Review of Night of the Living Dead (1968) by Allen B — 18 Dec 2010

Woah. Awesome. A masterpiece of horror. Tense from the beginning until the very end. And, for a movie shot in the 60s, it sure is graphic, and scary, and gives most horror movies today a run for their money. And all this without the slightest bit of character development or significant plot to speak of.

How this movie manages to be so successful is beyond me. I guess it's the perfect mix of constant tension, disturbing visuals, creative plot twists, and damn fine cinematography. It just does not let up, not even when it reaches arguably one of the darkest endings to a film I've ever seen.

Even if you're familiar with modern day zombie lore, which this film essentially created, it's still utterly brilliant and engaging. I was particularly impressed in how the movie makes you sympathize with all the characters despite, again, not ever revealing anything about them to us. How the heck did they pull this off? Never has a movie with such underdeveloped characters been so emotionally gripping.

Two scenes in particular have been burned into my memory. The opening scene in the cemetery, ending with the zombie attacking the car; seeing it from the perspective of the girl inside was just brilliant, and terrifying. And the scene near the end with the little girl and her mother in the basement. Freaking genius horror. Scared the crap out of me. Brilliant, just brilliant.

Overall, genius. If there was some plot, I think it would probably be a perfect film, but I don't know, maybe the lack of plot is what makes it so great. It's amazing what creativity and guts people had back in the day. And, best of all, it's in the public domain and available to view for free whenever you want! No excuses! Watch it now!