Review of Night of the Living Dead (1968) by Davey M — 04 Jul 2011

With his first film, George Romero not only single-handedly created an entire literary genre, he also gave birth to perhaps of the most prevailing and archetypal pieces of modern mythology. Zombie lore is so taken for granted (just 40 years later) that it's easy not only to dismiss the slow-build terror with which the monsters and rules of the world are established, but also the inherent horror of the idea of zombieism itself--the nothingness of death is far preferable to the sickening image of a daughter feeding on her own father.

It also, among other things, was a landmark in film violence, an early example of successful American independent cinema, and one of the first films to cast a black man in a leading role that wasn't specifically written for a black man, and the film owes a lot of its narrative success both to Duane Jones's strong, charismatic performance and to his foil, the weasely Karl Hardman.

But not only is the movie historically and culturally important, it's also really, really good. It's horrendous and apocalyptic, with sophisticated and unexpectedly restrained escalation of claustrophobia, danger, and disgustingness--as we learn more about the flesh eaters, the escape routes begin to vanish one by one, the walls close in, and more and more zombies appear, finally closing in from every direction, both without and within.

But that's not all either. In addition to being a terrific horror film, "Night" is also a slyly funny bit of satire (the opening visit to the graveyard sets the tone)--specifically on our experience of disaster via the media, and on how the most lethal enemy often isn't the enemy itself, but our own attempts to destroy it.

The low-budget amateur aesthetic gives the film a sloppy look, but the somewhat slapdash visual and sonic design belies the intelligent and very subtle construction of the script, and, if it sometimes makes the film feel like the work of a first-timer (which, of course, it is), it just as frequently helps it to come alive and feel even more fresh and immediate (reinforced by the juxtaposition with the news broadcasts, and the similarly unembellished, journalistic way with which Romero shoots some of the film's most horrifying sequences and images).