History Main / NightOfTheLivingDead

* DaylightHorror: Despite the movie obviously taking place mostly at night, the first time we see a zombie attack is during the day.

''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]]; no explanation was given (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[NuclearNasty radioactive fallout]]) for the zombies, 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.

''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]]; no explanation was given (besides a speculative HandWave about a space probe and [[ILoveNuclearPower radiation]]) for the zombies, 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.

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''), 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.

After ''Night of the Living Dead'' became an unexpected success, Romero and Russo disagreed on what direction the sequel 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''), 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 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 attacks ''Johnny''.

* {{Jerkass}}: Cooper in both versions.

* FullFrontalAssault: As shown in the poster, theres a brief scene of a naked female zombie among the horde that invade the house. Course its shown from behind so you don't really see much.

* BrickJoke: The gas pump key is forgotten about after [[spoiler: Tom and Judy get blown up. It shows up in the cellar at the end as a final irony]].

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

* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: The very first zombie in the movie can be seen shambling around the cemetery before it attacks Barbra and Johnny.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: This shock movie was the first of its kind - parents were used to their children going to a saturday afternoon matinee seeing "scary" movies with monsters in rubber suits, little gore, and upbeat endings. The MPAA rating system still hadn't been established. Roger Ebert noted that when he went to see it the children in the theater weren't taking it very well in the second half.

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 ''ChildrenOfTheLivingDead''.

* [[spoiler:KillEmAll: None of the main characters make it through the film alive.]]

** Jesus, [[spoiler:Tom]], how hard is it to work a damned gas pump?
*** Watch again. The hose was too short, he jerked the nozzle towards the truck, the hose ran out, and his hand hit the trigger.

** Ben's plan with the gas pump [[spoiler: would have worked had the cast not been TooDumbToLive]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: This shock movie was the first of its kind - parents were used to their children going to a saturday afternoon matinee seeing "scary" movies with monsters in rubber suits, little gore, and upbeat endings. The MPAA rating system still hadn't been established. Roger Ebert noted that when he went to see it the children in the theater weren't taking is very well in the second half.

* ShootOutTheLock: Upon arrival at the gas pump, the key does not work. Ben 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.

* GutPunch: The FamilyUnfriendlyDeath of [[spoiler: Tom and Judy]] was the first signal that this wasn't going to be [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids the typical horror film of its time]].