Night of the Living Dead Reviews

I have never particularly enjoyed NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, as it's not a genre that I particularly care for--after all, if you've seen one brain-eating zombie film, you've seen them all. However, I strongly commend this film for helping to create the genre as well as getting one of the best examples of an inexpensively produced and excellent film that made a fortune (some others being CARNIVAL OF SOULS and the original LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS). Now I won't go so far as to give the movie a hugely inflated rating like some, after all the acting was at times pretty shabby (particularly by that stupid blonde). But it did have a simple but clever script, good special effects given the budget and time in which it was made, decent direction and scared the crap out of audiences--something many horror films fail to do. If you love the genre, then this is a must. Otherwise, it's not a must-see unless you are making a study of excellent bare-bones film making.

1968: George Romero undoubtedly realizes THE classic of the film of the living dead which is also a great film on human stupidity endowed with a political (anti-political?) resonance totally subversive.
1978: ten years later, he would make THE masterpiece of the zombie film with "Dawn of the Dead".
Look. And enjoy!

A good little tale of social commentary, wrapped up in a low budget black and white horror movie,shot in all places, Pittsburgh PA. But, this film opened so many doors for filmmakers to come. But,this film is the Standard for all Zombies movie's.

"Night of the Living Dead came out of nowhere, or to be more precise, Pittsburgh, and turned into the most influential horror film since Psycho. George Romero's remarkably assured debut deflates all genre clichés. It traded the expressionistic sets of the traditional fright flick for a neorealistic style - Romero's use of natural locations and grainy black and white gave his gorefest the look and feel of a doc... This was Middle America at war, and the zombie carnage seemed a grotesque echo of the conflict then raging in Vietnam."

Although George A. Romero's influential cult classic must have been terrifying for it's time, the years have rendered it rather mild and outdated. Still, "Night of the Living Dead," which was filmed on a shoestring budget of $114,000, serves as an interesting study of peoples' reactions to a crises and the necessity of action during a devastating event. Furthermore, it interestingly casts a black man in the leading male role, which was quite daring for it's time.

Fragile Barbra (Judith Dea) makes a visit to her father's grave with her perpetually complaining brother Johnny (Russell Streiner) when a strange man attacks them. Managing to escape alive (Johnny was not so lucky,) Barbra becomes holed up in a farmhouse, and soon renders herself obsolete due to suffering a complete mental breakdown.It is there that she meets Ben (Duane Jones,) a fellow survivor of what turns out to be a zombie attack.

The movie works best with just Barbra and Ben, who represent two opposite approaches to a crisis. Ben is a kind person but still a survivalist, and has no time for Barbra's weakly grieving. Barbra is consumed by guilt for leaving her brother, and turns to Jell-O almost immediately, while Ben thinks on his feet and begins to barricade the windows and doors from the approaching 'ghouls.'

However, when a group of fellow survivors come, this film becomes a bit boring. The most asinine of the survivors, played by Karl Hardman, overacts almost constantly, and listening to the group argue becomes tiresome. Meanwhile, a lot of the violence seems fake (when one character punches another, it sounds like a balloon popping.) The character dynamics are much more interesting when it's just the two heroes.

You may find yourself laughing at certain scenes, which lack the intensity of "The Walking Dead" but also the tongue-in-cheek self-awareness of films like "Dead Alive" and "Shaun of the Dead." Yes, in many ways it's the film that started it all (though "White Zombie" starring Bela Legosi, unwatched by me, came first,) but it pales in comparison to many modern zombie stories. However, I liked how the zombies were not totally stupid and could use tools.

The acting overall wasn't great (best from Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea, the leads) and the the special effects are dated (although it's interesting to see how people improvised using practical effects before the era of CGI.) The movie was fun but not particularly disturbing or scary, except for the scene involcing the mother and her daughter (no spoilers.) I wonder how they got away with that.

I may have been shocked by the death of my favorite character at the end, but my psychiatrist had already spoiled it for me (damn you man!) For those who have not been informed of the ending, it will be unexpected and sad. This is an important film for all horror fans and zombie lovers to see, but it isn't technically great in comparison to later horror flicks. I didn't love it, but I'm glad I saw it.

Halfway through October halfway through our history of horror now we come to Night of the Living Dead it usually called as the middle ground of the horror genre it was the first to depict gruesome act of violence. As zombie getting stabbed, flesh getting eating and guts all over for today standard it's pretty tamed but in 1968 it was sure a turning point in horror films and films in general after the movie the MPAA rating system came in not if it had anything to do with it but it would be the last horror movie to have an attendance for pre-teens and adolescents and back then an African-American man in a starring role would never been unheard of. the movie has one of the best openings ever back then horror movies would usually have an hour to explaining why the dead are a rising. But they cut straight to zombies the whole concept of a group of people trying to survive in is a perfect example of survival instinct. George A. Romero unknownlingy created one of the big sub-genre in horrors ever the zombies he had some balls he was able to sell this movie to big production company but they wanted a love sub-plot and an change ending but he said no because he's a true director and he had balls and balls is what this genre all about.

This was the first black and white and the first zombie film I ever watched. I blame my love of zombies on this movie. The fact it was black and white added to the creepy in my opinion. This is a classic film. If you haven't seen this yet please do so! This was remade in 1990, yes it was good but it doesn't go the original justice.

On the surface it's just a low budget zombie film. The fact that it became the defining film of its genre ,and even a social commentary at a moment of civil-rights unrest in the United States, just goes to show that great films can be made without a lavish production schedule. Sure, the acting isn’t great. Whilst Duane Jones is pretty good, it’s his character that really sets the film alight (quite literally too). He plays an intelligent, brave, resourceful anti-hero who also happens to be black, something completely unheard of at its time. He even breaks all the bigoted rules by slapping white girl, Judith O’Dea (who gives the best performance in the film). I love the whole concept of the characters seeking the house for shelter from the ‘ghouls’ as it adds a familiarity and normality to the fantasy. Great score, plenty of good shocks, gripping plot and well directed all up to the chaotic final scenes (the little zombie girl and the shovel is chilling). A bona-fide classic.

5/5

This was almost the "Blair Witch Project" of it's time, in that had a very documentary realism style to it that was later further advanced by the shaky camera genre of recent years.
And to my mind, it was the first time I had ever seen the depiction of zombies as truly scary. Because, let's be honest here. Even though everyone always makes fun of the fact that they're easy to escape, the truth is, if any of us were to be confronted by a husk of rotting flesh that stood upright, just the idea that we were actually witnessing one of the "living dead" would be enough to makes sh#t out our own skeletons.
Or at least, scare us to a point of not being to think as straight as one would during such a situation.
As it is convincingly depicted in the behavior of the various characters in The Living Dead, & thus, successfully enhancing the fear of dread in this staple of the horror movie classics.