http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=UYR3dorshwA

Oh Johnny, you unfortunately ironic sonnuvahgun.

It's about time we got around to the granddaddy of all modern zombie fiction, and shortly after its 45th anniversary, too.

This is another one of my favorites. I have a lot of favorites, you see.

- The movie was almost about an alien pathogen that infected living people and called Night of the Flesh Eaters (remember that piece of information, we'll get back to it in a second), but they decided on the whole "dead coming back to life" thing, with some radiation from Venus thrown in. After this was decided, the filmmakers tried to figure out the most shocking and horrific thing for the living dead to do, and they eventually settled on eating people alive. And thus, the Romero zombie was born. Or died, or, I dunno...

- The first horror movie with a African American protagonist.

- Made on a $114,000 budget, made around $42 million upon its initial release. Has currently racked up something close to $256 million as of 2009.

- Was not shot in color due to a lack of funds. Black and white film was cheaper to develop. On the plus-side, it actually makes the movie much creepier, and the filmmakers were able to use Bosco chocolate syrup for the blood (the same brand used in the shower scene from Psycho).

- The meat the zombies rip from their victims and eat was ham donated to the production by a local butcher.

Chocolate syrup and ham: the breakfast of champions.

- You can blame this movie for characters in a zombie story never calling them the zed-word. Instead, they're all referred to as "those things" or "ghouls".

- Like most of George A. Romero's movies, his debut flick was filmed in Pittsburgh, where around 200 extras volunteered to play the living dead.

Obviously, some of them were pretty cool about doing some nude stuff for the sake of art.

- The boards nailed across the windows and doors were numbered so they could be put together in the right order after they were taken down for another shot. Continuity for the win.

- The corpse in that gif up there was made by George A. Romero, who used ping-pong balls for the eyes.

- Bill HInzman, who played the zombie who attacks Barbara in the opening scene, recently passed away. According to his daughter, he wanted to be cremated so he wouldn't rise from the dead.

- Screenwriter John A. Russo volunteered to play the zombie lit on fire because no one else was comfortable with that.

- In the grand tradition of horror directors trying to get authentic performances through disturbing their actors, Romero killed a butterfly in front of the cast before the shooting of a particularly tense scene. Otherwise, thought, it was actually a very pleasant production. No Texas Chainsaw-style clusterbuck here.

- Supposedly, the moment editing and dubbing was finished, George A Romero and John A. Russo threw the film in the trunk of a car and drove through the night to New York in search of theaters that would show the movie. On the way there, they heard about Martian Luther King Jr's assassination.

- Despite being one of the most poular horror movies of all time and one of the most successful indie films ever, George A. Romero saw very little money. As it turns out, back then, a movie had to have a tittle card that showed a little copyright notice so it wouldn't enter public domain. Unfortunately, when the title of the movie was changed to Night of the Living Dead, the title card with this notice was removed from the film and never replaced.

So the movie can be posted anywhere or viewed by anyone with no legal action taken against them. In fact, here's the full movie right here. Ya'll kids better educate yourself and watch this masterpiece, but be warned: there be some mostly-tame-by-today's-standards gore and a naked lady butt.

Well, you know what they say: When there's no more room in this forum post, the dead will walk the earth. So tune in tomorrow for some trivia on Night's two sequels, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead!