George A. Romero

What begins as a simple visit to a gravesite soon escalates into a night of sheer terror when bloodthirsty zombies suddenly begin amassing everywhere. Will they survive?

Akin and Mary meet for the first time at an airport where they accidentally bump into each other and mistakenly swap their identical phones . This leads to a destination mix up after they receive one another's text regarding a travel destination. Consequently, Akin ends up traveling to where Mary is supposed to go and vice versa. Neither knows about the swap until they have reached their opposite destinations and "the phone" stops ringing (In Mary's case) and "Won't stop ringing" (In Akins's case) . As a result of the phone swap, they agree to help carry out each other's missions, armed with the information and data on each other's phone. But it's not as easy as they both think as new obstacles and complications rise at every turn as they both struggle to adapt to their alien environment and situation. Mary has to walk in Akins shoes and represent him in a company meeting while Akin has to represent Mary in her the family meeting. This they do with hilarious results

The film opens with a recap of the zombie outbreak during the credits, and we are brought to the time setting of today. In a small, run-down town, zombies are everywhere, and they seem to retain knowledge of their lives before they died. Some zombies try to play instruments in a town square. A teenage boy zombie holds hands with a female teenage zombie as if on a date. The teenage zombies walk past a gas station, where the zombie attendant hears the bell that signifies that someone is there. The zombie walks outside and is ready to fill a car with gas, but he sees that there is no car so he puts back the gas nozzle. From the name-tag that he has, his name is Big Daddy (Eugene Clark). Watching Big Daddy through binoculars is Riley (Simon Baker) and his new rookie. Riley sees that the zombies are getting somewhat smarter, and that they are thinking more. This worries him. Riley is a part of a group of humans who venture out to small towns and gather essential supplies for people back at the last known human city. Riley built a vehicle that is justly named 'Dead Reckoning', which is basically a combination of a bus, train, and tank. It is fully loaded with machine guns, rockets, and fireworks. Riley and the rookie meet up with Cholo (John Leguizamo), who also has the same job as Riley of collecting supplies as well as dumping trash in a nearby landfill. Riley tells Cholo that the zombies are thinking, and to be careful when they go into the town. Cholo brushes off the warning, but Riley gets his point across. It is Riley's last night out, and he doesn't want anyone dying. Cholo reveals that it is his last night out as well. A figure is walking towards Riley and the rookie, but they don't see it. The rookie turns around, sees it, and gets ready to blast it to hell when Riley recognizes it and orders the rookie to lower his weapon. It is only Charlie (Robert Joy), a man who has half of his face burnt from a fire. Charlie is slightly retarded. He is Riley's right-hand man, and is his trusted friend. Charlie and Riley wonder how Cholo is retiring tonight, unless he won the lottery. The rag-tag team of humans get in their jeeps and motorcycles, and proceed towards the town. Pretty Boy (Joanne Boland), the female operator of Dead Reckoning, fires off some fireworks over the town. All the zombies stare at the sky, their attentions focused on the lights. This allows Riley and the humans to move freely throughout the town unnoticed. Big Daddy is the only zombie who does not look at the fireworks. He sees his fellow undead companions looking at the sky, and he tries to shake their attention from it. The humans are just about finished with finding things to bring back home when Cholo tells Riley that he just needs to make one more stop at a store. Cholo really is going to the shop to steal alcohol, which sells well on the streets back home. Riley urges him not to go, but Cholo ignores him. He takes the rookie and Foxy (Tony Nappo). There's something wrong: the fireworks are jammed. The zombies are starting to become aware of the humans in their midst, and start to stumble towards them. Riley orders Dead Reckoning and the rest of his team to evacuate and retreat back home. Riley and Charlie will go and bring back Cholo with his men. Dead Reckoning starts to head out and blasts away many zombies with its machine guns. Big Daddy sees the danger of the guns and tries to get the other zombies to take cover, but they are not getting it. He holds onto a zombie's head and tries to push him towards the ground, but the machine gun fire blasts the zombie's head off. Big Daddy, still holding onto the zombie's head, sees that it is still alive. To put it out of its misery, he drops the head and stomps on it, crushes its brains. Big Daddy roars with rage. Back at the shop, while looking for some quality alcohol, Cholo is jumped by a zombie. Foxy and the rookie can't get a clean shot, but Cholo prevails safely when he pulls his spear gun from his leg and blasts the zombie's brains out. He collects the alcohol and stops at the counter. He empties a box and tells the rookie to collect it. Some of it falls behind the counter. Cholo and Foxy wait outside. The rookie reaches over the counter and a security guard zombie bites a chunk out of his hand. The rookie screams in pain and stumbles outside. Riley and Charlie pull up to the store and see what's happening. Riley blasts the zombie's brains out. Cholo orders Riley to step aside, as the rookie is going to become one of them. While Riley argues about the rookie's fate, the rookie snatches Riley's pistol and blows his own brains out. This is not how Riley wanted to start his retirement. Riley, Charlie, Cholo, and Foxy go back to the city. Before one of the bikers leaves, Big Daddy tries to grab him but instead grabs his machine gun. Big Daddy doesn't know what to do with it, but slings it over his shoulder and starts to walk in the direction that Dead Reckoning left. The other zombies, including a butcher zombie (Boyd Banks), a tambourine-playing zombie from the town sqare (Jasmin Geljo), a blond female athlete zombie wearing a woman's red softball uniform (Jennifer Baxter) with the number 9 printed on it, as well as the zombie teenage couple and several others, follow Big Daddy. Arriving back at their base that has an underground tunnel leading under a river to the fortified city, Cholo and Foxy watch a commercial for Fiddler's Green, an upper-class community that resides on a hill overlooking the city. It has its own mall, bank, and restaurants with tuxedo-clad waiters. The wealthy live there, and everyone else lives in the streets below. The city is fortified with electrified fences and soldiers staying on guard. At the barrier, a stray zombie tries to climb the fence, but is electrocuted and shot to pieces. The city is surrounded by water on all sides, and the main way to get into the city is called The Throat, which is a bridge. Fiddler's Green is where Cholo wants to retire, and he is confident Kaufman (Dennis Hopper), the owner and manager, will allow him to enter. Riley confronts Cholo about the rookie's death, but Cholo tells him that is the price they pay, and they all knew the risks that came with the job. Cholo takes the finest alcohol he stole and starts to head on over to Fiddler's Green. Riley and Charlie give antibiotics to a homeless man's son, and they head on over to a garage. Riley invested his money in a car, and he was going to drive away to a place with less people, somewhere north like Canada. But, his car is gone and he is not happy about it. Riley and Charlie head off to meet Chihuahua (Phil Fondacaro), who had promised Riley the car. Cholo goes through Fiddler's Green's lavish mall and eventually makes his way to Kaufman's office on the top floor of the building. He pours some champagne into glasses and gives one to Kaufman. Cholo tells him that he is going to retire with all the money Kaufman owes