Night Of The Living Dead (1968) A Pioneering but Imperfect Trailblazer

At this point in time it’s fair to say that the reputation of George A Romero’s zombie trilogy is so embedded into the history of horror that no amount of criticism would be able to shift their reputation. Even me, apologetically as a first-timer to these films, knew so much about their classic reputation that I approached them with a certain level of trepidation – would I find them as seminal as other people do, or would I be left in the shade having a less than stellar opinion? Well, at least it’s a good thing that I’m only reviewing Night of the Living Dead thanks to its new Criterion Collection release.

I’m not saying this is bad, at all, I liked Night of The Living Dead a lot, and there’s many fantastic things that it does to create tension and tone. However, there’s many examples of “imperfect classics” and I think Night of The Living Dead is one of those. There’s certain things that are a little clunky, and I also think the pacing is a bit off at points. However, we’ll get onto those later, for fear of all of you coming after me, and I’ll start with a positive because it does a lot of things right.

The opening scene is obviously iconic. That much I knew going into it, as well as the classic line that everyone knows (“They’re coming to get you Barbara!”). It did surprise me that this line is in fact a throwaway mocking joke done to tease and nothing else, and it also surprised me that this line is said thirty seconds before the living dead actually come and get them. This initial attack is really well-done by Romero, the music is gloriously over-the-top and he manages to make you scared despite the relatively little gore. That’s something that did surprise me, I was expecting tank loads of fake blood and severed limbs, but Romero is pretty restrained as far as the violence goes.

With that said, this scene also starts my main issue with the film, being that it can’t quite decide who the main character is. When her brother is killed, it’s reasonable to assume that Barbara will be the main character, as she runs away and is forced to fend for herself against the living dead. However, she soon meets a stranger called Ben while taking shelter in a nearby farmhouse, and very soon Barbara almost completely vanishes from the narrative. The cast of characters becomes an imbalanced ensemble, never being sure who to focus on.

On the surface, the main character seems to be Ben, who I love. He was the first ever protagonist of colour in a horror film, and even more importantly Romero wasn’t even thinking of Duane Jones’s race when he cast him. He picked Jones not because of his skin colour, but because he was the best fit for the character, and indeed Duane Jones is the most natural actor here. He has the headstrong resolve, as well as the fear and anxiety that is only natural when faced with a zombie crisis. He’s the main reason I enjoyed all the action that takes place in the abandoned farmhouse and I was always a bit disappointed whenever we cut away from him, because the rest of the supporting cast come up short in terms of personality.

Ben is hardly a complex character but he certainly feels the most real. Everyone else just seems to impede the main focus of the film, and I never really cared whenever any of them got caught by the undead horde outside. Romero is clearly aiming for a more dramatic tone here than the B-movie budget would have the paying audience believe, and while characters like Ben and Barbara help contribute to this tone, the rest are simply canon fodder.

There’s a couple of small subplots that bog the film down, two of the supporting cast, Harry and Helen, have taken their daughter to safety in the farmhouse’s cellar after she was bit by one of the living dead. As the audience, we know precisely what’s going to happen here so the panic surrounding whether this girl will be alright dragged on, for me. The resulting scare was admittedly great, pulling a genuine gasp out of me, so I can’t complain too much when Romero still satisfies with the resolution, but still, it was a resolution I knew was coming as soon as the couple mentioned their daughter had been attacked. A subplot that is impossible to view with anything other than 2024 vision, unfortunately.

Also, the film is paced oddly after a certain point. Around halfway through our characters just stop talking to each other to watch a lengthy news report about what’s going on, and while this was a cool moment of worldbuilding it stopped the momentum of the narrative completely. If these were little moments interspersed throughout the film then that would be a lot better. As it is, it just makes Night of the Living Dead feel like it stops dead for five minutes while we explain what’s going on.

I feel like I’ve been too negative throughout this review, but I just wanted to shed light on some of the rather major issues that I think Night of The Living Dead has. None of them stop its status as a horror pioneer and trailblazer, and the things that it does right it set as examples for generations of filmmakers to come.

He nails the tone, offering a palpable sense of danger and despair that helps to ground the film despite the low-budget effects and make-up. Most of the acting is solid, with Ben being a superb protagonist, and I think it’s really sad that Duane Jones wasn’t in more films. The ending is also spectacular, a dark and chilling denouement that serves to highlight not just the brutality of the living dead, but those that are still living. While not as immediately obvious in its socially satire as its ‘sequel’, Romero still has a considerable chip on his shoulder here.

Night Of The Living Dead is definitely good, and it definitely deserves its reputation as a pioneer in the field of zombie cinema and low-budget horror. As important in making independently made movies, away from the studio system, a viable and potentially successful option as it was for the future of horror. However, it’s definitely not perfect. Soon after watching this I watched Dawn of the Dead, and I think that helps to match the brilliant tone and style of this film with a stronger and better-paced script. Personally, Night of The Living Dead feels like a very good proof of concept, where it doesn’t feel like a refined and finished product just yet.

Alex’s Archive – Night of the Living Dead (1968)