I remember the shock to the critics when they saw his NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. To them it was one of the worst movies they had ever seen, nothing like the good old zombie flicks like WHITE ZOMBIE and I WALK WITH A ZOMBIE.
The critics were especially horrified when the last man, who was black and innocent was shot and burned on the pile with the other zombies.
Roger Ebert reviewed in in 1968 and wasn’t expecting much but he really liked it. He did note that the kids who’d been dropped off by their parents expecting a typical Saturday matinee type film weren’t holding it together very well.
Still far less gruesome or sadistic than the films of HG Lewis that had been coming out for years by that point.