Growing up in Pittsburgh, I’ve heard my hometown be called a range of nicknames — Steel City, Golden Triangle and City of Bridges, just to name a few — but it wasn’t until watching the 1968 horror movie “Night of the Living Dead” that I learned Pittsburgh is the Zombie Capital of the World.

The locally set and filmed thriller, revered as one of the “100 best movies of the past 10 decades” by Time Magazine and “a manifesto for the modern horror film” by the British Film Institute, will celebrate its 55th anniversary this October. So it only seems right that I wrap up my Retro Review series with this historic flick that still captivates audiences today. 

The film opens on a picturesque southwestern Pennsylvanian backdrop as siblings Johnny and Barbra drive along Franklin Road through the hills of Butler County on their way to visit their father’s grave in the Evans City Cemetery. Little do they know that corpses are rising from the dead across the country to devour human flesh. 

Johnny is the ghouls’ first victim, but Barbra, played by Pittsburgh native Judith O’Dea, is able to escape to a remote farmhouse. There, she meets protagonist Ben, played by Duane Jones, and five other strangers who are also hiding from the relentless attacks. Fear builds as the ragtag group attempts to defend the ground floor, shot in a house on Ash Stop Road in Evans City, and fortify the cellar, shot in the basement of a Downtown office building on Fort Pitt Boulevard. 

The homegrown horror is unique to director George A. Romero, who graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in 1960 and soon after formed Image Ten Productions with his friends. The colleagues chipped in their own money to get the company off the ground, and “Night of the Living Dead” filming began in 1968 with a $100,000 budget. 

Romero casted Evans City residents in leading roles and relied on crew members to perform as extras. The low-budget, DIY cinematic style created a sense of hyper-realism that made the film’s gore even more terrifying, and thus mesmerizing, to audiences.

“Night of the Living Dead” went on to gross more than $50 million and is still regarded as the blueprint for modern zombie movies.

Romero took thrillers out of Dracula’s gothic castles and Dr. Frankenstein’s cobwebbed laboratories and placed them into a new modern atmosphere — one where horror is not defined by the monsters that prowl outside, but rather by the civility and sanity that humans lose when they face those monsters. 

The new model allowed Romero to develop complex socio-political commentary as he captured the horrors of a society destroying itself from within. According to Time Magazine, the film paints a “clear metaphor for the indefinable anxieties tearing at the world” in 1968 — primarily those relating to the Civil Rights Movement and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

A supplemental note to Gen Z readers: While the plot moves a little slow for those used to 21st century thrillers, “Night of the Living Dead” is worth a watch to witness the start of modern horror, no matter what kind of fan you are.

1. If you’re a suspense junkie, watch for the plot twist: Don’t worry — there are no spoiler alerts here! All I will say is that my jaw dropped during the last scene as I processed an ending that I could have never seen coming.
2. If you’re a series lover, watch for Romero’s horror evolution: Romero didn’t stop with “Night of the Living Dead.” From 1978 to 2009, he released four more installments of his zombie thrillers.
3. If you’re a special effects nerd, watch for Romero’s DIY gore: This film is known for its creative use of a small budget. Keep your eye out for the techniques that kept costs low, such using chocolate syrup to create the look of dried blood around zombies’ lips.
4. If you’re a superfan of “The Walking Dead”… watch to pay homage to the original zombie: If you’ve religiously followed Rick’s story over the past decade, it’s time to pay your respects to Romero, who laid the groundwork for all modern representations of zombies.
5. If you’re a cosplay enthusiast, watch to prepare for The Living Dead Weekend: The annual Evans City Living Dead Weekend will be held Oct. 20-22 this year in Steamfitters Event Center, bringing vendors, panels and celebrity appearances by actors such as Judith O’Dea to the Zombie Capital of the World. If you can’t make it, stop by the Living Dead Museum & Gift Shop in the Monroeville Mall for memorabilia exhibits and official merchandise.