him. Kaufman, however, tells him that space is limited in Fiddler's Green. Cholo sees right through this statement and the millionaire tells him that only certain people are allowed to live there. Kaufman basically tells him that he is not good enough to live there, and sends in a security officer. Kaufman tells Cholo that they will talk again when Cholo is less excited and sends him away. He tells the security officer that he will no longer need Cholo's "services". He understands, and tries to kill Cholo in the stairway, but Cholo is smarter and knocks him out. This double-cross is the last straw for Cholo. He leaves. Riley and Charlie go to Chihuahua's underground place, which basically is a Vegas-like joint where people can gamble and buy prostitutes. People can even take a picture with a zombie at a booth (the zombies at the picture booth are Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright of "Shaun of the Dead"). Chihuahua is a midget who acts tough but couldn't hold his own in a fight. Riley confronts him about his car, but he says that he'll find it soon. He signals one of his guards to keep an eye on Riley. Tonight is a new kind of betting: people bet on which zombie will win in a fight. One zombie is spray-painted black on his mouth while the other is spray-painted red. In order to make them fight, they throw in a prostitute named Slack (Asia Argento). She tries desperately to fend off the ravenous zombies while the crowd of gamblers cheer for their zombie to win. Riley sees what's going on, sees that no one is going to help this poor woman, and shoots/kills the two zombies in the ring. The shots prompt panic and everyone rushes to get out. Chihuahua tries to leave too. Charlie pulls out his rifle, licks the barrel, aims carefully, and blasts his head open. One of Chihuahua's men tries to shoot Riley, but Slack kicks him out of the way and takes the bullet for him in her arm. Charlie kills the other man. The police arrive and demand to know what is going on. All that is left is Riley, Charlie, and Slack. Riley just tells them "someone shot the little man." Meanwhile, Big Daddy and the zombies get to a blocked pathway. They don't know how to get in, but Big Daddy sees the Butcher still holding his meat cleaver. He signals for him to hit the board blocking them with the cleaver, and the Butcher does. He hits the board repeatedly until Big Daddy can look through it. A couple of zombies suddenly appear in front of the hole in the board, and Big Daddy sees that they are hung upside down. He looks around and sees other zombies hanging upside down and having targets wrapped around their bodies. Big Daddy sees his target for all the pain his fellow zombies have endured: Fiddler's Green. Riley, Charlie and Slare are in the city jail. Charlie asks Slack why she was put in the cage with the zombies. She tells him that she wanted to become a soldier, but someone else thought she would be a better whore and put her on the street. Riley tells her that she didn't answer Charlie's question. Slack tells them that Kaufman runs everything in and around Fiddler's Green, from the betting to the prostitution. She tried to help out some people of whom Kaufman didn't think too highly, and so he sentenced her to the cage fight. Slack asks Riley what his story is, and he says that nothing bad happened to him. She says that the zombies happened to everyone, and that's bad. Riley is not one for conversation, so Slack just pulls out a joint from her boot and smokes it. Cholo, Foxy, Pretty Boy, Mouse (Max McCabe), and several other people decide to steal Dead Reckoning and hold Fiddler's Green for ransom. They try to pass off old papers as current ones requesting them to take Dead Reckoning from the soldier's hands, but the soldier to whom they give the papers doesn't buy it. Cholo hears gunfire and takes out his gun, wondering what it is. The soldier says that it is nothing to worry about, and that it is only target practice. Meanwhile, two soldiers are wasting time and shooting at a giant inflatable person. The shooter is saying that he would shoot better if the other soldier wouldn't keep breathing down his neck. The other soldier is confused, as he is not close to the soldier. He turns on the light behind him and searches the surrounding grounds. He doesn't see anything, but he hears something out there. Big Daddy suddenly appears with the horde of zombies and attack the two soldiers. Cholo hears the screams and asks if they're practicing screaming too. The alarm goes off and the soldiers leave Cholo and his crews unguarded. They take Dead Reckoning and see that Big Daddy and the zombies are knocking over an non-electric fence. Soldiers are blasting the zombies, but there are too many of them. They knock the fence down and feast upon the soldiers, tearing them apart. The soldiers are getting slaughtered. Cholo and company take off in Dead Reckoning. Upon seeing the vehicle, Big Daddy remembers what it did to the other zombies and squeezes his machine gun in his hand. It fires into the ground. He then points the gun at Dead Reckoning and fires at it. He hits it, but some of his shots miss and blow up a propane tank. One of the zombies catches on fire, and Big Daddy shoots and kills him to put him out of his misery. Big Daddy sees Fiddler's Green across the body of water and starts to move towards the lake with the other zombies including Butcher, Number 9, Tambourine Man, and the zombie teen couple. Cholo contacts Kaufman, who is a bit annoyed that he is still alive. Cholo tells Kaufman the deal: Kaufman will give him and his crew $5 million or he will blow Fiddler's Green apart using Dead Reckoning. He wants the money transported to the port. Kaufman has until midnight, which is a couple of hours away. Kaufman talks with another businessman, and tells him that he will not deal with terrorists. However, Dead Reckoning could destroy their lifestyle and community. Kaufman has Riley pulled out of jail and brought to his office. He tells Riley that Cholo has taken Dead Reckoning and that he wants back his two million dollar vehicle. He charges Riley to bring it back; Cholo can be brought back dead or alive. Riley wants his friends to help him with this mission. Kaufman allows it. All Riley wants in return is a car and plenty of weapons to last him a long time. He is fully prepared to travel to Canada in hopes of less people and zombies. Kaufman agrees. While Riley and Kaufman are discussing their deal, Charlie and Slack are talking back in jail. Charlie tells Slack that he takes care of Riley. Slack asks him why. Charlie says that Riley pulled him out of the fire that scarred him, and that they have been friends ever since. Cholo is working out in Dead Reckoning while talking to Foxy. Cholo justifies his actions by saying that unless he does something, he's going to end up like the poor bastard outside (it's a zombie with a lawn mower). Cholo stops working out, pulls out his spear gun, and shoots the zombie in the eye. Cholo then orders Mouse to go to the port and wait for Kaufman's boat. Mouse will then report back to Cholo if they are rich or not. Mouse gets off Dead Reckoning on his skateboard and goes to a boathouse on the port. He gets scared of the movement within the boathouse, but it turns out to be rats. Riley, Slack, and Charlie are released from jail and are getting geared up with weapons from the army. A soldier offers Charlie a machine gun that fires 18 bullets per second, but Charlie says that he won't need that many and prefers his rifle. The soldier calls him a retard. Riley tells the soldier that he shouldn't make fun of him. Slack takes the machine gun happily. But, Kaufman doesn't completely trust Riley and his friends. In come three soldiers that will make sure Riley doesn't fail: a tough Latino named Manolete (Sasha Roiz), a wisecracking female solder nicknamed Motown (Krista Bridges), and a hulking eithnic Samoa soldier named Pillsbury (Pedro Miguel Arce). They head to the army post where they can get a vehicle, but they find it in flames and in ruin from the previous massacre that took place when