeup varied during the film. Initially makeup was limited to white skin with blackened eyes; but as filming progressed mortician's
waxthumb|right|[[Cetyl palmitate]], a typical wax ester.Wax refers to a class of chemical compounds that are plastic near ambient temperatures. Characteristically, they melt above 45 °C to give a low viscosity liquid. Waxes are insoluble in water but soluble in organic, nonpolar solvents...
was used to simulate wounds and
decayDecomposition is the process by which organic material is broken down into simpler forms of matter. The process is essential for recycling the finite matter that occupies physical space in the biome. Bodies of living organisms begin to decompose shortly after death...
to make the zombies more frightening. As filming was not linear, the piebald faces appear sporadically. Eastman supervised the special effects, wardrobe and makeup. Filming took place between June and December 1967 under the working title Night of Anubis and later Night of the Flesh Eaters. The small budget led Romero to shoot on 35 mm black-and-white film. The completed film ultimately benefited from the decision, as film historian Joseph Maddrey describes the black-and-white filming as "
guerrilla-styleGuerrilla filmmaking refers to a form of independent filmmaking characterized by low budgets, skeleton crews, and simple props using whatever is available...
", resembling "the unflinching authority of a wartime
newsreelA newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
". Maddrey adds, it "seem[s] as much like a documentary on the loss of social stability as an
exploitation filmExploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
".
Directing
Night of the Living Dead was the first feature-length film directed by George A. Romero. His initial work involved filming
shortsA short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
for Pittsburgh public broadcaster
WQEDWQED is a Public Broadcasting Service member Public television station based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Established April 1, 1954, it was the first community-sponsored television station in the United States as well as the fifth public TV station...
's children's series
Mister Rogers' NeighborhoodMister Rogers' Neighborhood, also known as Mister Rogers, is an American children's television series that was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. The series is aimed primarily at preschool ages, 2-5, but has been stated by Public Broadcasting Service as "appropriate for all ages"...
. Romero's decision to direct Night of the Living Dead essentially launched his career as a horror director. He took the helm of the sequels as well as Season of the Witch (1972), The Crazies (1973),
MartinMartin is a 1978 American horror film written and directed by George A. Romero.Romero claims that Martin is the favorite of all his films...
(1977),
CreepshowCreepshow is a 1982 American horror anthology film directed by George A. Romero and written by Stephen King. The film's ensemble cast included Ted Danson, Leslie Nielsen, Hal Holbrook, E.G...
(1982) and
The Dark HalfThe Dark Half is a 1993 horror film adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name. The film was directed by George A. Romero and stars Timothy Hutton as Thad Beaumont and George Stark, Amy Madigan as Liz Beaumont, Michael Rooker as Sheriff Alan Pangborn and Royal Dano in his final...
(1993). Critics saw the influence of the horror and science-fiction films of the 1950s in Romero's directorial style. Stephen Paul Miller, for instance, witnessed "a revival of fifties schlock shock... and the army general's television discussion of military operations in the film echoes the often inevitable calling-in of the army in fifties horror films". Miller admits, however, that "Night of the Living Dead takes greater relish in mocking these military operations through the general's pompous demeanor" and the government's inability to source the zombie epidemic or protect the citizenry. Romero describes the mood he wished to establish: "The film opens with a situation that has already disintegrated to a point of little hope, and it moves progressively toward absolute despair and ultimate tragedy". According to film historian Carl Royer, Romero "employs
chiaroscuroChiaroscuro in art is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest the volume and modelling of the subjects depicted"....
(
film noirFilm noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
style) lighting to emphasize humanity's nightmare alienation from itself".
While some critics dismissed Romero's film because of the graphic scenes, writer
R. H. W. DillardRichard Henry Wilde Dillard is an American poet, author, critic, and translator.Born in Roanoke, Virginia, Dillard is best known as a poet. He is also highly-regarded as a writer of fiction and critical essays, as well as one of the screenwriters for the cult classic Frankenstein Meets the Space...
claimed that the "open-eyed detailing" of
tabooA taboo is a strong social prohibition relating to any area of human activity or social custom that is sacred and or forbidden based on moral judgment, religious beliefs and or scientific consensus. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent by society...
heightened the film's success. He asks, "What girl has not, at one time or another, wished to kill her mother? And Karen, in the film, offers a particularly vivid opportunity to commit the forbidden deed vicariously". Romero featured social taboos as key themes, particularly
cannibalismCannibalism is the act or practice of humans eating the flesh of other human beings. It is also called anthropophagy...
. Although zombie cannibals were inspired by Matheson's I Am Legend, film historian Robin Wood sees the flesh-eating scenes of Night of the Living Dead as a late-1960s critique of American
capitalismCapitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
. Wood asserts that the zombies represent capitalists, and "cannibalism represents the ultimate in possessiveness, hence the logical end of human relations under capitalism". He argues that the zombies' victims symbolized the repression of "
the OtherThe Other or Constitutive Other is a key concept in continental philosophy; it opposes the Same. The Other refers, or attempts to refer, to that which is Other than the initial concept being considered...
" in
bourgeoisieIn sociology and political science, bourgeoisie describes a range of groups across history. In the Western world, between the late 18th century and the present day, the bourgeoisie is a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital and their related culture." A member of the...
American society, namely civil rights activists,
feministsThe Feminist Movement, or the Women's Liberation Movement in the United States refers to a period of feminist activity which began during the early 1960s and lasted through the early 1990s....
,
homosexualsHomosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, and
counterculturalistsCounterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
in general.
Post-production
Members of Image Ten were involved in filming and
post-productionFilm editing is part of the creative post-production process of filmmaking. It involves the selection and combining of shots into sequences, and ultimately creating a finished motion picture. It is an art of storytelling...
, participating in loading
camera magazineA camera magazine is a light-tight chamber or pair of chambers designed to hold and move motion picture film stock before and after it has been exposed in the camera...
s, gaffing, constructing props, recording sounds and editing. Production stills were shot and printed by
Karl HardmanKarl Hardman was an American horror film producer and actor. He produced George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead and also co-starred as Harry Cooper. He also appeared in Santa Claws as Bruce Brunswick...
, who stated in an interview that a "number of cast members formed a production line in the darkroom for developing, washing and drying of the prints as I made the exposures. As I recall, I shot over 1,250 pictures during the production". Upon completion of post-production, Image Ten found it difficult to secure a distributor willing to show the film with the gruesome scenes intact.
ColumbiaColumbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
and
American International PicturesAmerican International Pictures was a film production company formed in April 1956 from American Releasing Corporation by James H. Nicholson, former Sales Manager of Realart Pictures, and Samuel Z. Arkoff, an entertainment lawyer...
declined after requests to soften it and re-shoot the final scene were rejected by producers. Romero admitted that "none of us wanted to do that. We couldn't imagine a happy ending. . . . Everyone want[ed] a Hollywood ending, but we stuck to our guns". The
ManhattanManhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
-based
Walter Reade OrganizationWalter Reade Sr was the man behind a chain of theatres which grew from a single theatre in Asbury Park, New Jersey to a chain of forty theatres and drive-ins in New Jersey, New York and neighboring states that lasted into the mid seventies. Known as the “Showman of The Shore,” his name was...
agreed to show the film uncensored, but changed the title from Night of the Flesh Eaters to Night of the Living Dead because a film had already been produced under a
similar titleThe Flesh Eaters is a 1964 American horror/science fiction thriller, directed on a low budget by Jack Curtis and edited by future filmmaker Radley Metzger...
to the former. While changing the title, the copyright notice was accidentally deleted from the early releases of the film.
Music and sound effects
The
music scoreA film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
of Night of the Living Dead was not composed for the film; Karl Hardman told an interviewer that the music came from the extensive film music library of WRS Studio. Much of what was used in the film was purchased from the library of
Capitol RecordsCapitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
, and an album of the soundtrack was released at one point. Stock music selections included works by WRS sound tech Richard Lococo,
Philip GreenPhilip Green , sometimes credited as Harry Philip Green, was a film and television composer and conductor. His father was Philip Green, a boot clicker, and his mother was Elizabeth Vogel. Green's first credited work was on 1943's The Sky's the Limit...
,
Geordie HormelGeorge "Geordie" Hormel was the son of Jay Catherwood Hormel and grandson of George A. Hormel. He was a musician and recording studio proprietor....
,
Ib GlindemannIb Glindemann is a Danish jazz musician, the big band leader of the Ib Glindemann Orchestra . When in Europe, saxophonist Stan Getz was a frequent guest star of the orchestra.-External links:*...
, William Loose, John Seely, Jack Meakin and Spencer Moore.
Some of the music in the film had previously been used on the soundtrack for the science-fiction
B-movieA B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
Teenagers from Outer SpaceTeenagers from Outer Space is a 1959 science-fiction film about an extraterrestrial space ship landing on Earth to use it as a farm for its food supply. The crew of the ship includes teenagers, two of whom oppose each other in their activities. The independent film was originally distributed by...
(1959). The eerie musical piece during the tense scene in the film where Ben finds the rifle in the closet inside the farmhouse as the radio reports of mayhem play in the background can be heard in longer and more complete form during the opening credits and the beginning of
The Devil's MessengerThe Devil's Messenger is a 1961 anthology horror film starring Lon Chaney Jr.In this feature version of the 1959 Swedish TV series 13 Demon Street, a 50,000-year-old woman is found frozen in an ice field, and a man's death is foretold in dreams....
(1961) starring Lon Chaney Jr. Another piece, accompanying Barbra's flight from the cemetery zombie, was taken from the score for
The Hideous Sun DemonThe Hideous Sun Demon was the directorial debut of Robert Clarke, star of many of the 1950s best science fiction films. The movie became an Atomic Age cult classic. Clarke wrote, directed and produced The Hideous Sun Demon...
(1959). According to WRS, "We chose a selection of music for each of the various scenes and then George made the final selections. We then took those selections and augmented them electronically". Sound tech R.Lococo's choices worked well, as Film historian Sumiko Higashi believes that the music "signifies the nature of events that await".
Sound effects were created by WRS Studio in Pittsburgh. "Sound engineer Richard Lococo recorded all of the live sound effects used in the film". Lococo recalled, "Of all the sound effects that we created, the one that still gives me goose bumps when I hear it, is Marilyn's screaming as [Helen Cooper] is killed by her daughter. Judy O'Dea's screaming is a close second. Both were looped in and out of echo over and over again". A
soundtrack albumA soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television program. In some cases, not all the tracks from the movie are included in the album; however there are rare cases of songs in the trailers that do not appear in...
featuring music and dialogue cues from the film was compiled and released by
Varèse SarabandeVarèse Sarabande is an American record label, distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums as well as newer releases by artists no longer under a contract...
in 1982; however, it has never been reissued on
CDThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
. In November 2008, recording group 400 Lonely Things released the album Tonight of the Living Dead, "an instrumental album composed entirely of ambient music and sound effects sampled from Romero's 1968 horror classic".
On 25 May 2010, the record company Zero Day Releasing released the CD They Won't Stay Dead!: Music from the soundtrack of Night of the Living Dead. It features all-new digitally restored audio from original library LPs and reels.
Reception
Night of the Living Dead premiered on October 1, 1968 at the Fulton Theater in Pittsburgh. Nationally, it was shown as a Saturday afternoon matinée — as was typical for horror films at the time — and attracted an audience consisting of pre-teens and
adolescentsAdolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
. The
MPAA film rating systemThe Motion Picture Association of America's film-rating system is used in the U.S. and its territories to rate a film's thematic and content suitability for certain audiences. The MPAA system applies only to motion pictures that are submitted for rating. Other media may be rated by other entities...
was not in place until November 1968, so even young children were not prohibited from purchasing tickets.
Roger EbertRoger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the
Chicago Sun-TimesThe Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
chided theater owners and parents who allowed children access to the film. "I don't think the younger kids really knew what hit them," he said. "They were used to going to movies, sure, and they'd seen some horror movies before, sure, but this was something else." According to Ebert, the film affected the audience immediately:
Response from
VarietyVariety Film Reviews is the 24-volume hardcover reprint of feature film reviews by the weekly entertainment tabloid-size magazine Variety from 1907 to 1996...
after the initial release of the film shows the kind of outrage at Romero's film: "Until the Supreme Court establishes clear-cut guidelines for the pornography of Violence "Night of the Living Dead" will serve nicely as an outer-limit definition by example. In [a] mere 90 minutes this horror film (pun intended) casts serious aspersions on the integrity and social responsibility of its Pittsburgh-based makers, distributor Walter Reade, the film industry as a whole and [exhibitors] who book [the picture], as well as raising doubts about the future of the regional cinema movement and about the moral health of film goers who cheerfully opt for this unrelieved orgy of sadism..."
One commentator asserts that the film garnered little attention from critics, "except to provoke argument about
censoringthumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
its grisly scenes". Despite the controversy, five years after the premiere Paul McCullough of
Take OneTake One: Film & Television in Canada Although it shares the name with the original Take One, Take One: Film and Television in Canada was a separate publication with no connection to its predecessor. And unlike the original, its focus was entirely Canadian...
observed that Night of the Living Dead was the "most profitable horror film ever [...] produced outside the walls of a major studio". The film had earned between $12 and $15 million at the American
box officeA box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
after a decade. It was translated into more than 25 languages and released across Europe, Canada and Australia. Night of the Living Dead grossed $30 million internationally, and the Wall Street Journal reported that it was the top grossing film in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
in 1969.
More than 40 years after its release, the film enjoys a reputation as a classic and still receives positive reviews; Night of the Living Dead currently holds a 96% "Certified Fresh" rating on the review aggregate website
Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, and it is regarded by many as one of the best films of 1968. In 2008, the film was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.
The New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
also placed the film on their Best 1000 Movies Ever list. In January 2010,
Total FilmTotal Film is a British film magazine published 13 times a year by Future Publishing. The magazine was launched in 1997 and offers film, DVD and Blu-ray news, reviews and features...
included the film on its list of The 100 Greatest Movies of All Time.
Rolling StoneRolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine named Night of the Living Dead one of The 100 Maverick Movies in the Last 100 Years.
Night of the Living Dead was also awarded two distinguished honors decades after its debut. The
Library of CongressThe Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
added the film to the
National Film RegistryThe National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008...
in 1999 with other films deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant". In 2001, the film was ranked #93 by the
American Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
on their
100 Years...100 ThrillsPart of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years…100 Thrills is a list of the top 100 heart-pounding movies in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute on June 12, 2001, during a CBS special hosted by Harrison Ford....
list, a list of America's most heart-pounding movies. The zombies in the picture were also a candidate for AFI's
100 Years... 100 Heroes and VillainsAFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains is a list of the 100 greatest screen characters chosen by American Film Institute in June 2003. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series. The series was first presented in a CBS special hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger...
, in the villains category, but failed to make the official list. The
Chicago Film Critics AssociationThe Chicago Film Critics Association is an American film critic association.-Members:Current members include:*Sarah Knight Adamson*Zbigniew Banas*Shelley Cameron*Dave Canfield*Vittorio Carli*Erik Childress*Camerin Courtney*Bonnie DeShong...
named it the 5th scariest film ever made. The film also ranked #9 on Bravo's
100 Scariest Movie MomentsThe 100 Scariest Movie Moments is a television documentary miniseries that first aired in late October 2004 on Bravo. Aired in five 60-minute segments, the miniseries counts down what producer Anthony Timpone, writer Patrick Moses, and director Kevin Kaufman have determined as the 100 most...
.
Reviews
Reviewers disliked the film's gory special effects.
VarietyVariety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
labeled Night of the Living Dead an "unrelieved
orgyIn modern usage, an orgy is a sex party where guests engage in promiscuous or multifarious sexual activity or group sex. An orgy is similar to debauchery, which refers to excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures....
of
sadismSadomasochism broadly refers to the receiving of pleasure—often sexual—from acts involving the infliction or reception of pain or humiliation. The name originates from two authors on the subject, Marquis de Sade and Leopold von Sacher-Masoch...
" and questioned the "integrity and social responsibility of its Pittsburgh-based makers". New York Times critic
Vincent CanbyVincent Canby was an American film critic who became the chief film critic for The New York Times in 1969 and reviewed more than 1000 films during his tenure there.-Life and career:...
referred to the film as a "junk movie" as well as "spare, uncluttered, but really silly".
Nevertheless, some reviewers cited the film as groundbreaking.
Pauline KaelPauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Earlier in her career, her work appeared in City Lights, McCall's and The New Republic....
called the film "one of the most gruesomely terrifying movies ever made — and when you leave the theatre you may wish you could forget the whole horrible experience. . . . The film's grainy, banal seriousness works for it — gives it a crude realism". A
Film DailyThe Film Daily was a daily publication that existed from 1915 to 1970 in the United States.For 55 years, Film Daily was the main source of news on the film and television industries...
critic commented, "This is a pearl of a horror picture which exhibits all the earmarks of a
sleeperA sleeper hit, a.k.a. surprise hit , refers to a film, book, single, album, TV show, or video game that gains unexpected success or recognition...
." While Roger Ebert criticized the matinée screening, he admitted that he "admires the movie itself". Critic
Rex ReedRex Taylor Reed is an American film critic and former co-host of the syndicated television show At the Movies. He currently writes the column "On the Town with Rex Reed" for The New York Observer.-Life and career:...
wrote, "If you want to see what turns a
B movieA B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture that is not definitively an arthouse or pornographic film. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature....
into a classic [...] don't miss Night of the Living Dead. It is unthinkable for anyone seriously interested in horror movies not to see it."
Since the release, critics and film historians have seen Night of the Living Dead as a subversive film that critiques 1960s American society, international
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
politics and domestic
racismRacism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
. Elliot Stein of
The Village VoiceThe Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
saw the film as an ardent critique of American involvement in
VietnamThe Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
, arguing that it "was not set in
TransylvaniaTransylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
, but Pennsylvania — this was Middle America at war, and the zombie carnage seemed a grotesque echo of the conflict then raging in
VietnamVietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
". Film historian Sumiko Higashi concurs, arguing that Night of the Living Dead was a horror film about the horrors of the Vietnam era. While she asserts that "there are no Vietnamese in Night of the Living Dead, [...] they constitute an absent presence whose significance can be understood if narrative is construed". She points to aspects of the Vietnam War paralleled in the film: grainy black-and-white newsreels, search-and-destroy operations, helicopters, and graphic carnage.
While George Romero denies he hired Duane Jones simply because he was black, reviewer Mark Deming notes that "the grim fate of Duane Jones, the sole heroic figure and only African-American, had added resonance with the assassinations of
Martin Luther King, Jr.Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
and
Malcolm XMalcolm X , born Malcolm Little and also known as El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister and human rights activist. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its...
fresh in the minds of most Americans". Stein adds, "In this first-ever subversive horror movie, the resourceful black hero survives the zombies only to be killed by a redneck posse". The deaths of Ben, Barbra and the supporting cast offered audiences an uncomfortable,
nihilisticNihilism is the philosophical doctrine suggesting the negation of one or more putatively meaningful aspects of life. Most commonly, nihilism is presented in the form of existential nihilism which argues that life is without objective meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value...
glimpse unusual for the genre.
Other prevalent themes included "disillusionment with government and patriarchal
nuclear familyNuclear family is a term used to define a family group consisting of a father and mother and their children. This is in contrast to the smaller single-parent family, and to the larger extended family. Nuclear families typically center on a married couple, but not always; the nuclear family may have...
" and "the flaws inherent in the media, local and federal government agencies, and the entire mechanism of
civil defenseCivil defense, civil defence or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state from military attack. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, or emergency evacuation, and recovery...
". Film historian Linda Badley explains that the film was so horrifying because the monsters were not creatures from
Outer SpaceOuter space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. It is not completely empty, but consists of a hard vacuum containing a low density of particles: predominantly a plasma of hydrogen and helium, as well as electromagnetic radiation, magnetic fields, and neutrinos....
or some exotic environment, "They're us". Romero confessed that the film was designed to reflect the tensions of the time: "It was 1968, man. Everybody had a 'message'. The anger and attitude and all that's there is just because it was the Sixties. We lived at the farmhouse, so we were always into raps about the implication and the meaning, so some of that crept in".
Influence
Romero revolutionized the horror film genre with Night of the Living Dead; per Almar Haflidason, of the
BBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, the film represented "a new dawn in horror film-making". The film has also effectively redefined the use of the term "
zombieZombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
". While the word "zombie" itself is never used, Romero's film introduced the theme of zombies as reanimated, flesh-eating cannibals. Early zombie films like Victor Halperin's
White ZombieWhite Zombie is a 1932 American independent Pre-Code horror film directed and produced by brothers Victor Halperin and Edward Halperin, respectively. The screenplay by Garnett Weston tells the story of a young woman's transformation into a zombie at the hands of an evil voodoo master. Béla Lugosi...
