NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) - THE ZOMBIE FILM THAT STARTED IT ALL

DIRECTED by George A. Romero 

WRITTEN by John Russo & George A. Romero 

STARRING  - Duane Jones as Ben, Judith O'Dea as Barbara, Karl Hardman as Harry Cooper,  Marilyn Eastman as Helen Cooper,  Kyra Schon as Karen Cooper, Russell Streiner as Johnny,  Keith Wayne as Tom,  Judith Riley as Judy,  Bill Hinzman as Cemetery Ghoul,  George Kosana as Sheriff McClelland,  Bill "Chilly Billy" Cardille as Himself.

PLOT - A brother and sister - Barbara and Johnny - are visiting the grave of thier father in rural Pennsylvania. Upon arriving at the cemetery Barbara is attacked by a shambling insane looking man. Johnny rushes to defend his sister but is pushed to the floor, Johhny smashes his head on a tombstone and dies instantly.

The attacker pursues Barbara to a nearby deserted farmhouse. Once inside Barbara discovers the partially devoured corpse of the house's owner. Her attacker is battering the door of the house, trying to get at her. He is soon joined by other people - all in the same dazed state, all trying to get into the house...

Barbara is soon joined by other survivors who have fled to the house. A man called Ben, a surburbanite couple - Harry and Helen Cooper and thier injured daughter Karen and a pair of locals - Tom and Judy. All tell of similar experiences - being attacked and barely escaping from crowds of dazed, psychotic people.

Upon listening to the news it becomes apparent that this is happening all over the country. It is revealed that the attackers are not insane people as was originally thought but the living, walking dead. The dead are coming back to life and killing and eating thier victims. Thier victims in turn are also then rising and joining the throng of flesh eating ghouls.

As society itself crumbles around them, tensions begin to rise amongst the terrified group of survivors. The living dead are growing in number, massing outside the house, trying to get in. Will this ragged bunch of frightened desparate people survive the night and if they do who is the biggest danger to them - the walking dead or themselves ?...

DIALOUGE  - Johnny - "They're coming to get you Barbara..."

Sherrif McClelland - "They're dead...they're all messed up."

PERFORMANCES  - Night Of The Living Dead is a groundbreaking film in many ways - it kickstarted the entire zombie genre, it helped make independent cinema be taken seriously by critics and it took the horror genre away from the campier gothic elements that had defined it for many years and delivered something that was grittier and more realistic. It was also groundbreaking when it came to it's casting.

Duane Jones plays Ben - the film's leading male protaganist. At the time casting a black actor in a leading role was practically unheard of (with a few noteable exceptions, Sidney Poitier being the main one). The character of Ben was originally written as a white man but Jones was apparently so good in the auditions that he walked away with the role. He totally makes it his own. 

Ben's ethnicity lends tons of subtext to the story and character that just wouldn't be there if he was a white man. Ben's bitter rivalry with white middle class wannabe Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman) transcends it just being a battle of wills between two alpha males and becomes something deeper and more troubling. The same can be said of Ben's eventual death. It comes not from a pack of marauding zombies as you would have thought, but instead from a gang of gun toting white rednecks. In the age of the civil rights movement this seemed current and politically as on the nose as it gets but in reality it was all a happy accident.

Jones plays the role with a quiet dignity and strength, however, he's still the type of hero who thinks nothing of punching a hysterical woman in the face to calm her down, so in other ways he's not all THAT progressive a character.

Karl Hardman plays Harry Cooper as a cowardly control freak. He obviously rules over his family with a rod of iron and is clearly a man used to getting his own way. When the unstoppable force that is Harry Cooper meets the immovable object that is Ben, sparks are bound to fly. Harry believes the group would be better equipped to survive the zombie attack by holing up in the cellar, Ben believes they are better off upstairs where they can defend the house easier.

It is this battle of wills between two equally stubborn men which forms the main thrust of the story - its NOT a tale of a zombie holocaust afterall, instead its a story of how normal human beings crumble under pressure and become far more dangerous to themselves than any outside force could ever be. The great irony is that for all his faults Harry turns out to be right, the zombies eventually do break through the defences and Ben - the final lone survivor - is forced to hide in the basement.

