Night of the Living Dead (1968)

On October 1^st, 1968, exactly 45 years ago, George A Romero forever changed the zombie genre and the popularity of zombie films with his classic “Night of the Living Dead”. From the famous “They’re going to get you Barbara” to shooting zombies in the head, Romero set the style and sensibilities for future zombie movies for the next several years. Romero also made a provocative choice by casting Duane Jones as the lead character, during a time period when African Americans were never cast as the hero in an ensemble full of Caucasians. Romero also made the same casting choice in his sequel “Dawn of the Dead” by casting Ken Foree as Peter, one of my all-time favorite characters in all of the horror movies I’ve seen. The story was co-written by John Russo and was at first a comedy/horror. But Romero made changes after being inspired by Richard Matheson’s classic “I Am Legend”. What would the world of horror be like without this film??

Spoilers!                                                              Spoilers!                                              Spoilers!

Barbara and her brother Johnny take a lengthy afternoon drive to visit their father’s grave. While they are there, Johnny begins to tease her sister because she doesn’t like graveyards, and while doing so a strange man comes up and attacks Johnny, killing him. The stranger chases Barbara to a secluded house where she finds a woman’s corpse inside. She runs out but comes across Ben, who takes her back inside and talks her down from her shock while boarding up the windows and doors. They discover that there are others in the house, hiding in the cellar. With their help, the survivors try to escape from the farmhouse with disastrous results. The zombies finally attack in masse and break through the barricades, trying to grab the survivors through the windows. Barbara meets a gruesome fate as she’s over taken by zombies when she notices that her brother Johnny is among them. Ben is the only one to survive the night, only to be mistaken for a zombie by a sheriff’s posse the next morning.

Ben defending the farmhouse.

Barbara running away from the first zombie in the graveyard.