Retro Review: The Night of the Living Dead (1968)

This was the first time I had ever seen this movie. ¬†I know, what kind of an asshole loves zombies but doesn’t see the one film that paved the way for the modern zombie apocalypse? ¬†This one, that’s who. ¬†So I sat down to watch this flick the other day. ¬†For those even less cool than me, you may not know that this was the first movie by famed zombie auteur, George Romero, who of course went on to make The Crazies (1973), Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead (1985), Land of the Dead (2005), Diary of the Dead (2007), and Survival of the Dead (2010). ¬†Let me put it this way, if you like any movie that remotely resembles the zombie genre, you can thank Romero and The Night of the Living Dead. ¬†Remarkable in how simple it is, there’s a certain worldly aspect that lends itself to various interpretations. ¬†Point being, if you just want to watch a movie about zombies, it’s there. ¬†But if you’d rather watch a film that has some interesting social commentary as well, you get that as a bonus.

The plot is damn near clich√© these days but here goes- a brother and sister are accosted by a zombie while visiting the grave of their mother. ¬†The sister, Barbra (Judith O’Dea) narrowly escapes and takes refuge in a small home in the middle of the woods. ¬†There she meets up with Ben (Duane Jones) who is able to protect her from the onslaught of walking dead just outside the home. ¬†Of course they find other survivors and team up, make plans, bicker over said plans, and turn on each other. ¬†You have to remember that this was 1968 and quite frankly, this sort of thing just wasn’t as common. ¬†Some of my research for this review found that Romero gleaned the post-apocalyptic zombie premise from Richard Matheson’s novel, I Am Legend (1954). ¬†Romero was even quoted relaying the influence the novel made on him but he insisted that while I Am Legend dealt with the post apocalypse with vampires, The Night of the Living Dead reveals the beginnings of said apocalypse. ¬†Except, of course, substituting zombies for the vampires. ¬†Matheson was reportedly pissed about all this but I guess he got over it.

The thing that stands out for a film like this is who the actual monster turns out to be- humans. ¬†I mean yes, they’re zombies but the great thing is they don’t look all that different from us and with nary a scratch, our best friends and family could turn into our enemy. ¬†It’s kind of like the next generation of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. ¬†Going into spoiler territory (really)- this all comes full circle in the end when the traveling groups of hunters end up killing a non-infected, completely innocent Ben. ¬†Not only do the people in this new world concern themselves with flesh eating zombies, they have to also convince others that they’re still “human.” ¬†It helps to reinforce the “nightmare” scenario of things but also plays off the general paranoia and lack of trust plaguing America at that point in history. ¬†1968 was a fairly peak time for the Vietnam War, with the Tet Offensive causing an uptick in US involvement. ¬† This combined with an increase to opposition to war throughout the decade caused a lot of Americans to question the “shoot first, ask questions later” tactics of the government’s military strategists. ¬†Which is paralleled by Ben’s tragic demise by a group of zombie regulators. ¬†You might think I’m stretching for a connection here, but this is the kind of stuff that’s beneath the surface in a lot of films.

Moving on then. ¬†I was pretty surprised by the level of violence in the film. ¬†Zombies are dispatched through head shots, fire, and a number of generic stabbings/chopping. ¬†Any of these would be far beyond the level of violence I’ve seen from movies of that same time period. ¬†And I think the gritty, documentary style ¬†helps to exhibit this violence in a very realistic fashion. ¬†Six years later, the same technique would be used on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) to much success. ¬†It’s funny that movies like this become iconic when they were barely made at all. ¬†Working within these limitations seem to bring out the best of the genre from this period in film history.

So as you probably guessed, I recommend you check this one out. ¬†For horror or zombie fans, it’s a must. ¬†I watched it on the Netflix Instant Queue and it was the original, black and white version. ¬†There are a number of colorized releases of the film and even a very strange 30th Anniversary release that included newly shot footage (circa 1999) by the original writer, John A. Russo. ¬†If you need your hyperbole quota filled for the year, check out this AICN review of that version in which Harry Knowles states his preference for anything but this revisioning. ¬†I have to advise that you watch the film in it’s original incarnation and in black and white. ¬†I’d suggest a blurrier and dirtier print, just for the added effect.

Retro Review is a weekly column written by Dustin and occasionally other authors from the Breach. Here we take a look at films from yesteryear. 1989 and older to be exact. At times we’ll try and analyze how the film has influenced modern cinema, discuss the quality of the current release, or just do a traditional review of the damn thing and throw it up here. As always, requests for these reviews are welcomed.

Recent posts by Dustin

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