(1932) and
Jacques Tourneur'sJacques Tourneur was a French-American film director.-Life:Born in Paris, France, he was the son of film director Maurice Tourneur. At age 10, Jacques moved to the United States with his father. He started a career in cinema while still attending high school as an extra and later as a script clerk...
I Walked with a ZombieI Walked with a Zombie is a 1943 horror film directed by Jacques Tourneur. It was the second horror film from producer Val Lewton for RKO Pictures; the first was the very successful Cat People, also directed by Tourneur...
(1943) concerned living people
enslavedSlavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slaves can be held against their will from the time of their capture, purchase or birth, and deprived of the right to leave, to refuse to work, or to demand compensation...
by a Voodoo
witch doctorA witch doctor originally referred to a type of healer who treated ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. It is currently used to refer to healers in some third world regions, who use traditional healing rather than contemporary medicine...
; many were set in the
CaribbeanThe Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
.
The film and its successors spawned countless imitators that borrowed elements instituted by Romero:
Tombs of the Blind DeadTombs of the Blind Dead is a 1971 Spanish horror film written and directed by Amando de Ossorio. Its original Spanish title is La Noche del terror ciego, which means "The Night of the Blind Terror"....
,
ZombieZombi 2 is a 1979 zombie horror film directed by Lucio Fulci. It is the best-known of Fulci's films and made him a horror icon. Though the title suggests this is a sequel to Zombi Zombi 2 (also known as Zombie, Island of the Living Dead, Zombie Island, Zombie Flesh Eaters and Woodoo) is a 1979...
,
Hell of the Living DeadVirus: Hell of the Living Dead is a 1980 horror film, specifically a zombie movie, directed by Bruno Mattei.The film is also known as Virus , as well as Night of the Zombies and Zombie Creeping Flesh.-Plot:The film opens at a top secret chemical research facility called Hope Center #1 where a...
,
Night of the CometNight of the Comet is a 1984 film directed by Thom Eberhardt and starring Catherine Mary Stewart, Robert Beltran, and Kelli Maroney. It has elements of such diverse genres as science fiction, horror, zombie apocalypse, comedy, and romance....
,
Return of the Living DeadThe Return of the Living Dead is a 1985 American zombie film that was followed by several sequels. The film was written and directed by Dan O'Bannon and starred Clu Gulager, James Karen and Don Calfa....
,
Night of the CreepsNight of the Creeps is a 1986 zombie horror film written and directed by Fred Dekker, starring Tom Atkins, Jason Lively, Steve Marshall and Jill Whitlow. The film is notable as an earnest attempt at a B movie and a homage to the genre...
,
Children of the Living DeadChildren of the Living Dead is a 2001 American direct-to-video zombie film written by Karen L. Wolf and directed by Tor Ramsey. Executive produced by John A. Russo, the film serves as a sequel to Night of the Living Dead: 30th Anniversary Edition, a recut version of the original film that Russo...
, and the video game series
Resident EvilResident Evil, known as in Japan, is a media franchise owned by the video game company Capcom. It was created by Shinji Mikami as a survival horror game series that was initiated with the eponymous PlayStation title Resident Evil in 1996. Since then, the game series has strayed from its roots to...
(later adapted as films in
2002Resident Evil is a British-German 2002 horror film written and directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. The film stars Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius, and James Purefoy...
,
2004Resident Evil: Apocalypse is a Canadian-British 2004 science fiction action horror film directed by Alexander Witt, from a screenplay written by producer Paul W.S. Anderson...
,
2007Resident Evil: Extinction is a Canadian-British 2007 science fiction action horror film also categorized as a doomsday and zombie film, and is the third installment in the Resident Evil film series, which is based on the Capcom survival horror series Resident Evil...
and
2010Resident Evil: Afterlife is a 2010 Canadian-German 3D science-fiction horror action film written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson. It stars Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Kim Coates, Shawn Roberts, Spencer Locke, Boris Kodjoe, and Wentworth Miller. The film marks Anderson's second time to direct in...
),
Dead Risingis an action-adventure, survivor horror video game, developed by Capcom and produced by Keiji Inafune. It was released on August 8, 2006 exclusively for the Xbox 360 video game console. The game was a commercial success. It has been introduced into the Xbox 360 "Platinum Hits" lineup, and a cell...
, and
House of the DeadHouse of the Dead is a 2003 action-horror film adaptation of the successful 1996 light gun arcade game of the same name produced by Sega. The film was directed by Uwe Boll. The film was universally panned by critics.-Plot:...
. Night of the Living Dead is
parodiedA parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
in films such as
Night of the Living BreadNight of the Living Bread is a 1990 American independent short film comedic parody of Night of the Living Dead, directed by Kevin S. O'Brien.-Background:...
and
Shaun of the DeadShaun of the Dead is a 2004 British zombie comedy directed by Edgar Wright, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, and written by Pegg and Wright. Pegg plays Shaun, a man attempting to get some kind of focus in his life as he deals with his girlfriend, his mother and stepfather...
, and in
episodeAn episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...
s of
The SimpsonsThe Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
("
Treehouse of Horror III"Treehouse of Horror III" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons fourth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 29, 1992. In the third annual Treehouse of Horror episode, Homer buys Bart an evil talking Krusty doll, King Homer is captured by Mr. Burns, and Bart...
