In a frantic attempt to get away, Barbara runs through the country side looking for help. Instead, all she finds is an old abandonded farm house. She quickly hides inside, hoping that the strange people who were chasing her won't find her.
Starring Duane Jones, Judy O'Dea, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley, and Keith Wayne.
The story goes like this: Johnny and his sister, Barbara, are driving out in the Pennsylvania countryside. They are going to a cemetary to put flowers on their deceased father's grave. Oddily enough, the radio in the car isn't picking up any signals. Only when Johnny and Barbara finally arrive at the cemetary does the radio come back on. The only thing we hear before Johnny turns the car off is: "Are we back on now?"
Then, out of the blue, some strange looking man is seen stumbling in the cemetary. The man, stumbling and moaning, attacks Barbara. Johnny soon jumps into the fight in order to protect his sister. Instead, Johnny ends up falling on a tombstone and breaks his neck.
Barbara is terrified and begins to run. Suddenly, more and more strange people start to pop up in front of her. All of them are trying to attack her and she has no idea what the hell is going on!
In a frantic attempt to get away, Barbara runs through the country side looking for help. Instead, all she finds is an old abandonded farm house. She quickly hides inside, hoping that the strange people who were chasing her won't find her.
An hour or two passes and nothing happens. It is getting dark outside and Barbara can see some of those "people" still outside. Then a pick-up truck pulls into the front yard. Ben, the hero of our story bursts into the house and blocks the door behind him. He soon finds Barbara hiding in the shadows.
As Ben and Barbara beging to block up all the doors and windows, he tells her some of the past events. It seems that over the past couple of days, people who have died recently have suddenly become re-animated and now are attacking the living population. No body knows why this happened or how it started. There is confusion everywhere because it is happening all over the world. People have no idea what to do.
Ben tells Barbara that if they can get some gas for the truck they could escape from the farm house and maybe make it to a rescue center in the city. Unfortunately, Barbara has become so tramautized from her earlier experiences she can't talk. Ben asks her about the gas pump outside. He tells her they can get away if they can find a key to the pump. They decide to search the entire house for the key. In the mean time, Ben finds a radio and turns it on. The Emergency Broadcast Network is on 24 hours a day reporting news bullitens on the "zombie plague."
As it turns out, Ben and Barbara are not alone in the house. It seems five other people have barricaded themselves in the basement and they only came out because they heard the radio playing upstairs. We then meet Judy, Tom, Harry and Helen Cooper, but we only hear about the Cooper's daughter, Karen, who has been bitten by a zombie. Karen lies in the basement, sick from her infectious injury.
Tension in the house becomes volitle and everyone begins to fight with one another. More and more zombies gather outside the farm house. After a while, Judy and Tom decide to make a run for the gas pump. An unfortunate accident occurs, the truck blows up along with the gas pump, and Judy and Tom are devoured by ghouls.
Chances of survival now seem very slim for the remaining survivors. More zombies are pounding on the doors and windows and the barricades aren't going to last much longer. Ben and Harry get into another fight. Ben accidently shoots Harry and kills him. Helen runs into the basement only to be attacked by her daughter, who is now one of the living dead. The zombies finally break through the barriers and enter the house. Ghouls pour in from all sides. Johnny, Barbara's brother, is also one of the new zombies and he kills her. Ben, desperate with no place to go, backs himself into the basement and barricades the door the best he can.
From the basement we can hear the zombies rummaging through the house. Ben has to wait.
Finally, it is morning and the sun is shining. Ben quietly sneaks out of the basement. He sees that everything is in shambles, but no more zombies. He has survived the night!
Then there is the sound of a truck and voices coming from outside. Ben hurries to look through one of the windows. He sees a bunch of soldiers from the national guard. Unfortunately, Ben is mistaken for a zombie and gets shot in the head by one of the guardsmen. The end.