Night of the Living Dead Review
Written by: Daniel Ward
As any fan of Zombie movies will tell you, we like to see lots of headshots, those smart-alec types getting theirs in the end, and all the screaming and biting that go along with it! What makes a Romero film stand out is that the man knows how to make all the gore, violence, distruction, and chaos come together in harmony with narrative form and consistency. Night of the Living Dead is the epitome of a fully functioning Zombie movie because it sets the standard for the genre by giving a frightfest of a film memorable characters that envoke passion from the audience and in doing so it attaches its' memory to a special place in our hearts and our dvd players.
Black and white, filmed during a seasonal grey period, and suped up with a disturbing score that plays right out of a science fiction soap opera, NOTLD's opening sequence invokes a sensitive mood of routine tedium as Barbara and Johnny visit to their long since passed father's grave. The anxiety soon sets in as Johnny begins teasing Barbara while a severe thunderstorm approaches and a gangily fellow seductively approaches from behind a line of tombstones.
And from here, the terror takes off. Barbara, a dependent and needy young woman, finds herself alone and in the drivers seat without the keys figuratively and literally. She arrives at a house, unable to call for help on the telephone while more of these lurking men arrive in the yard. A disfigured human body on the floor upstairs sends her running out the front door and into the arms of a tall, young black man named Ben who has stopped by in an attempt to fill up his truck at the private gas pump out back.
Unable to make heads or tails of the situation, Barbara looks on as Ben rummages through drawers and cabinets looking for supplies. Hysterical and out of her wits, Barbara collapses on the couch as Ben runs outside and crushes the skulls of the lurking men using a tire iron. Inside, a man approaches Barbara as Ben struggles to finish off the fellows around him. He enters just in time, sending the tire iron right into the strange mans' face. Another man enters the door as Ben, in a stroke of victory, knocks the man out the door with a blow to the face only to see that another four men are approaching. After lighting the dead mans' body on fire to deter the oncoming hoard, Ben realizes he has no route of escape and only a short time to secure the house before the fire goes out and the strange people muster up the confidence to break in.
In a kind of catatonic state, Barbara wanders around the house like a child, taking Ben's order to help find supplies to board up the doors and windows while Ben gathers anything that looks to be useful. Slowly returning to the kitchen with a few small pieces of kindeling from the fireplace, Barbara tries to help board up a door while struggling to keep her sanity.
Once the house is seemingly secure, Ben begins to tell Barbara about his experience before coming to the house. His story is a captivating tale of escape from a roadside diner that was overwhelmed by "those things". Barbara becomes hysterical again as she relives the graveyard scene and becomes so out of control that Ben smacks her across the face. She passes out, and Ben goes back to work on securing the house.
The remainder of the film includes more survivors, a young couple who were on a trip to the lake, and The Coopers, whose daughter has been bitten by one of the homicidal maniacs. Mr. Cooper is unbearably bossy and the tension between he and Ben boils over as they battle for power within the house.
The cast listens to radio broadcasts and television news reports as they wait to make their next move. Terrifyingly, the reporters urge everyone to stay inside because some unknown force is bringing the recently dead back to life. These people are attacking the living, and that they appear to be partially devouring their victims. They announce that various locations have been set up to serve as rescue stations, and the cast begins to formulate a plan on how they will make their escape.
Thrilling to the end, Night of the Living Dead makes socially significant commentary on the issues of race, gender, science, and religion as we watch a rag-tag band of survivors hold on to their lives and minds as the faith they had in world institutions comes crashing down.