Written by John Russo And George A. Romero
Directed by George A. Romero
Johnny: "They're coming to get you, Barbra. They're coming for you."
Ah, yeah, that particular moment that does seem to be the go to clip any time a TV show or movie would reference this particular horror classic. It was on my pile of movies to review and here's my review for my 4000th post on here.
The movie opened up with brother and sister duo, Johnny (Russell Streiner) and Barbra (Judith O'Dea) visiting the grave of their father. Johnny also thought it would be funny to tease Barbra about the undead, only to come afoul of one of them while Barbra fled to a farmhouse.
Of course, one member of the undead soon became many and it wasn't long into the movie that it was revealed that the undead were eating the flesh of anyone who came into their way. Fortunately for Barbra, she wasn't the only person in that farmhouse.
Nope, there was the rather handsome Ben (Duane Jones), who effectively took control of the situation by doing his level best to keep the undead away from everyone else. Barbra spent too much of the movie in a state of shock to be helpful and also fell into denial about Johnny's fate. At times, she was more of a liability than a help.
Not that Barbra was the only one unhelpful. There was family man, Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman). Not only was he an obstacle towards Ben trying to keep everyone safe but Harry's own wife, Helen (Marilyn Eastman) was exasperated with him at times during the movie. Add in their daughter, Karen (Kyra Schon), receptionist Judy (Judith Ridley) and the hunky Tom (Keith Wayne) and you had seven people desperately trying to stay alive in one house.
Trying being the operative word because one by one, every single one of these people would die and rather gruesomely too if I might add. The tension escalated by the second half as our would be survivors were picked off, one by one. The last death in particular was brutal, considering it was the best character in the whole movie.
- This movie is so readily available that you can even watch the whole thing on Wikipedia for free. I'm not kidding.
- There was some controversy with Duane Jones's casting as Ben at the time but Romero stated he gave the best audition and his performance certainly backed that up.
- They're never referred to as zombies but ghouls. It's funny considering this movie bolstered the subgenre within horror.
- Chiller Theatre host Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille appeared in the movie.
- One of the original ideas involved adolescent aliens as well as a young man encountering aliens harvesting human corpses for food in cemetery.
- Chronology: 1960s Pennsylvania, where the movie was also shot in.
Night Of The Living Dead obviously would be a must see for any horror fan (the various remakes, yeah sure, I suppose), even if you're someone not particularly keen on the zombie subgenre. It's a brilliant movie that's more than earned its legendary status and to this day it holds up well.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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