Night of the Living Dead (1968): watch the full film free, legally

A farmhouse under siege

Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American zombie horror film directed, photographed, and edited by George A. Romero. Romero wrote the film with John Russo, and Russell W. Streiner and Karl Hardman produced it. The ensemble cast includes Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley, and Keith Wayne.

Barbra and Johnny Blair drive to a cemetery in rural Pennsylvania to visit their father's grave. A pale man in a tattered suit kills Johnny and attacks Barbra. She flees to a nearby farmhouse, where she finds the resident's corpse on the stairs. Ghouls begin surrounding the house. Ben arrives, mistakes Barbra for the homeowner, and helps drive them back before boarding up the windows and doors.

Others are hiding in the cellar. Harry Cooper, his wife Helen, and their daughter Karen escaped after ghouls overturned their car and bit Karen on the arm. Tom and Judy came to the farmhouse after hearing an emergency broadcast near a lake. As more ghouls gather, Harry argues that the cellar is safer, while Ben and Tom work aboveground to secure the building.

Radio and television reports say cannibalistic corpses are reanimating and committing mass murder across the East Coast. Armed posses are searching the countryside. Scientists theorize that radiation from an exploding space probe returning from Venus caused the reanimations. Reports say the ghouls can be destroyed by blows to the head, bullets to the brain, or burning. Ben proposes refueling his truck, collecting medical supplies for Karen, and taking everyone to a rescue center.

Built by Pittsburgh filmmakers

Romero had made television commercials, industrial films, and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood segments through The Latent Image, the production company he co-founded with Streiner. Romero, Russo, and Streiner decided to make a horror film because of interest in the genre. The script drew primary inspiration from Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend.

The Latent Image joined Hardman Associates, a Pittsburgh industrial film company led by Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman, to form Image Ten. The company was chartered to make a single feature. Its initial budget was $6,000, with each member investing $600. Ten further investors added another $6,000, but production stopped repeatedly while Romero used early footage to persuade more investors. Image Ten eventually raised approximately $114,000.

Principal photography ran from July 1967 to January 1968, mainly in Evans City, Pennsylvania. Romero used guerrilla filmmaking techniques developed through commercial and industrial work. The crew rented a condemned farmhouse because it could not obtain a proper set, then destroyed the building during filming. The cast included Image Ten members, people from the filmmakers' commercial work, local television and radio figures, acquaintances, relatives, and Pittsburgh stage actors.

Duane Jones played Ben after giving what Romero called the best audition. Casting a Black actor as the hero of an American film with a predominantly white cast was potentially controversial in 1968. Judith O'Dea, a 23-year-old commercial and stage actor, played Barbra. Hardman played Harry, while Eastman, his real-life business and romantic partner, played Helen. Hardman's nine-year-old daughter Kyra Schon played Karen.

Ghouls, sound, and reception

The film refers to its monsters as ghouls, though it is credited with popularizing the modern portrayal of zombies in popular culture. Its music consisted of existing pieces from the Hi-Q music library, selected by Hardman and Eastman and narrowed down by Romero. Hardman cut the music to fit scenes, augmented it with electronic effects, and, with Eastman, created most of the sound effects.

After post-production, Image Ten had difficulty finding a distributor willing to show the gruesome scenes intact. Columbia rejected the film because it lacked color. American International Pictures declined after producers refused requests to soften the film and reshoot its final scene. The Walter Reade Organization agreed to exhibit it uncensored, changing its title from Night of the Flesh Eaters because another film had a similar title. The copyright notice was accidentally deleted during the title change.

Night of the Living Dead premiered in Pittsburgh on October 1, 1968. It grossed $12 million domestically and $18 million internationally, earning more than 250 times its budget. Its violence and gore brought controversy and negative reviews before it gained a cult following and critical acclaim. In 1999, the Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Film details from the Wikipedia article “Night of the Living Dead”. Text adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0.