Night of the Living DeadThe dead walk. Stories of animated corpses shambling about and craving human flesh have become such a popular sub-genre of horror, that it seems like zombies have always been here. But until 1968, when George A. Romero delivered his ghastly opus into the world--Night of the Living Dead--zombie stories were hardly commonplace. After the film debuted, it became an (un)living legend, the movie which grew in appeal by word of mouth, where tales whispered about it only fostered its appeal. Like the contagion which would become associated with these movie monsters, its popularity spread rapidly; henceforth, the world was overtaken by zombie fever.
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Night of the Living Dead has a legacy which few films could ever hope to attain. Countless films have emulated, parodied, and even remade the story of cadavers of the recently deceased rising up to feast on the living. Stories and other works of fiction have attempted to explain the motivations and reasons for the dead rising from the grave. The tropes established in this movie would serve as the template for the legion of imitators and admirers to follow, not just in terms of the threat of the cannibal corpses, but in terms of the narrative dynamic, character personalities and motivations, and conflicts within the major conflict, such as a paranoid fear of the living and power struggles between stronger willed survivors. Night of the Living Dead is made all the more stark and chilling by virtue of the moments where little is explained, and the terror is largely due to the absence of knowledge. Take the first portion of the film, where a young woman, Barbra (Judith O'Dea) goes to visit her father's grave with her brother, Johnny (Russell Streiner). After some innocent--if creepily out of place--teasing by Johnny, Barbra is set upon by a stranger, who attacks the both of them, forcing Barbra to flee into a seemingly abandoned farmhouse. Her shock is compounded when she discovers the half-eaten corpse of what was likely the dweller of the house, and is saved from attack herself by the appearance of Ben (Duane Jones). Nothing is clearly explained, and Ben tries to keep his center by boarding up the house, since poor Barbra has almost entirely fallen into manic raving and shock at the thought of her brother out there with those things, and her exposure to the shocking and grisly events, which she had no prior experience with. Until the discovery of a radio--and then television set--there is little that we know which has not come from the trial-and-error efforts of Ben and Barbra, leaving us as much in the dark as these two terrified people. These are the strongest moments in Night of the Living Dead; although that is not intended to diminish the rest of the film, it is here that all possibilities remain open, and we can most identify with the nightmare scenario unfolding. What would you do if the dead started walking around, trying to eat you?
Night of the Living Dead was not just a watershed moment for horror films, but also for independent films. Produced on a relatively miniscule budget, the film became one of the most profitable of movies, its popularity skyrocketing as one of the scariest pictures ever made, with shockingly visceral special effects. It is also regarded as one of the last sweeping hits of the "drive-thru" era of movie going experiences, not to mention its legacy as a midnight movie fixture. The truth is that I had not seen Night of the Living Dead before, although I was acquainted with many of its most famous qualities, by virtue of its absorption into pop culture and the works which followed. Like Casablanca or Psycho, one can be familiar with the film even without seeing it, although you should still watch it. What is remarkable about this film is that--also like Psycho--the special effects take advantage of the black and white film, virtually encouraging your own imagination to fill in the bloodier portions; chocolate syrup was also used as a substitute for blood in this film. Night of the Living Dead was a testament to independent filmmakers--like George A. Romero--that an entertaining film which compels your audience to see that a film is more than a bloated budget, littered with professional actors demanding the lion's share of a cut of the money. If one were to assess Night of the Living Dead on sheer technical prowess, it would not hold up as an expertly executed work--but that would be missing the real point here; this is a film that is more than the sum of its parts. There is a moment later in the story which attempts to explain the reason that "ghouls"--the dead are never actually referred to as "zombies"--shamble about the eastern third of the nation, but it is more important that they represent a threat--an affront--to our civilization and way of life. Interestingly, the decision to make the monsters "cannibals" was reached because Corman wanted to portray his creatures as something as shocking as humanly possible; cannibalism remains one of the few genuine taboos today, and so zombies became flesh-eaters from then on. There has been a lot of discussion about Ben being the strong-willed, reliable leader of the formative group, and that this was exceptional for a film during the end of a period of racial tensions--the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s--since he was an African-American. The story goes that while the original Ben was to be a far different character--his race not a concern--Duane Jones delivered such a powerful audition, that Corman re-wrote the character to suit his talents. Ben, like all of the other survivors, is not a perfect person. He has shortcomings and human failings, but he is the most determined to survive and adopts the role of a leader when the other survivors falter and come apart. What marks Night of the Living Dead as truly progressive with regards to perception of race is that Ben's race is never the issue, even when the paranoid Harry (Karl Hardman) second-guesses and tries to undermine him; Ben is simply the best man for the job, and audiences will reach that same conclusion by virtue of his character. For anyone who has seen a zombie movie in the last few decades, there is no doubt that watching Night of the Living Dead may prove to be somewhat predictable, but that is only due to its absolute absorption into the cinematic zeitgeist. In a way, watching this film is almost like watching the first instances of man discovering fire, or harnessing electricity for the first time; a crude, yet crucial, shambling toward history.
