# Night of the Living Dead (film series)
**Night of the Living Dead (film series)** is a cycle of American horror films that began with *Night of the Living Dead* (1968), [George A. Romero](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-a-romero)'s feature directing and screenwriting debut and the first production of the [Pittsburgh](https://www.edgepedia.org/pittsburgh) company Image Ten, and continued through five sequels written and directed by Romero between 1978 and 2009, plus two remakes.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) The original film, made for a budget in the low six figures, took an estimated $2.5 million at the box office by the end of 1969, fell into the public domain through a copyright error, and was inducted into the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 1999.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) • [2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/565) Its mixture of low-budget innovation, shocking horror, and political commentary launched more than half a century of zombie movies.[3](https://movingimage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/pressrelease-films-of-the-dead-20220602.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Core cycle | Five Romero-written and directed sequels: *Dawn of the Dead* (1978 or 1979), *Day of the Dead* (1985), *Land of the Dead* (2005), *Diary of the Dead* (2007 or 2008), and *Survival of the Dead* (2009)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) • [4](https://www.afi.com/news/afi-movie-club-night-of-the-living-dead/) |
| Original budget | Said to be under $100,000; later trade sources listed $125,000 from roughly thirty independent investors[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) |
| Box office | An estimated $2.5 million in receipts by 27 December 1969[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) |
| Rights history | Left in the public domain by a missed copyright notice; the 1986 copyright record covers a colorized version rather than a new copyright on the original film[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) • [13](https://www.loc.gov/item/91783945/) |
| Franchise split | Romero used "of the Dead" for his sequels' titles; John A. Russo retained "of the Living Dead" for his, underlying the separate *Return of the Living Dead* line[5](https://screenrant.com/romero-living-dead-movies-franchise-sequels-remakes-explained/) |
| Archival status | Acquired by MoMA in 1980; National Film Registry 1999; 93rd on AFI's 2001 100 Years...100 Thrills list[2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/565) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) |
## Films
The cycle begins with *Night of the Living Dead* (1968), which follows a group of survivors sheltering in a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania after escaping an attack by suddenly and inexplicably resurrected corpses.[6](https://www.pbs.org/video/why-george-romero-changed-zombies-forever-cuymr0/) The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction links the revival to "space radiation" brought to Earth on an aborted rocket launch, and notes that the film's paranoid intensity won it a cult following.[7](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/night_of_the_living_dead)
**The Romero sequels.** Five sequels written and directed by Romero followed, forming what the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction calls a Living Dead hexalogy: *[Dawn of the Dead](https://www.edgepedia.org/dawn-of-the-dead-1978-film)*, *Day of the Dead* (1985), *Land of the Dead* (2005), *Diary of the Dead*, and *Survival of the Dead* (2009).[7](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/night_of_the_living_dead) Dating for two entries differs between authoritative sources: the AFI Catalog dates *Dawn* to 1979 and *Diary* to 2008, while AFI Movie Club, the Encyclopedia of Science Fiction, and PBS date *Dawn* to 1978 and *Diary* to 2007.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) • [4](https://www.afi.com/news/afi-movie-club-night-of-the-living-dead/) • [7](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/night_of_the_living_dead) *Dawn of the Dead* featured the same kind of zombie, though it relocated the action to a shopping mall, a location of rising significance in American consumer culture at the time.[6](https://www.pbs.org/video/why-george-romero-changed-zombies-forever-cuymr0/)
**The remakes.** Romero also penned a 1990 remake of his original film, directed by effects artist [Tom Savini](https://www.edgepedia.org/tom-savini), with the script rewritten by Romero himself; key changes included making the character Barbara actually capable of contributing to her own survival.[4](https://www.afi.com/news/afi-movie-club-night-of-the-living-dead/) • [6](https://www.pbs.org/video/why-george-romero-changed-zombies-forever-cuymr0/) A further remake by Jeff Broadstreet followed in 2006.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD)
## Production and rights history
The original was shot on 35mm black-and-white film, then titled *Night of the Flesh Eaters*, on a ten-acre plot in Evans City, Pennsylvania, outside Pittsburgh.