History Film / NightOfTheLivingDead

** If you think about it, that's actually a subtle element of the horror; we see on the television and hear on the radio reports that make it clear that people are legitimately fighting off and containing their zombies elsewhere, yet these poor bastards are unlucky (or, if one must by cynical, dumb) enough that they can't do the same and end up as zombie chow.

* ShowWithinaShow: In the 3D remake, various characters are shown [[RecursiveCanon watching the original 1968 film]] on television.

* ShowWithinaShow: Guest what pretty much everyone from Cooper in 3D version is watching original version of same movie they are.

* ShoutOut: To the first movie. In the first remake when Karen eats her mother, we momentarily see a spade on the wall similar to the one in the original. The reporter is also the same actor playing the same character from the original as well.

* TheLoad: Barbara is generally useless. In the 1990 remake, [[ActionGirl she doesn't stay useless for very long.]]

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

* FinalGirl: Barba in 3D version. In Tom Savini's version she are ActionSurvivor and FinalGirl too.

* TheDanza: Judith Ridley played Judy

* DeathBySex: To Judy and Tom in 3D version.
* DecoyProtagonist: For the first quarter of the movie, it looks like Barbara's the protagonist. Then Ben shows up and she turns into {{The Load}}.

* DumbBlonde: Judy in 3D remake aren't so smart that her previously to versions.

* HotMom: Hellie Cooper is pretty much hoter that her previously versions.

* UnbuiltTrope: 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.

* 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, snd that the murky public domain prints actually do a lot to enhance the film's mood.

** Charles Craig, who plays the primary newscaster in the film, had real-life experience reporting the news on Cincinnati radio.

** Charles Craig, who plays the primary news anchor in the film, had prior experience as an actual newscaster on Cincinnati radio.

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/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.

* ActionGirl: The most notable change in Tom Savini's remake was to upgrade Barbra from TheLoad.

* BittersweetEnding: The (first) remake by Tom Savini. [[spoiler:Barbra survives, but Ben doesn't. Harry also survives, but Barbra immediately executes him. Barbra's faith in humanity has been completely destroyed, causing her to say in regards to the dead, "We're them. We're them, and they're us."]]

* FiveManBand: Tom Savini's remake plays with the traditional roles:

* MeaningfulName: The house in Tom Savini's remake has the name "M. Celeste", in reference to the famous GhostShip ''Mary Celeste'', whose crew disappeared without explanation in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

* IncongruouslyDressedZombie: Undressed, rather: Romero had a nude model wandering around with a morgue ID tag tied to her wrist.

* BigBrotherBully: Taken even further with Johnny in the remake. He bullies Barbra in the car on the way to the cemetery and doesn't stop when they get there.

* BittersweetEnding: The (first) remake by Tom Savini. [[spoiler:Barbra survives, but Ben doesn't. Harry also survives, but Karen immediately executes him. Karen's faith in humanity has been completely destroyed, causing her to say in regards to the dead, "We're them. We're them, and they're us."]]

* TheVirus

* TitleOfTheDead

* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:Barbra]] in the remake, in pointed contrast with her original incarnation.

'''''Night of the Living Dead''''', a 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John Russo, became one the most influential horror films ever and made zombies the staple monster of the ZombieApocalypse genre. Before ''Living Dead'', films had portrayed zombies as creatures of voodoo who obeyed their master, but Romero did [[OurZombiesAreDifferent something completely different]]: he gave no explanation was given for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]) and gave them no masters. He also showed the increasing tension in society; people had more to fear than zombies, but zombies easily presented the most visible threat.