Recommended for: Fans of zombie movies--this is the quintessential entry in that canon, without question--and for fans of a horror film which is disturbing by virtue of its stark minimalism and almost nihilistic perception on society and its views on death and the bodies we leave behind.
Night of the Living Dead was not just a watershed moment for horror films, but also for independent films. Produced on a relatively miniscule budget, the film became one of the most profitable of movies, its popularity skyrocketing as one of the scariest pictures ever made, with shockingly visceral special effects. It is also regarded as one of the last sweeping hits of the "drive-thru" era of movie going experiences, not to mention its legacy as a midnight movie fixture. The truth is that I had not seen Night of the Living Dead before, although I was acquainted with many of its most famous qualities, by virtue of its absorption into pop culture and the works which followed. Like Casablanca or Psycho, one can be familiar with the film even without seeing it, although you should still watch it. What is remarkable about this film is that--also like Psycho--the special effects take advantage of the black and white film, virtually encouraging your own imagination to fill in the bloodier portions; chocolate syrup was also used as a substitute for blood in this film. Night of the Living Dead was a testament to independent filmmakers--like George A. Romero--that an entertaining film which compels your audience to see that a film is more than a bloated budget, littered with professional actors demanding the lion's share of a cut of the money. If one were to assess Night of the Living Dead on sheer technical prowess, it would not hold up as an expertly executed work--but that would be missing the real point here; this is a film that is more than the sum of its parts. There is a moment later in the story which attempts to explain the reason that "ghouls"--the dead are never actually referred to as "zombies"--shamble about the eastern third of the nation, but it is more important that they represent a threat--an affront--to our civilization and way of life. Interestingly, the decision to make the monsters "cannibals" was reached because Corman wanted to portray his creatures as something as shocking as humanly possible; cannibalism remains one of the few genuine taboos today, and so zombies became flesh-eaters from then on. There has been a lot of discussion about Ben being the strong-willed, reliable leader of the formative group, and that this was exceptional for a film during the end of a period of racial tensions--the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s--since he was an African-American. The story goes that while the original Ben was to be a far different character--his race not a concern--Duane Jones delivered such a powerful audition, that Corman re-wrote the character to suit his talents. Ben, like all of the other survivors, is not a perfect person. He has shortcomings and human failings, but he is the most determined to survive and adopts the role of a leader when the other survivors falter and come apart. What marks Night of the Living Dead as truly progressive with regards to perception of race is that Ben's race is never the issue, even when the paranoid Harry (Karl Hardman) second-guesses and tries to undermine him; Ben is simply the best man for the job, and audiences will reach that same conclusion by virtue of his character. For anyone who has seen a zombie movie in the last few decades, there is no doubt that watching Night of the Living Dead may prove to be somewhat predictable, but that is only due to its absolute absorption into the cinematic zeitgeist. In a way, watching this film is almost like watching the first instances of man discovering fire, or harnessing electricity for the first time; a crude, yet crucial, shambling toward history.
Recommended for: Fans of zombie movies--this is the quintessential entry in that canon, without question--and for fans of a horror film which is disturbing by virtue of its stark minimalism and almost nihilistic perception on society and its views on death and the bodies we leave behind.