Resident expert of classic horror cinema, Tom "Creature Features" Pinsonneault, is here with a special treat on Halloween - a BONUS Creep Classic Review featuring arguably the greatest zombie film of all time, the George Romero masterpiece, Night of the Living Dead.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Review by: Tom "Creature Features" Pinsonneault

Creepy Classic Reviews Presents:

NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD - 1968

Directed By George Romero

Produced By Karl Hardman and Russell Streiner

Written By George Romero and John Russo

Starring: Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne, Judith Ridley, Russell Streiner, Bill Hinzman, Kyra Schon

As Halloween approaches, i find myself always drawn to a dozen or so films that i just HAVE to see on the days leading up to that special scary night...i always reserve the actual holiday evening to a select few...chief among them is the original Night Of The Living Dead. I first discoverd this movie about thirty years ago, as a young teen-ager, although i had actually been aware of it by it's reputation many years before that.  Needless to say, the movie certainly lived up to my expectations and has remained burned into my psyche ever since...

Night Of The Living Dead was the very first feature length film directed by George Romero. Romero got his start in the 60's at Mellon University in Pittsburgh, filming commercials and Industrial movies for "The Latent Image", a company he formed with friends Rudy Ricci and John Russo. The three men eventually grew bored with that line of filming, and along with friend Russel Streiner decided to make a horror movie. Night Of The Living Dead was originally set as a comedy, involving flesh eating aliens and the like...however the final draft, penned mainly by Romero, became the more serious version of re-animated corpses we're all familiar with today. Romero freely cites Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend", as a major influence on his own story... Contacting a local production firm, Hardman Associates Inc., (which was headed by two eventual actors in the movie; real life couple Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman), Romero, Russo, and Streiner pitched the idea, and Hardman loved it. These five individuals soon merged into one brand new company; Image Ten. (They eventually expanded to ten members), and each individual invested six hundred dollars towards the film. More investers were soon added, and the film's final budget was set at $114,000.

One of the things that fascinates me the most about this movie is the thought process and creativity that went into filming with such a small budget. Obviously lacking the funds to create any elaborate sets, the group instead shot on location in and around the rural Butler County area near Evans City, Pennsylvania. The eerie opening sequence was filmed at the Evans City Cemetery. Romero shot the movie on 35mm Arriflex black and white. For props and special effects, Romero took his cue from Alfred Hitchcock's  movie, "Psycho", and used red ink and chocolate syrup for blood. Cannibalistic flesh-eating scenes were done with roasted ham and entrails, donated by one of the actors who owned a butcher shop. Most of the zombies were made-up with white skin and dark eyes, and mortician's wax was used for wound and decay effects...

For the lead roles, the production Company held auditions, finally settling on Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. Jones was a stage actor, and after taking the role became the first african-american to have a lead role in a horror movie. O'Dea was a stage actress, and had done a few commercials for producers Hardman and Streiner in the past. None of the other cast members had any real acting expierience before their involvement with Night....

Finding a distributor for the film proved difficult, as companies such as Columbia and American International Pictures were extremely uneasy with the scenes involving violence and cannibalism. Romero and company refused to give in and do any editing however, and eventually found a home with the Walter Reade Organization.Walter Reade Sr. owned a chain of theaters in New Jersey, New York, and a few other New England locations, and he hooked the production up with one of his subdivisions, Continental Requests, who agreed to show the film uncensored. In fact, according to NOTLD co-writer John Russo, Continental actually asked for ADDITIONAL scenes of violence and Cannibalism.  The only change  made was the film's title, which was originally called "Night Of The Flesh-Eaters"...it was finally settled on as Night Of The Living Dead to avoid confusion with an already existing movie with a title similar to Flesh Eaters....

