Night of the Living Dead

Rating:
Summary: The movie that started a whole genre
Review: If you look at Dawn of the Dead or Day of the dead or even Resident Evil none of them would've happened without this great movie. George A. Romero is one of the best horror movie directors of all time and he created an instant classic with this movie. The whole concept was great and the acting was great too. The movie follows a couple of people who all find there way to this one house away from any other houses or towns and they realize they are being attacked by the walking dead. Some of them want to barricade themselves in the cellar but the smart people barricaded the doors and the windows and stayed upstairs. Eventually though like most horror movies there was one survivor and he was shot by a group of people with shotguns hunting the dead. The movie was a great horror movie with not too much language and not that much blood and guts and if you like horror then this movie is right for you.

Rating:
Summary: George A. Romero's classic black & white zombie ghoul movie
Review: Once upon a time a young girl and her brother traveled three hours from home to place flowers on the grave of their father. The brother started teasing his sister, telling her in a creepy voice, "They're coming to get you, Barbara." However, the joke ended up being on him because they were coming to get Barbara, only they got him first.

I first saw "Night of the Living Dead" when I came home one afternoon and discovered that the Iowa City Public Library Channel on cable was showing the film. I have to admit, I was rather surprised that this cult classic horror film would be on at a time when kids could come home and discover it on television since one of the living dead is naked and the whole point is that they have risen from the dead to eat human flesh. All of this only goes to prove that "Night of the Living Dead" is a horror movie that is even scary in the daytime with all the lights on and the sun shining brightly through the window.

"The Night of the Living Dead" is a true classic horror film, which is rather surprising when you take into account that director George A. Romero made the film in 1968 for $114,000 without a cast of first time actors (extras who playing the zombies were paid $1 and a t-shirt that said "I was a zombie on Night of the Living Dead"). Filmed in black and white with Romero as the cinematographer, this film has a technical proficiency that is missing from other low-budget classics such as "Dementia 13" and "Carnival of Souls." You can take or leave the various sequels to this film, some of which definitely ahve their moments, but this one has to be on everyone's Top 10 list when it comes to horror films.

The horror comes from the situation and the simple effectiveness of the slow moving, silent zombies in their growing numbers, their arms reaching out to find human flesh to eat. Barbara (Judith O'Dea) runs to an abandoned house, where she is joined by Ben (Duane Jones). After fending off the first attack of the living dead, they discover five more people hiding in the basement: Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman), his wife, Helen (Marilyn Eastman), and their daughter (Kyra Schon), along with a young couple, Tom (Keith Wayne) and Judy (Judith Ridley). Harry wants to hide out in the basement, but refuses to be trapped down there, and the two spend more time arguing about what to do than doing anything. They listen to the radio and watch the TV, learning that the dead are rising to eat the living, and try to figure out a way of getting out of the death trap in which they find themselves. Meanwhile, the little girl in the basement is slipping away.

The only real weakness in the film is the attempt to explain why the dead are walking around as flesh-eating ghouls (a redundantphrase to be sure), which has something to do with a satellite and scientific mumbo-jumbo that really does not mean anything to the people trying to survive against the growing horde of zombies. Fortunately, the "why" does not matter in this story; just the "how" in terms of taking these creatures down. Besides, if anything clinches this one it is the end of the film, both with its final twist, and the use of grainy still photographs to show the end of the tale. Few horror movies, whatever their budgets, have an ending this memorable.

Rating:
Summary: George A. Romero's classic black & white zombie ghoul movie
Review: Once upon a time a young girl and her brother traveled three hours from home to place flowers on the grave of their father. The brother started teasing his sister, telling her in a creepy voice, "They're coming to get you, Barbara." However, the joke ended up being on him because they were coming to get Barbara, only they got him first.

I first saw "Night of the Living Dead" when I came home one afternoon and discovered that the Iowa City Public Library Channel on cable was showing the film. I have to admit, I was rather surprised that this cult classic horror film would be on at a time when kids could come home and discover it on television since one of the living dead is naked and the whole point is that they have risen from the dead to eat human flesh. All of this only goes to prove that "Night of the Living Dead" is a horror movie that is even scary in the daytime with all the lights on and the sun shining brightly through the window.

"The Night of the Living Dead" is a true classic horror film, which is rather surprising when you take into account that director George A. Romero made the film in 1968 for $114,000 without a cast of first time actors (extras who playing the zombies were paid $1 and a t-shirt that said "I was a zombie on Night of the Living Dead"). Filmed in black and white with Romero as the cinematographer, this film has a technical proficiency that is missing from other low-budget classics such as "Dementia 13" and "Carnival of Souls." You can take or leave the various sequels to this film, some of which definitely ahve their moments, but this one has to be on everyone's Top 10 list when it comes to horror films.

The horror comes from the situation and the simple effectiveness of the slow moving, silent zombies in their growing numbers, their arms reaching out to find human flesh to eat. Barbara (Judith O'Dea) runs to an abandoned house, where she is joined by Ben (Duane Jones). After fending off the first attack of the living dead, they discover five more people hiding in the basement: Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman), his wife, Helen (Marilyn Eastman), and their daughter (Kyra Schon), along with a young couple, Tom (Keith Wayne) and Judy (Judith Ridley). Harry wants to hide out in the basement, but refuses to be trapped down there, and the two spend more time arguing about what to do than doing anything. They listen to the radio and watch the TV, learning that the dead are rising to eat the living, and try to figure out a way of getting out of the death trap in which they find themselves. Meanwhile, the little girl in the basement is slipping away.

The only real weakness in the film is the attempt to explain why the dead are walking around as flesh-eating ghouls (a redundantphrase to be sure), which has something to do with a satellite and scientific mumbo-jumbo that really does not mean anything to the people trying to survive against the growing horde of zombies. Fortunately, the "why" does not matter in this story; just the "how" in terms of taking these creatures down. Besides, if anything clinches this one it is the end of the film, both with its final twist, and the use of grainy still photographs to show the end of the tale. Few horror movies, whatever their budgets, have an ending this memorable.