The year 1968 was filled with tumultuous change. Political and social unrest divided the country, and the violent change brought about by assassinations, riots, and a war that provided no avenue for victory would alter American culture and thinking in ways both better and worse in the years to come.
In 1968, horror movies at the box office included The Conqueror Worm with Vincent Price, Rosemary's Baby with Mia Farrow, Dracula Has Risen From the Grave with Christopher Lee, and Night of the Living Dead with zombies; lots of them.
In 1968 I was twelve years old. At the time, I didn't realize how important that film was and still is, or how it would change forever the pantheon of fictional monsters, and create a sub-genre that would provide the fodder for legions of undead, flesh-eating ghouls to roam across the landscape in countless films. Zombies have been parodied, satirized, gory-ized, psychoanalyzed, sexed up, sexed down, and alternately made mindless and mindful ever since, but it all came to a rotting head in 1968.
At the time, I was not prepared for the sudden shift in cinematic horror from "rubber monsters, cardboard gravestones or hands groping in the shadows" as Alan Jones concisely describes it in his book, The Rough Guide to Horror Movies. Up until then, I had watched in cozy comfort as man-made monsters, vampires, and various aquatic wild-life tried to wreak havoc in an ordered universe; only to be stopped in the end by the triumph of scientific reason, religious belief, and when all else failed, a pointy piece of wood or the trusty military might of the army, navy or air force.But director George Romero changed all that. No longer could the monster be contained, controlled, or avoided by day. The ordered universe was no longer neat and tidy, and it was not subject to man's laws or scientific codexes or heroic deeds. And the monsters were us! We were mindlessly devouring each other and infecting each other in gruesome, bloody ways in a suddenly nihilistic universe governed by godless quantum change.
Did I mention I was only twelve when I first watched Night of the Living Dead? It was at the evening showing at the Benson Theatre in Brooklyn. Afterwards, the long walk home was fraught with shadows of zombies lurching from every doorway and side street. For the next two weeks I couldn't take a bath at night with the door unlocked. I had become one of those kids that Roger Ebert wrote about when he watched the film for the first time.
I don't think the younger kids really knew what hit them. They were used to going to movies, sure, and they'd seen some horror movies before, sure, but this was something else. This was ghouls eating people up—and you could actually see what they were eating. This was little girls killing their mothers. This was being set on fire. Worst of all, even the hero got killed... I felt real terror in that neighborhood theater last Saturday afternoon. I saw kids who had no resources they could draw upon to protect themselves from the dread and fear they felt.
Real terror? Yes; I was terrified. Frankenstein was one of the undead, but at least he didn't go around eating people. Dracula just sucked the life blood out of you, but never ripped off and chewed on a body part while doing it. These next-door-neighbor ghouls were monsters beyond all reason or hope of redemption. These were creatures from some undreamt hell that would not be stopped as they mindlessly devoured everything still alive in their path. And religious icons, voodoo rituals, wolfbane, military might and scientific knowledge were powerless against them. You bet I was terrified.
Article comments
1 - Steve C.
Fantastic article, man. I stumbled across this film on a local cable-access channel back in high school. I knew of it, but I didn't know much about it, and a friend of mine and I had been making fun of the night's previous offering (the sad-sack would-be-satirical late-wave slasher Cutting Class). We figured we'd stay up and continue having our fun. Cut to a couple of hours later, with both of us shaken to our cores, unable to do much more than just say, "Whoa. Dude." Still my favorite horror film of all time, this.
2 - Iloz Zoc
Thanks Steve. After hearing about the NOTLD 3D version coming out in November, I had to revisit the original. The shock value from the grainy black and white footage is intense. Romero created quite a statement of terror on a shoestring budget. My favorite scenes are the newscasts. Those are priceless, and pretty realistic. And to think the copyright got screwed up so the film fell into the public domain. Ouch.
3 - Michael J. West
Scared you in 1968? Shit, scared me in 1996.
4 - gonzo marx
excellent Review , as always, my shambling Friend...
a few quick bits
the convincing blood , sripping down the stairs with such a nauseating sound, was hershey's chocolate syrup from a can... one of the benefits, Romero said, of using black and white...
this was done, cuz the flick was shot REAL cheap...think Clerks kind of cheap...
all those zombies were actual townsfolk from the little Pennsylvania town where it was shot...
as for historical Import, this film gave Romero his leg up... from her,e i think his next was the original "the Hills have Eyes"... which "invented" the slasher flick , imho, in the same way that NotLD changed forever the boundaries of the monster movie...
especially that "dirty larry, crazy mary" kind of sudden killing of the Hero when he finds the "light at the end of the tunnel" was actually a metaphorical "oncoming train"
thanks for the good Read...
/golfclap
Excelsior?
5 - Iloz Zoc
Thanks Gonzo, and thanks for the syrup tidbit. Now I'll always think of NOTLD while making chocolate milk. The sound work in th film, along with the music was very effective. I really hate squishy, plopping sounds. The sounds of the zombie in the house chewing, as Barbra approached the door were disgusting.
It's amazing how a limited budget can inspire or intimidate a director and production crew. In this case, just about everything gels.
Even last night, while I was watching it on my laptop , I still got jumpy and had to look around a few times to make sure everything was okay. Man.
6 - Mat Brewster
Another great review. I remember watching this on the TV as a kid with my mom telling about being scared to death watching it at the drive-in when it first came out. Scared the crap out of me, too.
This, along with To Kill a Mockingbird, made me realize that film wasn't just something for entertainment, but could be real art too.
7 - Victor Lana
Great review. You capture so much about what makes this movie a winner.
This is one of my all-time favorite movies. I have watched it on Halloween every year since I bought it (about ten years ago). Before that I used to go see it at midnight shows in a theater here in New York and that was a wild scene.
I think this movie is fantastic for all the things that might be considered wrong with it: the choppy music, the stilted dialogue, the bargain basement special effects. Just a great ride from beginning to end.
8 - Iloz Zoc
Matt, hey now that's a great film, To Kill a Mockingbird. The long walk home at the film's climax is a beautifully eerie bit of filming. Art and entertainment: now that's definitely worth the price.
I really enjoyed reading your Goonies review. The 80s did produce some fine films.
9 - Iloz Zoc
Victor, going to a midnight showing of NOTLD must have been wild indeed. Man, I would love to see it with a bunch of Stooges shorts, or an Ed Wood film. That would be a hoot.
10 - Mat Brewster
Thanks. I must give you and Aaron Fleming a bit of kudos for getting me to write a full review after your comments on my small one.
The opening credits to Kill a Mockingbird really opened my eyes to beauty if film, its absolutely marvelous. The rest of the film is of course fabulous as well including the walk home and Boo Radley. There are few finer moments in film than when Scout sees him standing behind the door and says 'hi boo.'
But Night of the living Dead, yeah that's great stuff too.