Cholo left. They search the nearby parts for keys for a jeep, with Riley and Manolete going off on their own while Charlie and everyone else hang around a jeep. Riley and Manolete come across a severed foot in an army boot in the supply room. It is dark except for Manolete's flashlight. They hear a dripping sound. Upon further searching, they find a couple of zombies feasting on dead bodies. Manolete is ready to blast them away with his machine gun, but Riley tells him that they should use their hand guns. Riley and Manolete blast the zombies away, and they encounter Brubaker, now a zombie, chewing on a femur bone. Riley blasts his brains out. Outside, Motown decides to hotwire a jeep. Charlie licks his rifle, then aims at something lurking about. Slack asks him why he licks his gun, and he just says that it is to prevent the reflection from getting into his vision. Slack asks him how can he even see, seeing how his aiming eye is on the burnt side of his face. He points the rifle at her face. She gets scared and pulls her machine gun out, but Charlie was really aiming directly next to Slack and blasts a zombie square in the forehead. She aims her machine gun at Charlie and pulls the trigger, but she was returning the favor by killing a zombie behind him. However, the shot was so close to Charlie that his ear starts to bleed (he complains that his shot didn't hurt her). Riley and Manolete meet up with the team at the jeep. Once they are all in the jeep, a decapitated zombie walks up to Manolete and freaks him out. The zombie is not decapitated, though; the head is hanging behind his back. The zombie snaps ! his head forward and bites Manolete's arm. Pillsbury kills the zombie and they drive off. It turns out that Riley can track Dead Reckoning with a homing device he placed in its center. Riley also reveals that his little brother was bitten by a zombie. In under than an hour, he turned and Riley had to kill him. Slack tells him that he was lying when he said nothing bad happened to him. He says coldly "nothing bad happened to me. That happened to my brother". Slack turns around and kills Manolete, since he is going to die. Meanwhile, Big Daddy and the zombies are at the lake, and they are all staring at the water. Big Daddy jumps in to give an example, and the zombies follow. Slack is driving the jeep, and Riley tells her quickly to pull over. She does, and Charlie holds Pillsbury and Motown at gunpoint. Riley knows that Kaufman will probably not live up to their deal and probably paid off the three soldiers to kill him and his friends once they find Dead Reckoning. Riley tells them that once they find Dead Reckoning, he will do whatever he wants with it. If they have a problem, they will be killed. They continue to drive and locate Dead Reckoning. Meanwhile, Mouse informs Cholo that the money didn't make it. He then blasts away a zombie that tried to get into the boathouse. When he goes to inspect the body, he is overrun by zombies, including one dressed like a clown. They eat him. Big Daddy and his clan cross the lake and head to the streets of the human city. The zombies first attack two girls who were making out, then they attack everyone. Note: Tom Savini makes a zombie cameo as his biker character from the original Dawn of the Dead and hacks apart many people with his machete. The zombies are using shovels, chains, guns, knives, and various other weapons (including their teeth) as means of dismembering people. It is total chaos in the streets below Fiddler's Green. The Butcher zombie attacks a soldier with his cleaver. The soldier has a grenade in his hand and pulls the safety pin out. The Butcher hacks off the soldier's hand (still holding the grenade), and the soldier falls onto his own hand. The grenade explodes and blows the soldier in half. The female softball player zombie, Number 9, manages to grab an M-16 assault rifle from a scared soldier. She doesn't know what to do with it, and this gives the soldier some time to reach for his back-up weapon. Big Daddy comes by and shows Number 9 how to pull the trigger. He directs the machine gun from firing into the ground to firing into the soldier's crotch, then his belly, then his upper body. Number 9 reluctantly drops her softball bat, and now holds onto the rifle and opens fire on more humans until she runs out of ammuntion. The Tambourine zombie relunctantly drops his tambourine to take posession of a crowbar for use as a weapon against the humans. Riley and his group find Dead Reckoning. Pillsbury punches Motown out, thus being trusted by Riley. Riley and Charlie walk out to Dead Reckoning alone while Pillsbury and Slack hide in the nearby bushes. Motown is left in the jeep, knocked out. Riley and Charlie eventually talk their way in into the vehicle but are held at gunpoint by Cholo and his men. Cholo pulls out his spear gun and holds it under Riley's chin. Pretty Boy gets ready to fire rockets at Fiddler's Green. Riley protests, mainly because even if they hit it dead on, the destruction will kill many innocent people in the streets below. Slack sees that they are in danger, and she gets ready to fire. Motown wakes up, grabs a gun, and runs to the vehicle. She gets jumped by a zombie, who bites and rips a chunk out of her neck. Riley hears her screaming, sees Slack in the bushes, and pushes Cholo out of Dead Reckoning. Slack fires and hits Cholo in the stomach. She and Pillsbury then blow away Motown and the zombie that attacked her. Charlie gets his gun back and turns the tables on Cholo's crew. Kaufman sees and hears the explosions outside in the streets below and thinks that Dead Reckoning has fired upon the city. Riley tells him (via phone) that it's not Cholo. Kaufman then fills out a couple of bags with money and is getting ready to leave. One of the businessmen sees what Kaufman is doing. Kaufman tells him to get down because there is a zombie nearby. The guy gets on the floor without looking and Kaufman shoots him. There wasn't a zombie anywhere near them, and Kaufman along with his black servant head down towards the mall. Riley allows Cholo to leave with Foxy, and gives them guns. Riley then takes over Cholo's crew and Pretty Boy turns Dead Reckoning towards the city to save the people. Cholo and Foxy start to walk away when they encounter a zombie. The zombie bites Cholo and he stabs it in the head with a knife. Cholo is now doomed and Foxy aims his shotgun at his head. "It's your call" he says. Cholo says "no" and "I've always wanted to know how the other side lives". They take the jeep that Riley used to get there and drive back to the city outskirts. Cholo has a score to settle with Kaufman. Cholo wishes Foxy the best of luck, and Foxy drives away without Cholo. He starts to walk towards Fiddler's Green. Big Daddy and the zombies are at the mall's entrance. They can't get in. Big Daddy, who is now holding a jackhammer by this time, uses it to smash the windows of the mall's entrance. The zombies follow his example and they gain access to the mall. They tear apart the upper-class snobs in the mall. The shoppers trample over each other trying to avoid certain death. Big Daddy encounters Kaufman and his servant. Kaufman tells Big Daddy that he "has no right" and shoots him, but keeps missing his head and hitting him in the leg and shoulder. Big Daddy roars with anger and continues to pursue Kaufman, who has gone to the underground parking complex. His servant unlocks the flashy car and then goes to open the garage door. While he is gone, Big Daddy sneaks up on the car and starts to smash it with his bare hands. The servant sees the zombie and runs away... in the opposite direction... with the car keys. Big Daddy sees the gas nozzle nearby, and starts to pour gasoline all over the car. He smashes the windshield with the nozzle and pours the gas inside of the car. Big Daddy then leaves. Also, some of the people who survived the attacks on the mall and on the streets are now running to the gates of the city. However, the gates are still electrocuted. Zombies are still following them, and they are trapped. They are doomed. Meanwhile, Dead