Night of the Living Dead (film)

• Release Date: 1968
• Director(s): George A. Romero
• Writer(s): George A. Romero; John A. Russo
• Principal Actors and Roles: Duane Jones (Ben); Judith O'Dea (Barbra Blair); Marilyn Eastman (Helen); Bill Heinzman (Zombie); Judith Ridley (Judy); Kyra Schoon (Karen Cooper)

Night of the Living Dead is an independent zombie film that follows Ben, Barbra, and other refugees, who are hiding out in a farmhouse in rural Pennsylvania from plagues of reanimated corpses who wish to eat them. The film was directed and cowritten by George A. Romero, whose work on the film has been regarded as revolutionary to the horror film genre.

Throughout the 1960s, Romero was working as a television commercial director, as well as directing several local shows such as Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Together with his two friends, John Russo and Russell Streiner, he cofounded a production company, but they soon became disinterested in making commercials and films that they did not care about, and decided they wanted to make a horror film. To make this happen, the trio needed to find further financial backing, and contacted Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman of the film company Hardman Associates, Inc. Romero pitched their untitled horror film, winning Hardman and Eastman’s interest, and together, along with four other partners, they formed the production company Image Ten. After countless struggles to raise enough money for the film’s budget, the team finally raised $114,000 with which to make the film.

Duane Jones, an unknown African American actor, played the lead role of Ben. The casting decision to make a black man the lead role of a film in the United States was especially unusual at the time, especially considering the remainder of the cast was comprised of white actors. Night of the Living Dead went on to become such a success that it spawned numerous sequels and spin-offs, including Dawn of the Dead (1978) and Day of the Dead (1985), also directed by Romero.

Plot

Night of the Living Dead is set in rural Pennsylvania, where Barbra and Johnny Blair, a brother and sister, are visiting the grave of their father. While at the cemetery, a strange man suddenly attacks Barbra, and during his attempts to rescue his sister, Johnny falls, breaking his neck, and dies. Barbra tries to flee the scene, but crashes her car into a tree while the stranger chases her. She manages to escape to a farmhouse, where she runs into Ben, who is also running. The two make it safely into the house and Ben blocks all of the doors and windows to keep the zombies outside.

Soon, Ben and Barbra discover that they are not alone in the farmhouse. Inside the cellar are more refugees hiding from the zombies: Helen and Harry, a married couple, their teenage daughter Karen, and another young couple, Tom and Judy. Karen is very sick and injured because she was bitten by a zombie.

While in the house, the refugees listen to radio reports that say there is an epidemic sweeping the eastern part of the United States, and that the recently dead are reanimating to feast on the flesh of the living. Ben decides to try and get medical care for Karen, whose condition is rapidly declining. Harry tries to ward off the zombies while Ben and Tom attempt to refuel Ben’s truck. In the process, however, Tom spills gas on the truck, which catches fire. Judy becomes stuck in the door, and is unable to free herself when the truck explodes, killing Judy and Tom in the process.

Ben learns via another news report that the only two ways to kill a zombie are to set it on fire, or with a gunshot or direct blow to the head. Soon, the lights of the farmhouse go out and the zombies break through its defenses. In the chaos that ensues, Karen, Harry, Helen, and Barbra all die and are eaten by zombies, leaving Ben alone barricaded in the cellar.

The following morning, Ben hears deputies shooting and killing all of the zombies in the house, and decides that it is safe for him to leave his basement sanctuary. When he emerges, however, one of the deputies kills Ben, fearing that he is undead. The film ends with Ben burning on a pyre with the rest of the dead bodies.

Significance

Due to limitations dictated by the film’s low budget, the production team had to be creative with the special effects and props used. For fake blood, chocolate syrup was used, and meats and entrails donated by an actor who owned a butcher shop represented eaten flesh. All of the costumes worn in the film either belonged to the actors, or were purchased second-hand from thrift stores. Even the type of film—35mm black-and-white—used in the shooting was a result of the limited budget. Since its release, recolored versions of Night of the Living Dead have been created, but critics believed the low quality, black and white film contributed positively to its "guerilla" aesthetic.

Image Ten experienced a lot of difficulty in finding a film distributor that was willing to release Night of the Living Dead, due to its gory content. At one point, Columbia Pictures was interested, as long as Romero and his team softened the content or agreed to change the film’s ending. The producers refused to make any modifications to the nature of the film, and decided to release it in its original form. The film caused much controversy upon its release, for its explicit depiction of carnage and bloodshed.

Despite this, however, the film was praised by many critics and heralded Night of the Living Dead as innovative and pioneering for the genre. The film soon became a cult classic, and grossed $12 million in the United States alone. Since its initial release, the film has been translated into over twenty-five different languages, and became the top grossing film in Europe for the year 1969.

In 1999, Night of the Living Dead was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry, deeming it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Bibliography

Ebert, Roger. "Night of the Living Dead." Chicago Sun-Times 5 Jan. 1969. Chicago Sun-Times. Web. 14 July 2015. <http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-night-of-the-living-dead-1968>.

Kane, Joe. Night of the Living Dead: Behind the Scenes of the Most Terrifying Zombie Movie Ever. New York: Citadel, 2010. Print.

"Night of the Living Dead (1968)." Turner Classic Movies (TCM). Turner Entertainment Networks, 2015. Web. 14 July 2015. <http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/84925/Night-of-the-Living-Dead/>.

Paffenroth, Kim. Gospel of the Living Dead: George Romero’s Visions of Hell on Earth. Waco: Baylor UP, 2006. Print.

Russo, John. The Complete Night of the Living Dead Filmbook. Imagine, 1990. Print.

Williams, Tony. The Cinema of George A. Romero: Knight of the Living Dead. New York: Wallflower, 2015. Print.