NightoftheLivingDead1968

Night of the Living Dead (1968)

“They’re coming to get you Barbara…” Is there another line that is quite as iconic to horror fans as that little gem uttered by Russell Streiner in the legendary zombie film that started it all Night of the Living Dead? And with that question I begin my review of not only one of the greatest horror films of all time, but the first of the Romero trilogy that inspired me to create this website and helped stoke my love of the genre. Now I’m going to assume that if you are hanging out here at Gutmunchers you have seen this movie, but just in case you haven’t I’ll go ahead and give you a brief plot synopsis.

The movie opens with Barbara and Johnny driving to a cemetery to place a wreath on a grave. After a few minutes of dialogue they are attacked by a strange man (the great S. William Hinzman), who we later find out was the first zombie you see in the movie. Johnny gets his head cracked open and Barbara runs away. She ends up in a farmhouse where she meets up with Ben, the hero of the movie. Later after they take care of some of the living dead they discover that there were more people in the basement, including a real creep named Harry Cooper. After much conflict between the group and an unfortunate gas pump incident the zombies make it inside the house and Ben is forced to hide in the basement.

I’ve tried to keep my plot synopsis as simple as possible, because you have either already seen the movie and if you haven’t I don’t want to spoil it for you. By the way if you really haven’t seen Night of the Living Dead stop reading this review and grab yourself a copy right now! Now that I’ve said that lets move on. Wow where do you start with a movie like this? The plot is very simple and has been copied again and again by other filmmakers. You get a group of strangers, isolate them, and then have the some common threat/foe to put them under stress. Now if you have a good script, cast, and director then what you end up with is a tense and entertaining bit of horror. This is of course exactly what we get because the movie does have three.

Right from the start with Barbara and Johnny the characters are interesting and seem like real people, rather than some sort of cinematic caricature of a real person. This is further reinforced with the introduction of Ben later on in the movie, which is another wonderful character. Toss in one of my favorite horror film “villains” Harry Cooper and you are setup for a good time. But the script just doesn’t give us great characters. There are a couple of rather brilliant twists that I wanted to point out. First is the Harry Cooper character and how he acts. You might have noticed that I put the word villain in quotes when describing the character. I did that because in spite of being a bit of an ass I’ve come to appreciate the fact that the character isn’t really a bad guy. It seems to me that he is maybe just really scared and stressed out, partly due to the injury to his daughter. This might not be obvious on a first viewing of the movie, because the character is so in loud and over the top, but I think it is there. I also think it is a brilliant little move for Ben to be forced into the basement. Which means in the end our hero was wrong and Harry was right. This gives the Harry character some depth that I’ve always thought was cool and a nice touch. The second twist is far more obvious and shocking. Of course I’m talking about the ending, which for a movie made in 1968 really wasn’t what most where expecting. I remember the first time I saw Night of the Living Dead. When it got to the end and the posse shows up I breathed that sigh of relief for the character of Ben and then it happened. What a great ending to the movie.

Of course the ending wouldn’t be half as powerful if we were so interested in and invested in the fate of the characters on the screen, especially Ben. One of the things that has always bothered me about Night of the Living Dead is how underappreciated the performance of Duane Jones is. I’m not talking about horror fans now, because most everyone I’ve ever talked to about this movie love his performance. I’m saying that he is good enough in this movie that his performance should be talked about as one of the greatest of all times. I’m not kidding about this either. Jones is completely believable as a man trying to deal with a screwed up situation that is completely impossible, but is happening. His little monologue about the filling station and diner is incredible to watch and one of my favorite parts of the movie. I also wanted to mention Judith O'Dea as Barbara. I went thru a phase where I didn’t like or appreciate her performance in the movie, being that for much of it she just sits around and talks to herself. But the last few times that I’ve watched the movie the character and her portrayal has started to grow on me. I think that there is a bit more subtlety to it than I had noticed previously. In a way the way O’Dea plays the character is probably much harder to do than having her run around battling the living dead.

A great story and cast will only take you so far. What makes Night of the Living Dead so special is the direction of George Romero. After having seen all of his movies I can say the man has his own unique style of directing. While there are always unique camera angles and shots what defines a Romero directed movie are the characters. As I stated earlier in the review this is a very basic story that has been copied time and time again by other filmmakers. But really none of them have managed it quite like Romero did here. For me a Romero film always has great characters. After watching tons of interviews and special features about his movies I think this boils down to his interest in the characters in whatever movie he is making, and his willingness to let the actors play their characters and get comfortable in their roles. I also wanted to say that this willingness to hire the right person and let them do their jobs (as in the actors) is also why Tom Savini was able to do such amazing work in a couple of later entries (Dawn and Day).

Unlike later installments in the franchise the special effects in Night of the Living Dead aren’t talked about all that much. Though I would say that given the year (1968) and the extremely low budget of the movie it does a good job with the effects. The zombies are fairly generic, but there is some bug eating and gut munching (woo hoo) that is pretty effective. But if you are looking for a bloody gory mess then the next two in the franchise are what you should be watching.

Compared to the length of most of my reviews this has been a fairly epic one. But I think that I’ve covered the movie and what makes it special pretty well. And before I get any angry emails I know that I’ve left a few things out. But I don’t want to 10 page review and who the heck would want to read it? In case you hadn’t realized yet I’m going to highly recommend Night of the Living Dead, a true classic.

4 out of 4

reviewed by John Shatzer