George A Romero creates the world of the near future, where mankind is threatened by an outbreak of zombies living dead who feed on the flesh of survivors, with one bite turning the victim into another zombie. In this hellish world, four people are thrown together by chance two SWAT team members (Hen Foree and Scott H Reiniger) and TV station workers Stephen (David Emge) and Francine (Gaylen Ross). Together they decide to attempt an escape by stealing the station's helicopter.
Everywhere they go, there are more zombies. With refuelling becoming a problem, they search for somewhere safe where they can hold off the zombies. They finally stop at a large suburban shopping mall, where zombies follow the habits of a lifetime wandering mindlessly amongst the shops. They realise that if they can block off the entrances and kill off the zombies inside, the mall offers everything they need to survive for an extended period. However, there are more than zombies to contend with, as looters too recognise the mall as a resource.
This is one of the best-loved and most-definitive films of the zombie genre. The zombies are at once believable, frightening, funny and objects of pathos. Placing them in the oh-so-familiar setting of the mall with its fountains, escalators and 'muzak' is humorous, gruesome and a little ironic a mockery of suburban America. All the main players produce strong comic-book style characters, some more likeable than others, but all with their redeeming qualities. The arrival of the biker raiders offers an interesting counterpoint that demonstrates that some humans can be even worse than zombies. The director's cut DVD is the full uncut version, which restores nearly a quarter-of-an-hour's worth of footage to the theatrical release.