Als Barbara und ihr Bruder Johnny auf einem ländlichen Friedhof die Grabstätte ihrer Eltern besuchen, werden sie plötzlich von einem lebenden Toten angegriffen. Johnny wird umgebracht, und Barbara kann in ein in der Nähe gelegenes Farmhaus flüchten. Dort treffen während der Nacht noch mehr Menschen ein, die auch vor den Zombies flüchten.

Unter ihnen ist Ben, der aufgrund seines mutigen Einsatzes zum Anführer der Gruppe avanciert. Als immer mehr Zombies das Farmhaus umlagern und ein Ausbruchversuch kläglich scheitert, kommt es zu einer finalen Auseinandersetzung…

"Shot outside Pittsburgh on a shoestring budget, by a band of filmmakers determined to make their mark, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, is a great story of independent cinema: a midnight hit turned box-office smash that became one of the most influential films of all time. A deceptively simple tale of a group of strangers trapped in a farmhouse who find themselves fending off a horde of recently dead, flesh-eating ghouls, Romero’s claustrophobic vision of a late-1960s America literally tearing itself apart rewrote the rules of the horror genre, combined gruesome gore with acute social commentary, and quietly broke ground by casting a black actor (Duane Jones) in its lead role." (--- The Criterion Collection)

"By far the most influential horror film of the last fifty years, George A. Romero's 1968 classic is also one of the most abused – having been subjected, because of its public-domain status, to well over hundred home video releases of abysmal quality.

But now, working from the original camera negative – carefully guarded over the years by the members of Image Ten, the Pittsburgh partnership that originally produced it – The Museum of Modern Art and The Film Foundation have partnered to return the film to its full, original glory. Not only is the image sharper, cleaner and crisper than it has appeared since the film was first photographed – there is also more of it, as the film can now be seen in its full frame, 1.33 form, as Romero originally intended it." (--- Dave Keh, Il Cinema Ritrovato Bologna 2017)