History Main / NightOfTheLivingDead

* ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'', a groundbreaking zombie horror film by George A. Romero.

* ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'', a grounbreaking zombie horror film by George A. Romero.

[[redirect:Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968]]

[[redirect:Film/NightOfTheLivingDead]]

[[quoteright:330:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Night_of_the_Living_Dead_affiche.jpg]]
->''"[[MemeticMutation They're coming to get you, Barbra!]]"''

''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=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 LivingDead''.

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 ''DawnOfTheDead'' (and not-quite-as successful ''DayOfTheDead''), while Russo made his films more comedic with the ''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 (''DiaryOfTheDead'') which had its own POVSequel (''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 [[ShaunOfTheDead movies]], [[{{Angel}} television shows]], [[ResidentEvil video games]], [[WorldWarZ books]], and [[TheWalkingDead comic books]] owe their origin to its gruesome black-and-white imagery.
----
!!This film contains the following tropes:

* ActionGirl: The most notable change in Tom Savini's remake was to upgrade Barbra from TheLoad.
* 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.
* 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.
* BerserkBoardBarricade: Ben throws up a whole bunch of them.
* BlackDudeDiesFirst: Inverted -- [[spoiler: the black dude is the only one who survives... at least, until he gets shot by the rednecks.]]
* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Helen (brunette), Judy Rose (blonde) and Barbra (redhead) in the remake.
* BrickJoke: The gas pump key is forgotten about after [[spoiler: Tom and Judy get blown up]]. In the 1990 remake, [[spoiler: it shows up in the cellar at the end as a final irony]].
* 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]].
* 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.]]
* DawsonCasting: Tom and Judy's actors were in their 20's when playing as the young teenage couple.
* DistressedDamsel: 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.
* DramaticThunder: The appearance of the first zombie in the cemetery is heralded by this.
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Black-and-white, relatively little gore, overacting by the humans, relatively human acting (and makeup) by the ghouls, very sixties musical stings, very little of the social commentary of later films, NotUsingTheZWord - the whole thing feels more like an unusually gory sixties BMovie than a Romero horror.
* EveryCarIsAPinto: Seriously, there no way that truck would've exploded that fast especially when the ''back'' of it was the only part that caught fire, which was nowhere near the gas tank.
* 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: The female zombie with the naked behind. There's also a very grainy, blink-and-you'll-miss-it breast shot.
* FullFrontalAssault: As shown in the poster, there's a brief scene of a naked female zombie among the horde that invade the house. Of course, it's shown from behind so you don't really see much.
* [[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.
* GoryDiscretionShot: Sometimes used, sometimes averted. Especially in the original, this shocked audiences who weren't expecting to see so much gore.
* GutPunch: Roger Ebert's reaction to the [[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath Family Unfriendly Deaths]] of [[spoiler: Tom and Judy]] provides the page quote for that trope.
* HalfemptyTwoshot: In the Savini remake, something does lunge into the frame, but from the wrong side.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: [[spoiler:Barbra]] in the remake.
* HeroicBSOD: Barbra. In the remake, however, this is subverted when [[spoiler:she becomes just as much a survivor as Ben and even lives through the end]].
* HumansAreBastards: Just watch that ending.
* InfantImmortality: See UndeadChild below.
* {{Irony}}: Ben spends the remake arguing why it's better to stay upstairs while Cooper does likewise with the cellar. [[spoiler: Ben ends up fleeing to the cellar while Cooper goes to the attic. Ben dies and Cooper lives]].
* ItGotWorse: Things ''really'' start going to hell beginning with [[spoiler:Tom and Judy's death]].
* {{Jerkass}}: Cooper, in both versions. Johnny seems to be a bit of one as well.
* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:None of the main characters make it through the film alive.]]
* KillItWithFire: Fire is one of the only things zombies are afraid of.
* KillTheCutie: And how.
* LicensedGame: There was a TextAdventure treatment involving another person caught out on the eponymous night.
* 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.
* 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.
* NewscasterCameo: Bill Cardille, a Pittsburgh TV personality best known as horror host "Chilly Billy", appears as the TV reporter interviewing Sheriff [=McClelland=].
* NotAZombie
* NotHisSled:
** Used ''twice'' in the Savini remake with the Downer Ending.
** The first attack was changed to remain surprising. In the original, the [[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent man shambling in the background]] is a zombie that attacks Barbra (quite a shocker in 1968). In the remake the man is an alive but deeply confused hearse driver. Then a zombie appears out of nowhere to attack ''Johnny''.
* 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.
* OnlySaneMan: Ben is the only remotely competent character in the original 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 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]].
* PeekABooCorpse: One of the more frightening examples, 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.
* RedHerring: In the original, 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.
* ShadowDiscretionShot: When Karen Cooper [[spoiler:kills her mother with a spade]].
* 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: 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.
* TheSiege
* 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.
* 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: As mentioned in the page summary, the sequels that spawned off this movie were all loosely connected.
* TitleOfTheDead
* 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!
** 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!
* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:Barbra]] in the remake, in pointed contrast with her original incarnation.
* 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, in both versions.
* UndeadChild: [[spoiler:Karen Cooper]].
* TheUnreveal: In the sequels and remakes, it's never explained why the dead are coming back to life. Even in the original, the radioactive satellite explanation gets little attention. Justified in that we're not dealing with people investigating the cause, just dealing with the effects.
* TheVirus
* [[WeAreExperiencingTechnicalDifficulties We've Been Experiencing Technical Difficulties]]: But Johnny foolishly [[IgnoredVitalNewsReports turns off the radio]] before finding out why.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Romero originally wanted to cast Betty Aberlin, best known as Lady Aberlin on ''MisterRogersNeighborhood'', as Judy. Although Romero and fellow Pittsburgher Fred Rogers had worked together in the past, Rogers refused to allow one of the stars of his beloved children's show to be featured as zombie barbecue. Go figure.
* WhoIsThisGuyAgain: Pretty much 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. (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.
* ZombieApocalypse: Averted, actually. Atypically for a zombie infection movie, the ending shows that the living win the day, and emerge unchanged. Unfortunately.
* ZombieInfectee: [[spoiler: Karen Cooper]].
* ZombieGait: Interestingly averted with the very first zombie that Barbra and Johnny encounter.
----
<<|{{Film}}|>>