", 1992; "
Treehouse of Horror XIII"Treehouse of Horror XIII" is the first episode of The Simpsons fourteenth season, as well as the thirteenth Halloween episode. The episode aired on November 3, 2002, three days after Halloween...
", 2004 and "
Treehouse of Horror XX"Treehouse of Horror XX" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons twenty-first season. The episode first aired on October 18, 2009 on Fox. This is the twentieth "Treehouse of Horror" installment, containing three self-contained stories: In "Dial 'M' for Murder or Press '#' to Return to Main Menu,"...
", 2009), Buffy the Vampire Slayer,
South ParkSouth Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
("
Pink Eye"Pinkeye" is the seventh episode of the first season of the animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on October 29, 1997, and was the show's first Halloween episode...
", 1997; "
Night of the Living Homeless"Night of the Living Homeless" is episode 1107 of Comedy Central's South Park. It was first broadcast on April 18, 2007. This episode marks the end of the first half of Season 11, which continued on October 3, 2007. The episode is rated TV-MA. It parodies various zombie movies, in particular...
", 2007),
MediumMedium is an American television drama series that premiered on NBC on January 3, 2005, and ended on CBS on January 21, 2011. Themed on supernatural gifts, its lead character, Allison DuBois , is a medium employed as a consultant for the Phoenix, Arizona district attorney's office...
("
Bite Me", 2009) and
Invader ZimInvader Zim is an American animated television series created by Jhonen Vasquez. It was produced by and subsequently aired on Nickelodeon. The series revolves around an extraterrestrial named Zim from the planet Irk, and his ongoing mission to conquer and destroy Earth...
("Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom" 2001 and "FBI Warning of Doom" 2002).
Night of the Living Dead ushered in the
splatter filmA splatter film or gore film is a subgenre of horror film that deliberately focuses on graphic portrayals of gore and graphic violence. These films, through the use of special effects and excessive blood and guts, tend to display an overt interest in the vulnerability of the human body and the...
sub-genre. As one film historian points out, horror prior to Romero's film had mostly involved rubber masks and costumes, cardboard sets, or mysterious figures lurking in the shadows. They were set in locations far removed from rural and suburban America. Romero revealed the power behind
exploitationExploitation film is a type of film that is promoted by "exploiting" often lurid subject matter. The term "exploitation" is common in film marketing, used for all types of films to mean promotion or advertising. These films then need something to exploit, such as a big star, special effects, sex,...
and setting horror in ordinary, unexceptional locations and offered a template for making an "effective and lucrative" film on a "minuscule budget". Slasher films of the 1970s and 80s such as
John CarpenterJohn Howard Carpenter is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, editor, composer, and occasional actor. Although Carpenter has worked in numerous film genres in his four-decade career, his name is most commonly associated with horror and science fiction.- Early life :Carpenter was born...
's
HalloweenHalloween is a 1978 American independent horror film directed, produced, and scored by John Carpenter, co-written with Debra Hill, and starring Donald Pleasence and Jamie Lee Curtis in her film debut and the first installment in the Halloween franchise. The film is set in the fictional midwestern...
(1978),
Sean S. CunninghamSean Sexton Cunningham is an American film director, producer, and writer. He is best known for creating the Friday the 13th series of horror films, which introduced the fictional killer Jason Voorhees...
's Friday the 13th (1980), and
Wes CravenWesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...
's
A Nightmare on Elm StreetA Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American slasher film directed and written by Wes Craven, and the first film of the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The film features Heather Langenkamp, John Saxon, Ronee Blakley, Amanda Wyss, Jsu Garcia, Robert Englund, and Johnny Depp in his feature film...
(1984) "owe much to the original Night of the Living Dead", according to author Barry Keith Grant.
Revisions
The first revisions of Night of the Living Dead involved
colorizationFilm colorization is any process that adds color to black-and-white, sepia or monochrome moving-picture images. It may be done as a special effect, or to modernize black-and-white films, or to restore color films...
by home video distributors.
Hal Roach StudiosHarold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. was an American film and television producer and director, and from the 1910s to the 1990s.- Early life and career :Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York...
released a colorized version in 1986 that featured ghouls with pale green skin. Another colorized version appeared in 1997 from
Anchor Bay EntertainmentAnchor Bay Entertainment is a U.S. based home entertainment and production company and is a division of Starz Media, which is a unit of Starz, LLC. It was previously owned by IDT Entertainment until 2006 when IDT was purchased by Starz Media. Anchor Bay markets and sells feature films, series,...
with grey-skinned zombies. In 2004,
Legend FilmsLegend Films, a San Diego-based company, was founded in August 2001. The company specializes in the conversion of feature films, both new release and catalog titles, and commercials from their native 2D format into 3-D film format utilizing proprietary technology and software...
produced a new colorized version. Technology critic Gary W. Tooze wrote that "The colorization is damn impressive", but noticed the print used was not as sharp as other releases of the film. In 2009, Legend Films coproduced a colorized
3-DA 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
version of the film with
PassmoreLabPassmoreLab is a San Diego-based stereoscopic 3D film studio that specializes in conversion of 2D films to 3D format, native 3D film productions, and 3D film distribution.-Background:...
