Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Zombies have never been more popular than they are now and we have Night Of The Living Dead to thank for that. While not the first zombie movie, it is the first that defined zombies as living dead flesh eaters. Previous movies depicted zombies as people under voodoo spells.What I like about the story is that it's never revealed what causes the zombies to rise up. Sure, they mention a theory involving a space probe returning from Venus being deliberately exploded in the Earth's atmosphere when radiation was detected. However, they never reveal whether that is true or not. I think it's scarier not knowing the actual cause.One of the most charming aspects about this film is that it looks older than it actually happens to be. To put it in perspective, Night Of The Living Dead was released in 1968 - the same year as 2001: A Space Odyssey. If one were to view those films side-by-side, you would probably think they weren't made in the same decade; let alone the same year.It's not exactly a technical masterpiece in terms of editing. Often there are scenes that are supposed to take place at night but were clearly shot during daytime and vice versa. There's also a very noticeable jump cut during a conversation between Harry and Helen in the basement.The makeup effects are very subtle. Part of this is likely due to having a low budget, but also because they establish that these are the recently deceased. These are not rotting corpses that climbed out of their grave. Tom Savini had originally signed on to do the makeup effects, but had to pull out when he was called to duty by the US Army to serve as a combat photographer in Vietnam. On one hand, I can't help but wonder how Savini would have done the zombie makeup. On the other hand, perhaps being a witness to real horrors of The Vietnam War helped him become such an amazing horror makeup effects artist.Many people think there is a commentary about racism hidden in this movie. While I can see where people get that impression, it's my understanding that George A. Romero didn't intend that. When he and John A. Russo were writing the story, they didn't plan on making the character black. They simply hired the best actor for the part of Ben. Duane Jones (Ben) thought that the movie should promote that fact that it was one of the first movies with a black lead actor, but Romero thought it was better that they didn't (a decision he's apparently had some second thoughts about).One of the most beautiful things about this film is that it's in the public domain, so it's very easy to find and watch for free. This is due to a copyright error. Originally, the film was supposed to be called Night Of Anubis (the Egyptian god associated with the afterlife), but it was decided to change the title because not many people understood what it was referencing. The title was then changed to Night Of The Flesh Eaters. When it was discovered that there was already a film with "Flesh Eaters" in the title, the filmmakers decided to change the title again to avoid being confused with that movie. The title was finally changed to Night Of The Living Dead. However, when they made the new title frames for Night Of The Dead, the film distributor forgot to put the copyright notice on it.I don't want to spoil anything, but if you're looking for a film where the heroes walk off into the sunset after vanquishing the living dead, this is not the film for you. The tone of Night Of The Living Dead is very somber from the beginning to the very end. I saw this when I was younger and was upset with the way it ended. Now that I've watched it a few more times, I can appreciate just how gutsy the writers were.Without question, this is a classic. It has been selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry. It's a film that should be appreciated not only by horror fans, but film fans in general. It's a perfect demonstration that you don't need a large budget to make a great film - just some creativity and originality. It will continue to live on through new fans who will discover it's infectious storytelling...much like a zombie.

George A. Romero created the original zombie movie which is considered one of the greatest horror movies of all time and it holds up even today and the story follows a group of surviors who are dealing with a apoclypse where the dead have come back.Duane Jones plays Ben the lead survior and a black man who due to the colour of his skin and being around white people means that he will be judged and not trusted.Judith O'Dea is Barbra who is our leading lady and she slowly goes crazy as the events of the movie takes place and she defently has earned theposition of a amazing actress. other actors in supporting roles were Karl Hardman,Marilyn Eastman,Keith Wayne and Judith Ridley. The Night of the living dead being the original movie with zombies set the standards for the otther movies that would follow the trend of the zombies so whenever i watch zombie movies my standards will be raised much higher. The movie is definetly one of the best about zombies and overall a great movie and it holds up and i will watch it agian as it's a instant classic

Compared to most horror films these days, Night of the Living Dead is quite primeval. But that's not to say that it is bad - Primitive Technology on YouTube has shown me time and time again that early man was brilliant. And in a way it was refreshing to take a break from overdone gore and overacting. Well, overacting is still here. The plot is pretty simple by today's standards too. A couple of people, led by a Mr. Ben (Duane Jones) attempt to survive against a wave of zombies while trying hard not to attack each other first. And more than 90% of the movie takes place inside the same house which they barricade and raid for supplies. As far as the simple plot goes, I feel they do it justice, and it is supplemented by the interesting to watch power struggle between Ben and Mr. Cooper (Karl Hardman) and the racial undertones that the movie infers. But aside from the inherent fun this movie offers, about halfway through, the movie becomes a little repetitive. Even though new characters are introduced, the tone feels quite samey for the entire middle leg. It's not until the run where Tom (Keith Wayne), Judy (Judith Ridley), and Ben run out where things get moving again. Perhaps I am just accustomed to today's thrillers which keep up at a breakneck pace for the entire runtime, but it felt not too much was happening during that period. Overall, I think it a successful and worthy grandfather of modern horror.