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) MoMA's record describes a shoestring budget of $114,000 with a 30-day shoot spread over nine months of nights and weekends; the AFI Catalog instead reports a budget said to be under $100,000, with later trade sources listing production costs of $125,000.[2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/565) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) Romero employed unpolished sound, harsh lighting, hand-held cameras, and non-professional actors, giving the film a documentary feel, and conveyed movement through a rapid succession of static shots for lack of a dolly-track budget.[2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/565)
**The public-domain error.** The film was initially copyrighted by Image Ten as *Night of the Flesh Eaters*. The Walter Reade Organization's Continental Distributing, which acquired worldwide rights and opened the film on 2 October 1968 in ten Pittsburgh-area theaters, changed the title but failed to secure a copyright, and *Night of the Living Dead* remains in the public domain; the 1986 copyright records pertain to a colorized version, not a new copyright secured by Image Ten for the original film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) • [13](https://www.loc.gov/item/91783945/) Screen Rant attributes the lapse to a [copyright symbol](https://www.edgepedia.org/copyright-symbol) omitted from the end credits and calls the result perhaps the most exploited movie in cinema history.[5](https://screenrant.com/romero-living-dead-movies-franchise-sequels-remakes-explained/)
**The Romero–Russo split.** After the original, Romero and co-writer John A. Russo amicably parted ways, agreeing that Romero would use "of the Dead" for his sequels' titles while Russo retained "of the Living Dead" for his; this division underlies the separate *Return of the Living Dead* line.[5](https://screenrant.com/romero-living-dead-movies-franchise-sequels-remakes-explained/) In Europe, Dario Argento produced *Dawn of the Dead* and controlled the European cut released as *Zombi*, after which a slew of unlicensed Italian sequels followed under Italy's then-lax copyright norms.[5](https://screenrant.com/romero-living-dead-movies-franchise-sequels-remakes-explained/)
**The 30th Anniversary Edition.** In 1999 Russo produced a 30th Anniversary Edition of *Night of the Living Dead*, intercut with newly filmed material including new gore sequences and scenes of a Reverend explaining the apocalypse as divine punishment.[5](https://screenrant.com/romero-living-dead-movies-franchise-sequels-remakes-explained/)
## Zombie conventions and continuity
The series established conventions that later zombie fiction adopted: the undead are ordinary people rather than monsters from far-off lands, and they rise in middle-American backyards.[2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/565) On origins, Romero said in 1990 that the original edit had contained multiple explanations for the zombies' resurrection, cut when Walter Reade came aboard, leaving only a TV broadcast alluding to outer space; he described the 1990 Savini remake as a second chance at those contrasting explanations.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction describes the surviving allusion as "space radiation" from an aborted rocket launch.[7](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/night_of_the_living_dead)
On canon, the 1990 remake, made by Romero, Russo, and Savini to profit from the lapsed copyright, establishes a separate continuity from Romero's other movies.[5](https://screenrant.com/romero-living-dead-movies-franchise-sequels-remakes-explained/)
## Themes and interpretation
Scholarship treats the series as social commentary tied to its historical moments. A 2022 Museum of the Moving Image program described the films as "brainy movies about the brain-dead", satires on contemporary American life that used the zombie as metaphor.[3](https://movingimage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/pressrelease-films-of-the-dead-20220602.pdf) Senses of Cinema argues that Romero's zombie films propel a social critique reflective of their historical moments, while other directors later changed the formula.[8](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2021/feature-articles/george-romeros-zombie-movies-the-fragmentation-of-america/)
An academic dissertation on the series argues that Romero structures his films on the binary oppositions central to the horror genre while deconstructing them, with the zombie occupying a zone of constantly shifting liminality between the human and the monstrous, tied to socio-cultural and political commentary on race, class, culture, and violence.[9](http://hdl.handle.net/10413/302) A peer-reviewed essay in *Representations* analyzes *Night of the Living Dead* (1968), *Land of the Dead* (2005), and *Diary of the Dead* (2008) as one "Living Dead" series whose films share temporal relations to historical trauma through deferral, belatedness, and retranscription.[10](https://online.ucpress.edu/representations/article-abstract/110/1/105/66998/Living-Dead-Fearful-Attractions-of-Film)
The original's ending carries much of this reading: the Library of Congress synopsis records that Ben awakes to see men shooting the zombies and is mistaken for one and killed.[11](https://www.loc.gov/item/91783945/night-of-the-living-dead-1968/) Interpretive framing differs across critics: Variety's 1968 review called the film an "unrelieved orgy of sadism", while later accounts tie its themes to Vietnam-era disillusionment, which enabled it to survive initially dismissive reviews.[2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/565)
## By the numbers
Quantified figures are documented for the original film. The budget was said to be under $100,000, with later trade sources (3 December 1969 *[Variety](https://www.edgepedia.org/variety-magazine)*, 27 December 1969 *Los Angeles Times*) listing production costs of $125,000 financed by roughly thirty independent investors; MoMA gives $114,000.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) • [2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/565) By 27 December 1969 the film had taken an estimated $2.5 million in box-office receipts.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD) Because Walter Reade did not subscribe to the MPAA production code, tickets were accessible to moviegoers of all ages, drawing criticism including Roger Ebert's review reprinted by *Reader's Digest*.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD)
## Influence and legacy
The original's public-domain status made it widely and cheaply available, which Screen Rant describes as making it perhaps the most exploited movie in cinema history.[5](https://screenrant.com/romero-living-dead-movies-franchise-sequels-remakes-explained/) Its archival standing is firm: MoMA acquired the film in 1980, and it was added to the [National Film Registry](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-film-registry) of the Library of Congress in 1999.[2](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/565) AFI ranked it 93rd on its 2001 100 Years...100 Thrills list.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD)
The series' influence on later zombie media is broad. The Museum of the Moving Image credits the original with launching over half a century of zombie movies, and its 2022 "Films of the Dead" exhibition and screening series covered the Living Dead films' origins, production, fandom, and impact alongside the legacy of *The Walking Dead*.[3](https://movingimage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/pressrelease-films-of-the-dead-20220602.pdf) Columbia University Press has published an in-depth English-language scholarly study of Romero's career treating *Night of the Living Dead* as a seminal text within American cultural traditions.[12](https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-cinema-of-george-a-romero/9781903364734/)
## References
1. [Night of the Living Dead, AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/19843-NIGHT-OF-THE-LIVING-DEAD)
2. [George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, Museum of Modern Art](https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/565)
3. [Films of the Dead press release, Museum of the Moving Image (2022)](https://movingimage.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/pressrelease-films-of-the-dead-20220602.pdf)
4. [AFI Movie Club: Night of the Living Dead](https://www.afi.com/news/afi-movie-club-night-of-the-living-dead/)
5. [George A. Romero's Living Dead Universe Explained, Screen Rant](https://screenrant.com/romero-living-dead-movies-franchise-sequels-remakes-explained/)
6. [Monstrum: Why George Romero Changed Zombies Forever, PBS](https://www.pbs.org/video/why-george-romero-changed-zombies-forever-cuymr0/)
7. [Night of the Living Dead, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction](https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/night_of_the_living_dead)
8. [George Romero's Zombie Movies: The Fragmentation of America, Senses of Cinema](https://www.sensesofcinema.com/2021/feature-articles/george-romeros-zombie-movies-the-fragmentation-of-america/)
9. [Dead reckoning: an analysis of George Romero's 'Living Dead' series, dissertation](http://hdl.handle.net/10413/302)
10. [Living Dead: Fearful Attractions of Film, Representations](https://online.ucpress.edu/representations/article-abstract/110/1/105/66998/Living-Dead-Fearful-Attractions-of-Film)
11. [Night of the living dead (1968), Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/91783945/night-of-the-living-dead-1968/)
12. [The Cinema of George A. Romero, Columbia University Press](https://cup.columbia.edu/book/the-cinema-of-george-a-romero/9781903364734/)
13. [loc.gov](https://www.loc.gov/item/91783945/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Fictional worlds and series reference apparatus › Fictional universes, characters, and attribute reference › Fictional universe concepts, canon, and continuity*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license