Night of the Living Dead influence

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You think so, even though the OP pointed out that ROMERO IS QUOTED AS SAYING THIS IS???
OK... good logic there. It's good to see that you know more than the guy that wrote the movie as to what influenced him.

I've followed Romero throughout interviews over the past twenty years, and I don't ever recall him mentioning THE FLESH EATERS as an influence on NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. I've only ever seen the film mentioned in connection to NIGHT in Stephen King's liner notes for the 25th Anniversary NOTLD Elite Laserdisc (reprinted in the Millennium Edition DVD):

"It didn't come from nowhere, of course; both "Macumba Love" and "The Flesh Eaters" can be seen as precursors to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD's grim, over-the-top realism... and there are touches of Val Lewton in the visual execution."

I think maybe King was pulling titles out of the air there, as "The Last Man on Earth" and "The Invisible Invaders" would have made much more sense than the two films cited. (Val Lewton? Yeah--Romero loves those flicks.)

I always felt that Cabin Fever might have borrowed from this movie.