Reckoning is just outside of the city's main bridge, Deep Throat. Riley has to get off and open the gate, seeing how it is up. While he goes inside and pushes the button to lower the bridge, Dead Reckoning is bombarded with hordes of zombies. Zombies are scratching at the vehicle and breaking their fingers/fingernails. One of the undead lunges for Riley and causes him to drop his gun. He yells out for Slack to kill it, but she's having her own problems with the zombies directly outside. Riley manages to decapitate the zombie using some controls from the bridge. Pretty Boy drives Dead Reckoning around, crushing most of the zombies around them. Slack then tells Riley to jump up on the roof, and he does, narrowly missing the clutches of zombies. They cross the bridge to get to the city, but they don't see a legless zombie is still holding onto the vehicle on the back. Kaufman gets out of his car and looks around for Big Daddy. He gets out a reserve set of car keys from his bag and plans to drive way himself. Instead, Cholo comes from the shadows and pulls out his spear gun. He misses Kaufman, and is subsequently shot in the chest. He doesn't go down. Kaufman shoots him in the leg. Nothing. He shoots him in the shoulder. Cholo slowly slumps to the ground. While Kaufman is not looking, Cholo gets back up and attacks him. Kaufman is out of bullets, and Cholo is a zombie. Before Cholo can tear out his throat, Big Daddy returns with a propane tank on fire. He rolls it to the car and because it is drenched in gasoline, it explodes, killing both the zombie Cholo and Kaufman. Big Daddy is happy. Dead Reckoning finally reaches the city, but they only find zombies eating people. It seems like there are no survivors in the city. Riley orders Charlie and Pretty Boy to fire the rockets at the zombies to destroy them. She does, and the zombies explode. When the smoke clears, Riley sees that nothing is moving. Everyone is dead. But then people slowly come out of hiding and walk towards Dead Reckoning. There are survivors. They plan on rebuilding the city slowly but surely. Riley still wants to leave for Canada. Slack, Pretty Boy, Pillsbury, Charlie, and the two other people in Dead Reckoning agree and they plan on going with Riley. Riley sees Big Daddy once again through binoculars who is leading his zombies out of the city. He decides not to kill him, though, because the zombies are only looking for their own place to live, just like Riley and his friends are. The legless zombie on the back of the vehicle jumps a crew member, but Pillsbury manages to kill the zombie. Riley and his crew take off for Canada in Dead Reckoning and fire fireworks in the sky, since they won't be needing them anymore.

Ana (Sarah Polley), a nurse, finishes a long shift at her Milwaukee County hospital and returns to her peaceful suburban home. She and her waiting husband Louis (Justin Louis) make love and go to sleep, missing warnings beginning to trickle through the local media concerning a mysterious and rapidly-spreading contagion which turns its infected hosts into reanimated flesh-eating ghouls. The next morning they are awoken by their zombified neighbor, Vivian, a young girl, who bites Louis in the throat. Ana locks the zombie out of the room, but despite her frantic efforts, Louis dies. When Ana unsuccessfully attempts to call 911 for help, Louis immediately awakens as a reanimated zombie, and chases Ana into the bathroom. Ana escapes out the window and flees from her now chaos-torn neighborhood in her car, before a failed hijacking attempt sends her crashing into a tree. The opening credits roll, showing the worldwide collapse of human civilization. Ana meets Kenneth (Ving Rhames), a grim police sergeant traveling to Fort Pastor, a nearby U.S. Army base. With the route to the base blocked by zombies, they and three others - jack-of-all-trades Michael (Jake Weber), petty criminal Andre (Mekhi Phifer) and his pregnant Russian wife Luda (Inna Korobkina)- break into the nearby Crossroads Shopping Mall. Inside the mall, a scuffle with a zombified mall security guard results in Luda getting a minor bite-wound and Kenneth getting a cut on his arm. They confront three living security guards - C.J. (Michael Kelly), Bart (Michael Barry) and Terry (Kevin Zegers) - and give up their weapons in exchange for refuge. After the group secures the mall, they head up to the mall's roof to dispose of bodies and paint SOS signs. There, they "meet" another survivor, Andy (Bruce Bohne), who is stranded alone in his gun store, across the mall's zombie-infested parking lot. The next day, a delivery truck arrives at the mall, carrying the driver Norma (Jayne Eastwood), jerkish businessman Steve (Ty Burrell), working man Tucker (Boyd Banks), elderly Glen (R.D. Reid), trampy Monica (Kim Poirier), bitten Frank (Matt Frewer) and his teen daughter Nicole (Lindy Booth), and an anonymous (and severely-injured) obese woman (Ermes Blarasin). These newcomers report that Fort Pastor has been overrun by zombies and no help is coming. Shortly after, the obese woman dies, reanimates and is killed by Ana, who thrusts a metal fireplace poker into her eye. The group determines that bites are how the zombies multiply their numbers; after Ana and Michael argue about what to do with the rapidly-deteriorating Frank, the man is isolated in a store with guard Kenneth, allowing him "every single second" before expiring. Michael and Ana achieve an awkward reconciliation, which is interrupted by Kenneth's shotgun blast as he destroys Frank's reanimated body. Though the mall provides many material distractions and the survivors begin pairing off romantically (Ana and Michael, Terry and Nicole, Steve and Monica), the undead surround the refuge in ever-increasing numbers. Finally the malls power goes out and Michael, C.J., Bart and Kenneth enter the underground parking garage to turn on the emergency generator. They meet a friendly dog (Blue) who appears unharmed nor infected. They question this when a zombie suddenly bites Bart, which attracts more zombies that forces the group to flee. While trying to avoid the horde, Michael and Kenneth reach the generator compartment and C.J. joins them when Bart is overwhelmed and killed by the zombies. C.J., Michael and Kenneth are forced to leave Bart for dead. They eventually work together to douse the zombies with gasoline and set them ablaze. Andre, faced with the fact that Luda will soon die, sinks totally into denial, and has his heavily-pregnant and infected wife tied to a bed in the mall's children's store. As she gives birth, she dies and reanimates. Norma checks on the couple, discovering the zombie-Luda and the demented Andre clutching a small bundle of blankets. Norma shoots Luda, causing Andre to snap completely; they exchange more gunfire and both are killed. Ana arrives on scene and opens the bundle to reveal a zombie baby. She pulls her revolver and a single shot rings through the mall. At an impromptu memorial, Kenneth says anything is better than "sitting around waiting to die". The remaining mall-dwellers thus plot to fight their way to the local marina, and from there travel out on Steve's small yacht to an island in Lake Michigan. They reinforce two small shuttle buses from the parking garage, removing the seats, welding on a snowplow, attaching metal bars and floodlights, stringing barbed wire, boarding up the windows, and cutting slits for the deployment of weapons. Chainsaws, propane tanks and other supplies are also loaded on board. Meanwhile, Andy is starving, and will not have the strength to join the escape (and contribute much-needed ammunition), so the mall survivors strap a pack of food on "Chips", the dog from the basement, and lower him into the parking lot in a sling. Unfortunately, while Chips makes it safely to the gun-shop, a zombie sees the dog and gets in as well and bites Andy. Nicole, distraught over Chips, takes the delivery truck and barges her way into the gun store, where a now-zombified Andy traps her in a closet. Kenneth, Michael, C.J., Terry, and Tucker gather their meager weapon supply