Writer: George A. Romero
Director: George A. Romero
If it doesn’t scare you, you’re already dead!
“They’re coming to get you Barbara!”
Night of the Living Dead is George A Romero’s first zombie film and the one that Started It All. Although there had been other zombie movies before (for example White Zombie (1932) and I Walked With a Zombie (1943)) these were more traditional Voudon style zombies. It was Night… that first introduced zombies as a cannibalistic horde. The graveyard scenes were shot in the cemetery at Evans City, Pennsylvania and the farmhouse was situated nearby.
The film was heavily influenced by the social concerns of its time, including the Vietnam war. As with all Romero’s films there is a lot of moral greyness; are ‘we’ really better than ‘them’? How different are we anyway? Although the film is dated and slow by today’s standards the social commentary and feeling of menace are still effective.
The film was also notable for what was, at the time, an extreme level of violence. This resulted in a lot of criticism (all publicity is good publicity!) and the film was heavily cut in some places. In the UK the BBFC proved itself more effective than a horde of zombies at ripping hearts out.
The original film was low budget black and white, however over the years several ‘colourised’ versions have been produced. There was even a conversion to 3D! These may be of interest to the collector and completist, but as far as I’m concerned the original B&W version is the real thing.