Night of the Living Dead

"They're coming to get you Barbra; they're coming for you..."

Night of the Living Dead - George A. Romero (1968)

Well, what can I say about Night of the Living Dead that's not been said before? Not much really, so I'll just re-hash old knowledge, things that everybody knows and my own biased opinion.


I have a love affair with Romero's original Dead trilogy that's been hot and heavy for 15 years now. I've worn out copies taped off the telly (good old Channel 4!), had numerous real VHS copies, a few DVD's (some good, some poor) and finally, I'm enjoying them in high definition. It's as close as I'll ever get to seeing them on a real film print, and to be honest, it's hard not to feel genuine joy when scenes you're intimately familiar with are presented as if brand new, like you're truly seeing it for the first time.


This post is about the one that started it all, ladies and gentleman, Night of the Living Dead...


THE FILM


If there's anybody alive (or undead, ho ho ho) that's not actually seen the film, I shall briefly synopsise it now:


Ben, Barbra, The Coopers and a teen couple hole up in an abandoned farmhouse to try and survive an outbreak of "flesh-eating ghouls", the re-animated corpses of the recently deceased. Paranoia, violence, fear and selfishness consume the group and start to take its toll on their chance of survival.


That's all you’re getting. Go watch it if you want more.


Back in the late 60's, George A. Romero was building up a steady portfolio of commercials and industrial films alongside John Russo and Russell Streiner, under the name "The Latent Image", as well as working as a second unit director on Mr. Rogers Neighbourhood, a US children’s show. Having recently become enamoured with Richard Matheson's seminal I Am Legend and growing tired of having their creativity dampened by old-school marketing men, the trio decided to make a horror film, as this would also capitalise on modern society's emerging "thirst for the bizarre". To get funding, the trio contacted Hardman Associates, an industrial film firm that The Latent Image had worked with before, to pitch their idea. Hardman were keen on the idea, so a production company, Image Ten, were formed, made up of Romero, Russo, Streiner, Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman from Hardman Associates and five other investors. It was decided that $6000 should be enough for the film, so they all chipped in $600 for a 10% stake of future revenues.

Filming started in late '67. Evans City in Pennsylvania was picked for both its closeness to the principal filmmakers (all residing in Pittsburgh, 25 miles south) and its absolute remoteness, which Romero felt would add to the sense of isolation on screen. No sets were built, they instead utilised local spots as best they could. The indoor upstairs scenes at the farmhouse were shot in a downtown house belonging to a friend, the downstairs and basement scenes were shot in a derelict farmhouse due for demolition (allowing the filmmakers to do what they wanted to it) and the opening sequence was shot in the Evans City cemetery. It was becoming more and more apparent that the small budget simply wasn't stretching enough, so 10 more investors were brought in to raise another $6000, but again, this was soon depleted. Eventually, Image Ten ended up raising $114,000 to complete the film.

Because of this modest budget, casting had to be done quickly and cheaply, utilising investors, local stage actors and friends. The principle cast was made up of Duane Jones, an unknown local stage actor, who according to Romero, "just happened to be an African American. There was no subtext... he just gave the best audition." Jones played Ben, the lead male and what is closest to the films "hero" role. This casting was potentially controversial, because it was extremely rare for an African American to play the heroic lead in predominately white cast, even as late as '68.

For the role of Barbra, Karl Hardman remembered an actress who had worked for him in Pittsburgh who had recently left for Hollywood. Judith O'Dea was 23 years old at the time, and her harrowed look of shock and disbelief on a seemingly innocent girl, was one which the filmmakers thought could sell the horror and give the crowds a figurehead to identify with.

The rest of the cast were made up of investors and first-time actors. Hardman and Eastman played the married couple of Harry and Helen Cooper, whilst Hardman's daughter Kyra Schon played their daughter, Karen. Russell Streiner played Barbra's brother Johnny, in the process cementing him as a bonafide horror icon, thanks to the immortal line "They're coming to get you Barbra...". Keith Wayne and Judith Ridley, local amateur actors, finished the main cast off as teenage couple Tom and Judy. Romero had no shortage of extras wanting to play the undead, and as Romero recalls, "We had a film company doing commercials and industrial films so there were a lot of people from the advertising game who all wanted to come out and be zombies, and a lot of them did, also, some people from around Evans City who just thought it was a goof came out to get caked in makeup and lumber around for a couple of days".

