Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Night of the Living Dead 

Released: 1968
Running Time: 93 mins
Genre: Horror
Estimated Budget: $114,000
Estimated Gross (2000): $30 million

Director: George A. Romero
Stars: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea

I've just seen Night of the Living Dead for the first time. This is a black and white, fairly old horror film from 1968, and I thought it was a great movie.

Night is a significantly special movie for many reasons, most importantly it introduced the world to proper zombies (although they are never called zombies at all in the movie) it is also credited for putting classic horror director George A. Romero on the map. Without this we might not have Dawn of the Dead (1978), Knightriders (1981), or Creepshow (1982) not to mention the countless films that have been influenced by him over the years. Would we have the likes of 28 Days Later (2002), The Resident Evil Franchise (2002 - Present) or the most recent box office success World War Z (2013), the answer is; probably not. Night was also one of the films that put the Horror genre back on track after a slump of about 7 years.

Night of the Living Dead basically is what it says on the tin, we follow a group of survivors during one night of hell as they struggle to escape the living dead. Simple, that is the key word here, and cheap. This film has been emulated so many times, like Halloween (1978) and others like them because it was very simple but effective, and very cheap but it made a lot of money. If Hollywood can find a pattern like that they'll use it over and over until they run dry. This is a cast of unknowns which makes the plot far scarier, you can believe these are real people fighting to survive, this feeling is helped along by the radio and television updates that give explanation and small comfort to the survivors.

The film begins with a brother and sister travelling to a graveyard, the dialogue here is rather stiff, it is when the action begins that the quality and pace improve. The brother Johnny is teasing his sister about being afraid when they see a man in the distance, 'he's coming to get you Barbara' he says then runs away, as Barbara goes to walk away from the gentleman he grabs her, and it is now we realize something is not quite right, this is not an ordinary man, he does seem as they say in the film 'in a sort of trance' he moves very slow but his eyes are wide. Johnny comes to his sisters aid when she screams but after a tussle he loses the fight after hitting his head on a grave. Barbara runs from the man but he follows, after a tense scene where she traps herself in the car she escapes to an abandoned farm house.

It is here that our story plays out, a young African American man called Ben comes to the house looking for gas and helps the terrified Barbara. She is at this point a minor character as she has been shocked into a kind of madness rendering her useless to Ben and no help in his attempt to fortify the house. After some clever examples of how to scare off zombies using fire it is revealed that there are more survivors in the basement led by the angry, bullying, coward Harry Cooper. Here the plot steps up a notch as there are two leaders fighting for what they believe is the right way to go on. It is surreal because even though there is a fight for survival going on the two cannot put their differences aside and fight together. Harry has a lot of character flaws and these are made blatantly obviously in the relationship he has with his wife and all those around him.

This film is very simple, but the screenplay has been cleverly written so you never realize just how simple the story is. There are enough moments of genuine fear and tension that you are on the edge of your seat waiting to see who will make it through, and that is another thing that was at the time unusual. Romero has no qualms whatsoever about introducing a character, even spending a lot of time with them and then handing them to the frenzy that is the zombies waiting to eat them alive outside the door. This was a new concept at the time in the horror genre, you generally knew that the good guys won, they would make it, but here that didn't matter. This makes for a much more interesting film as you just don't know what is going to happen, there is no pattern to follow.

Romero has created a film with many stand out moments, the zombies themselves are completely believable because nothing is overplayed. The scene where they are eating human body parts is sickeningly realistic, and having the film in black and white works well, creating an artful look to many of the shots, which obviously had a lot of thought go into them.

If you are a fan of classic horror films, or if you are a newcomer to the genre this is one for you. It hits the spot; not too scary but effective enough to keep the cushions close by. Check it out.