History Film / NightOfTheLivingDead

* WomenDrivers: Barbra makes it all of about 100 feet in the car before crashing it into a tree. Of course, 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.

** Her catatonia in the original film matches up well, however, with its nihilistic nature.
* AssholeVictim:
** Averted with Johnny in the remake. He torments Barbra but shows redemptive qualities by immediately seeing if the undertaker is all right and then fighting the first zombie encountered from attacking Barbra... resulting in him tackling the zombie and accidentally head kerplunking a tombstone which breaks his neck.
*** Even in the original, he immediately races to his sister's rescue and pretty bravely fights the zombie. Asshole though he may be, he has his priorities in order when the going gets tough.
** Played straight with Harry Cooper.

** Dusk Horror may be more accurate; the first attack takes place around 8 pm, as noted by Johnny and Barbra when pondering the uselessness of Daylight Savings Time.

* GutPunch: Roger Ebert's reaction to the [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath Family Unfriendly Deaths]] of [[spoiler: Tom and Judy]] provides the page quote for that trope.

After ''Night of the Living Dead'' became an unexpected success, Romero and Russo discussed making a {{sequel}}, but after disagreeing on the direction of said sequel, they each decided to do their own version. Romero made the equally-successful ''Film/DawnOfTheDead'' (and not-quite-as-successful ''Film/DayOfTheDead''), while Russo made his films more comedic with the ''Film/ReturnOfTheLivingDead'' 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 (''Land of the Dead'') in 2005, then made a quasi-reboot (''Film/DiaryOfTheDead'') and its POVSequel (''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 first remake of ''Night'', while close friend Tom Savini 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.

** BittersweetEnding: The (first) remake by Tom Savini. Barbra manages to find help while Ben finally finds true (temporary) shelter in the basement. As he is listening to the radio, Ben finds the gas key and laughs as the power goes out. Come morning, [[spoiler:Ben has succumbed to his injuries and become a ghoul. Barbra also survives, but sees the utter lack of respect and common sense the rednecks have for the living dead.]]
---> '''Barbra:''' We're them. We're them and they're us.
** Also from the remake, [[spoiler: Harry Cooper]] managed to survive by locking himself in the attic (and all the others outside it, where [[spoiler: all but Barbra fall to the zombies]]); when he hears someone [[spoiler: kill Ben]], he comes out and is happy to see [[spoiler: Barbra still alive. She then shoots him in the head and tells the zombie hunters to throw him on the fire.]]

* 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.
** To say nothing of the first graveyard zombie being able to run and display advanced cognitive skills compared to the later zombies, both in the film and later sequels.

* [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan Get a Hold of Yourself, Woman!]]: 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.

* 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.
** It should be noted that 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.

** Granted, shooting a lock off a ''gas pump'' is something a sensible person would probably prefer to avoid if they have a choice.

* ThematicSeries: As mentioned in the page summary, the sequels that spawned off this movie were all loosely connected.

* WomenDrivers: Barbra makes it all of about 100 feet in the car before crashing it into a tree. (Of course, 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.

'''''Night of the Living Dead''''' is a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo; it is one of the most influential horror films ever, helping to make zombies the staple monster of the ZombieApocalypse genre. Before ''Living Dead'', zombies were creatures of voodoo who obeyed their master, but Romero's zombies were [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]; for one, thing, no explanation was given for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), but more than that, the film showed the increasing tension in society -- the zombies weren't the only enemies, they were only the most visible ones.

The film is part of the PublicDomain because the original theatrical distributor, the Walter Reade Organization, neglected to place a copyright indication on the prints. In 1968, United States copyright law required a proper copyright notice for a work in order to secure and maintain a copyright. While such a notice was displayed on the title frames of the film beneath its original title, ''Night of the Flesh Eaters'', the notice was removed when the title was changed, and by the time the filmmakers noticed, it was too late.
Because of the public domain status, the film can be sold on home video by anyone with the resources to distribute it; as of 2006, the Internet Movie Database lists 23 different releases of the film on DVD and 19 on VHS. The film is available to view or download 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 Internet Archive]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H91BxkBXttE YouTube.]] In 1999, the original 1968 film was rereleased by Russo for its 30th anniversary without Romero's involvement, with new footage filmed and a new soundtrack composed. The altered version's continuity had a sequel in 2001 called ''Children of the Living Dead''.

