Night of the Living Dead (1968) Review

 

        Now we’re in the sixties and the realm of horror has changed significantly. If you remember from my first outing of reviewing horror, most of the films branched off and focused on satanic rituals and closeted killers. With this film, no one could’ve imagined how this independent film changed the landscape and further cemented a sub-genre. 

1. Zombies

        Before Night of the Living Dead came out, there were other zombie films. The knock on them was that it was mostly taboo of just the thought of a corpse coming back to life. Since the belief of the dead coming back was mostly from African and Haitian beliefs. One of the first zombie films called White Zombie was released in the early 30s.

        So back to this film, the film is mostly straightforward in terms of plot. Siblings have been attacked by a roaming zombie. The survivor Barbra finds an abandoned home and takes refuge. Unbeknownst to her is that there are survivors who each have different intentions of survival. The main highlight of the film is seeing the character dynamics on display. I’ll elaborate more as to how it’s a reflection of the time it’s set in.

        With that, how are the zombies? Well, for being the one to set the standard and for its series to improve on them, it’s interesting to see how George Romero establishes the Living Dead. The film doesn’t exactly say as to how the dead are coming back. We hear various radio broadcasts as to how, but nothing definite. Outside looking in, they’re slow and lumbering as they barrel through the abandoned house. 

        Another aspect that makes its appearance in other films is that there’s an instance where they can run. For instance, Barbra runs away from the first zombie, and we see that it quickly hobbles to get her. While not running, it showed that this creature can move at a brisk pace instead of casually lumbering. One more is that they kill with weapons. Sometimes they imply bite since we don’t see that, but some hold weapons and straight up kill the regular humans. 

2. Reflections of the Times

        Aside from the zombies, the film is a classic due in part because of the survivors. It’s a motley crew since they all just want to survive. However, their major flaw in the whole movie is that they’re distrusting and prideful. We see that Ben is the impromptu leader and tries to lead by boarding up the house. What makes it all fail is that the others don’t listen and do their own things. 

        I say that the film is progressive in terms of its presentation. We haven’t seen a horror movie where a black guy takes a lead and tries his darndest to survive the onslaught. Especially in the sixties since this was just on the onsite of the civil rights movement. But it doesn’t shy away from the racism, since Barbra doesn’t listen to what Ben wants her to do. 

        One last thing is that we get moments of how the government have been completely inept with the whole situation. Brief moments occur where they’re just dodging questions and ultimately letting the surviving citizens take up arms and stop the dead. I think in one way that while yes, the zombies are the threat. Although you can make the argument that humans are the worst monsters when thinking about this movie. 

3. Franchise Starter or the many, many Dead franchises

        For grossing 30 million with a 150,000-dollar budget is rather impressive. No one could’ve imagined just how influential the movie was and how much it meant to pop culture. And I find it funny that the copyright status is nonexistent, meaning anyone can release the movie. I’m glad it’s like that since the ending would’ve been changed had a major studio bought the movie for distribution.

        It's clear then that George Romero had an idea and immediately created a franchise. I’m kicking myself that I’m not going to cover what’s considered his best work Dawn of the Dead. That one laid the foundation of how bloody, and action packed the film is. More so that when it got released internationally, it created a different franchise that Romero had no involvement called Zombi. 

        You know how it is, I get myself lost in the ever-deepening rabbit hole. There was yet another franchise called the Return of the Living Dead. This was established due to a dispute between Romero and his screenwriter John Russo as to how to expand on the first movie’s success. It only ever had one great entry as the sequels from what I gathered, sucked. 

        The movie ultimately did get remade in the early 90s. Special effects artist Tom Savini, who worked for the special effects of Romero’s sequels, helmed the remake of George’s first film. It gained a following but couldn’t match the classic as in most cases. The film was actually made to address the copyright foul up that the first one had.

4. Overall 

        This film is an absolute classic. If you like zombies and drama, I highly recommend it.