Night Of The Living Dead was the film that sparked the whole zombie genre, yet interestingly enough the word "Zombie" is never used in it. Instead, you only hear them referred to as Ghouls at rare moments. For most of the film the undead antagonists are unnamed, and the reason for their reanimation is never fully explained thus allowing the audience to direct their full attention to the characters. Night Of The Living Dead also is responsible for creating most of the stereotypes we associate with Zombies: The idea that shooting a zombie in its head will kill it, The idea that zombies eat the flesh of the living, heck,even the moans they make can kind of be traced back to Night Of The Living Dead.
Night Of thge Living dead was filmed in 1968 and made with a budget of $114,000. It was filmed in black and white partially due to the low budget, but also to accentuate that the film is going to deal with race relations.The plot is extremely simple: A group of people board themselves up in an abandoned house when the dead rise. The group is made up of 2 white men, 2 white women, 1 white little girl, and 1 black man named Ben. Of course there are several power struggles between black and white which get progressively nastier and more intense during the film.
Night Of The Living Dead was made in the late 60's bordering on the early 70's. During this time there was segregation and problems between blacks and whites. George A. Romero made an interesting choice for his film. During the first 30-40 minutes of the film we are introduced to 2 possible hero's. First is Johnny who is promptly left for dead by the next assumed hero, his sister Barbara. She eventually runs into the films real hero, the black man named Ben. Casting a black man as the film's hero was a controversial choice for the time, but it ended up paying back in the long run. Throughout the film Ben tries to get everyone working together but; since each are from different social classes and walks of life; Bens efforts go unrewarded.
Despite it's low budget, Night Of The Living Dead is expertly crafted and filmed. Let's take Barbara's mad dash into the house as an example. The zombie chasing her is laughably silly, but the way the whole scene is filmed with its low ground shots and tilted camera angles helps the audience share her sense of fear and panic. Night Of The Living Dead is 42 years old this year, but it still holds the capacity to make even the most hardened viewer cringe. A good example of this is the scene in which the sickened little girl rises up and turns on her mother to horrifying effect.
Another interesting thing about the film is that; even though the zombies are not seen a lot; we can constantly feel their prescence outside the house. We can hear their moans throughout most of the movie, reminding us that even though it may be safe for the moment it will never stay that way for very long.Even the characters themselves are interesting. Not one of them has an established backstory, this leaves the viewer to draw their own assumptions about said character, in this way the film challanges our preconceived notions about the stereotyoes associated with each. By the end of the film the audience does not want to really see anyone die, a rare feat in modern cinema.
Even with a low budget, Night Of The Living Dead ended up becoming a classic film with quite a cult following, inspiring several other directors to make their own version of the dead rising. No matter how many times you will view Night Of the Living Dead it will never get old or boring, the social commentary is just as rich as the day it was made. Night of the Living Dead is a horror classic that is a must-see for any true movie buff.
4 stars/5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment