After being attacked by a strange man and seeing her brother killed, Barbara retreats to an isolated farmhouse and soon discovers a dead body inside. Worse, once Ben shows up they discover that the dead have been returning to life and attacking the living. Together with a few other people who show up at the farmhouse, they begin a deadly struggle to survive through the night of the living dead.
There's not a lot that hasn't already been said about George A. Romero's seminal 1968 masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead. One thing I'd like to briefly mention is that after a week of horrible Omen sequels and Children of the Corn, its quite a welcome change to be watching a film of such magnitude. While it didn't cost a lot to make and features a cast of virtual unknowns, the end result is a horror film that has stood the test of time for good reason; it is simply a masterpiece. Featuring stark and horrific imagery shot beautifully in black and white, a story that shows horror from many different sides and even some social commentary, its power has not diminished in the 40 plus years since its release. That it was made by a crew who had only ever worked on commercials before is astounding yet a true testament to the "can do" attitude that seems to permeate the entire film. While other horror films of the day sought to use the bizarre nature of science to scare their audiences, Night of the Living Dead grounded itself in a heightened sense of realism and used the man vs. man theme instead. Zombies may be the chief antagonists on display but the true horror comes in the breakdown of the humans who are simply trying to survive and that is why Night of the Living Dead has long been regarded as one of the greatest horror films of all time. Is there a reason to argue that statement? Nope, so instead let's just bask in the glory of this one and realize that films like this truly come along once in a lifetime.
"They're coming for her...and she's not running away."
George A. Romero can be credited with both writing (along with John Russo) and directing the film, but the simple fact is he basically did everything else on it as well, from the cinematography to the editing. Hell, he probably played a couple of the zombies, did a few stunts and maybe even did some of the makeup, because his imprint is all over this film. This total devotion to the film is part of the reason why it works so well, there weren't enough cooks available to ruin this particular broth and while it would never happen these days, the end result is nothing short of magnificent. Romero's camera work is brilliant and the use of the black and white medium was one of the best moves that he could have made. It's particularly funny to me considering it was simply a limited budget that forced the decision to shoot in black and white, as any other film of the day would most likely have been shot on color stock. Luckily that budgetary constraint worked in Romero's favour and allows Night of the Living Dead to have a creepy documentary style look that makes the film feel as old as Ric Flair. There's also a lot of soft and out of focus shots that give the film a real sense of dread since you as the viewer aren't always sure where you are or what's happening around you. Meanwhile, the screenplay lends itself to the action quite well yet still manages to find time to be both poignant and socially conscious, all the while disguising itself as a simple piece on dead people eating the living. Russo and Romero's writing can be pedestrian at times, and some of the characters do come close to caricature territory, but this serves as a means to an end and can be overlooked once the scope of the entire film comes into play.
"Johnny, the original hipster."
Central to the success of this film is the cast and the chemistry they have with one another even though none had ever really acted before. Sometimes the amateur is the best possible solution, since they tend to gravitate towards the realistic in their performances rather than attempting to "play" characters. That is certainly the case with the cast here, as each brings a unique yet completely realistic portrayal to the screen. Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea have a lot of time together early on and play off of each other well even though Jones does most of the talking. O'Dea on the other hand makes a great "affected" character, staying in shock for virtually the entire film. Things really hot up once Karl Hardman (one of the films producers) shows up though, and the battle of wills between he and Jones' character Ben is the main crux of the film. These two end up hating each other more than the common enemy they share that is virtually inches away from them at all times. It's this breakdown of humanity that makes everything so scary; why worry about zombies when your neighbour is gunning for you as well? Jones and Hardman get this point across strongly and indeed it becomes a lot creepier to watch them bicker than it does to see the endless stream of zombies surround the house they're stuck in. I'd also like to give a quick shout out to Kyra Schon, the young girl who plays a spade-wielding zombie that attacks her parents. She's up there with the creepiest kids ever put on film and indeed her image is one of the most haunting in the entire picture.
"The end result of calling a spade a spade."
That theme of humanity breaking down is clearly the most central of the entire film and certainly what makes it more horrific than your standard zombie gorefest. Even though it appears that the characters in the house are going to fight bravely to save their own lives, it pretty much seems to be a lost cause. While the true foe hangs around outside the house eating whatever flesh it can get its hands on, the people inside are hell bent on making bad decisions, all of which point to a mutually assured destruction. That they do this consciously is perhaps the most frightening thing of all; they simply cannot do the right thing either due to their own petty differences or the circumstances they find themselves in. Even characters that have the best intentions end up doing stupid things due to their situation, such as Tom attempting to shoot the lock off of a gas pump, a scenario that ends with typically explosive results. It's these completely flawed, if not completely unsympathetic characters, everyday people like you and I, that give the film its power. We have to step back and question exactly what we'd do in a similar situation and, sadly, most of us would end up doing the same things the characters do here. Romero's point here is to show that deep down inside, we really can't count on each other when the chips are down, which is a sad yet true assessment of humanity as a whole. Before the film is over we're treated to countless examples of this, to the point of nearly cheering for the zombies to just eat every one of these deluded "heroes", before the film ends with one of the most depressing finales of all time. Yep, that Romero was definitely a cheery fellow!
"You can't blame a zombie for being hungry."
While Night of the Living Dead can certainly be credited with ushering in a lot of firsts, chiefly among them has to be the inclusion of a black hero as the main character. Obviously today things like that are commonplace, but in 1968 I'm sure it led to more than a few complaints from the good old boys down south. Upon listening to a commentary on this film, it seems Romero is adamant that he wasn't attempting to make a political or social comment with that casting decision, but its hard to buy that when he consistently does so in his other works. To his credit, he doesn't hammer home this point throughout the film, he merely leaves it out there for the audience to observe and react to in their own way. For that matter, the black hero doesn't really end up being all that heroic at all and it turns out that most of his decisions send people to their deaths. However, for all the good Romero did here he definitely didn't figure out the role of the woman in the film, preferring to make them weak and helpless, a characterization that was fast losing its popularity in Hollywood. While stronger female characters may have made the film even more interesting than it already was, the fact remains that even with these minor flaws its hard not to love everything about Night of the Living Dead. It's brutally honest in its portrayal of humanity while also helping to usher in the era of the zombie, a horror foe that would soon become well used throughout the 1970's and beyond. Basically, if you haven't yet seen this film you would be well served to find it immediately (if you're lazy the whole thing is available on YouTube) because it really is worth your time and still one of the most impactful horror films ever made.
"Ryan Gosling totally stole those gloves for Drive."
Night of the Living Dead was shot on a budget of $114,000 and ended up grossing a whopping $42 million at the box office. More than that, it made Romero a household name and while he'd spend the next 10 years doing some different projects (among them The Crazies and Season of the Witch), the dead would once again rise from the grave in 1978 for the next film in his series, Dawn of the Dead, a sequel which at times surpasses the original. However we'll have to wait until tomorrow for that one while today all I can tell you is that Night of the Living Dead is beyond required viewing for horror fans and still packs quite a punch. In a time filled with torture porn and found footage shockers, its simplistic yet realistic approach feels quite refreshing, something we all need once in awhile. It may be tame by today's standards, but its strength cannot be denied and its power remains as potent as it did way back in 1968, which I believe is reason enough for anyone to check it out.
9/10.
"Tomorrow...Hare Krishna?"