MOTW Night of the Living Dead (1968) Aug. 6-12

[GL]

Ok, time to bring this back after being missing for the past two weeks ( ;D) and to get it on track, we'll do Night of the Living Dead from 1968.

You all know the drill. Vote, and my opinion after a couple votes.

[Canetoad]

5 from the Toad. One of the first horror films I ever saw, and probably my most watched. Original, frightening and intelligent with a strong undercurrent of socio-political commentary and quite bloody for its time. I love this movie. Ben is one of the great horror characters and the ending still blows me away after all these years.

[Conan]

A 5 from me. Night of the Living Dead is one of the greatest movies of all time. For anyone who ain't seen it, you have been living under a rock.

[HNT]

5 without blinking an eye. In addition to revolutionizing the amount of gore and carnage that was acceptable in a horror film, this one played havoc with the narrative structure. Everyone who ever saw a 50's or 60's horror film just knew from the moment that Johnny gives his pathetic Karloff imitation that he is to be the hero of the film. That wasn't to be, however, as the film suddenly switches gears and opts for what must have been just about the most unlikely choice for a hero possible in 1968. Then the film manages to comment directly upon the Vietnam war by creating an artificial threat that is quite slight in actuality and could have been easily managed were it not for the utter disintegration of societal order. The farm house erupts into a blood bath due far more to the foolish behavior of the human characters than anything that the zombies were capable of doing to them. Add to all of this an ending scene that is still a great big emotional kick in the gut that just leaves you reeling and you have here a genuine masterpiece. Romero is probably the only horror film maker who can generate real pathos in his films. I was genuinely saddened by the ending to this film. Not a typical reaction, by any means, to your average run of the mill zombie film.

[GL]

5 from me. Yes, as HNT so ably points out, the official start of the modern horror era (Psycho laid the groundwork, but this one added to it's foundation and ran with it) and is certainly one of the creepiest and most suspenseful films of all time. A kick to the gut on the first viewing, especially the fantastic ending, which is just a crushing hammer-blow after all that has happened.

However, the commentary found in the film is a little too beaten in for me. A personal taste rather than critizing the film. Also, the films that were spawned from it do it's plotlines and characters to a lesser degree, making it seem almost like a parody of the genre it started rather than the granddaddy it really is. Plus, it's plot narrative has been so overused that it hardly feels like it can still be scary anymore.

Still one of the greatest films of all time.

[HNT]

For what it's worth, I think that it is extremely significant that the zombies in this film are not responsible for a single on-screen kill. Every death is caused by the selfishness, hostility, ineptitude etc. of other living human beings. At the end of the film, it remains quite clear that the zombies would have been completely controllable had the people reacted quickly and logically to teh threeat that was posed. Instead, it is the breakdown of social order that leads to all of the death. A truly facinating and quite appropriate social comment (both then and now). Incidentally, though he doesn't begin exploring it untiul the next film in the series, watching this film today one can see the groundwork being layed for the realization that the zombies are at least as sympathetic as teh worthless human beings on display

[Canetoad]

And I'd argue he managed to carry that through the next three fils. I rewatched Land the other day, and that too is rich with allegory about elite power structures, crumbling civilsations and perceived foreign threats.

[HNT]

Absolutely. Land is a decent film all in all. I really was disapointed when I saw it in the theater, but since then I have grown to like it a bit better. It'll never be my favorite by a long shot, but it isn't the disapointment I thought it was at first either

[Canetoad]

My feelings exactly. It really benefited from a second viewing. NOTLD, however, benefits from a sixth and a seventh!