A group of strangers barricade themselves in a rural farmhouse against an onslaught of reanimated corpses in George A. Romero's landmark 1968 horror film, which essentially invented the modern zombie genre. Shot on a shoestring budget in stark black and white, Night of the Living Dead is a masterwork of dread and social subtext—its casting of Duane Jones as the heroic lead charged with political meaning in the year of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination. This is the film that redefined what horror could be, and its influence is still felt in every corner of popular culture.