After ''Night of the Living Dead'' became an unexpected success, Romero and Russo discussed making a {{sequel}} but disagreed on what direction the next film was to go in, so they decided to each do their own version: Romero's became the equally successful ''Film/DawnOfTheDead'' (and not-quite-as successful ''Film/DayOfTheDead''), while Russo made his films more comedic with the ''Film/ReturnOfTheLivingDead'' pentalogy (which single-handedly introduced the concept of zombies eating brains). Both series have had modern sequels: Romero directed the fourth film (''Land of the Dead'') in 2005 and then made a quasi-reboot (''Film/DiaryOfTheDead'') which had its own POVSequel (''Film/SurvivalOfTheDead''), while the ''Return of the Living Dead'' films became less comedic and more {{Gorn}}. All three of the films of Romero's trilogy have been remade, with varying degrees of success (the first remake of ''Night'' was actually written and produced by Romero himself and directed by close friend Tom Savini). ''Night'' was also [[TheRemake remade]] for a second time in 2006, filmed in [[ThreeDMovie 3D]]; 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 many [[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.

!!Provides Examples Of:

* AbilityOverAppearance: Ben was not written to be black and Romero claims he only cast Duane Jones because he gave the best audition, rather than to make a point or be controversial.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Inverted -- [[spoiler: the black dude is the only one who survives... at least, until he gets shot by the rednecks.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Ben, the last survivor, is mistaken for a zombie and shot after leaving the house.]]

* FanserviceExtra: The female zombie with the naked behind. There's also a very grainy, blink-and-you'll-miss-it breast shot.

* AbilityOverAppearance:Ben was not written to be black and Romero claims he only cast Duane Jones because he gave the best audition, rather than to make a point or be controversial.

Because of the public domain status, the film can be sold on home video by anyone with the resources to distribute it; as of 2006, the Internet Movie Database lists 23 different releases of the film on DVD and 19 on VHS. The film is available to view or download 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 Internet Archive]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXuE-CyYsdQ&wide=1 YouTube.]] In 1999, the original 1968 film was rereleased by Russo for its 30th anniversary without Romero's involvement, with new footage filmed and a new soundtrack composed. The altered version's continuity had a sequel in 2001 called ''Children of the Living Dead''.

Because of the public domain status, the film can be sold on home video by anyone with the resources to distribute it; as of 2006, the Internet Movie Database lists 23 different releases of the film on DVD and 19 on VHS. The film is available to view or download 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 Internet Archive]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85C2JnZOY4k YouTube.]] In 1999, the original 1968 film was rereleased by Russo for its 30th anniversary without Romero's involvement, with new footage filmed and a new soundtrack composed. The altered version's continuity had a sequel in 2001 called ''Children of the Living Dead''.

''Night of the Living Dead'' is a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo; it is one of the most influential horror films ever, helping to make zombies the staple monster of the ZombieApocalypse genre. Before ''Living Dead'', zombies were creatures of voodoo who obeyed their master, but Romero's zombies were [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]; for one, thing, no explanation was given for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), but more than that, the film showed the increasing tension in society -- the zombies weren't the only enemies, they were only the most visible ones.

* TheLoad: Barbara is generally useless.

* OurZombiesAreDifferent: This film invented the modern perception of zombies as cannibalistic monsters - before it, they were 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]].

''Night of the Living Dead'' remains one of the most iconic horror films of all time and many [[ShaunOfTheDead movies]], [[Series/{{Angel}} television shows]], [[Franchise/ResidentEvil video games]], [[WorldWarZ books]], and [[TheWalkingDead comic books]] owe their origin to its gruesome black-and-white imagery.

->''"[[MemeticMutation They're coming to get you, Barbra!]]"''

* LicensedGame: There was a TextAdventure treatment involving another person caught out on the eponymous night.

* ItGotWorse: Things ''really'' start going to hell beginning with [[spoiler:Tom and Judy's death]].

----

''Night of the Living Dead'' remains one of the most iconic horror films of all time and many [[ShaunOfTheDead movies]], [[Series/{{Angel}} television shows]], [[ResidentEvil video games]], [[WorldWarZ books]], and [[TheWalkingDead comic books]] owe their origin to its gruesome black-and-white imagery.

* 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.

* AndIMustScream: In the 2006 remake, the mortician says that the bodies who've resurrected after being buried aren't strong enough to dig their way out. Kind of subverted, as they're zombies, and therefore not really capable of much cognition.

** Granted, shooting a lock off a ''gas pump'' is something a sensible person would probably prefer to avoid.

* 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 in the remake