Pulpmovies Reviews

The first film in Romero’s Zombie trilogy, and still a classic. Night of the Living Dead builds a tense atmosphere before the opening credits have finished rolling and manages to keep the pressure on right through to the end of the film.

Shot in black and white and taking place in the course of a single night, the film brings together a small group of diverse characters, allows them to barricade themselves in a farmhouse and then centres on the frayed nerves and growing tensions which develop between them as a horde of zombies amasses outside.

And, for a plot synopsis, the above paragraph pretty much sums up the film, yet totally fails to convey how influential Night of the Living Dead was and how refreshing this film still is. It has spawned countless imitations in several sub-genres - the vast majority of which fail to come close to the power of the original film.

On one hand, Night of the Living Dead is a zombie movie. In this instance, the low budget works in the film’s favour (as often seems to be the case). There is not a great deal of explicit gore in Night of the Living Dead… what is disturbing is what is implied. For instance, the zombies tearing at and munching on flesh (zombie/cannibal movies is another sub-genre spawned by Night of the Living Dead) looks faintly silly, but when they reach into the burnt out truck and tear something off… your imagination can run free and your stomach starts doing somersaults.

Then again, we have the ‘kids in a shack’ movie. Granted, the character’s aren’t kids but we do have a group of people trapped in an isolated building which is a premise that has since been done to death while killing off countless none-too-bright teenagers. What really differentiates Night of the Living Dead here is that the characters all behave in a consistent manner - their behaviour is in keeping with their established personalities. They have a TV and a radio and are using these to try to establish what the government is advising. Where they put themselves in danger, they are following advice, which - if not entirely applicable - makes some sort of sense.

The use of TV and radio news to provide background is a bit hit-and-miss and the TV footage is the only real weakness in the film. On one hand it is an effective and reasonably realistic way of providing background information and driving the plot - this is a national emergency and the characters are looking to official sources for advice - but the dialogue is corny beyond belief. And with the supposed TV bulletins, the camera has a tendency to film the interviewer rather than the interviewee… not good.

Night of the Living Dead is also notable for being the first film to feature a black character in a lead role while not making an issue of race. Even today, this is unbelievably refreshing. Given the tensions arising in the farmhouse, it would have been so easy to have white guy resort to racist abuse - and not out of character for him either. But this isn’t a film about race and the cheap cop-out is avoided.

Night of the Living Dead is a classic movie that has been imitated far too many times yet rarely bettered. It spawned countless imitators and its influence can still be seen in the vast majority of horror films today. Any self-respecting movie buff should see this film at least once.

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