Judith Ridley

Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American independent horror film directed, shot and edited by George A. Romero, co-written by Romero and John Russo, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows characters Ben (Jones), Barbra (O'Dea), and five others trapped in a rural farmhouse in western Pennsylvania, which is besieged by a large and growing group of unnamed "living dead" monsters. The film was completed on a $114,000 budget and shot outside Pittsburgh, where it had its theatrical premiere on October 1, 1968. The film grossed $12 million domestically and $18 million internationally, earning over one-hundred-and-fifty times its budget. Night of the Living Dead has been regarded as a cult classic by film scholars and critics, despite its being heavily criticized upon its release for its explicit gore. It eventually garnered critical acclaim and has been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry, as a film deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Night of the Living Dead led to five subsequent films between 1978 and 2010, also directed by Romero, and inspired two remakes; the most well-known remake was released in 1990, directed by Tom Savini.