This was director George A. Romero's feature film debut — wild to think about considering the classics he has under his belt now (Dawn of the Dead, Creepshow, Monkey Shines) and just how known his name is. Reading some of the reviews that were made at the time is equally wild, such as this one from The New York Times: "Night of the Living Dead is a grainy little movie acted by what appear to be nonprofessional actors, who are besieged in a farm house by some other nonprofessional actors who stagger around, stiff-legged, pretending to be flesh- eating ghouls."I mean, they aren't wrong, but this movie still holds up as a cult classic among horror lovers — who HASN'T said "they're coming to get you, Barbra!" in an imitation of poor short-lived Johnny's voice? It did well upon its release, too — despite a budget of just $114,000 it grossed $12 million domestically and $18 million internationally. It seems surprising now, since much of mainstream horror is FILLED with unspeakably disturbing images, that it was criticized at the time for its "explicit gore". It's part one of three (followed by Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead) — the stories for each film all written at the same time but executed with quite a few years in between each release — and Romero has talked about it being heavily influenced by Richard Matheson's 1954 novel I Am Legend.It was the first movie to introduce the modern idea of a zombie — though they never use the actual word, opting instead for both "murderer" and "ghoul" — as a reanimated, flesh-devouring creature.It's heavily ad-libbed and roughly shot — no real bells and whistles here, though I admired the stark black and white and the use of shadow and light throughout. I think it added to the movie in a real way to have it feel so raw and real.Whether it was initially intended by Romero or not, there's lots of commentary and themes throughout: on society in the 60's as a whole and peoples' disillusionment towards law enforcement and authority as a whole, the Vietnam war ("We may not enjoy living together, but dying together isn't going to solve anything."), and racism (Ben being chased by an all white zombie mob with a torch was very reminiscent of the Ku Klux Klan, the upper class white man being offended and angry by Ben not ceding to his wishes and to his grabs for power, Ben surviving an attack of the undead only to be killed by a group of white law enforcement). Romero has said that he didn't cast Ben — a black lead among an entirely white cast — on purpose, or as any kind of statement; he said he simply gave the best audition. But once Duane Jones was cast and they started filming, they became aware of the symbolism and the themes that it was important to play into. In general, it was less about monsters turning against people, but people turning against people — there is no real community formed, no solid efforts to work together to face the threats head on. They are very divided throughout the whole film, and more of them are killed by human error and mistakes rather than the undead themselves.Barbra was like a silent movie star — so expressive despite not much dialogue. She becomes almost catatonic early on in the movie, and there's lots of tension between her and Ben in several scenes — again, playing into the racism and general attitude towards people of color in the 60's.I do love that they never call them "zombies" — one of the news reports on the radio said "there is an epidemic of mass murder being committed by a virtual army of unidentified assassins", they are called "marauding ghouls", and, one of my favorite lines: "yeah, they're dead, they're all messed up". Apt.There's several amazing shots that I loved: the shot of the open field as the ghouls all silently lurch toward the house is great. The overall feeling of dread and suffocation is awesome. Them feasting on the bodies in the car was definitely a contributor to the "explicit gore" mentioned. And the zombie daughter killing her own mother by repeated stabs with a spade — as writer R.H.W. Dillard, a defender of the taboo in the film, said, "What girl has not, at one time or another, wished to kill her mother?".But maybe my favorite was when the zombies finally are fully encircling the house, beating on doors and windows, and the camera pans to each actor as they express their concern and fear, the lighting as dramatic as ever, everyone SO expressive. The ghouls are slow but unrelenting, and in that moment you kind of feel the full weight of hopelessness.And then there's the ending — solidifying humans being more dangerous to one another than any outside force, the unreliability of those in power, and the fear of any "outsiders" clouding our judgment to a fatal degree. I loved the darkness of it, the finality.I don't think I even need to say it, but it's a classic for a reason — worth a watch if you've never had the pleasure (or a re-watch if you have!).