Night of the Living Dead (film series)

George A. Romero's Dead series
The original poster for Night of the Living Dead
Directed by	George A. Romero (1–6) Cameron Romero (7)
Produced by	Night of the Living Dead Karl Hardman Russell Streiner Dawn of the Dead Richard P. Rubinstein Day of the Dead Richard P. Rubinstein Land of the Dead Mark Canton Bernie Goldmann Peter Grunwald Diary of the Dead Peter Grunwald Sam Englebardt Artur Spigel Ara Katz Survival of the Dead Paula Devonshire
Screenplay by	George A. Romero (1-6) Cameron Romero (7)
Distributed by	The Walter Reade Organization (1) United Film Distribution Company (2-3) Universal Pictures (4) The Weinstein Company (5) Magnet Releasing (6)
Release date	1968-present
Country	United States
Language	English

Night of the Living Dead is a series of seven zombie horror films written and directed by George A. Romero and Cameron Romero beginning with the 1968 film Night of the Living Dead written by Romero and John A. Russo. The loosely connected franchise predominantly centers on different groups of people attempting to survive during the outbreak and evolution of a zombie apocalypse. The latest installment of the series, Survival of the Dead, was released in 2009, with Origins, a prequel film written and directed by Cameron Romero in the works.

After Night of the Living Dead's initial success, the two creators split in disagreement regarding where the series should head, and since the film was in the public domain, each were able to do what they liked with the continuity of their projects. Romero went on to direct five additional Dead films, while Russo branched into literary territory, writing Return of the Living Dead, which was later loosely adapted into a film of the same name and have its own franchise, and Escape of the Living Dead.

Labeled "Trilogy of the Dead" until Land of the Dead, each film is laden with social commentary on topics ranging from racism to consumerism. The films are not produced as direct follow-ups from one another and their only continuation is the theme of the epidemic of the living dead. This situation advances with each film, showing the world in a worsening state, but each film is independent of its predecessor. This is exemplified by the fact that each movie is set within the era it is filmed, with Land of the Dead being set in modern times with current (as of 2005) technology such as game consoles, flatscreen televisions, cell phones and other examples of modern tech. This would not have been possible if the original 1968 epidemic had progressed to the state that Dawn and Day had depicted, as no new technology would have been created. The fifth film does not continue the depiction of progress, but returns to the similar events depicted in the first film in the very beginning of a zombie outbreak. The films depict how different people react to the same phenomenon, ranging from citizens to police to army officials and to citizens again. Each takes place in a world worsened since its previous appearance, the number of zombies ever increasing and the living perpetually endangered, but with each entry being a standalone film that is not directly continuing global events from the previous.