As we know now, getting the special effects correct is key if you want commercial acceptance, and the money this brings. Image Ten however were doing things on a budget, and approached their ghouls in a few different ways. Due to the budget, Romero was already shooting on low-grade 35mm black and white film, but this allowed them to take some shortcuts. Under the supervision of Eastman, and inspired by Hitchcock's iconic shower scene, chocolate syrup was used for blood, the rich colour and viscosity allowing it to ooze on the screen. Charity shops and cast-members old wardrobes were raided for costumes, and one of the zombie extras, who conveniently owned a string of butcher shops, provided roasted ham and discarded entrails for the scenes of attack and feeding. Not wishing to waste their initial $12,000, make-up at the start of the shoot consisted of white faces and blacked out "panda-eyes". As more money came in, Eastman purchased a supply of mortician’s wax, which was used to create the look of injury and decay.

Filming wrapped in December 1967, and the film went through a number of titles like Monster Flick and Night of Anubis, before the awesome sounding NIGHT OF THE FLESH-EATERS was agreed on. Unfortunately, a low-rent B-movie was already being distributed around the drive-in's under this name, so it became Night of the Living Dead. Unfortunately for Image Ten, the last minute name changed resulted in an error in the copyright paperwork, a very costly error which has plagued the group to this day. From the day of release, NOTLD has been in the public domain, meaning anybody can make a DVD, VHS or Bluray print, and keep 100% of the profits for themselves. This mistake has cost the Image Ten investors literally MILLIONS of dollars, which is a crying shame.

Truth be told, reaction to the film was initially lukewarm. Released in October '68, the film was initially released without a certificate, as the MPAA ratings system wasn't set until November. Because of this, the film was blasted by early reviewers for exposing young children to such visceral horror. As was custom at the time, the film was screened on a Saturday afternoon as a matinee, meaning the screens were flooded with early teens and their siblings, thirsting for the cheap thrills of Dr. Terror's House of Horror and it's B-Movie buddies. Instead, they were experiencing fear and discomfort. Variety and The New York Times were scathing in their views, calling it "junk", "an unrelieved orgy of sadism" and questioning the film-makers very moral integrity. Not all reviews were quite so reactionary though. The film had fans amongst the elite of film critics at the time, with Pauline Kael, Rex Reed and Roger Ebert championing the film to anyone who would listen. In the modern age, the film is quite rightly lauded as an genre-defining classic. Respected and cult commentators such as Empire magazine, the AFI, Rotten Tomatoes, Leonard Maltin, Ain't It Cool News, Fangoria and Total Film all regard the film as a masterpiece, and the film was placed in the Library of Congress in 1999 as a work of historical and cultural importance.

There's been a lot of discussion of the central themes of the film over the years, and allegories have been made with the Civil Rights movement, racism, the war in Vietnam, the rise of Capitalism, the destruction of old values, Nihilism (I wonder if Karl Hungus is a fan?), the nuclear family and many others. Romero has always denied that film is a tale against racism, stating that the colour of Duane Jones was inconsequential in hs casting decision. In fact, the part was written markedly different, more in line with a simple trucker, but was rewritten on the fly alongside Jones, who wished to be portrayed in a more resourceful and intellectual light. It can't be denied however that there is a very bleak mood throughout the film. America at the end of the 60's was a dark place, with students and veterans disillusioned with the war in Vietnam, the ever-present fear of The Red Menace, the stink of corruption in politics and inner-city tensions. This mood passed over onto the film-makers through their daily lives, beliefs and conversations, and subsequently, the film became entrenched in these feelings, allowing the viewer to associate their own anxieties with those of the survivors, and see their own demons in the faces of the flesh-eating ghouls.

I started this piece planning to write a review, but as I've been typing away, the urge to critique the film has gone, and in its place are just these words: GO AND WATCH IT. Even if you've seen it 50 times, watch it again. It's that good. Whilst it's not the greatest horror film ever made, it's arguably the most important.

Especially to me.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

George A. Romero: Whilst mainly known for his work on his ...Dead series, containing Night, Dawn, Day, Land, Diary and Survival, Romero has had a long and varied career, unfortunately peppered with as many hits as misses. For every Dawn of the Dead, Martin or Creepshow there is a Dark Half or Diary of the Dead. Ignoring the fact that he's kind of destroying his own legacy, he's still one of the most important film-makers in the world of horror.

John A. Russo: After getting stabbed in the head in NOTLD, Russo went on to work on some truly awful films like Santa Claws and Naked Christmas. Russo recently oversaw a re-edit/interpretation of Night, and has been writing comic books set in the same universe.

Russ Streiner: Forever remembered as Johnny, Streiner turned his production job on Night into a career. Unfortunately, that career is based around producing spin-offs and signing autographs at conventions.

Duane Jones: After Night, Jones became the Executive Director of the Black Theater Alliance, and taught acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. After being very selective with the roles he took, being careful not to become the jobbing actor he taught his students not to be, Jones passed away in 1988 after a heart attack.

Judith O'Dea: After only making one sketchy TV-film in 35 years, O'Dea came out of semi-retirement to appear in various genre films such as Claustraphobia and the future Poundland chart-topper, Timo Rose's Beast.