Skip to main content

Night of the Living Dead (1968) - George Romero

Here it is children, the grand-daddy of the zombie apocalypse. George Romero's 1968, classic, groundbreaking film; Night of the Living Dead. This is the movie that starts the whole fucking thing. This is the movie that starts everything. I am pretty sure that you can just about credit 99% of modern horror to this movie.

The movie follows Ben Huss, Barbara, and five other people that become trapped in a farmhouse during the zombie apocalypse. The plot seems simple enough, however this one simple plot has spawned a slew of other movies that rely on it as the starting point of the un-dead end. Of course we are talking here about Dawn, Day, City, Diary, and even the Return franchise. This one singular film can be seen, at least in part, in all of these movies.

The casting is impeccable. Ben Huss takes the reigns as your lead character once Barbara falls into a catatonic state. This is a ballsy move since Ben Huss is African American. In 1968 it was almost unheard of for a black male to take the lead role. He is easily the best character in the movie too. He is incredibly smart and ends up being the one that survives the longest (presumably).

The film does a great job of giving off that eerie vibe. Romero really pulls out a win here without the aid of adequate props, costumes, or even a passable soundtrack. The filming is mostly all taken care of in one central location, the farmhouse. Everything from the invasion of the zombies to the incredibly dark ending is all centralized here. It works out really well. This is the kind of movie that leaves you sleeping with the lights on. Kudos to Mr. Romero. I can't wait to jump into his others.

Enjoy suckas!

  • When the zombies are eating the bodies in the burnt-out truck they were actually eating roast ham covered in chocolate sauce.
  • The film's first scene, the initial cemetery attack on Barbara and Johnny, was the last filmed, in November 1967.
  • During production, the film's title was still being chosen. The working title was simply "Monster Flick". 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Human Monster (1939) - Walter Summers

Bela Lugosi turns in a fantastic performance. It is right on par with the exact same films that had made him famous like Dracula . My personal favorite being The Black Cat . Like the latter, this film suffered from poor circulation and lack of advertisement. Either that or the public wasn't interested in seeing Lugosi in anything else other than his famous bloodsucker. This film has a broad and well acted plot that was rich with detail.  Lugosi has two sides in this picture. His well loved and compassionate side. The other is a strict, brutal lone shark that acts as a sinister villain to blind and handicapped people. He really brutalizes his victims. It's a macabre message to pay your bills.  The film is slow moving and plagued by the usual setbacks from its time. Most of the nation wasn't really that concerned with horror at the time. But studios knew that they would always have an audience. This film is a prime example of that. It's sad because it's 

Ju-On (2000) - Takashi Shimizu

Watching Japanese horror is similar to watching British comedy. If you enjoy dry whit then you probably enjoy the boys of Monty Python in drag. That's the joke, they're dressed like women. Get it? Well, that's British humor. But if you're like most Americans you probably prefer Adam Sandler farting his way across a football field and hooking up with chicks that are way out of his league. Americans usually prefer this more in your face, crass brand of humor. My point is funny in England is different from funny in the US. The same goes for J-Horror. What the Japanese consider scary is very different from what Americans consider scary and it shows in this horror film. Japanese horror is generally slow (a little too slow sometimes), suspenseful and creepy. Ju-On is a creepy effing film. The movie has almost no soundtrack. It is incredibly suspenseful and the pay-offs are pretty awesome, but I think that it was done better in the American version (cultural t

Inseminoid (1981) - Norman J. Warren

What can be said for mindless schlock pictures like this one. They were pumped out in droves during the eighties. Inseminoid !? give me a break! It sounds like some pre-pubescent teenage boys came up with the title. On the plus side the movie isn't horrible to look at and it has a decent amount of gore. If you can separate yourself from the political incorrectness, then you might have a perfectly decent Sci-Fi Monster Feature.  A research team exploring caves on Jupiter accidentally awakens an ancient alien that rapes and impregnates one of the team members. She suffers from terrible shock and trauma, leading to a complete mental breakdown as her pregnancy accelerates faster and faster. Feeling threatened she decides to kill anyone she deems a threat. Can the rest of the research team survive or will they all become victims of INSEMINOID! Apparently this movie had a million dollar budget. That's really shocking considering the outcome of the picture. The acting