and go into the sewers, while Steve is assigned guard-duty on their exit door. They reach the gun store, where they kill Andy, rescue Nicole and stock up on weapons and ammunition. A detonated propane tank is used to clear a path back to the sewers, but the zombies pursue them. Along the way, Tucker breaks his legs and, despite C.J.'s desperate attempts to pull him to safety, is attacked by the perusing zombies, forcing C.J. to shoot him dead out of mercy. Thanks to Steve's negligence, the zombies force open the exit door. The survivors pile into the buses and smash out into the parking lot, where another propane bomb is used to clear a path through the waiting horde. When Glen moves to take out a last hitchhiking zombie with a chainsaw, a sudden swerve sends the weapon slashing into Monica's shoulder. The resulting splatter of blood covers the windshield, causing driver Kenneth to lose control and crash. Glen and Monica are killed, while Steve flees the toppled bus and is attacked by the hitchhiking zombie. The others scramble for the second bus, meeting zombie-Steve en route. Ana shoots him dead, then must linger long enough to get the boat keys off his corpse, allowing more zombies to catch up with them. Ana flees back to the bus, where Michael helps her in. After a short struggle, they pull away and speed to the marina dock, where they crash the bus and dash for the boat. Cornered in the bus by their pursuers, C.J. detonates a final propane tank blowing up the vehicle, the zombies, and himself. The remainder of the group gets on the boat, except for Michael; he was bitten while helping Ana. Ana futilely pleads with him to come, and the boat sets sail with Terry, Ana, Kenneth, Nicole, and Chips. Ana watches unflinchingly as Michael draws his pistol, places it under his chin, and a final gunshot rings out over the water. The end-credits roll, interspersed with video footage taken by Terry, using a camera from the boat. Following a grim voyage where water, fuel and food supplies all run low, the remaining survivors succeed in reaching an island, only to be immediately attacked by a new swarm of zombies. As the survivors attempt to retreat to the boat, the camera falls to the ground and blacks out, leaving their ultimate fate unknown.

Castle Rock, Maine. 1968. 13-year-old Thad Beaumont is a junior high school student who wants to become a writer and spends many hours in his bedroom writing violent-themed stories. His mother buys him a typewriter to use and soon, Thad starts having violent headaches and hearing strange noises... like hundreds of small birds screeching. One day while waiting for the school bus, he collapses and is taken to the hospital where X-rays show "mass" in his brain that is thought to be a tumor which requires surgery. The exploratory operation reveals that the growth in his brain is actually a fetus complete with an eye, teeth, and fingernails. The doctor summaries that it is Thad's twin embryo which never developed and which Thad's fetus absorbed. The growth is removed, while at the same time, thousands of screeching birds fly around the hospital. 23 years later. A grown-up Thad Beaumont is a fairly successful writer who teaches an intermediate writing class at the local university. He is married to Liz and they have two twin children, a 10-month old boy and girl. One day after class, a strange man named Fred Clawson whom is a reporter from New York City approaches him and addresses Thad as "George Stark". In his office, Fred reveals that he knows that Thad has been using a pseudonym to write violent best-selling thriller novels, and demands blackmail money once a month to keep his mouth shut. After Thad confides in Liz about his predicament, he decides to "come clean" about Thad's dual identity to the public to get rid of the blackmailer. Thad and Liz bring together a group of reporters and photographers where he publicly reveals his pseudonym as well as shows them the remote lake house where he writes his novels as George Stark. As a gag, Thad and Liz "bury" George Stark in the local cemetery. A few days later, the local gravedigger Holt, calls the police when he discovers a large hole at the grave site where the fake grave used to be; something has dug itself out. Soon, one by one, all the people who knew about Thad's alias are savagely murdered by an unseen assailant. First when the photographer, Homer Gamache, is attacked by a hitchhiker and beaten to death with his prosthetic leg. When Sheriff Alan Pangborn calls upon Thad the next day, he suspects him to be the killer because of a witness who described the killer being similar looking, and Thad's fingerprints are found at the crime scene. Soon after, Thad's old headaches begin to return. When Thad learns that Fred Clawson has been found dead in his New York apartment and the words "the sparrows are flying again" are painted in the murder victim's blood at the scene of the crime, Thad becomes convinced that George Stark, his so-called "dark half", has somehow become embodied and is taking revenge against all those around Thad for being "killed off." Next, 'George Stark' breaks into the New York apartment of Miriam, Thad's publicist, whom he forces her to call Thad and leave a message on his answering machine before he kills her. Back in Castle Rock, Sheriff Pangborn pays Thad another visit to inform him about the latest murder, but despite strong evidence which included Thad's fingerprints found at the scene, does not arrest him because of Thad's strong alibi. Next, George Stark goes after Mike Donaldson, the alcoholic reporter by ambushing him in the hallway outside his apartment and beats him to death. After each killing, Stark phones Thad to inform him about each killing. Stark then sneaks into Thad's publisher, Rick Cowley's apartment and slashes him to death as well, killing two policemen who were there as guards. Stark calls Thad again and threatens to kill every he knows unless he begins writing novels as George Stark again. However, Stark begins to slowly decompose as his embodiment is fading away. He realizes that he will decompose completely unless Thad begins writing under his name again. Investigating George Stark's origins, Thad goes to see the former doctor who treated his "brain tumor" who confides in him about the undeveloped fetus. Stark arrives and kills the doctor and leaves Thad behind to discover the body... and make it appear that Thad is responsible for the murder. Thad flees from the police where Stark contacts him again and tells him that he has abducted his wife and twin daughter and son and threatens to kill them unless he meets him at the summer lake house and begins writing as George Stark again. Thad confides in a old professor colleague, named Reggie, whom tells him that Stark's embodiment was the result of Thad encouraging his Stark to write and that in order for Thad to defeat Stark without killing himself, he must confront his "dark half". Reggie tells Thad that the appearance of the sparrows are the conduits of the bringers of life and death whom can either help Thad or kill him. Thad drives out to the summer lake house where he finally confronts George Stark face-to-face (whom has now decomposed so badly that he is using bandages and dressing to keep his decomposing face intact). Taking him to his office, Stark forces Thad to start writing a new book so he can become powerful again. Thad tries to stall for time, instead discussing the violent nature of the thriller book. As Thad begins writing, he tells Stark to take over the writing as Thad takes advantage of Stark's weakened state to begin a fistfight with him. While the tied up Liz is outside the office, MILLIONS of sparrows descend upon the house to collect one of the two writers. Just when Stark seems to have the upper hand, Thad reveals that he allowed Stark to take over the writing so the sparrows will collect him instead. The small birds swarm into the house and literally consume Stark who screams in agony as the birds carry his remains away and disappear into the moonlit night, while Thad and Liz and their twins are saved.

