History Film / NightOfTheLivingDead

'''''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 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 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.

* 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 VietnamWar.)

* 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.

'''''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 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 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.

'''''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 inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre. Before ''Living Dead'', zombies had 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 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.

'''''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 inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre. Before ''Living Dead'', zombies were 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 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.

'''''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 inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre. Before ''Living Dead'', films had portrayed zombies 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 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.

'''''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 inaugurated the ZombieApocalypse genre. Before ''Living Dead'', films had portrayed zombies as [[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 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.

'''''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 inaugurated 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 for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an 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.

'''''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 inaugurated 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 for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an appetite for human flesh. 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.

'''''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 inaugurated 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 for their existence (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]), gave them no masters, and endowed them with an appetite for human flesh. He also showed the increasing tension in society; people had more to fear than zombies, but zombies easily presented the most visible threat.

'''''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 inaugurated 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 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.

'''''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 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.

The film became part of the PublicDomain because its 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 properly secure and maintain a copyright. While the film display such a notice on the title frames of its original title (''Night of the Flesh Eaters''), the notice ended up removed when it 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.]]

* 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]].

* RecycledSoundtrack: The original film's score consisted of stock music from earlier 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 ''The Hideous Sun Demon''.

TookALevelInJerkass: While Cooper was an unlikable asshole in the original, he was still willing to help the others out after some grumbling, even if his fear and anger got the better of him towards the end. In the remake he is an utterly loathesome and useless slimeball.

* 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. The first graveyard zombie is also able to run and display advanced cognitive skills compared to the later zombies, both in the film and later sequels.

* TitleOfTheDead: While not the first, many people adopted X of The Dead or the "living dead" variation as a ShoutOut(ShaunOfTheDead) or [[FollowTheLeader took it for money]] (TheReturnOfTheLivingDead series).

* BittersweetEnding / DownerEnding: ** [[spoiler:Ben alone]] survives the night and zombies are presumably all dead, but is [[spoiler:shot by rednecks who supposedly mistake him for a zombie]].

The (first) remake by Creator/TomSavini. [[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."]]

* BittersweetEnding: The (first) remake by Creator/TomSavini. [[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."]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Ben alone]] survives the night but is [[spoiler:shot by rednecks who supposedly mistake him for a zombie]].

* RecycledSoundtrack: The original film's music cues consisted of stock music from earlier film and TV soundtracks. The opening credits theme, for instance, was originally used in a ''Ben Casey'' episode!