George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead was released in 1968.
The independently made black-and-white film follows survivors who shelter in a Pennsylvania farmhouse during a crisis involving reanimated corpses. Its tense group conflict and bleak ending helped redefine the modern zombie film, especially the idea of zombies as flesh-eating undead creatures.
Romero directed and co-wrote the film with John A. Russo. Duane Jones played Ben, the central survivor, and Judith O’Dea played Barbra. The film’s copyright notice accidentally omitted the required notice when the distributor changed its title, allowing it to enter the public domain in the United States. Later zombie movies, including Romero’s own Dawn of the Dead, developed ideas that Night of the Living Dead established.