Night of the Living Dead: parents' guide
Best for ages 16 and up. Not formally rated.
A groundbreaking black-and-white zombie film for teens who can handle grim, hopeless horror. Strangers barricade themselves in a farmhouse as the dead rise and attack. The effects look dated, but the content is still strong: zombies eat human organs, a little girl who has turned feeds on her father and kills her mother with a garden trowel, and the survivors turn on each other. Language is mild and there's no sex. The bleak ending offers no relief. It came out just before the rating system began, so it was never rated. Because of the cannibalism and the deaths of a parent and child, we suggest 16.
What's in it
Violence
StrongZombies tear into and eat human remains, with entrails and organs shown, and a zombie girl chews on her dead father and stabs her mother repeatedly with a trowel. Zombies are shot in the head, clubbed and burned; survivors fight, and one shoots another.
Language
MildMild: "damn," "hell," "goddamn" and "bastards." The BBFC also lists a single s-word. No f-words.
Sex and nudity
MildNo sexual content. A female zombie is briefly seen nude from behind, and a young couple shares a few tender moments.
Drinking, drugs and smoking
ModerateSeveral characters smoke cigarettes during the siege. Nobody drinks alcohol, and no drug use is shown.
Scary or intense scenes
StrongSustained siege terror, with hordes of the dead clawing at boarded windows, a zombie child, and constant screaming. Roger Ebert described children at a 1968 matinee left stunned and silent. The ending is shockingly bleak.
Sensitive topics
- Death of a parent
- Death of a child
Worth talking about
The Black hero is shot by a white posse at the end, a scene many critics read as commentary on racism in 1968 America. Talk about what the ending says about fear and who gets seen as a threat.
On our lists
Similar picks around 16+
Checked October 13th, 2026 against Common Sense Media, bbfc.co.uk, Wikipedia. The age is our judgment, not an official rating, and every family draws its lines differently: read the notes, not just the number. Spotted something we missed? Tell us. How we rate.