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'''''Night of the Living Dead''''' is a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo, the first entry in the ''Film/LivingDeadSeries''. It became one of the most influential horror films ever and inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre.
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'''''Night of the Living Dead''''' is a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo, and the first entry in the ''Film/LivingDeadSeries''. It became one of the most influential horror films ever and inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre.
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'''''Night of the Living Dead''''' is a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo, as well as the first movie in the ''Film/LivingDeadSeries''. It became one of the most influential horror films ever and inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre.
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'''''Night of the Living Dead''''' is a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo, as well as the first movie entry in the ''Film/LivingDeadSeries''. It became one of the most influential horror films ever and inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre.
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* IgnoredVitalNewsReports: Just before Johnny gets out of the car, the radio comes back on after having apparently been off the air due to "[[WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties technical difficulties]]". He immediately switches it off before learning anything more.
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* IgnoredVitalNewsReports: Just before Johnny gets out of the car, the radio comes back on after having apparently been off the air due to "[[WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties technical difficulties]]". He immediately switches it off before learning anything more.
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* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Inverted -- [[spoiler:the black dude becomes the last man standing in the end...well, until he gets shot by the rednecks]].
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* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Inverted -- [[spoiler:the Inverted. [[spoiler:The black dude becomes the last man standing in the end...well, until he gets shot by the rednecks]].
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* IgnoredVitalNewsReports: Just before Johnny gets out of the car, the radio comes back on after having apparently been off the air due to "[[WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties technical difficulties]]". He immediately switches it off before learning anything more.
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* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Barbra's brother teases her mercilessly, but when they are attacked by the first zombie he immediately springs to her defense.
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This film is, despite its relatively recent vintage, in the PublicDomain as a result of its original theatrical distributor, the Walter Reade Organization, neglecting to place a copyright indication on the prints. In 1968, United States copyright law required a proper copyright notice in order for a work to properly secure and maintain its copyright. While the film ''did'' display such a notice on the title frames of its original title (''Night of the Flesh Eaters''), the notice ended up removed when the film changed titles, and by the time the filmmakers noticed, they could do nothing about it. Anyone with the resources to distribute the film can do so without legal repercussions thanks to its Public Domain status; as of 2006, the Internet Movie Database lists 23 different releases of the film on DVD and 19 on VHS. You can legally view or download the film for free on Internet sites such as [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2956447426428748010 Google Video]], [[http://www.archive.org/details/night_of_the_living_dead the Internet Archive]], and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H91BxkBXttE YouTube]].
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This film is, despite its relatively recent vintage, in the PublicDomain as a result of its original theatrical distributor, the Walter Reade Organization, neglecting to place a copyright indication on the prints. In 1968, United States copyright law required a proper copyright notice in order for a work to properly secure and maintain its copyright. While the film ''did'' display such a notice on the title frames of its original title (''Night of the Flesh Eaters''), the notice ended up removed when the film changed titles, and by the time the filmmakers noticed, they could do nothing about it. Anyone with the resources to distribute the film can do so without legal repercussions thanks to its Public Domain status; as of 2006, the Internet Movie Database lists 23 different releases of the film on DVD and 19 on VHS. You can legally view or download the film for free on Internet sites such as [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2956447426428748010 Google Video]], Video,]] [[http://www.archive.org/details/night_of_the_living_dead the Internet Archive]], Archive,]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H91BxkBXttE YouTube]].
YouTube.]]
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* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: In part because of it's public domain status, it's a popular choice for computer colorization. The film has ''three'' known colorized versions, all radically different from each other, and which were rarely accurate. For instance the version Hal Roach produced in 1985 colored Barbra and Johnny's car yellow, the Anchor Bay version in 1997 colored it blue, and the 2005 version from Legend Films colored it red. The real color of the car? [[TheyJustDidntCare Green]]. The 1985 and 2005 versions also featured green-skinned zombies while the 1997 version went with regular flesh tones.
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Natter.
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** If you just accept the first film. It's only a DownerEnding for the protagonists and those like them. It's a HappyEnding for everyone else. The film is more HumansAreFlawed and [[AnAesop an Aesop]] about working together & cooperating during bad times & not being AHouseDivided. The main characters didn't so they're ghoul chow.
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*** In a way, that makes the first movie actually a lot less grim than the others, in a way. In the others, the threat's apocalyptic and a lot of people can't seem to get along to work together against the menace, whereas in this movie humanity works together just fine and ends the menace....except this one group of dorks. So, if one prefers a horror flick where humanity isn't doomed and works together as a team and the menace is dispatched, watch the first film (even if the story is told from the point of view of the few idiots). If anything, [[NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night Of The Living Dead]] isn't really grim & nihilistic as it seems, it's an Aesop on the importance of "United We Stand. Divided We Fall. We can better the world if we just work together". Thus, it's only a DownerEnding for the bunch we've been following all along but a HappyEnding for everyone else. With this interpretation (and CanonDiscontinuity applied to subsequent films, who's canon is sketchy to begin with), the message is more HumansAreFlawed than HumansAreBastards.