, a company that converts 2-D film into 3-D format, named Night of the Living Dead, Now in 3D. The film was theatrically released on October 14, 2010 According to Legend Films founder Barry Sandrew, Night of the Living Dead is the first entirely live action 2-D film to be converted to 3-D.
In 1999, co-writer
John A. RussoJohn A. Russo , sometimes credited as Jack Russo or John Russo, is an American screenwriter and film director most commonly associated with the 1968 horror classic Night of the Living Dead. As a screenwriter, his credits include Night of the Living Dead, The Majorettes, Midnight, and Santa Claws....
released a modified version called Night of the Living Dead: 30th Anniversary Edition. He filmed additional scenes and recorded a revised soundtrack composed by Scott Vladimir Licina. In an interview with
FangoriaFangoria is an internationally-distributed US film fan magazine specializing in the genres of horror, slasher, splatter and exploitation films, in regular publication since 1979.-Planning:...
magazine, Russo explained that he wanted to "give the movie a more modern pace". Russo took liberties with the original script. The additions are neither clearly identified nor even listed. However,
Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
reported "no bad blood" between Russo and Romero. The magazine, however, quoted Romero as saying, "I didn't want to touch Night of the Living Dead". Critics panned the revised film, notably
Harry KnowlesHarry Knowles is known for his website called Ain't It Cool News. Knowles is a member of the Austin Film Critics Association.-Biography:...
of
Ain't It Cool NewsAin't It Cool News is a website founded and run by Harry Knowles, dedicated to news, rumors and reviews of upcoming and currently playing films and television projects, with an emphasis on science fiction, fantasy, horror, comic-book and action genres...
. Knowles promised to permanently ban anyone from his publication who offered positive criticism of the film. A sequel called
Children of the Living DeadChildren of the Living Dead is a 2001 American direct-to-video zombie film written by Karen L. Wolf and directed by Tor Ramsey. Executive produced by John A. Russo, the film serves as a sequel to Night of the Living Dead: 30th Anniversary Edition, a recut version of the original film that Russo...
followed in 2001.
A collaborative
animatedAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
project known as Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated was screened at several film festivals and was released onto DVD on July 27, 2010 by Wild Eye Releasing. This project aims to "reanimate" the 1968 film by replacing Romero's celluloid images with animation done in a wide variety of styles by artists from around the world, laid over the original audio from Romero's version. Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated premiered theatrically on October 10, 2009 in
Ramsey, New JerseyRamsey is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located northwest of Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 14,473....
at the Zombie Encounter and Film Festival. Night of the Living Dead: Reanimated was nominated in the category of Best Independent Production (film, documentary or short) for the 8th Annual
Rondo Hatton Classic Horror AwardsThe Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award is an award presented annually by the Classic Horror Film Board to honor the top works in horror in film, television, home video, and publishing.-The award:...
, but lost to
American ScaryAmerican Scary is a 2006 documentary film about the history and legacy of classic television horror hosts, written and directed by American independent filmmakers John E...
, a documentary on television
horror movie hostsHorror hosts are a particular type of television presenter, often tasked with presenting low-grade films to television audiences. This tradition is primarily American, though there have been a few international hosts over the years.-Film Packages:...
.
Romero's Dead Films
Night of the Living Dead is the first of six ...of the Dead films directed by George Romero. Following the 1968 film, Romero released Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead,
Land of the DeadFor the disambiguation page on anything else on this topic, come here to Land of the Dead .Land of the Dead is a 2005 horror film written and directed by George A...
,
Diary of the DeadDiary of the Dead is a 2007 American/Canadian horror film by George A. Romero...
and Survival of the Dead. Each film traces the evolution of the living dead epidemic in the United States and humanity's desperate attempts to cope with it. As in Night of the Living Dead, Romero peppered the other films in the series with critiques specific to the periods in which they were released.
Return of the Living Dead series
The same year Day of the Dead premiered, Night of the Living Dead co-writer John Russo released a film titled
Return of the Living DeadThe Return of the Living Dead is a 1985 American zombie film that was followed by several sequels. The film was written and directed by Dan O'Bannon and starred Clu Gulager, James Karen and Don Calfa....
that offers an alternate
continuityIn fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer over some period of time...
to the original film than Dawn of the Dead, but acted more as a
parodyA parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
or
satireSatire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
and is not considered a sequel to the original 1968 film. Russo's film spawned four
sequelsReturn of the Living Dead is a series of five films beginning with the 1985 film The Return of the Living Dead.- History :The series came about as a dispute between John A. Russo and George A. Romero over how to handle sequels to their 1968 film, Night of the Living Dead...
. Return of the Living Dead sparked a legal battle with Romero, who believed Russo marketed his film in direct competition with Day of the Dead as a sequel to the original film. In the case Dawn Associates v. Links, Romero accused Russo of "appropriat[ing] part of the title of the prior work",
plagiarizingPlagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
Dawn of the Deads advertising slogan ("When there is no more room in
hellIn many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
[...] the dead will walk the earth"), and copying stills from the original 1968 film. Romero was ultimately granted a
restraining orderA restraining order or order of protection is a form of legal injunction that requires a party to do, or to refrain from doing, certain acts. A party that refuses to comply with an order faces criminal or civil penalties and may have to pay damages or accept sanctions...
that forced Russo to cease his advertising campaign. Russo, however, was allowed to retain his title.
