The film that put zombies and Romero on the map.
Watched it again tonight for a side project and while the film itself holds up well, the characters do not.
The women are all very weak and pretty much subservient to the men, which would cause protests outside theaters today. Ripley is nowhere to be found...
Also, people claim that this film has very serious messages about racism and such. I think people try to make art reflect their own opinions even when those messages are not there.
For example, and there are spoilers here, but it's a 40 year old movie so tough shit...the main character being black and getting killed at the end by white folks is, according to some, a statement about racism. If it was, Romero couldn't have disguised it any better. The white folks were an armed militia wiping out zombies in the area for days. Everything they came upon was a zombie and those zombies were all white. They killed them without hesitation. Ben was shot through a window in a darken room. He never made a sound to identify himself. The militia never made note that he could've been human. The house itself was torn apart, so it wouldn't have appeared to have held survivors. Where's the controversy? I think it's more along the lines of people seeing what they want to see.
Overall, it's a worthwhile flick to check out if only for its historical significance.