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Who Is This Guy Again has been disambiguated due to misuse. Examples will be moved to other tropes where appropriate.
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* WhoIsThisGuyAgain: Everyone but Barbra. People watching usually can only remember the characters as Black Guy, Bald Jackass, Mrs. Jackass, Kid, and almost everyone forgets there even ''were'' two teenagers in the movie.
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* TheLoad: Barbra is generally useless in the original. In the 1990 remake, [[ActionGirl she doesn't stay useless for very long]].
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* TheLoad: Barbra is Barbra, Judy Rose and Helen are generally useless in the original. In the 1990 remake, [[ActionGirl she doesn't they don't stay useless for very long]].long]], specially [[TookALevelInBadass Barbra]].
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** The Tom Savini remake suggests that you'll turn into a zombie if you merely get wounded in any way. This is the case for [[spoiler:Ben, who didn't get attacked once and returns later as a zombie because he'd been shot]].
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Before ''Living Dead'', zombies had always been depicted as slavish [[VoodooZombie creatures of voodoo]] who obeyed their masters, but Romero did [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]: he gave no explanation for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an [[FleshEatingZombie insatiable appetite for the flesh of the living]]. He also showed the increasing tensions in American society in TheSixties; people, it was amply demonstrated, had as much to fear from each other as from the zombies.
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Before ''Living Dead'', zombies had always been depicted as slavish [[VoodooZombie creatures of voodoo]] who obeyed their masters, but Romero did [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]: he gave no explanation for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a an exploded space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an [[FleshEatingZombie insatiable appetite for the flesh of the living]]. He also showed the increasing tensions in American society in TheSixties; people, it was amply demonstrated, had as much to fear from each other as from the zombies.
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** If you just accept the first film. It's only a DownerEnding for the protagonists and those like them. It's a HappyEnding for everyone else. The film is more HumansAreFlawed and [[AnAesop Aesop]] about "Working together & cooperating during bad times". The main characters didn't so they're ghoul chow.
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** If you just accept the first film. It's only a DownerEnding for the protagonists and those like them. It's a HappyEnding for everyone else. The film is more HumansAreFlawed and [[AnAesop an Aesop]] about "Working working together & cooperating during bad times".times & not being AHouseDivided. The main characters didn't so they're ghoul chow.
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** If you just accept the first film. It's only a DownerEnding for the protagonists and those like them. It's a HappyEnding for everyone else. The film is more HumansAreFlawed and [[AnAesop Aesop]] about "Working together & cooperating during bad times". The main characters didn't so they're ghoul chow.
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*** In a way, that makes the first movie actually a lot less grim than the others, in a way. In the others, the threat's apocalyptic and a lot of people can't seem to get along to work together against the menace, whereas in this movie humanity works together just fine and ends the menace....except this one group of dorks. So, if one prefers a horror flick where humanity isn't doomed and works together as a team and the menace is dispatched, watch the first film (even if the story is told from the point of view of the few idiots). If anything, [[NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night Of The Living Dead]] isn't really grim & nihilistic as it seems, it's an Aesop on the importance of "United We Stand. Divided We Fall. We can better the world if we just work together". Thus, it's only a DownerEnding for the bunch we've been following all along but a HappyEnding for everyone else. With this interpretation (and FanonDisconituity applied to subsequent films, who's canon is sketchy to begin with), the message is more HumansAreFlawed than HumansAreBastards.
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*** In a way, that makes the first movie actually a lot less grim than the others, in a way. In the others, the threat's apocalyptic and a lot of people can't seem to get along to work together against the menace, whereas in this movie humanity works together just fine and ends the menace....except this one group of dorks. So, if one prefers a horror flick where humanity isn't doomed and works together as a team and the menace is dispatched, watch the first film (even if the story is told from the point of view of the few idiots). If anything, [[NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night Of The Living Dead]] isn't really grim & nihilistic as it seems, it's an Aesop on the importance of "United We Stand. Divided We Fall. We can better the world if we just work together". Thus, it's only a DownerEnding for the bunch we've been following all along but a HappyEnding for everyone else. With this interpretation (and FanonDisconituity CanonDiscontinuity applied to subsequent films, who's canon is sketchy to begin with), the message is more HumansAreFlawed than HumansAreBastards.
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*** In a way, that makes the first movie actually a lot less grim than the others, in a way. In the others, the threat's apocalyptic and a lot of people can't seem to get along to work together against the menace, whereas in this movie humanity works together just fine and ends the menace....except this one group of dorks. So, if one prefers a horror flick where humanity isn't doomed and works together as a team and the menace is dispatched, watch the first film (even if the story is told from the point of view of the few idiots). If anything, [[NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night Of The Living Dead]] isn't really grim & nihilistic as it seems, it's an Aesop on the importance of "United We Stand. Divided We Fall. We can better the world if we just work together".
