Review of Night of the Living Dead (1968) by Tyler R — 06 Oct 2012

Zombies have always been a staple for Halloween, so here's one of the better zombie apocalypse films to be made. Night of the Living Dead is the 1968 movie that revolutionized how people view zombies.

George Romero, the director, brought to light the slow-moving, unintelligent and relentless nature of a zombie and that's how they are often portrayed. Back when this movie first came out, it was something new for movie-goers.

The gore in the movie isn't anything special compared to today's standards, but back then, it terrified people; people in theaters were in absolute shock of what was in the movie. The general story is that a group of people are stuck in a house while fighting off the living dead.

The plot is simple, but it works for the time this movie was made. The people in the house together aren't too fond of eachother and it's really about how they're going to work together to survive.

But in the end, it's one of those "every man for himself" type of scenarios. It actually does do a good job of producing a feeling of claustrophobia. Being stuck in building with people you hate and living off the idea of getting your brains eaten at anytime is a terrifying experience for the characters and the movie captures that so well.

The atmosphere of the movie is something that really needs to be appreciated. There's a really dark and hopeless feel to the movie. It's almost like the movie is saying "Whoever comes across a zombie is fucked.

" That is a true factor to the movie; people die horribly. The zombies don't just eat people, they flat-out tear the living shit out of them. People innards are seen and there's a surprising amount of blood for the 60's.

The issues that I have with the movie is that there is a minor pacing issue near the beginning of the film and some of the acting is pretty bad, but those don't ruin the film for me. I still really like the direction this film took.

Romero went all out in displaying violence and playing out the hopelessness of the situation the characters are in. I just have to say that the ending to the movie, not to spoil anything, is very cruel, even to this day.

It takes a turn that you don't see coming, but that's what makes it effective. Night of the Living Dead spawned a number of inspirations like sequels and other films where the title consists od "Night of.

.." This movie may not be my favorite zombie film, but it's a damn good one and it's always worth a watch, especially in October.