Imagine locking yourself in a house while outside dozens of flesh-eating zombies crave to break down the door and get a little nibble of you. Sounds like the plot to some ’80s B-movie to most people. But George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” is a classic horror film that soars above and beyond the plotless and tactless realm of B-movies.

The script and acting at first seem to produce a mindlessly simple storyline that will go nowhere. As the film progresses, however, you find yourself slowly drawn into a subtly suspenseful dance of death between the living dead and those likely to join them soon.

The plot unfolds in a rural farmhouse where Barbara has run from a ghoul who has just murdered her brother in a nearby cemetery. Barbara, a horrified and lost young woman, soon meets Ben, another runaway, who also takes shelter in the abandoned farmhouse. Ben takes charge of securing the house as Barbara whimpers ineffectually on the sofa. The two soon discover a family and couple also hiding out in the house.

Character conflict ensues as the men struggle to take charge and figure out the best way to get out of their predicament. Radio reports updating the story slowly evolve their foe from a wave of mass murder sweeping the countryside to a horde of newly dead awakened by radiation from a rocket launch and seeking living flesh. The characters are set between struggles for authority, vain attempts at escaping the ghouls, and an overwhelming sense of dread at their predicament. The suspense cheesily intensifies yet gains audience sympathy as the mindless masses of ghouls toil for their dinner inside.

By today’s standards, the movie lacks most of what defines a good horror film. However, stacked up against “Night of the Living Dead” as the standard, today’s horror seems on par with the B-movies.

What “Night of the Living Dead” lacks in special effects it makes up for in the depth of subtle suspense it inspires in viewers. The scenes of ghouls chewing on charred intestines aren’t quite as gruesome as the murder scenes in the “Scream” series, yet somehow the cannibalism eerily creeps into the consciousness as frighteningly believable, sinking into the audience subtle suspense rarely present in any of today’s movies.

“Night of the Living Dead” also leaves the audience looking deeper, and it leaves messages and visions not expected from the somewhat deficient dialogue. The vision of an entire eastern seaboard overtaken by murderous zombies helps the audience visualize the desperation of characters in the farmhouse.

“Night of the Living Dead,” taken into the context of events in the ’60s, also leaves the audience wondering about possible subthemes and hidden statements about society. Romero does an excellent job of juxtaposing the varied characters with and against each other in a sort of disturbing statement about humankind that culminates in the tragic ending.

This classic may be short on grisly horror, and some of the script and acting may leave the audience laughing hysterically. However, the morbidly ironic ending leaves the audience with nothing but respect and admiration. George A. Romero defined himself as the master of macabre with “Night of the Living Dead,” and this film, brought to you by SUB films this Halloween, is definitely worth a watch.