Night Of The Living Dead (1968) Review

It’s the first of October and you know what that means, the first of my Halloween themed movie reviews, we’re kicking it off with a classic, George. A Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” which premiered on this day in 1968 after being completed on a small $114,000 budget starring Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea and Karl Hardman, which went on to become a huge financial success, grossing over ten times its budget, achieving a $12 million gross domestically alone. It went on to gain $18 million internationally and after nearly fifty years it is still hailed as one of the greatest despite its originally negative reviews for the film’s graphic gore which to this day can be a bit unnerving. The film is about a group of strangers trying to survive the night in a old house surrounded by hoards of the undead.

So does this acclaimed classic live up to the hype? Well in my opinion I don’t know, it was a bit of a rollercoaster of some parts really impressing me and some parts making me frustrated and annoyed. For the most part I found it a very entertaining flick, it didn’t really blow me away but there was a lot to appreciate but also a lot to criticize. When the film started I liked what I was seeing, the dialogue was well written and the performances were also pretty good, tension was there and some shivers went up my spine but with its very basic cinematography (which did later improve) I was feeling a little indifferent. Most of the shots were just your regular close up and not only that but some shots were also repetitive and when your opening’s visuals disinterest the audience then you’re going to struggle regaining that interest.

That being said when we got to the house where most of the action happens things started to go downhill. The main actress was trying to achieve the whole dazed, confused and scared performance but it just felt wooden, especially compared to Duane Jones’ character which was probably the highlight of the movie, her sitting looking in the distance saying nothing (which she does for the rest of the bloody movie) while this hero figure was acting very genuine was boring to watch. As I just mentioned though, when the main guy comes along there is at least one thing that keeps you watching, even if everything around him was bland, the set its self was lifeless and dull. At this part of the film there was a lot of negatives on my notes sheet, my patience was getting tested as the filmmakers treated the audience like idiots with its exposition, I’m not saying how they did the exposition was bad, compared to a lot of films like this I’ve seen, how they do it in this actually impressed me, it was more so that the exposition its self was in your face. It left a bit up to the imagination which brought back the feeling of suspense which had pissed off about ten minutes before. Of course the fact that most audiences had probably never heard of a zombie before might be why the script made sure to explain what these things are, that’s not an excuse though and I’m not going to let it go easily because of that, it just means the film hasn’t aged well and even then, if they hadn’t explained it would have been more scary to these undead newbies who had no clue what the hell was happening. Of course as someone who has grown up with zombies already being a huge pop culture staple I wouldn’t really know what that would be like, possibly frustrating for the regular audience but still something I think would have benefited

At the half way point (give or take) the film picked up a little bit more. We are introduced to more characters so we’re no longer stuck with the piece of wood in a wig and only one compelling character, a plethora of new characters come out of the woodwork and also out of the blue, it felt as though it was just an afterthought to put them in when writing the script so they just put them in and came up for some excuses why they only decided to show up now which were utterly unbelievable but that aside these characters were a very welcome addition to the film. They added a bit more variety and suspense, these people weren’t necessary getting a long and you felt like something could go wrong at any minute, it was getting a lot better and the last part of the film was what saved this movie, the lighting and aesthetics were very good and it was also very nail biting at parts, it felt pretty realistic for a zombie movie and I was impressed with the last part but it still had its flaws. The characters were ridiculous at times making the dumbest decisions, they seemed to put little effort into anything and it took you out for sure. Another thing I would like to mention is the editing, for most of the film it’s your standard stuff, a little bland but nothing that much wrong, but some scenes were just awfully put together, characters would be in different places and it was very jumpy and sloppily put together at times.

When the climax came I at first found it excellent, the power had gone out and this entire suspenseful scene was lit by the moon and by fire, it brought the feel of isolation that I hadn’t felt at any other point in the film. It made most of the flaws kind of worth it for a well made finale. Then the film ended with no real conclusion, I mean the story concluded alright but it felt very empty, it was a bit more “that’s it?” that might have been the directors intention as it was a pretty bitter-sweet ending but it was slightly disappointing either way.

In conclusion I was quite impressed with some of the film but at the same time a lot of it was very lacking of any real emotion or anything really, there were high points for sure including a fantastic finale but for the most part I was a bit disappointed with this film. It was empty, it was bland and its low budget very clearly showed in some parts. In the end I wouldn’t call this film bad but I definitely wouldn’t call it a masterpiece like most other people do, I don’t care if I get shunned for this quite controversial opinion, as a reviewer I have to be honest and 60% of this movie did nothing for me, the rest did a lot but not enough for me to want to watch it again anytime soon, who knows maybe after a few more watches I’ll warm to it more and see what I’m missing but for now I’m way too busy to do anything of the sort.

6.5/10

(Reminder: Anything over a 5 is good!)

Make sure to check back tomorrow where I’ll have the next Halloween and the first Bond review!