With a craving for classic horror lately, I’ve been digging through the archives to fill in a few gaps. Having seen pretty much every movie it almost singlehandedly spawned, it was time that I checked out George Romero’s 1968 zombie pioneer, Night of the Living Dead. Sure, Zombies had been mentioned in the movies before but Romero was undoubtedly responsible for rewriting the rules, bringing them into the modern world and igniting a new fascination. That this was Romero’s first feature movie and was made for $114,000 makes Night of the Living Dead even more of a phenomenon.

I have to admit that zombies have never been my horror creature of choice. They always seemed like simpleminded things that move a little too slow. It seemed to me that they were about as fearful as afternoon tea at a convalescence home. Of course Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later changed that with his newer, faster zombies on speed, but to me Shaun of the Dead had it about right when the group easily mimic the walking dead and ably make their way through the crowd. So the first thing that struck me when I saw Night of the Living Dead was that Romero’s original zombies were really not that slow after all, and possessed a little more physical strength than I’d become accustomed to seeing.

Night of the Living Dead opens in a Pennsylvania cemetery, where our “heroine” Barbra (Judith O’Dea) sees her brother attacked and killed by a mysterious graveyard dweller. It’s here that we hear her brother mocking the famous line: “They’re coming to get you Barbara.” So the brother’s death is something of an ambivalent scene. Barbra runs to lock herself in the car, but the attacker is relentless, smashing the window with a rock. She flees, finds refuge in an abandoned farmhouse where she discovers that there are more of “those things” (never actually referred to as zombies) in pursuit as well as a decayed corpse upstairs. She’s soon joined by Dan, an African-American vigilante who quickly takes care of a few of the attackers, using little more than his bare hands, a wrench and fire. The posse is completed when hideaways emerge from the basement, and jointly they try to figure out what exactly is going on and how they make their way out of it.

The budgetary film making certainly leaves a lot to be desired. Firstly the cast is a limited one, with production members thrown into key roles and friends employed as extras. The 35mm black and white camera work is pretty limited too, mostly shot from stationary angles while there are also some pretty poor edits and cuts. One of the earlier scenes, with its blaring score looks like something better suited to Nosferatu and the silent 1920’s.

It’s true testament to Romero’s work within the limitations that Night of the Living Dead would receive such high praise. The hampered camera actually works to the movie’s advantage. Several have suggested that along with its Vietnam era social commentary, the movie is stylistically shot to capture a documentary of that era. That’s a little before my time, and while the neorealistic feel may well be purely coincidental it only serves to heighten the feelings of anxiety and panic. What you can’t help but admire is the ingenuity of several of Romero’s staged shots however, such as the inside the car view of the zombie getting close to the window then smashing the glass or a later close up slasher scene. Make up is done on the cheap but it is highly convincing as are the chocolate syrup covered ham hocks used to replicate devoured human body parts.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Many have attributed the success of Night of the Living Dead to the zombie myth. They’re us, human bodies returned from the grave; they pray on human flesh and we could become one of them; they attack without prejudice or discrimination; they’re senseless things that offer no redemption. The true strength of zombie fear to me however is in the hopeless and nihilistic world they create. The true fear is in the reaction (or lack) of the government and the people. Romero’s greatest achievement here is that he changed the rules for horror movie making. There’s a hero here but he dies in such an ignominious manner, not to mention the fact that he’s black which was certainly against the grain for that time. There’s a white heroine who just crumbles into a catatonic state after the opening scenes. There’s a horrific little child who violently stabs her mother to death with a trowel. The eventual crusading heroes become the bad guys without even realizing it. Nobody makes it out of this movie with any dignity, there’s no saving grace. It’s a movie shrouded with pessimism and a benchmark in gruesomeness too. You can only imagine what audience reaction was at the time, especially given that it makes for pretty harrowing viewing even by today’s standards.

END OF SPOILERS

The performances are not all bad of course, even better when you consider that a great number of scenes were adlibbed. As the African American hero Ben, Duane Jones was a masterstroke. Blaxploitation would not be popularized until the 1970’s, and Jones role was the first time a black actor was cast as a non-ethnic lead in a major motion picture in America, and the first time a black actor had a starring role in a horror film (source: Wikipedia). Romero claims that Jones was not hired because of his color but because of his audition. Whatever Romero says, I feel that there’s a strong racial theme in the ending which is as harrowing as anything that goes before it. Like I said in the previous paragraph, the human threat is even scarier than the zombie threat, and Ben’s fate is a resounding final note. Jones performance just happens to be the strongest in the movie too and he cuts an impressive heroic action figure. He also brought a great deal of intelligence to the movie as Romero credited him with rewriting a lot of the script. Marilyn Eastman is also worthy of note as she provides a great deal of the movie’s thought provoking moments and one of the most terrified dying looks in movie history.

George Romero’s influence on the zombie horror genre is clearly unquestionable. He followed Night of the Living Dead with 4 more “Dead” movies and inspired a plethora of imitators. His style and tones are also noticeable in the more diverse horror genre as a whole as Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Halloween among others would also go on to develop his nihilistic themes. His greatest success has to be in the development of authentic social reaction, the conversations that take place, the government and military responses in a world gone mad. In several ways he changed the way horror movies would be made. Night of the Living Dead is a masterful movie, and an exceptional piece of low budget film making.

Verdict: 4 ½ Stars Essential Viewing

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age