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

* WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis:
** The Tom Savini remake, where the gas pump key was [[spoiler:in the basement]] and could have been easily found if [[spoiler:Ben had listened to Cooper]]. Or vice-versa, [[spoiler:if Cooper had bothered to look for it while he was downstairs]].
** Ben's plan with the gas pump [[spoiler: would have worked had the cast not been TooDumbToLive]]. Ben also didn't seem to notice until he actually got out to the pump that he could shoot out the lock with the gun he found ''long'' before he was told where he could find the keys.

* ExtremelyShortTimespan

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

* BlondeBrunetteRedhead: Helen (brunette), Judy Rose (blonde) and Barbara (redhead) in the remake.

* RedHerring: In the original, Barbara 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.

* TaxidermyTerror: Barbara 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.

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

* OnlySaneMan: Ben is the only remotely competent character in the original movie that actually tries to fight back against the zombies and survive, in stark contrast to the [[ToDumbToLive raving idiocy]] and [[TheLoad uselessness]] of the other characters.

* OnlySaneMan: Ben is the only remotely competent character in the original movie that actually tries to fight back against the zombies and survive, in stark contrast to the raving idiocy and uselessness of the other characters.

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 ''DawnOfTheDead'' (and not-quite-as successful ''DayOfTheDead''), while Russo made his films more comedic with the ''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 (''DiaryOfTheDead'') which had its own POVSequel (''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 [[{{ptitle49fktc1oipjq}} 3D]]; Romero had no involvement with this remake, which -- unlike Savini's more faithful adaptation -- departs fairly radically from the source material.

** The undead cannibals are referred to as "ghouls" by the radio/TV people and "those ''things''" by the main characters, but the word "zombie" is never used.

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

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

* 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...)

* NewscasterCameo: Bill Cardille