The movie opens with a lone automobile traveling down a bleak and autumnal landscape, making it's way to a deserted cemetery. We soon meet two siblings; Johnny (Russell Streiner) and Barbara (Judith O'Dea) The duo have arrived to pay respects to their dead father on the anniversary of his death. We hear what appears to be a brief warning of events to come through a static filled radio broadcast, but the siblings fail to pay it any serious mind. As Barbara places a wreath on their father's grave, Johnny grows increasingly impatient and begins to recall spooky events from their childhood. Noting his sister's growing anxiety, he escalates the taunting, even at one point channeling Karloff with the film's signature catch phrase; "They're coming to get you, Barbara!"...Almost on cue, a dark menacing figure (Bill Hinzman) appears behind them and immediately attacks Barbara. Johnny leaps to his sister's defense, engaging the stranger in a furious fight. Unfortunately, the fight comes to an abrupt end when Johnny's head is slammed against a stone cemetery marker...Barbara runs back to the car and locks herself in, but realizes her brother has the keys. As the mysterious figure tries to break into the vehicle, Barbara releases the brake, allowing the car to roll down hill. Her escape is cut short when the car slams into a tree. Barbara is then forced to flee  on foot, with her relentless pursuer not far behind...she makes her way to a deserted two-story farmhouse...locking herself in, Barbara then searches the seemingly deserted home. She finds a telephone, but it unfortunately seems to not be working...peering outside she sees that two aditional figures have joined her attacker. she goes upstairs, and to her horror finds a rotting corpse in the hallway. This causes her to finally snap, and running back downstairs she stumbles out onto the front porch...dusk has now fallen, and Barbara is blinded by the glare of two headlights. We hear a car door slam and a man rushes up to her. He grabs Barbara and ushers her back into the house. The man identifies himself as Ben (Duane Jones) and he quickly gets to work barricading the house from within. He questions Barbara about her situation, but she is only able to stare back in slightly catatonic confusion...Outside, the zombie's numbers continue to grow. They begin to lay siege to the farmhouse, smashing Ben's headlights in the process. Ben manages to fight them off, but one enters the house from a backdoor, and attacks Barbara. Ben defends her and manages to crush the zombie's skull. Dragging it outside. As the zombies converge upon him,  he sets the fallen corpse on fire, causing the zombies to back away in fear. Ben and Barbara both continue to reinforce the farmhouse, exchanging stories on how they ended up at the farmhouse. (Ben was apparently at a diner which was attacked by numerous undead)...Barbara begins to grow hysterical, and insists that they go search for her brother. When Ben suggests that her brother is most likely dead, Barbara grows furious and slaps him. In a culturally trailblazing moment, Ben, who is african-american, delivers a solid punch to the extremely caucasian Barbara's jaw, rendering her unconcious. Ben gently places her on the couch and continues his search of the farmhouse. Turning a radio on, we hear a local newscaster warning the public against a growing number of "Mass Murderers" attacking the eastern portion of the countryside. Ben manages to find a rifle and some ammunition, and a pair of woman's shoes. In a gesture of compassion, he places the shoes on the still unconcious Barbara's feet. (she lost her shoes while fleeing the cemetery)...Ben's final task is to remove the upstairs corpse. As he drags the cadaver downstairs, the cellar door swings open and two men rush out. Barbara awakens and screams and Ben once again rushes to her aid. A fight is narrowly avoided when both parties realize that they are all still human. Ben angrily confronts the two men, however, and demands to know why they didnt come up and help him during the past few attacks. The older man, Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman) responds angrily back, but the younger man, Tom (Keith Wayne) calmly explains that they werent sure what was happening above, and that they had the added responsibility of protecting three woman back down in the cellar;  Cooper's wife, Helen (Marilyn Eastman), their daughter Karen (Kyra Schon), and Tom's girlfriend Judy (Judith Ridley)...we also learn that the Cooper's daughter has been bitten by a zombie, and is extremely ill.