A paralyzed man's friend gives him a smart monkey. The athletic law student Allan Mann is running on the street when a dog attacks him, and he is hit by a truck. He becomes quadriplegic and his house is adapted to his new way of life with a nurse helping him. After a few days, he tries to commit suicide. His best friend, scientist Geoffrey Fisher, is performing genetic experiments with monkeys and looks for Melanie Parker, who trains monkeys for disabled people. He offers his best monkey, Ella, to be trained to help Allan. Soon Melanie delivers Ella to Allan and his life changes for better. However, Geoffrey continues to inject Ella with his experimental drug, and she establishes a dangerous mental connection with Allan and he believes Ella is capable of killing those that Allan hate. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil When Allan becomes a quadriplegic he loses all hope for living until he meets Ella - a monkey trained to fetch and carry for him around the house, obeying him in all things. But Ella is part of another experiment, and when she starts responding to Allan's underlying rage and frustration she has the ability to carry out her master's darkest wishes. —David Carroll <davidc@atom.ansto.gov.au>

A stern and tyrannical father named Stan (Tom Atkins) gets angry when he finds his young son Billy (Joe Hill) reading a grisly horror comic book entitled "Creepshow". After arguing with his wife (Iva Jean Saraceni) and slapping Billy, Stan throws the comic in the garbage. A skeletal figure appears outside Billy's window, the Creep, who hosts the stories in the comic book. A wind draws the comic out of the garbage can, and the five stories within come to life, dissolving from illustrated comic frames to live-action frames at the beginning of each story, and vice versa at the end of each story (each story is linked by short, animated interludes). 1st story: "Father's Day" -- The Granthams are a wealthy family with a macabre annual celebration. Sylvia Grantham (Carrie Nye) gathers with her family members Richard (Warner Shook) and Cass (Elizabeth Regan), and the eccentric Aunt Bedelia (Viveca Lindfors) on Father's Day. While they are waiting for Bedelia to arrive, the family members explain Bedelia's back story to Cass's new husband, Hank (Ed Harris). It seems that Bedelia's father, the now-deceased family patriarch Nathan (Jon Lormer), was pathologically jealous of Bedelia. After Nathan had her lover murdered in what was written off as a "hunting accident", Bedelia went over the edge. While caring for the elderly Nathan, Bedelia snapped and bashed Nathan's head in with a marble ashtray. The family conspired to make it look like an accident, and Nathan's massive wealth was divided among them equally. Ever since the time of the murder, which occurred on Father's Day, Bedelia visits her father's grave at the family estate, then joins the others in the mansion for dinner. This year, as Bedelia sits on Nathan's grave, Nathan's rotting corpse (John Amplas) emerges from the ground and attacks her, strangling her to death. Nathan then exacts revenge on the rest of the family. Hank is squashed with a falling gravestone, the housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Nann Mogg) is killed, and Nathan twists Sylvia's head off of her body. In a final gruesome joke, he 'surprises' Cass and Richard with Sylvia's head, decorated to look like a Father's Day cake, complete with burning candles. Story #2: "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill" -- Jordy Verrill (Stephen King) is a simpleton who lives alone on his family's rundown farm. A meteor crashes to Earth, landing in his field, and Jordy has aspirations to sell the meteor to the local college for a small fortune -- two hundred dollars. He tries to pick up the meteor but it's too hot, and burns his fingers. Jordy's solution is to pour a bucket of water on it, but that causes it to split in two. A dejected Jordy sees his dream of a two hundred dollar windfall go down the drain. Still, he resolves to try and sell the halves, which are now covered in a greenish liquid. Later that night, the crater where the meteor landed is now covered in weird green plant life, as is everything the meteor came into contact with. Jordy notices his fingers have green wounds on them, presumably from the burns, but later he discovers the alien vegetation, which has now covered the entire farm. Jordy realizes that the alien plant life is now growing on his skin. As the night progresses, Jordy becomes covered in shaggy green weeds, causing him to itch. Jordy's itching skin causes him to run a bath, but before he can get in, the image of his deceased father (Bingo O'Malley) appears to him in the mirror and warns him against getting into the water, since the water is what makes the weeds grow. Jordy gets in anyway, and when morning dawns, Jordy has become a gigantic lumbering mass of alien vegetation. Desperate, he shoots himself in the head with a shotgun, revealing that the deep green weeds have even penetrated his brain. Afterwards, a radio announcer is heard forecasting heavy rainfall, suggesting that the extraterrestrial plant growth will further spread to surrounding areas. Story #3: "Something to Tide You Over" -- Harry Wentworth (Ted Danson) is awakened by a knock at his door from Richard Vickers (Leslie Nielsen). It seems that Harry has been having an affair with Richard's wife, Becky (Gaylen Ross), and Richard has come to confront him. Instead of attacking him, Richard plays him a cassette of Becky's terrified voice begging Harry for help. Harry accompanies Richard back to his private beachfront estate, where Richard forces him at gunpoint to climb into a hole in the sand on the beach. Burying Harry up to his neck, Richard then connects a television that displays live footage of Becky, also buried up to her neck in another location on the beach. The tide is already starting to come in and wash over her face. Harry realizes that they will both be dead soon; there is no reasoning with Richard, who seems to take great delight in his revenge. Richard abandons Harry and goes back to his beach house, where he watches the drowning deaths of both Becky and Harry on the video monitors. Before the last wave covers Harry's head, he vows revenge on Richard. Later that night, Richard is alone in the beach house when