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*** In a way, that makes the first movie actually a lot less grim than the others, in a way. In the others, the threat's apocalyptic and a lot of people can't seem to get along to work together against the menace, whereas in this movie humanity works together just fine and ends the menace....except this one group of dorks. So, if one prefers a horror flick where humanity isn't doomed and works together as a team and the menace is dispatched, watch the first film (even if the story is told from the point of view of the few idiots). If anything, [[NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night Of The Living Dead]] isn't really grim & nihilistic as it seems, it's an Aesop on the importance of "United We Stand. Divided We Fall. We can better the world if we just work together". Thus, it's only a DownerEnding for the bunch we've been following all along but a HappyEnding for everyone else. With this interpretation (and FanonDisconituity applied to subsequent films, who's canon is sketchy to begin with), the message is more HumansAreFlawed than HumansAreBastards.
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*** In a way, that makes the first movie actually a lot less grim than the others, in a way. In the others, the threat's apocalyptic and a lot of people can't seem to get along to work together against the menace, whereas in this movie humanity works together just fine and ends the menace....except this one group of dorks. So, if one prefers a horror flick where humanity isn't doomed and works together as a team and the menace is dispatched, watch the first film (even if the story is told from the point of view of the few idiots). If anything, [[NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night Of The Living Dead]] isn't really grim & nihilistic as it seems, it's an Aesop on the importance of "United We Stand. Divided We Fall. We can better the world if we just work together".
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* BarrierBustingBlow: In the climax, as a mob of zombies reach into the house to pull Barbra away.
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-->--'''Johnny'''
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''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo, as well as the first movie in the ''Film/LivingDeadSeries''. It became one of the most influential horror films ever and inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre.
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* DamselInDistress: Barbra is often accused of being this, though she does succeed in running away from most of the zombies. It's just that when things calm down she goes slightly catatonic.
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* DamselInDistress: Barbra is often accused of being this, though she does succeed in running away from most of the zombies. It's just that when things calm down down, she goes slightly catatonic.catatonic. Trauma can do that to a person.
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** As annoying as poor Barbra's state of frozen shock for most of the film is to feminists, it's a painfully realistic and perfectly understandable reaction to being attacked by an animate corpse, watching your brother get killed defending you, unexepectedly finding the bloody, mangled remains of a woman in an abandoned house, and spending hours besieged by an army of hungry, moaning zombies. Not everybody would be able to function well under such circumstances.
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** As annoying as poor Barbra's state of frozen shock for most of the film is to feminists, people expecting a proper ActionGirl, it's a painfully realistic and perfectly understandable reaction to being attacked by an animate animated corpse, watching your brother get killed defending you, unexepectedly unexpectedly finding the bloody, mangled remains of a woman in an abandoned house, and spending hours besieged by an army of hungry, moaning zombies. Not everybody would be able to function well under such circumstances.
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* {{Novelization}}: Written by John Russo. Russo also wrote a sequel novel titled ''Literature/ReturnOfTheLiving Dead'' where the ghouls return following a catastrophic bus crash, which was later the (very loose) basis for the [[Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead film of the same name]].
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* {{Novelization}}: Written by John Russo. Russo also wrote a sequel novel titled ''Literature/ReturnOfTheLiving Dead'' ''Literature/ReturnOfTheLivingDead'' where the ghouls return following a catastrophic bus crash, which was later the (very loose) basis for the [[Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead film of the same name]].
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* {{Novelization}}: Written by John Russo. Russo also wrote a sequel novel titled ''Return of the Living Dead'' where the ghouls return following a catastrophic bus crash, which was later the (very loose) basis for the [[Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead film of the same name]].
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* {{Novelization}}: Written by John Russo. Russo also wrote a sequel novel titled ''Return of the Living ''Literature/ReturnOfTheLiving Dead'' where the ghouls return following a catastrophic bus crash, which was later the (very loose) basis for the [[Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead film of the same name]].
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* BreakTheCutie: Barbra.
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* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: The film takes place the day of the dreaded switch to *gasp* daylight savings time.
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* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: The film takes place the day of the dreaded switch to *gasp* daylight savings time.[[note]]Based on the December 1966 calendar seen on the wall in the house, fans have determined that the movie is supposed to take place on April 30, 1967, the "spring forward" day that year.[[/note]]
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'''''Night of the Living Dead''''', a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo, became one of the most influential horror films ever and inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre.
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Before ''Living Dead'', zombies had always been depicted as slavish [[VoodooZombie creatures of voodoo]] who obeyed their masters, but Romero did [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]: he gave no explanation for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an [[FleshEatingZombie insatiable appetite for the flesh of the living]]. He also showed the increasing tensions in American society in TheSixties; people had as much to fear from each other as from the zombies.
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Before ''Living Dead'', zombies had always been depicted as slavish [[VoodooZombie creatures of voodoo]] who obeyed their masters, but Romero did [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]: he gave no explanation for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an [[FleshEatingZombie insatiable appetite for the flesh of the living]]. He also showed the increasing tensions in American society in TheSixties; people people, it was amply demonstrated, had as much to fear from each other as from the zombies.
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'''''Night of the Living Dead''''', a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo, became one of the most influential horror films ever and inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre. Before ''Living Dead'', zombies had always been depicted as slavish [[VoodooZombie creatures of voodoo]] who obeyed their masters, but Romero did [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]: he gave no explanation for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an [[FleshEatingZombie insatiable appetite for the flesh of the living]]. He also showed the increasing tensions in American society in TheSixties; people had as much to fear from each other as from the zombies.
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'''''Night of the Living Dead''''', a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo, became one of the most influential horror films ever and inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre.
Before ''Living Dead'', zombies had always been depicted as slavish [[VoodooZombie creatures of voodoo]] who obeyed their masters, but Romero did [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]: he gave no explanation for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an [[FleshEatingZombie insatiable appetite for the flesh of the living]]. He also showed the increasing tensions in American society in TheSixties; people had as much to fear from each other as from the zombies.
Before ''Living Dead'', zombies had always been depicted as slavish [[VoodooZombie creatures of voodoo]] who obeyed their masters, but Romero did [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]: he gave no explanation for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an [[FleshEatingZombie insatiable appetite for the flesh of the living]]. He also showed the increasing tensions in American society in TheSixties; people had as much to fear from each other as from the zombies.
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'''''Night of the Living Dead''''', a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo, became one of the most influential horror films ever and inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre. Before ''Living Dead'', zombies had always been depicted as slavish [[VoodooZombie creatures of voodoo]] who obeyed their masters, but Romero did [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]: he gave no explanation for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an [[FleshEatingZombie insatiable appetite for the flesh of the living]]. He also showed the increasing tensions in American society in TheSixties; people had more to fear than zombies, but zombies easily presented the most visible threat.
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'''''Night of the Living Dead''''', a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo, became one of the most influential horror films ever and inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre. Before ''Living Dead'', zombies had always been depicted as slavish [[VoodooZombie creatures of voodoo]] who obeyed their masters, but Romero did [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]: he gave no explanation for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an [[FleshEatingZombie insatiable appetite for the flesh of the living]]. He also showed the increasing tensions in American society in TheSixties; people had more as much to fear than zombies, but zombies easily presented from each other as from the most visible threat.
zombies.
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* ActionDressRip: Occurs as Barb attempts to flee from a horde of zombies. [[TooDumbToLive She doesn't ditch the high heels, though.]]
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[[redirect:Film/NightOfTheLivingDead]]
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->''"They're coming to get you, Barbra!"''
'''''Night of the Living Dead''''', a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo, became one of the most influential horror films ever and inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre. Before ''Living Dead'', zombies had always been depicted as slavish [[VoodooZombie creatures of voodoo]] who obeyed their masters, but Romero did [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]: he gave no explanation for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an [[FleshEatingZombie insatiable appetite for the flesh of the living]]. He also showed the increasing tensions in American society in TheSixties; people had more to fear than zombies, but zombies easily presented the most visible threat.
This film is, despite its relatively recent vintage, in the PublicDomain as a result of its original theatrical distributor, the Walter Reade Organization, neglecting to place a copyright indication on the prints. In 1968, United States copyright law required a proper copyright notice in order for a work to properly secure and maintain its copyright. While the film ''did'' display such a notice on the title frames of its original title (''Night of the Flesh Eaters''), the notice ended up removed when the film changed titles, and by the time the filmmakers noticed, they could do nothing about it. Anyone with the resources to distribute the film can do so without legal repercussions thanks to its Public Domain status; as of 2006, the Internet Movie Database lists 23 different releases of the film on DVD and 19 on VHS. You can legally view or download the film for free on Internet sites such as [[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2956447426428748010 Google Video]], [[http://www.archive.org/details/night_of_the_living_dead the Internet Archive]], and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H91BxkBXttE YouTube]].
In 1999, Russo re-released the original 1968 film for its 30th anniversary (without Romero's involvement) with new footage and a new soundtrack. This altered version's continuity received a sequel in 2001 (''Children of the Living Dead'').
After ''Night of the Living Dead'' became an unexpected success, Romero and Russo discussed making a {{sequel}}, but after disagreeing on its direction, they each decided to do their own version. Romero made the equally-successful ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'' (and not-quite-as-successful ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985''), while Russo made his films more comedic with the ''Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead'' pentalogy (which single-handedly introduced the concept of zombies eating brains). Both series have had modern sequels; Romero directed the fourth film of his franchise (''Film/LandOfTheDead'') in 2005, then made a quasi-reboot (''Film/DiaryOfTheDead'') and its sequel (''Film/SurvivalOfTheDead''), while Russo's ''Return of the Living Dead'' films strayed from 'comedic' to '{{Gorn}}'.
All three of the films of Romero's original trilogy have received remakes, each with varying degrees of success (Romero himself wrote and produced the [[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1990 first remake]] of ''Night'' in 1990, while close friend Creator/TomSavini directed). ''Night'' also received a second remake (filmed in [[ThreeDMovie 3D]]) in 2006, Romero had no involvement with this remake, which -- unlike Savini's more faithful adaptation -- departs fairly radically from the source material.
