This is an intimidating movie to talk
about. This may not be the #1 movie on this list, but I doubt
another film on this list could challenge it in terms of sheer
influence. It came out in 1968, just as the Hayes Code died. But
having said that though, I don’t think the Hayes Code could have
touched it anyway, since it was also the dawn of Indie film making
and the rise of the Film Brats. What Easy Rider was to cinema as a
whole, Night of the Living Dead was to the horror genre
specifically.
This movie is considered the origin of
the “Zombie” genre as we know it today. Many people believe that
the word “zombie” was never uttered in this film due to an
artistic choice. However, director George A. Romero has confirmed
that was not the case. When the film was made “zombie” was a
word used exclusively to describe people resurrected by Voodoo, it
was only later that the word was applied to films such as this with
the dead rising in mass. This movie focuses on several people caught
up in the “ghoul” attacks (the word Romero used, I don't believe
that term was uttered either), who are forced to take shelter in an
abandoned farmhouse.
I think it’s time of release was a
major factor in what makes the film so memorable and important to
this day. The filmmakers were freed from the old ways, but were
flying blind in a totally new genre they were making up as they went
along. At first viewing, it looks like a horror film from the 30s or
40s, with black-and-white, grainy images. But then, a black man is
the hero, and there’s mild nudity and gore. I remember watching
the film on TCM as a kid, and being surprised that an “old” film
could have even that mild level of graphic content.
While I don’t want to hold this up as
a positive or negative feature, another striking aspect for a modern
viewer is the portrayal of both Ben and Barbara (Duane Jones and
Judith O’Dea), and to a lesser extent, the other female characters.
While black protagonists (if rare) are not unknown in horror movies,
I don’t know of a single other film that makes the character’s
race so completely incidental. Ben is the second of the seven
characters locked in the house we’re introduced to, and he’s
immediately established as the compassionate voice of reason. Not a
single person in the entire movie even comments on his race.
However, many do consider his death, shot by cops who mistook him for
a zombie without bothering to check, to have been racially motivated.
And while Romero likely didn’t intend that, I think this is a time
when ‘Death of the Author’ applies.
Barbara on the other hand comes across
as surprisingly pathetic. While there are still plenty of female
victims in horror films, a woman who literally just sits there and
cries in shock is no longer very well accepted. Beyond her, the two
other adult women in the film do almost nothing, not even helping to
board up the windows. (I’m giving the injured little girl a pass
on that.) I think it’s literally a full hour before any of them
make an active effort to help. (Making Molotov cocktails, under the
instructions of man.) Hell, at one point one of the men says that
they’ll be better off if “the three of us work together,”
despite the fact that there were six adults in the house! I’m not
sure what it says that this movie is less racist, but more sexist
than horror films released nearly half a century later.
The movie has long lulls between the
action, but it still never seems to drag. This is mainly because
Romero utilizes every second to his benefit, often using both our
eyes and ears to provide us with new pieces of information
simultaneously. The radio is constantly giving us news reports as we
watch characters prepare, new characters are introduced, (Barbara,
the character we initially follow meets Ben at the house, then it
turns out that the other characters are holed up in the basement),
and the characters make plans for how best to survive.
And then the arguing starts. It’s
actually a highlight of the film, because all of the characters are
portrayed realistically and given unique perspectives on the
situation. (…well, all of the male characters that is). This film
has a reputation for portraying “humans as the real monsters,”
which to me is quite inaccurate. Very rarely until near the end of
the film do the characters do more than insult each other, and each
of them argues for a course of action that makes some degree of
sense. Ben wants to board up the entire house and keep a lookout for
the zombies, being prepared to flee out of the back if the situation
becomes hopeless. Harry (Karl Hardman), the older man, thinks that
the upper part of the house is not sufficiently defensible, and that
they should board themselves up in the basement. And the final man,
Tom (Keith Wayne), attempts to mediate; ultimately suggesting
fortifying the house, but keeping the cellar as a fallback option.
By the end of course, everyone is dead.
Ben’s plan fails because the zombies get in. Then Harry’s plan
fails because they were locked in the basement with a dying little
girl who promptly becomes zombified. When dawn comes, as mentioned
above, only Ben’s still alive, and he’s shot by the
zombie-killing mob working its way through the county.
It’s a bit disappointing that I
always have to close these reviews by gushing praise upon whatever
film I happen to be talking about. Then again, I probably shouldn’t
have decided to go through a Top 100 list if I didn’t want to
review only good movies. So although I know I’m repeating myself,
this is an awesome movie! See it!
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