NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968)

When it came out in 1968, George A. Romero's Night Of The Living Dead was a huge shock to the system. The concept and content just completely horrified people. It was a truly unique and fresh horror film. Besides doing new things in the realm of film, it also broke some race barriers as well, casting Duane Jones, a black man, in the lead role, which was extremely unusual at that time. Although it's now a little dated, Night Of The Living Dead still stands on its own as a very good horror film.

First off, if you would like to watch this movie the way it was truly intended, you need to watch the Elite Entertainment Millennium Edition DVD. There are many different versions of the film on DVD, but the Elite version is by far the best. Romero himself touts this version as the one to best judge his film by. If you watch all the versions that are out there, you'll definitely agree with Romero on this one. The picture quality is excellent. The dark, brooding atmosphere is fantastic and is one the film's best qualities. Romero films almost always have a great horror atmosphere, but Night Of The Living Dead's is his most effective. Sometimes it gets by on just atmosphere alone. The characters are talking and nothing is really happening during certain segments, but the framing and lighting bring a sense of dread to the production that is truly scary. And that is vintage Romero.
It's amazing what Romero was able to create working with such a miniscule budget. Sure, some of the acting might be a little weak, and some things have become slightly dated, but the core of the film is still very strong. All the horror aspects still work. The zombies still look very good, and the action is done very well. Even the music holds up, at first seeming like typical old school over-dramatic music but then veering off into a creepy score. There are also some great bits of dialogue. Duane Jones turned in a very good performance and his character Ben's constant arguing with Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman) is particularly done well. They fight more with each other than they do with the zombies or, as they are referred to in the film, "ghouls". In all of Romero's zombie films, the fight between humans arguing over the solutions to a problem, is always of more consequence than of the actual zombie situation itself. Romero's most inspired writing seems to come during these scenes, but there are other places where he shines as well.

The zombies in Night Of The Living Dead are done very well and have served as the standard to which all other zombies are compared. When scattered about, these slow moving creatures can be dealt with. You can either run passed them or take down a few with a hard blow or shot to the head. They become a problem when they begin to gather in great numbers. By then it's too late and you'll be overrun. And that has served as the formula for most zombie movies. You run until you're tired of running, and eventually you take shelter someplace and barricade yourself in. Chances are you're with a few people and you start arguing about the petty things. One thing leads to another, and before you know it, zombies have broken in and your having your arms, legs and intestines munched away. The eating of flesh in Night Of The Living Dead might be considered a bit tame by today's standards, but it was shocking when it came out. And although there aren't that many scenes of zombies eating people, the ones on display are still very chilling.
Through the years many movies have ripped-off (pun intended) Night Of The Living Dead, but there aren't too many that have come close to its success. The only ones that continued to bring fresh new ideas to the table were mainly Romero's sequels. Dawn Of The Dead with it's ingenious mall setting, and Day Of The Dead with zombies starting to become aware of their surroundings, were truly original films. There have been other zombie films that were pretty good but none have come close to the Romero ones. The best Hollywood can seem to do now is to remake the Romero films. They have remade the first 2 and the third one is on the way. Maybe they'll remake Land Of The Dead a few weeks after it comes out. They'll just never get it. Rather than having new directors remake classics, give the man who created those classics the money he needs to make another one. I guess that makes too much sense though for Hollywood. Night Of The Living Dead is one of the best zombie movies of all time with very few topping it. It's a dark, dread-filled piece of filmmaking, that only someone like George A. Romero could create. And like I said, it might be a little dated and raw at points, but overall it's a very effective, chilling horror film.