''Night of the Living Dead'' remains one of the most iconic horror films of all time, and numerous [[Film/ShaunOfTheDead movies]], [[Series/{{Angel}} television shows]], [[Franchise/ResidentEvil video games]], [[Literature/WorldWarZ books]], and [[Comicbook/TheWalkingDead comic books]] owe their origin to its gruesome black-and-white imagery.
----
!! ''Night of the Living Dead'' contains examples of the following tropes:
* AssholeVictim: Harry Cooper.
* BerserkBoardBarricade: Ben throws up a whole bunch of them.
* BewareTheLiving: In the later parts of the series, the plot focuses on the disintegration of society as a result of the ZombieApocalypse, rather than the zombies themselves. At times, the zombies end up helping the protagonists by killing off the psychotic survivors who would otherwise pose more of a threat.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Inverted -- [[spoiler:the black dude becomes the last man standing in the end...well, until he gets shot by the rednecks]].
* BurnTheUndead: Fire is an effective means of dispatching the living dead and is recommended by the radio emergency broadcasts.
* CreatorCameo: George Romero appears as one of the TV reporters interviewing the military spokesmen in Washington.
* CreepyBasement: Subverted. The cellar is the one truly safe place... at least [[spoiler:until Karen turns]].
* CreepyCemetery: Site of the opening scene.
* CueTheSun: Subverted in the final scene.
* DamselInDistress: Barbra is often accused of being this, though she does succeed in running away from most of the zombies. It's just that when things calm down she goes slightly catatonic.
* DaylightHorror: Despite the movie obviously taking place mostly at night, the first time we see a zombie attack is during the day. [[spoiler:And Ben gets killed in the morning.]]
* DecoyProtagonist: For the first quarter of the movie, it looks like Barbra's the protagonist. Then Ben shows up and she turns into TheLoad.
* DeliberatelyMonochrome: Romero has gone back and forth on whether the black & white photography was just for budgetary reasons. It does give the film a kind of documentary feel.
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Everyone dies to the zombies except Ben because of their idiocy. Ben himself is mistaken for a zombie and shot dead by the militia group sweeping up the last of the zombies. On the bright side, [[RealityEnsues the zombie apocalypse got cleaned up pretty easily]]... until the sequels.]]
* DramaticThunder: The appearance of the first zombie in the cemetery is heralded by this.
* DutchAngle: Effectively employed at various points throughout the film.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Unlike all of the following films, this one is in black and white, lacks the subtle humor of the sequels, and some of their action elements. However, the film works well without these elements. Most notably, there is an explanation given for the zombies (exotic radiation from an exploding space probe) and the first zombie seen (and several others afterwards) is also able to move fast (for a corpse), and the zombies are shown to think, use simple tools and display basic life preservation skills (such as avoiding fire, though they don't think much about cars).
* EmergencyRefuelling: The film has a group of people trapped in TheSiege with the zombies outside, who have a car that could help them escape. Unfortunately the car has no fuel and the gas pump on the outside of the house is locked with key, so a significant side-plot is the frantic search for the keys to the pump's lock all over the house. Once a set of keys that may be the pump's have been found, the survivors implement a plan to refuel the car. [[spoiler:Except the driver discovers the keys are NOT for the pump.]]
%%* EverybodySmokes
* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: It's a movie about a single night during which the dead become alive.
* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The title is not using the word "night" in a figurative sense.
* FanserviceExtra: There's a naked, undead woman shown prominently in two shots... but then again, [[FanDisservice she's undead]].
* FireKeepsItDead: At the end, after the locals have gained control of the situation they burn the bodies of killed humans so they can't rise as zombies and "killed" zombies so they can't rise ''again''.
* FromBadToWorse: Things ''really'' start going to hell beginning with [[spoiler:Tom and Judy's death]].
* FullFrontalAssault: As shown in the poster, there's a brief scene of a naked female zombie among the horde that invade the house. It's shown from behind so you don't really see much.
* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: At one point Barbra wigs out and tries to go out the front door to "get Johnny". When Ben stops her, she slaps his face, and he responds by ''punching'' hers. Subverted in that it actually sends her even further into shock and stupor.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Sometimes used, sometimes averted. Especially in the original, this shocked audiences who weren't expecting to see so much gore.
* GutPunch: The [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath Family-Unfriendly Deaths]] of [[spoiler: Tom and Judy]] provides the page quote for that trope.
* HeroicBSOD: Barbra. In the 1990 remake, however, this is subverted when [[spoiler:she becomes just as much a survivor as Ben and lives through the end]].
* HollywoodDarkness: When the TV reporter is interviewing Sheriff [=McClelland=], they're in bright sunlight even though it's supposed to be the middle of the night. Less blatantly, the scene where Tom and Judy ride out to the gas pump with Ben was clearly shot either just after dawn or just before dusk.
* HorrorDoesntSettleForSimpleTuesday: The film takes place the day of the dreaded switch to *gasp* daylight savings time.
* HumansAreBastards: Just watch that ending.
