Night of the Living Dead

They Won’t Stay Dead! Romero, 1968

To this day, Night of the Living Dead made by Romero in 1968 is one of the best known horror movies ever made.  On a budget of only $114,000, this black and white, independent zombie film was created that grossed $18 million internationally. 

For horrific Films about Flesh Eating Zombies and Living Dead Dolls and other Fun Stuff Click Living Dead Dolls

Of course, films of this nature were not common in this era so the content was criticized fiercely for being explicit which only made fans love it more.

Night of the Living Dead Plot

Night of the Living Dead opens with characters Johnny and Barbara driving to visit their father’s grave in Pennsylvania.  There is a pale man limping around who Johnny makes a wise crack at so Barbara goes to apologize but when she does, the man grabs her.  Johnny tries to rescue her but is killed when he hits his head on a tombstone but Barbara manages to get away. 

Night of the Living Dead starts heating up when she runs into an empty farmhouse after crashing the car.  Here she finds the corpse of the homeowner half eaten.  When she runs into the yard, she sees ghoulish figures approaching as well as a man named Ben who speeds up in a pickup truck.  They make it into the house and barricade themselves in.

The next scene in Night of the Living Dead is taken in a cellar where more people are found hiding from the chaos.  Harry, Helen and their daughter Karen are down there as well as Tom and Judy, a teenage couple.  Ben suggests that the cellar is a death trap, Tom and Judy agree and come upstairs.

When Harry returns back to the cellar, he finds his daughter bitten and quite ill.  Over the radio, reports are being announced of mass murders sweeping across the area.  Ben finds a television and soon discovers that individuals who have been killed are coming back to life and eating human flesh.  Of course, this is where Night of the Living Dead really starts getting good!  There is no explanation for the occurrences but experts suggest that it is the result of radioactive contamination.

Ben, Tom and Judy create a plan to escape to go seek medical help for Karen.  At the gas pumps, the truck explodes, killing Tom and Judy but Ben returns back to the house to find Harry boarded it up to lock him out.  Ben kicks in the door and beats hm out of anger.

After the ghouls have attempted to get into the house, Harry sees Ben’s rifle and threatens to shoot him but they wrestle, Ben gains control and shoots Harry.  The ghouls are now getting aggressive in Night of the Living Dead and start grabbing Barbara and Helen through the windows.  When Harry who has been shot, stumbles into the cellar, he finds Karen is dead and then he dies however, Karen comes back to life and starts feeding on her father.  Karen sees Helen watching and kills her with a cement trowel.

In the end of Night of the Living Dead, Karen attempts to attack Ben however, he gets away and seals himself in the cellar, which happens to be the one place he refused to hide all along.  When Harry and Helen come back alive, Ben shoots them and then is awaken when people arrive.  He realizes he is the only person who survived but when he tries to escape out a window, the people outside think he is a ghoul and they shoot him.  The last scene of Night of the Living Dead is Ben’s body being burned along with all of the other ghouls.