It is at this point in the movie that Romero and company begin to make serious comparison's and commentary on the political and social situation of that era; The middle-aged Harry Cooper represents the bullying, authority figure of the establishment, while Ben represents the defiant, segregated minority, and disenfranchised youth of the time. Because of these two strong performances, it's easy to miss the social relevance of Tom's character, who seemingly represents the middle classed college kids of that decade, often caught in the middle between the predominently white establishment and the increasingly frustrated black minority...but it's easy to observe. On a less political note, we also get what has become known in many horror fan circles and message boards as "The Great Basement Debate", Cooper keeps insisting that the group should retreat to the cellar, where they will only have one door to defend...Ben argues that the group should stay on the ground floor, where they can monitor the zombie's actions and counter-plan accordingly.  At any rate, the discussion is interrupted when zombies began to smash in one of the windows.Ben and Tom fight them off, and Ben finally learns that only a bullet to the head will keep the undead permanently down. The group finds a television set, and turn it on...they see more reports of violence, with an acknowledgement that corpses are rising up, attacking and eating the flesh of the living. It is briefly speculated that a recenly launched Venus space probe has returned to earth infected with some sort of radiation, which may be somehow re-animating the dead. The broadcast then shows the locations of several nearby rescue stations, and the group all agree to try and make their way to one...they come up with a plan to unlock one of the gas pumps outside the farmhouse, fill Ben's truck, and make their escape.They make molotov cocktails to scatter the zombies, and Ben and Tom volunteer to make the run to Ben's truck armed with torches and Ben's rifle, with Cooper tossing the bombs from an  upstairs window...at the last moment, Tom's girlfriend Judy rushes out after him. She and Tom make it to the truck, but are unable to unlock the pump. Ben is forced to drop his torch and shoot the lock off with his rifle. With the zombies drawing ever closer, an increasingly frantic Tom hurridly swings the gas hose around, igniting Ben's fallen torch and causing the truck to burst into flames. It explodes killing Tom and Judy instantly. Ben makes it back to the farmhouse, but a panicked Cooper has locked him out. He hesitates as Ben pounds frantically on the door, with a huge number of zombies closing in behind him...Cooper finally relents and lets Ben in, helping him barricade the door once again. After which, Ben rounds on Cooper and proceeds to beat the hell out of him, angered at the other man's cowardice. Outside, a group of zombies converge on Tom and Judy's burnt corpses, which they begin to devour in an unprecedented scene of flesh eating....Back inside, a temporary truce is established between Ben and Cooper. The remaining group decide to try and find some other means of escape, but then the electricity abruptly goes out. The zombies once again begin to assail the farmhouse. As the front door begins to buckle, Ben drops his gun to help Helen reinforce it. Cooper grabs Ben's gun and orders his wife back down into the cellar...Ben overpowers him and ends up shooting Cooper during the ensuing melee....Cooper staggers down the cellar stairs, his final act reaching out to his young daughter...Back upstairs, Barbara manages to pull herself together enough to try and aid Helen in barricading the door. Helen flees downstairs after her husband, leaving Barbara at the door. We see Barbara finally reunited with brother Johnny, as he appears in the doorway, himself now a member of the undead horde, and drags Barbara outside where dozens of zombies begin to devour her...Downstairs, Helen  sees what i consider one of the top moments in horror history; her daughter Karen munching on her dead husband's severed arm. When Helen approaches her, clearly in shock and disbelief, Karen drops her father's arm and advances menacingly towards her mother. Helen falls backward, and Karen grabs a nearby gardening tool and stabs her mother to death.With Ben the final surviving member of the farmhouse, he tosses Karen out of the cellar, and barricade's himself in. He warily watches the bodies of Cooper and his wife, and is forced to shoot them when they spring back to life and attack him. Upstairs, the dead wander through the house aimlessly, and as the sun rises over the horizon, we see a large group of policemen and armed volunteers systematically killing the zombies as they cross the field towards the farmhouse. Hearing the activity outside, Ben mounts the stairs with growing hope. As he cautiously peers out the window, a shot from a posse member's rifle into his brain ends his life. Ben is dragged outside "another one for the fire", and tossed into a large funeral pyre....

 Night Of The Living Dead premiered on October 1st, 1968 at the Fulton Theater in Pittsburgh. Despite large audience attendance, critics initially shredded the movie. As time went on, however, more and more arthouse critics and film historians began to speak out in favor of it, noting it's social commentary and relevance. It's critique of racism, and america's involvement in vietnam...

 While Romero and company deny they hired Duane Jones simply because he was black, reviewer Mark Deming notes that "the grim fate of Duane Jones, the sole heroic figure and only African-American, had added resonance with the assassinations of Martin Luthor King Jr. fresh in the minds of most Americans." Stein adds, "In this first-ever subversive horror movie, the resourceful black hero survives the zombies only to be killed by a redneck posse The deaths of Ben, Barbara and the supporting cast offered audiences an uncomfortable, nihilistic glimpse unsusual for the genre..."

Whether you want to view this film to pick out and debate all the social commentary, or just enjoy a creepy,disturbing horror film this Hallow's Eve, Night Of The Living Dead should be on EVERY horror fan's list of "Must Sees"...