* Filmed on a shoestring budget of $114,000

* Much of the blood used was actually Bosco Chocolate Syrup - not only was it cheap, but it read darker than most red substances on black and white film stock, adding to the realism.

* Columbia Pictures was the only big Hollywood studio interesting in distributing the film. Ultimately, they decided against it as it was in black and white.

* The car used in the cemetary scene was involved in a crash between shoots, bearing a large dent down the left hand side. Romero rewrote a scene so that the car would appear to smash into a tree.

* Tom Savini was originally hired to do the make up but was called up by the US army literally weeks before production commenced.