he seems to hear voices calling him. While he showers, two shuffling figures enter his home, defying the many security cameras and alarms that Richard has in place. When Richard emerges from the shower, he hears somebody in his house and immediately thinks it's Harry, somehow still alive. He is terrified to discover that the invaders in his home are the water-logged corpses of both Becky and Harry, both of them zombies covered in seaweed with green, pruning skin. Richard's gun has no effect; the zombies taunt him the same way he taunted them, and we finally see Richard, now completely insane, buried on the beach in the same way, waiting for the tide to come in. "I can hold my breath a looooooooooong time!" Richard yells crazily. Story #4: "The Crate" -- A janitor at Horlicks University, Mike (Don Keefer), discovers an old dusty crate behind a grate under a basement stairwell. He calls Professor Dexter Stanley (Fritz Weaver) to investigate with him, drawing him away from a stuffy faculty gathering. At the gathering is Dexter's good friend, Professor Henry Northrup (Hal Holbrook). Henry is married to an obnoxious shrew of a woman named Wilma (Adrienne Barbeau). Wilma, who is continually drunk, embarrasses herself and Henry at the party, and it seems as if she is about to ruin the friendship Henry shares with Dex. Henry, who is somewhat meek, fantasizes about ways to murder her. Back at the university, Dex and Mike pull the crate out from under the stairs and realize that it appears to have been under there since the late 1800s. A stamp on the outside of the wooden box indicates that it contains specimens from an arctic expedition. When the two of them open it, they sense movement from inside, and Mike is attacked by something when he puts his arm in the crate. Whatever it is pulls Mike inside, apparently eating him as it goes, and Dex catches a glimpse of a horrible, shaggy beast with huge teeth. Dex runs blindly from the lab and finds the only other person in the hall, a student named Charlie Gereson (Robert Harper). Charlie goes down into the the laboratory and finds it covered in blood, with no sign of the crate or the creature. Charlie and Dex find the crate back under the stairs, and when Charlie attempts to investigate, the creature attacks him and eats him, too. Dex is afraid to go to the police; instead he goes to Henry's house, and he arrives while Wilma is away for the evening. He tells Henry the story about the creature, and Henry knows Dexter has to be telling the truth. Henry hatches a plan. He gives Dex sleeping pills and leaves him locked in his study, asleep. Henry writes Wilma a note, concocting a bogus story designed to lure her to the laboratory. He gets there ahead of her and cleans up the evidence of the blood. Wilma can't resist Henry's trap, and she shows up at the university as planned. Henry lures her under the stairs and her obnoxious ranting draws the creature out of its crate. It eats Wilma before Henry's eyes; Henry then chains it inside the crate and dumps the crate into the deep water of a nearby quarry. When Dexter wakes up the next day, he and Henry vow to keep the secret of what really happened, and let the authorities deal with the disappearances. The final frames show the creature in its watery trap, tearing the crate to pieces and presumably escaping. 5th and final story: "They're Creeping Up on You!" -- Upson Pratt (E.G. Marshall) is a neurotic business tycoon who lives in a sterile, white penthouse apartment atop a skyscraper in a major city. He communicates with the outside world via the telephone, treating his employees and subordinates in a cutthroat, heartless manner. One phone caller informs him that an employee, Norman Castonmeyer, has committed suicide because Pratt fired him. Pratt seems delighted rather than upset. Pratt is obsessed with cleanliness and has a huge phobia of bugs. Unfortunately, he keeps finding cockroaches in his apartment, which sets him on a rampage to correct the situation. He places telephone calls to the building superintendent (David Early) and makes thinly veiled racial slurs in an attempt to intimidate the man. As Pratt finds more bugs in his apartment, someone gets through on his private line. Norman Castonmeyer's widow, Lenore (voiced by Gwen Verdon {credits say "Ann Muffly (voice) (uncredited)"}), calls Pratt to curse him for her husband's death. Pratt is amused by her melodramatic sadness, until the cockroaches multiply. He finds them in his food processor, bits of them surfacing in the grain cereal he eats. An electrical blackout occurs, and the roaches attack, swarming by the thousands everywhere in Pratt's apartment. Pratt retreats to his "safe room", a climate-controlled sleep chamber, just as the phone rings. Lenore Castonmeyer's voice curses him over and over "I hope you die! I hope you die!", and Pratt discovers his bed swarming with roaches. The roaches quickly cover him and Pratt suffers a heart attack. The power returns, the lights come back on, and the roaches are nowhere to be seen. Pratt's body lies inside the glass sleep chamber. The superintendent knocks at Pratt's door and laughs when Pratt doesn't answer, asking "Bugs got your tongue?" Suddenly, swarms of roaches burst from Pratt's body, so many that they nearly fill the glass chamber. The wraparound story with Billy concludes the next morning, when two garbage men (Marty Schiff and Tom Savini) discover the comic book next to the trash can in front of Billy's house. They leaf through it reverently and discover that someone has clipped a mail-in coupon for a genuine Haitian voodoo doll. Inside the house, Billy's father, Stan suddenly suffers neck pain, while up in his bedroom, Billy stabs a voodoo doll in his form of his cruel father repeatedly with a pin as payback for Stan tossing out his favorite comic book. Like each story in the comic book, this live action scene of Billy stabbing the voodoo doll becomes an illustrated comic book picture, and as the camera pulls back, we see that the comic's macabre "host", "The Creep", is holding the second issue of the "Creepshow" comic book in his boney hands, with Billy and his voodoo doll adorning the cover. The Creep titters, and a nearby candle flame goes out, plunging the scene into darkness. Credits begin to roll... (At the end of the credits, we once again hear The Creep's laughter).