* HystericalWoman: Barbra spends half of her time being hysterical until she is knocked out by Ben. She then spends rest of her time in quiet near-catatonia.
* IncongruouslyDressedZombie: Undressed, rather: Romero had a nude model wandering around with a morgue ID tag tied to her wrist.
* InfantImmortality: See UndeadChild below.
* {{Irony}}: Cooper orders Helen to go back down into the cellar in the third act, wanting to keep her safe. [[spoiler: At this point their daughter has become a zombie.]] The irony comes that if Helen had stayed upstairs [[spoiler: she probably would have survived]].
* ItCanThink: Unlike the generally accepted belief about Romero!zombies, perpetuated mostly by the sequels, the ghouls here actually show a fair amount of animalistic intelligence. They understand simple tools (one grabs a rock to smash the window on Barbara's car, others use rocks to clumsily smash the lights on Ben's car, [[spoiler:zombie!Karen uses a trowel to stab her mom to death]]) and have the ability to move quickly to pursue food. They don't feel pain, as shown when several zombie hands are cut to pieces by the defenders during one attack, but they clearly recognize obvious dangers and have some limited degree of self-preservation, recoiling from bright lights and especially from fire.
* {{Jerkass}}: Cooper, in this film and the 1990 remake. Johnny seems to be a bit of one as well.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Cooper was right about barricading the basement, [[spoiler:as evidenced that Ben (the one most against it) survives the night that way]].
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:None of the main characters make it through the film alive.]] Subverted in the 1990 remake, [[spoiler:Barbara manages to survive.]]
* KillItWithFire: Fire is one of the only things zombies are afraid of.
%%* KillTheCutie: And how.
* TheLoad: Barbra is generally useless in the original. In the 1990 remake, [[ActionGirl she doesn't stay useless for very long]].
* LosingAShoeInTheStruggle: Barbra loses ''both'' shoes while fleeing the cemetery zombie.
* MadnessMantra:
** "You can't start the car, Johnny has the key."
** "Oh, is it ten to three? We won't have long to wait, now, it's ten to three..."
* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: The very first zombie in the movie can be seen shambling around the cemetery well before it attacks Barbra and Johnny.
* NewscasterCameo:
** Bill Cardille, a Pittsburgh TV personality best known as HorrorHost "Chilly Billy", appears as the TV reporter interviewing Sheriff [=McClelland=].
** Charles Craig, who plays the primary newscaster in the film, had real-life experience reporting the news on a Cincinnati radio station.
* NotAZombie: The first zombie we see in the film is supposed to look like just some random person wandering around the cemetery, until he attacks Barbra.
* NotQuiteSavedEnough: This film is perhaps the prototypal example. In a movie filled with groundbreaking departures from tradition, this trope was perhaps the most significant. [[spoiler: After a heroic struggle, Ben is left the only survivor of a night of mayhem and horror in the farmhouse. The next morning he awakes to the sound of a rescue party approaching the house, but as he peers through the boarded-up windows for a glimpse of his potential saviors, they mistake him for just another zombie and perfunctorily shoot him in the head. The movie ends with a sequence of still images of Ben's lifeless, anonymous corpse impaled on a meat hook and dragged to a human bonfire. No one ever knows who he was or what he went through to survive the night . . . of the living dead.]]
* NotUsingTheZWord: The undead cannibals are referred to as "[[OurGhoulsAreCreepier ghouls]]" by the radio/TV people and "those ''things''" by the main characters, but the word "zombie" is never used. In fact, Romero and Russo themselves never thought of the creatures as zombies, since the popular idea of zombie-as-cannibal had not yet been formed, making this a proto-TropeMaker.
* {{Novelization}}: Written by John Russo. Russo also wrote a sequel novel titled ''Return of the Living Dead'' where the ghouls return following a catastrophic bus crash, which was later the (very loose) basis for the [[Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead film of the same name]].
* NuclearNasty: Played straight or lampshaded, depending on how you look at the argument between the scientists, after one of them mentions the satellite crash.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: Ben's story of running down zombies with a truck, which would clearly have been far beyond the film's budget to actually show.
%%* OminousMusicBoxTune
* OnlySaneMan: Ben is the only remotely competent character in the movie that actually tries to fight back against the zombies and survive, in stark contrast to the [[TooDumbToLive raving idiocy]] and [[TheLoad uselessness]] of the other characters.
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: This film invented the modern perception of zombies as cannibalistic monsters - before it, they were [[VoodooZombie voodoo slaves]]. A keen viewer will also notice that some of the zombies in the beginning don't perfectly fit the "slow, dumb shambler" model that is associated with Romero's zombies. Namely, they reach for a car's door handle, they pick up a rock to smash against a window, they deliberately smash a car's headlights, and oh yeah, one of them ''runs''. [[spoiler:The Coopers' zombified daughter]] also uses a garden shovel to kill [[spoiler:her mother]], and several zombies pick up tools, such as the aforementioned rock, and one uses Ben's discarded makeshift torch to break down the door.
