What makes this movie work so well is that it relies on real scarry creatures, eerie direction and great use of black and white film while later versions relied on gory special effect body mutilations.
The movie starts right out with a funeral in a grave yard. A man and his sister are visiting their mother's grave and the woman is quite unnerved about being in the graveyard. The man starts to play on her uneasiness saying things like "Barbara, they're coming to get you Barbara." Suddenly up walks a kind of frightening man and her brother than says "here comes one of them now." We the audience still think nothing of it and the brother is still laughing and taunting his sister, when the strange man gets real close and then just starts attacking the brother. We experience real horror as we realize that it is not really a scarry looking man but a kind of zombie. After quickly dispatching her brother, the zombie starts to chase the already shaken Barbara. What follows is a very tense, well directed chase. Barbara somehow gets away from the man/zombie and makes it to a house. In the house she meets a few people that have taken refuge from the apparent army of zombies that are now walking around the area trying to kill anyone they see.
We then meet the real star of the movie, a black man who serves as the "sane" leader of the refugees giving them direction on how to fortify the house against the attacking zombies.
What follows are many tense moments inside the house as the people argue about what they need to do to surivive.
Don't watch this movie at home alone!
