Rating: NR
Genre: Horror
Release Date: 03/19/2002
Run Time: 98 Minutes
Flags: Not For Children, Profanity, Gore
Distributor/Studio: Alpha Video

When unexpected radiation raises the dead, a microcosm of Average America has to battle flesh-eating zombies in George A. Romero's landmark cheapie horror film. Siblings Johnny (Russ Streiner) and Barbara (Judith O'Dea) whine and pout their way through a graveside visit in a small Pennsylvania town, but it all takes a turn for the worse when a zombie kills Johnny. Barbara flees to an isolated farmhouse where a group of people are already holed up. Bickering and panic ensue as the group tries to figure out how best to escape, while hoards of undead converge on the house; news reports reveal that fire wards them off, while a local sheriff-led posse discovers that if you "kill the brain, you kill the ghoul." After a night of immolation and parricide, one survivor is left in the house.... Romero's grainy black-and-white cinematography and casting of locals emphasize the terror lurking in ordinary life; as in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), Romero's victims are not attacked because they did anything wrong, and the randomness makes the attacks all the more horrifying. Nothing holds the key to salvation, either, whether it's family, love, or law. Topping off the existential dread is Romero's then-extreme use of gore, as zombies nibble on limbs and viscera. Initially distributed by a Manhattan theater chain owner, Night, made for about 100,000 dollars, was dismissed as exploitation, but after a 1969 re-release, it began to attract favorable attention for scarily tapping into Vietnam-era uncertainty and nihilistic anxiety. By 1979, it had grossed over 12 million, inspired a cycle of apocalyptic splatter films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), and set the standard for finding horror in the mundane. However cheesy the film may look, few horror movies reach a conclusion as desolately unsettling.

~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

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Cast:
Judith O'Dea - Barbara
Russ Streiner - Johnny
Duane Jones - Ben
Karl Hardman - Harry
Keith Wayne - Tom
Judith Ridley - Judy
Marilyn Eastman - Helen
Kyra Schon - Karen

Production:
George A. Romero - Director
Karl Hardman Russ Streiner - Producer
George A. Romero - Editor
George A. Romero John A. Russo - Screen Writer
George A. Romero - Cinematographer
Karl Hardman - Makeup
Marilyn Eastman - Makeup
George A. Romero - Screen Story
Regis Survinski - Special Effects
Tony Pantanello - Special Effects
Vincent Survinski - Production Designer

Spooky Encounters
    Sammo Hung / R / 1981
28 Days Later [WS]
    Cillian Murphy / R / 2002
Return of the Evil Dead
    NR / 1972
Tombs of the Blind Dead
    NR / 1971
Night of the Comet
    Catherine Stewart / PG13 / 1984
Raiders of the Living Dead [2 Discs]
    Scott Schwartz / PG13 / 1986
The Return of the Living Dead
    Clu Gulager / R / 1985
Return of the Living Dead 3
    Mindy Clarke / R / 1993
The Blair Witch Project [P&S]
    Heather Donahue / R / 1999
Return of the Living Dead Part II
    James Karen / R / 1988
Nightmare City
    Hugo Stiglitz / NR / 1980
Cemetery Man
    Rupert Everett / NR / 1994

1999 Library of Congress