The female characters are less well defined than the men. Judith O'Dea is a good actress but she doesn't really get a lot to do. Barbara spends most of the film in a catatonic state. She's traumatised by seeing her brother die and appears to be suffering from what we would now call PTSD. O'Dea plays it well enough but the character of Barbara is nothing but a victim when all's said and done. Judith Riley as local girl Judy doesn't get a lot to do either. She just spends her screen time staring dreamily at her boyfriend Tom (Keith Wayne) before getting both of them killed in an ill advised escape attempt.

The only female character with a decent amount of development is Harry's long suffering wife Helen (Marilyn Eastman). Helen and Harry's marriage is obviously a totally loveless one. Harry tries to act like the fearsome "man of the house" and Helen is constantly undermining him and calling him out for his behaviour. There's some brilliantly icy, barbed dialogue between Helen and Harry. They get some of the best scenes together.

I've got to give a quick mention here to my favourite character in the film - Johnny played by Russell Streiner. He's only in it for the first few minutes but he's a great fun character. He's constantly winding up his uptight, nervous sister Barbara. He's an arsehole, but he's a funny arsehole. I bet he made Barbara's childhood absolute hell. He also gets to utter one of THE most iconic lines in horror cinema history  - "They're coming to get you Barbara" and they do...but they get Johnny first.

SFX - The special effects are limited to mostly makeup work and a bit of low level gore, this was a small independent production so money was tight.

The zombies (or ghouls as they are called here - the Z-word is never used) are nowhere near as elaborate as they would become in later films in the series. They're still creepily effective though...

SEX & VIOLENCE  - The first death occurs within the first few minutes of the movie when Johhny (bloodlessly) smashes his head on a gravestone.

From thereon we see lots of zombies being shot, bludgeoned and burnt to thier second deaths by our intrepid band of cornered humans.

At one point we see the half eaten corpse of the farmhouse's former owner...

Pity we didn't see this wandering around as a zombie. That would have been an awesome looking zombie.

When Tom gets careless with a fuel pump he and Judy find themselves trapped in a burning pickup truck which explodes - killing them instantly...

This cookout leads to a nice little barbecue for our hungry zombies. Cue a scene where the zombies gorge themselves on the baked flesh and innards of the once happy couple...

Matters come to a head between Ben and Harry. Harry tries and fails to steal Ben's shotgun. Ben shoots Harry in the stomach. Harry stumbles into the cellar and dies from his wounds. Harry's corpse is then partially eaten by his now zombfied daughter Karen...

Zombie girl then stabs her own Mum to death with a trowel. This a brilliantly directed scene - the way the lighting picks out the details and the sound distorts Helen's dying screams is truly unnerving...

Next up its Barbara's turn to meet the grim reaper. The zombies break into the house, Barbara is dragged screaming into a crowd of ravenous walking corpses by the reanimated body of her own brother Johnny. Even in death he's still being a dick to her...

Ben hides out in the basement (oh, the irony) until morning. The zombies disperse and Ben is shot in the head by a group of trigger happy rednecks who mistake him for one of the walking dead...

In the end credits scene which is a series of grainy "crime scene" style photographs, we see Ben's body being skewered by meathooks as he is carried away by the rent-a-mob to be burnt on a bonfire with all the other zombie corpses...

RATING  - Night Of The Living Dead is a stone cold classic. Its one of the most important horror films ever made. It pushed the genre into a bold new era, gave us a different take on a familier monster and helped redefine what horror movies can be.

It's not just mindless bloodletting either. It tells an intelligent and compelling story and holds up a lens to the worst aspects of human nature which is just as relevant today as it was nearly 60 years ago.

The black and white photography is beautiful and its a shame that Romero didn't shoot more movies this way.

Overall - I'm giving this 5 flesh eating ghouls out of 5. Essential.

POSTER/VHS/DVD ART  -

Above - The cover to the novelisation of the movie.