Bickering siblings Johnny and Barbra are traveling by car to a rural cemetery, where they visit their father's grave. Johnny complains that the drive is too long for the simple act of placing a flowered cross on the grave. Johnny teases his sister's fear of the cemetery after dark, saying "They're coming to get you, Barbra!" They are approached by a tall, pale-faced man who stumbles toward them and suddenly attacks Barbra. Johnny pulls the man off of Barbra and struggles with him, but is knocked unconscious and possibly dead after the man thrusts Johnny's head violently on the edge of a gravestone. The man then pursues Barbra back to the car, but Barbra cannot start it without Johnny's keys. She takes the car out of gear and it begins to drift away on its own, but she accidentally steers it into a tree. She abandons the car and runs down a roadway to a nearby farmhouse, with the man still pursuing her. She discovers the house seemingly deserted, and the phone is out of order. Her attacker stumbles around the outside of the house looking for her, and is joined by several others. They all seem to be in a kind of trance. Exploring the house further, Barbra makes a gruesome find at the top of the stairs: a human body that seems to have been partially devoured by something. In a panic and attempting to flee the house, Barbra is intercepted by Ben, who arrives in a pickup truck and attacks the mysterious figures with a tire iron. Barbra is further driven into hysteria when she sees Ben violently smashing the skulls of the strange men who keep trying to get into the house. Ben urges her into action and the two of them begin boarding up the doors and windows from the inside with dismantled furniture and scraps of wood. They awkwardly trade their stories; Ben seems to be a drifter who was passing through the area when suddenly a wave of unexplained violence began unfolding. He tells Barbra about a scene of mayhem that he encountered at a diner, and Barbra tells him about the incident with Johnny in the cemetery. When Barbra becomes hysterical and wants to go out after Johnny, she strikes Ben and Ben hits her in the face. Barbra passes out in shock. Ben finds a rifle and a radio as Barbra lies incapacitated on a couch in the living room listening to the radio report. Emergency broadcasters tell stories of widespread violence and mayhem being committed by people who seem to be in a 'trance'. Ben continues to board up the doors and windows with anything he can find: he finds a hammer and nails and uses the interior doors, part of a dining table and an ironing board. He also makes a lucky find with a lever-action rifle and cartridges. Suddenly, Barbra is startled when the cellar door opens and two men emerge from the basement. Ben is attracted by her screams and they confront the newcomers. An older middle-aged man introduces himself as Harry Cooper, and the younger man is named Tom. Harry says that he has his wife, Helen, and his daughter, Karen, are in the basement as well. Karen has been hurt and cannot be moved. Tom has a girlfriend named Judy, also in the cellar. Immediately the group begins bickering. Ben is furious with Tom and Harry for not coming out earlier to help him barricade the house. Harry is an irrational and domineering man who insists that they all barricade themselves in the cellar and wait for help. Ben refuses, saying that if their attackers ever got into the cellar, it would be the end of all of them, as there is only one entrance -- if they stay upstairs they have a "fighting chance" to hold off their attackers outside. Harry angrily says he's going back to his family in the basement and will barricade the door. Ben angrily agrees, saying that he'll defend everything in the upper part of the house. Tom calls his girlfriend Judy upstairs. Harry bars the door while Tom tries to reason with him, saying they can defend the house if they all work together. Harry gloats that they'll be safer down there, but when Helen learns about the group and that they have a radio that keeps them informed, she insists that they go upstairs into the house to help out. Radio reports explain that an epidemic of mass murder is sweeping across the eastern seaboard of the United States. Later, Ben discovers a television and the whole group watches the emergency broadcaster who reveals that the murderers are recently deceased human beings who have returned to life and who are consuming their victims' flesh. Experts including scientists and military generals are not sure of the cause of the reanimation, but one scientist is certain that it is the result of radiation emanating from a Venus space probe that exploded in the Earth's atmosphere. The report instructs that a gunshot or heavy blow to the head will stop the "ghouls" and that posses of armed men are patrolling the countryside to restore order. The TV broadcast provides a constantly scrolling list of local towns that contain "rescue stations" to provide citizens with protection and necessities. Ben notices a nearby town called Willard which Tom and Judy recognize since they're from the area. Ben devises a plan to escape using his truck, but it needs refueling. While Harry throws Molotov cocktails out a second floor window at the walking dead outside the house, Ben exits the house armed with the rifle and a flaming torch. Tom and Judy offer assistance, but when they arrive at a fuel pump near the house, Tom carelessly splashes gasoline on the truck and torch, starting a grass fire that quickly spreads to cover the truck. Judy's sleeve is caught on something inside the truck when it explodes with Tom and Judy inside. Ben runs back to the house to find that Harry locked him out. He kicks the door open and forces his way inside, and after Harry helps him board up the front door again, he punches Harry repeatedly for his cowardice, furiously telling him he should throw Cooper out the front door and let the zombies eat him. As Cooper watches in horror, some of the living dead eagerly begin eating Tom and Judy's charred remains. A little later, another broadcast comes on the television, showing a local news reporter (Bill Cardille) interviewing a local sheriff (George Kosana) about the search and rescue operations that are underway in the area. Another news report indicates that the levels of the "mysterious radiation" in the area have been increasing, suggesting that the phenomenon is going to become even more widespread than it already is, but also that the situation is going to be under control soon. The reporter asks if ordinary people can fight off the attacks and the sheriff confidently tells him shots to the head, blows to the head with blunt objects and fire are all effective against the hordes. At that moment, the house goes dark when the area loses power. Perhaps triggered by the darkness, the ghouls surrounding the house begin to attack, attempting to break through all of the boarded up the doors and windows of the house. Ben manages to hold them back, but drops his rifle. Harry seizes the fallen rifle and turns it on Ben. Cooper orders his wife to go down to the cellar. Ben manages to wrest the rifle away from Harry and then shoots him. Harry stumbles into the cellar and dies, approaching Karen's seemingly lifeless body. Helen also attempts to hold off the zombies, whose great numbers are beginning to overwhelm the barricades over the windows and doors. Barbra suddenly comes out of her catatonic state throws herself into the battle, and Helen escapes back into the cellar, where she discovers that her daughter has been transformed into one of the living dead and is consuming part of Harry's corpse. Karen stabs her mother repeatedly with a cement trowel, killing her, before going upstairs. Meanwhile, the undead finally break into the house and Barbra sees her brother Johnny among them. The resultant shock causes her to lower her defenses and she is carried away into the zombie horde. (Barbra's fate is not shown, but it is strongly assumed that she is eaten alive by the mob of flesh-eating ghouls). Then, the zombie Karen comes up from the basement and attacks Ben, but he throws her aside and retreats into the cellar, locking the door behind him (which, ironically, was Harry's plan all along). When Harry and Helen Cooper reanimate, he shoots them both. With nowhere to go, Ben crouches in a corner of the basement with his rifle ready to make his last stand, while the undead walk through the house as well as pound on the boarded up basement door. The reinforced door holds and the ghouls give up trying to force their way into the basement. In the morning, the undead mob has left the house and disbursed. A posse approaches the house and kills the remaining zombies lurking around the house. Hearing the commotion and gunshots, Ben cautiously goes up the cellar stairs into the living room and peers out the window. The sheriff from the newscast sees Ben and orders one of his men to shoot him, having mistaken him for a zombie. His body is carried from the house and burned in a large bonfire with the rest of the zombie corpses.