* PeekABooCorpse: One of the more frightening examples is see when Barbra finds the chewed corpse upstairs, considering how well it was done with 60s SFX.
* PracticalVoiceover: Radio and television broadcasts are used throughout the film to outline the contours and extent of the zombie outbreak.
* RealityEnsues:
** While averted if one takes it as written that ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978'' directly follows this movie, the movie itself plays it straight. Near-mindless slow, clumsy shamblers who can easily be dispatched with a burning torch or a heavy blow to the skull and whose only real strength is in numbers might pose a threat to a dysfunctional, ill-equipped and just plain-out uncooperative group, like Ben's, but against a disciplined, organised, well-equipped group? They get taken down quickly and easily -- the ending only works out the way it does because humans ''elsewhere'' easily mop up their zombies and are methodically sweeping out and terminating all roving zombies they find.
** If you think about it, that's actually a subtle element of the horror; the television and radio reports make it clear that people are legitimately fighting off and containing their zombies elsewhere, yet these poor bastards are unlucky enough (and/or dumb enough) that they can't do the same and end up as zombie chow.
** As annoying as poor Barbra's state of frozen shock for most of the film is to feminists, it's a painfully realistic and perfectly understandable reaction to being attacked by an animate corpse, watching your brother get killed defending you, unexepectedly finding the bloody, mangled remains of a woman in an abandoned house, and spending hours besieged by an army of hungry, moaning zombies. Not everybody would be able to function well under such circumstances.
* RecycledSoundtrack: The original film's score consisted of stock music from Capitol Records' "Hi-Q" production library, much of which had previously been used in other film and TV soundtracks. The opening credits theme, for instance, was originally used in a ''Ben Casey'' episode; other cues were lifted from such earlier B-movies as ''Film/TeenagersFromOuterSpace'' and ''Film/TheHideousSunDemon''.
* RedHerring: Barbra is near-catatonic and then spacey. She feels warm, says so and takes her jacket off. She flinches at the fire when Mrs. Cooper lights her cigarette. Despite all this, she ''doesn't'' turn into a zombie before getting dragged out of the house.
* ScareChord: A number of them are used throughout the film.
%%* ScreamingWoman: Barbra.
* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Zombie Karen eats her father, then kills and (presumably) eats her mother.]]
* ShadowDiscretionShot: [[spoiler:Karen's murder of her mother]] features both this and GoryDiscretionShot.
* TheSheriff: Sheriff [=McClelland=], who heads the local zombie-hunting posse.
* ShootOutTheLock: Upon arrival at the gas pump, the key does not work. Ben simply shoots the lock. One must assume he was inwardly pondering why he didn't think about this sooner when griping about being unable to find the key.
* ShoutOut:
** Johnny imitates Creator/BorisKarloff for his "They're coming to get you, Barbra!" line.
** Bill Hinzman, who played the cemetery zombie, based his shambling gait on Karloff's portrayal of [[Film/{{Frankenstein 1931}} Frankenstein's monster]].
* TheSiege: The characters board themselves inside from the zombies outside.
* SoleSurvivor: Probably the best-known ''subversion'' in film history.
* TheStinger: A shot of a burning pile of bodies follows the end credits.
* TaxidermyTerror: Barbra wanders into the house's trophy room, where the stuffed heads seriously freak her out. Although not as much as the corpse. Or the zombie. Or Ben.
* TeethClenchedTeamwork:
** The houseful of strangers are forced to work together until conflict ultimately [[AHouseDivided breaks them apart]]. This became a defining point of zombie movies, as the living's lack of ability to work together ultimately proves their downfall. Some have interpreted this aspect of the film's story as Romero's metaphor for the difficulties faced by America in the VietnamWar, or the West generally in the UsefulNotes/ColdWar.
** One powerful FridgeBrilliance interpretation has the film as a metaphor for the UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement. A black man taking the role of hero, variously opposed, aided, betrayed, or ignored in his struggle to survive against the zombie hordes by the white people around him.
* ThoseTwoGuys: Tom and Judy are pretty separated from the other characters and the story at large. They hardly interact with anyone else but each other, and the only thing very memorable about them is [[spoiler:their fiery explosive death and the sloppy zombie clean-up crew]].
* ThematicSeries: The sequels that spawned off this movie were all loosely connected.
* TitleOfTheDead: While not the first example of the type, this was certainly the TropeCodifier, and countless zombie movies since have used some variant, either as a ShoutOut (''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'') or to FollowTheLeader (''Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead'' series).
* TooDumbToLive:
** Jesus, [[spoiler:Tom]], how hard is it to work a damned gas pump? Admittedly the hose was too short, he jerked the nozzle towards the truck, the hose ran out, and his hand hit the trigger spraying the gas - but anyone who has been to an unfamiliar gas pump ''once'' knows to stop the car close enough that even a short hose can reach. He parks a good 20 feet away!
** Granted, shooting a lock off a ''gas pump'' is something a sensible person would probably prefer to avoid if they have a choice.