Remakes and prequels
Night of the Living Dead has been
remadeA remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
twice. The first remake, debuting in 1990, was directed by special effects artist
Tom SaviniThomas Vincent "Tom" Savini is an American actor, stuntman, director, award-winning special effects and makeup artist. He is known for his work on the Living Dead films directed by George A. Romero, as well as Creepshow, The Burning, Friday the 13th, The Prowler, and Maniac. He directed the 1990...
.
The remakeNight of the Living Dead is a 1990 American remake of George A. Romero's 1968 horror film of the same name and was directed by Tom Savini. Romero rewrote the original 1968 screenplay co-authored by John A...
was based on the original screenplay, but included more gore and a revised plot that portrayed Barbra (
Patricia TallmanPatricia J. Tallman is an American actress and stunt performer, sometimes credited as Pat Tallman.-Early life:Patricia is the daughter of Jerry Tallman, a radio entertainer...
) as a capable and active heroine.
Tony ToddAnthony T. "Tony" Todd is an American actor and movie producer, known for his height of 6'5", and deep voice. He is well known for playing the Candyman in the horror movie franchise of the same name, William Bludworth in Final Destination and for guest starring roles on numerous television...
played the role of Ben. Film historian Barry Grant saw the new Barbra as a corrective on the part of Romero. He suggests that the character was made stronger to rectify the depiction of female characters in the original film. The second remake was in 3-D and released in September 2006 under the title Night of the Living Dead 3-D, directed by
Jeff BroadstreetJeff Broadstreet is an American film director. He directed the 2006 remake of Night of the Living Dead , titled Night of the Living Dead 3-D. Broadstreet has also directed films like Sexbomb , Area 51: The Alien Interview , Megalomania , and Dr. Rage...
. Unlike Savini's 1990 film, Broadstreet's project was not affiliated with Romero.
On September 15, 2009, it was announced that
Simon WestSimon West is an English-born film director. West started as a film editor with the BBC, then directed documentaries and commercials including many for Budweiser...
planned a
3DA 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
retelling of the original movie, to be titled
Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3DNight of the Living Dead: Origins is an upcoming 3-D animated horror film directed by Zebediah De Soto.-Synopsis:New York, a city of the hopes and dreams of many Americans, lies in ruin. The streets and skyscrapers that symbolized the strength and prosperity of a people have become places of horror...
. The movie is being written and directed by Zebediah de Soto. The cast includes
Tony ToddAnthony T. "Tony" Todd is an American actor and movie producer, known for his height of 6'5", and deep voice. He is well known for playing the Candyman in the horror movie franchise of the same name, William Bludworth in Final Destination and for guest starring roles on numerous television...
as Ben,
Danielle HarrisDanielle Andrea Harris is an American film and television actress, best known as a scream queen for her roles in several horror films, four of them in the Halloween series: in Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers as Jamie Lloyd and in Halloween and...
as Barbra, Joe Pilato as Harry Cooper,
Alona Tal-Career:Tal started her career fresh out of the Israel Defense Forces, with a children's musical video tape, in which she played an evil witch. Following that, she appeared in a commercial for a laundry detergent...
as Helen Cooper,
Bill MoseleyWilliam "Bill" Moseley is an American film actor and musician who has starred in a number of cult classic horror films, including House of 1000 Corpses, Repo! The Genetic Opera and The Devil's Rejects. His first big role was in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 as Chop Top...
as Johnny and newcomers Erin Braswell as Judy and Michael Diskint as Tom.
In June, 2011, Loyal's House of Blood Production announced they would be remaking the film for a October 31, 2012 release date. Loyal Ploof (the owner of the company) and John Stevenson are set to write and direct.
Copyright status
Night of the Living Dead entered the
public domainWorks are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
because the original theatrical distributor, the Walter Reade Organization, neglected to place a
copyrightCopyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
indication on the prints. In 1968,
United States copyright lawThe copyright law of the United States governs the legally enforceable rights of creative and artistic works under the laws of the United States.Copyright law in the United States is part of federal law, and is authorized by the U.S. Constitution...
required a proper notice for a work to maintain a copyright. Image Ten displayed such a notice on the title frames of the film beneath the original title, Night of the Flesh Eaters. The distributor removed the statement when it changed the title.
A limited number of theatrical release prints were distributed by Walter Reade and these copies could have been shelved if Romero and Image Ten had elected. This would have given Romero the opportunity to rename the film, do a few brief "creative" edits, and then obtain a new Copyright. But this was never done and the theatrical releases continued to be distributed until eventually reprinted and distributed by home video distributors.
Because of the public domain status, the film is sold on home video by many distributors. As of 2006, the
Internet Movie DatabaseInternet Movie Database is an online database of information related to movies, television shows, actors, production crew personnel, video games and fictional characters featured in visual entertainment media. It is one of the most popular online entertainment destinations, with over 100 million...
lists 23 copies of Night of the Living Dead retailing on
DVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
and nineteen on
VHSThe Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
. The original film is available to view or download free on Internet sites such as
Google VideoGoogle Videos is a video search engine, and formerly a free video sharing website, from Google Inc. Before removing user-uploaded content, the service allowed selected videos to be remotely embedded on other websites and provided the necessary HTML code alongside the media, similar to YouTube...
,
Internet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
and
YouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. As of October 31, 2010, it is the Internet Archive's second most downloaded film, with 708,608 downloads.
External links
(
Blu-Ray version)