George A. Romero didn't just make a movie in 1968. He accidentally invented a brand new way to be afraid. Before Night of the Living Dead, monsters were usually things like vampires in capes or giant radioactive ants. They were "other." They lived in castles or deep under the ocean. Then, suddenly, the monster was your neighbor. It was your sister. It was a guy in a suit who just happened to be dead and very, very hungry.
It changed everything.
Honestly, the most shocking thing about the film today isn't even the gore. It’s the bleakness. If you watch it now, the graininess of the 35mm black-and-white film makes it feel like a newsreel. It looks real. It feels like you’re watching something you shouldn't be seeing, which is exactly why it grabbed the world by the throat and never let go.
The Mistake That Cost Millions
You’ve probably heard the story about the copyright. It’s legendary in Hollywood circles. Because the original distributor, Walter Reade Organization, changed the title from Night of the Flesh Eaters to Night of the Living Dead, they forgot to put the copyright notice on the new title cards. Back then, if you didn't have the "©" symbol on the film, it went straight into the public domain.
Romero and his team at Image Ten didn't see a dime from most of the film's success.
Think about that for a second. One of the most influential films in the history of cinema was basically free for anyone to show. While that sucked for the creators' bank accounts, it's arguably why the movie became such a massive cult hit. TV stations could run it for free. Video rental shops could stock bootlegs without fear. It spread like the virus it depicted. It became a permanent part of the cultural wallpaper because it was everywhere, all the time.
Why Ben Changed Horror Forever
We need to talk about Duane Jones. Casting a Black man as the lead in 1968 wasn't a "statement" according to Romero—he always maintained that Jones simply gave the best audition. But you can't separate the film from the era. Seeing a Black man punch a white man (Harry Cooper) in the face and take charge of a house full of white people was radical in 1968.
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The ending still hurts.
Ben survives the night. He makes it through the basement, the fire, and the literal hordes of the undead. Then, he’s shot by the "heroes." The posse—the guys who are supposed to be saving the day—mistake him for a ghoul and take him out without a second thought. The grainy stills of his body being hooked and dragged to a bonfire look uncomfortably like photographs from the Jim Crow South. It’s a gut punch that most modern horror movies are too scared to attempt.
The "Zombie" That Wasn't
Here is a weird fact: nobody in Night of the Living Dead says the word "zombie." Not once.
The script calls them "ghouls."
At the time, the word "zombie" referred mostly to the Haitian folklore version—people under a voodoo spell who were used as slave labor. Romero’s creatures were different. They were reanimated corpses driven by a primal need to eat human flesh. He took the idea of the vampire and the scavenger and mashed them together. By the time Dawn of the Dead came out in 1978, the audience had already decided these things were zombies, and the name stuck.
Breaking the Rules of the Genre
Most movies before this had a hero who saved the day. There was usually a scientist who explained exactly how to win.
Not here.
The radio broadcasts in the movie are confusing. The government doesn't know what's happening. Is it radiation from a Venus probe? Maybe. They never really confirm it. That lack of certainty is what makes it so much scarier than a movie with a clear "cure."
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- The tension isn't just between the living and the dead.
- The real fight is between Ben and Harry.
- It's a movie about the failure of the nuclear family.
- It's about how we can't get along even when the world is ending.
The Raw Brutality of the 1960s
Critics absolutely hated it at first. Roger Ebert famously wrote about seeing a matinee full of kids who were traumatized by it. They were used to "fun" horror. Instead, they got a girl stabbing her mother to death with a garden trowel.
The special effects were primitive but effective. They used Bosco Chocolate Syrup for blood because it looked dark and thick on black-and-white film. The "flesh" the actors were eating? It was actually roasted ham provided by one of the investors who owned a meatpacking plant. The actors reportedly hated it because it was cold and greasy, which probably helped their expressions of disgust.
The Influence on Modern Media
Without this movie, there is no The Walking Dead. There is no The Last of Us. There is no Resident Evil.
Romero established the "rules" we all know by heart now:
- You have to destroy the brain.
- If they bite you, you turn.
- They are slow, but they never stop coming.
Before 1968, these rules didn't exist. Now, they are like physics. We just accept them as truth.
How to Experience the Film Today
If you want to understand why Night of the Living Dead still works, you have to watch the 4K restoration by the Museum of Modern Art and The Film Foundation. For years, the only copies available were grainy, washed-out messes because of that public domain issue. The restoration brings back the incredible lighting and the deep blacks that Romero (who started out making commercials in Pittsburgh) used so effectively.
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Pay attention to the sound. The library music they used is eerie and dissonant. It doesn't sound like a big Hollywood score. It sounds like a nightmare.
Next Steps for the Horror Enthusiast
To truly appreciate the evolution of the genre, watch the 1968 original back-to-back with the 1990 remake directed by Tom Savini. The remake was actually an attempt by Romero to finally get some of the copyright money he missed out on, but it also updates the character of Barbara, turning her from a catatonic victim into a capable survivor.
After that, seek out the "Dead" sequels in order. Dawn of the Dead (1978) tackles consumerism in a shopping mall, while Day of the Dead (1985) looks at the collapse of the military. Each film uses the undead to talk about what’s wrong with the living.
Read The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks for a modern take on the "rules" Romero created, or look into the George A. Romero Archival Collection at the University of Pittsburgh if you want to see the original scripts and production notes. Understanding the history makes the scares much more profound.