** That's nothing compared to Ben ''leaving a torch right next to the car where gas can easily be spilled on it'' rather than placing it further ahead of them in front of the zombies!
** Everyone, in a sense. The zombies are slow and could be easily outrun, instead of doing the smart thing and running away, they decide to board the entire house up and let the zombies pile up. Did they ever think about the possibility of the zombies breaking in and having no way out, other than isolating themselves somewhere until there's no place left to run? [[spoiler:Thankfully, this is averted in the 1990 remake, where Barbara suggests running away on foot while there's still time. No one listens to her, and when the zombies break in, she runs away and survives on her own.]].
*** On the other hand, [[spoiler: Barbara walking through a sea of zombies without even getting attacked strains credibility, and they had nowhere to go on foot, with no way of knowing there weren't even more zombies just out of sight.]]
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:Barbra gets over her catatonic state and saves Mrs. Cooper from the zombies that grabbed at her. Unfortunately, it comes at the cost of her own life.]]
* TragicMistake: Ben, our hero, believes that they must defend the house from the zombies. Harry Cooper, our unsympathetic antagonist, insists that they should flee to the basement and barricade the basement door. Ben wins the argument, but Cooper was right. Ben's plan to defend the house leads to disaster, and after everyone else is killed he does in fact flee to the basement, where he survives the zombies.
%%* UglyGuyHotWife: The Coopers.
* UnbuiltTrope: The zombies are always called "ghouls", and are somewhat more intelligent than the norm. Also, if taken independently instead of as part of either of the two sequel franchises the problem seems to be quite quickly contained (going by the newscasts) instead of being a truly apocalyptic event. It's also pretty clear that the survivors wipe themselves out through their incompetence and refusal to work together rather than any extreme danger from the zombies.
* TheUnreveal: In the sequels and remakes, it's never explained why the dead are coming back to life. Even in this film, the radioactive satellite explanation gets little attention, and is actually cut short by one of the other scientists who clearly thinks the idea is ridiculous. Justified in that we're not dealing with people investigating the cause, just dealing with the effects.
* TheVirus: Ghoul bites spread a deadly infection that cause victims to rise again, but all of the recent dead have risen.
** In fact, it's actually arguable if the bite is the cause. There's equal evidence to suggest that the bite merely kills because it's laden with lethal bacteria[[note]]TruthInTelevision; even the cleanest human mouth delivers bites that can rapidly go septic or cause diseases[[/note]] and it's the radiation that started the rise in the first place that causes the plague-killed body to then rise itself.
* WhoIsThisGuyAgain: Everyone but Barbra. People watching usually can only remember the characters as Black Guy, Bald Jackass, Mrs. Jackass, Kid, and almost everyone forgets there even ''were'' two teenagers in the movie.
* WomenDrivers: Barbra makes it all of about 100 feet in the car before crashing it into a tree. (She ''was'' just coasting after taking the emergency brake off. After all, Johnny has the key.) This scene was a ThrowItIn moment in the script, as the car had gotten a fender dented between shoots and an explanation had to be quickly contrived.
* ZombieApocalypse: [[spoiler: Averted, actually. Atypically for a zombie infection movie, the ending shows that the living win the day, and emerge unchanged.]] [[Film/DawnOfTheDead1978 For now at least....]]
* ZombieInfectee: [[spoiler:Karen Cooper was bitten by a zombie before she was taken to the basement. After taking long time dying, she rises up, eats her father's corpse and kills her mother.]]
* ZombieGait: Interestingly averted with the very first zombie that Barbra and Johnny encounter.
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!!Additional examples from the ''30th Anniversary Edition'':
* DigitalDestruction: Many felt that the restoration job on the 30th Anniversary Edition was actually a little ''too'' effective and made the film's low budget painfully obvious, and that the murky public domain prints actually do a lot to enhance the film's mood. That's probably the least of the Anniversary Edition's problems...
* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: John A. Russo's "30th Anniversary Edition", adding a new score, new special effects, and scenes shot 30 years after the original was released. Harry Knowles threatened to ban anyone who complimented this version on his ''Ain't It Cool News'' site.
* TooDumbToLive: Reverend Hicks -- who, by the way, is near a dozen or so guys shooting at the zombies with actual weapons -- thinks that ''preaching'' at one of the zombies (the one that Barbra and Johnny encountered at the start of the film, in fact) will achieve something. Needless to say, it doesn't, and he gets bitten before the other guys take the zombie out. Subverted, as Hicks [[KarmaHoudini somehow proves immune to being bitten]].
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!!Examples from the 2006 3D remake:
* ThreeDMovie
* AdaptationNameChange: Harry and Helen Cooper's first names are changed to Henry and Hellie.
%%* CanonForeigner: Owen and Gerald Tovar, Jr.
%%* DeathBySex: To Judy and Tom .
%%* DumbBlonde: Judy .
%%* FinalGirl: Barbra.
* ShowWithinAShow: Various characters are shown [[RecursiveReality watching the original 1968 film]] on television.
%%* TheStoner: Everyone.
* TitleOfTheDead: Like the original film.
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