{"id":13027,"date":"2010-11-17T17:38:26","date_gmt":"2010-11-18T00:38:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13027"},"modified":"2023-08-05T11:34:58","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T18:34:58","slug":"night-of-the-living-dead-1968","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13027","title":{"rendered":"Night of the Living Dead (1968)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Yeah, they&#8217;re dead. They&#8217;re all messed up.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Night-of-the-Living-Dead-Poster.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Night-of-the-Living-Dead-Poster-204x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"204\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-56947\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Night-of-the-Living-Dead-Poster-204x300.png 204w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Night-of-the-Living-Dead-Poster-695x1024.png 695w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Night-of-the-Living-Dead-Poster-87x128.png 87w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Night-of-the-Living-Dead-Poster-183x270.png 183w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/Night-of-the-Living-Dead-Poster.png 753w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 204px) 100vw, 204px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA woman (Judith O&#8217;Dea) whose brother (Russell Streiner) has just been killed by zombies seeks refuge in an abandoned house with other refugees &#8212; including a determined young man (Duane Jones), a young couple (Keith Wayne and Judith Ridley), and a middle-aged man (Karl Hardman) with a wife (Marilyn Eastman) and an infected daughter (Kyra Schon).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>George Romero Films<\/li>\n<li>Horror<\/li>\n<li>Survival<\/li>\n<li>Trapped<\/li>\n<li>Zombies<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary begins his review of George Romero&#8217;s cult horror classic by asserting that it &#8220;no longer scares the daylight out of viewers because the films it spawned have been much more graphic&#8221;, but he notes that &#8220;you&#8217;ll still be impressed by Romero&#8217;s style, wit, and themes&#8221;. However, fledgling film fanatics (and those like myself, who don&#8217;t tend to seek out horror flicks on a regular basis) will surely find themselves genuinely frightened, at least during the third section of the film, when the situation builds to a feverish pitch, and it becomes increasingly clear that most members of our ensemble cast are not long for this (living) world. Peary calls out &#8220;a couple of jump-out-of-your-seat moments featuring ghouls unexpectedly shooting their hands through windows and trying to grab someone&#8221;, and these are indeed twitch-inducing &#8212; but I find myself even more deeply disturbed by the scenes taking place down in the basement (an inherently scary location). <\/p>\n<p>Peary notes that this &#8220;pessimistic and unsentimental&#8221; film taps into our most &#8220;basic fears: monsters that won&#8217;t go away, darkness, claustrophobia&#8221;, with &#8220;even blood relations [turning] on their loved ones when infected by a ghoul&#8217;s bite&#8221;. He offers numerous other titles for comparison, noting that <em>NOTLD<\/em> has &#8220;much in common with <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=3089\"><em>Invisible Invaders<\/em><\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13520\"><em>Carnival of Souls<\/em><\/a>, and, the most obvious influences, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=5177\"><em>Psycho<\/em><\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=10590\"><em>The Birds<\/em><\/a>;&#8221; he points out that in both <em>NOTLD<\/em> and <em>The Birds<\/em>, for instance, &#8220;people congregate in [a] house for one reason only: fear&#8221;. He notes parallels between the literal attacks perpetrated from the outside of the house by the &#8220;ghouls&#8221;, and the internal verbal sparring between Jones (interestingly, the &#8220;script never mentions that [he] is black&#8221;) and boorish Hardman &#8212; and points out the ironic fact that &#8220;Hardman&#8217;s plan for survival&#8230; turns out to be superior to the implemented plan of Jones&#8221;, something apparently not noted by any other critics at the time. <\/p>\n<p>Be forewarned: for first-time viewers, the powerful surprise ending is sure to make you go, &#8220;Now wait a minute!!!&#8221; It comes as a visceral shock, and was a bold move by screenwriter John A. Russo. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Note:<\/strong>Why does Peary call the zombies &#8220;ghouls&#8221; throughout his review? I&#8217;m really not sure. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Effective high-contrast cinematography<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/notld-cinematography.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/notld-cinematography.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13426\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Dramatic editing and camera angles<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/notld-angles.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/notld-angles.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13427\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>Some truly frightening images<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/notld-scary.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/notld-scary.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13428\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>A brutally startling ending, with creative closing credits<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/notld-ending.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/11\/notld-ending.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13429\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes, as an undisputed horror classic.  Discussed at length in Peary&#8217;s <em>Cult Movies<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cult Movie<\/li>\n<li>Genuine Classic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p> (<span style=\"color:red;font-weight:bold;\">Listed in <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-static\/1001Movies.htm\"><em>1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die<\/em><\/a><\/span>) <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0063350\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/cgi-bin\/article.cgi?f=\/e\/a\/2000\/04\/28\/WEEKEND7702.dtl\">SF Gate Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.slantmagazine.com\/film\/review\/night-of-the-living-dead\/3604\">Slant Magazine Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.dvdtalk.com\/dvdsavant\/s2588dead.html\">DVD Savant Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.filmsite.org\/series-dead.html\">Greatest Films Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moriareviews.com\/horror\/night-of-the-living-dead-1968.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/84925\/night-of-the-living-dead#articles-reviews\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeout.com\/movies\/night-of-the-living-dead\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Yeah, they&#8217;re dead. They&#8217;re all messed up.&#8221; Synopsis: A woman (Judith O&#8217;Dea) whose brother (Russell Streiner) has just been killed by zombies seeks refuge in an abandoned house with other refugees &#8212; including a determined young man (Duane Jones), a young couple (Keith Wayne and Judith Ridley), and a middle-aged man (Karl Hardman) with a wife (Marilyn Eastman) and an infected daughter (Kyra Schon). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: George Romero Films Horror Survival Trapped Zombies Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=13027\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13027","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13027"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90920,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13027\/revisions\/90920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}