SCAREDY CAT'S FILE

Is Night of the Living Dead Scary? The Verdict and the Whole Plot

Rating: 5
Author: Scaredy Cat

Yes, 5 out of 10. It's a grim one-night siege with jump scares and nobody you can trust.

THE SCARE SIGNAL

SCARE SCORE

5 /10

DREAD LEVEL

Medium

Expect to think about it for about a night.

DOG

Dog: fine

fine, no dog dies.

Ruling: It is a grim night in a farmhouse where the people inside are almost as much trouble as the ghouls.

Night of the Living Dead runs ninety-six minutes and mostly takes place in a Pennsylvania farmhouse. A group of strangers boards up the windows against flesh-eating ghouls and spends the night disagreeing about where to hide.

The premise, briefly

Strangers shelter in a rural Pennsylvania farmhouse while flesh-eating ghouls gather outside, and the people inside cannot agree on whether the cellar or the ground floor is safer.

How much do you want to know?

The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.

CUT TO THE CHASE

How it ends

Almost everyone dies. Ben survives the night alone in the cellar, then is shot at dawn by a posse that mistakes him for a ghoul, and his body is burned on a bonfire with the rest.

The scene you're dreading

Near the end, Karen, the young daughter of Harry and Helen, dies of her injuries, turns into a ghoul, eats what is left of her father and kills her mother with a trowel. It happens in the cellar, where the survivors had gone to hide.

The dog

No dog dies in Night of the Living Dead. Mounted animal heads appear in it.

Night of the Living Dead is bleak all the way through, and knowing how it ends takes the suspense out but leaves the sadness.

THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN

How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.

What actually happens

A cemetery visit that goes badly

Barbra and her brother Johnny Blair go to a rural Pennsylvania cemetery to visit their father's grave. A pale man in a ragged suit attacks them and kills Johnny, and Barbra runs for a farmhouse nearby, where she finds the homeowner's half-eaten corpse on the stairs. Ghouls begin to gather around the house. A stranger named Ben pulls up and assumes Barbra lives there. He drives off several ghouls and boards up the windows and doors, while Barbra slips into a near catatonic state and leaves Ben to look after her. Searching the house for supplies, he finds a lever-action rifle upstairs.

Reading this instead of watching it is the correct decision. Scaredy Cat makes that decision automatic, for free.

A cellar full of people with opinions

Barbra is surprised to find people already hiding in the cellar. A man named Harry Cooper, along with Helen, who is his wife, and Karen, their young daughter, went down there after ghouls flipped their car and Karen was bitten on the arm, and she is now seriously sick. A teenage couple, Tom and Judy, heard an emergency broadcast at a nearby lake and came to the house too. Harry insists the cellar is the safe place, Ben and Tom secure the floors above, and tension builds as more ghouls arrive. Radio and television reports explain that the dead are reanimating across the East Coast and eating people, that armed posses are patrolling the countryside, and that ghouls can be stopped by a heavy blow to the head, a bullet to the brain or fire. Rescue centers are taking people in, and scientists suspect radiation from a space probe returning from Venus.

The truck plan goes up in flames

Ben plans to fill up his truck from the farm's gas pump, get medical supplies for Karen, and take everyone to a rescue center. He, Tom and Judy drive out and fend off the ghouls with torches and Molotov cocktails, but spilled gasoline catches fire and the truck blows up, and Tom and Judy die in it. Ben gets back to the house, and when Harry refuses to unlock the door he breaks it down. The survivors argue over what to do next and stop when the 3 a.m. news comes on. During the broadcast the power goes out and the ghouls force their way in through every door and window. Harry grabs Ben's gun to threaten him, Ben wrestles it away and shoots him, and Harry staggers down to the cellar, where he dies next to his daughter. Barbra wakes from her stupor, saves Helen from the ghouls, and Helen flees to the cellar.

What Karen does in the cellar

Near the end, Karen dies of her injuries and turns into a ghoul. She eats what is left of her father and kills her mother with a trowel. That is the scene people dread most, and it takes place in the cellar after the power has gone out. Upstairs, Barbra tries to help Ben hold the ghouls back but freezes when she sees her brother Johnny, who is now a ghoul himself, and he drags her into the horde. The ghouls pour into the farmhouse, and Ben falls back to the cellar and shoots Harry and Helen after they reanimate.

The ending, explained

Ben spends what is left of the night in the cellar after shooting Harry and Helen, who have come back as ghouls. At daybreak an armed posse shows up to finish off the remaining ghouls. The gunfire wakes Ben, and when he climbs out of the cellar the posse mistakes him for a ghoul and shoots him. The posse then tosses his body onto a bonfire with the other corpses and burns it. Barbra was dragged into the horde by her reanimated brother earlier in the night.

The post-credits ruling

Nobody has confirmed whether there is a scene after the credits.

✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.

Questions people ask at 1am

Is Night of the Living Dead scary?

Yes, a little. Night of the Living Dead is a 5 out of 10 with medium dread: a grim one-night siege with jump scares, some cannibalism and a bleak mood.

How does Night of the Living Dead end?

Ben survives the night in the cellar, but at dawn an armed posse mistakes him for a ghoul and shoots him. His body is burned on a bonfire with the other corpses.

Does the dog die in Night of the Living Dead?

No dog dies in Night of the Living Dead. Mounted animal heads appear in it.

Is there a post-credits scene in Night of the Living Dead?

Nobody has confirmed whether Night of the Living Dead has a scene after the credits.

What causes the ghouls in Night of the Living Dead?

News reports in Night of the Living Dead say scientists suspect that radiation from a space probe returning from Venus caused the dead to rise.

BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION

The whole plot of Night of the Living Dead is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.

You don't need to spend a night in a farmhouse with Night of the Living Dead to know how it turns out. Install Scaredy Cat and it will blur the rest of the internet's horror for you.

Get Scaredy Cat, free