When unexpected radiation raises the dead, a microcosm of Average
America has to battle flesh-eating zombies in George A. Romero's
landmark cheapie horror film. Siblings Johnny (Russ Streiner) and
Barbara (Judith O'Dea) whine and pout their way through a graveside
visit in a small Pennsylvania town, but it all takes a turn for the
worse when a zombie kills Johnny. Barbara flees to an isolated farmhouse
where a group of people are already holed up.
Bickering and panic ensue
as the group tries to
figure out how best to
escape, while hoards of undead converge on the house; news reports
reveal that fire wards them off, while a local sheriff-led posse
discovers that if you "kill the brain, you kill the ghoul." After a
night of immolation and parricide, one survivor is left in the house....
Romero's grainy black-and-white cinematography and casting of locals
emphasize the terror lurking in ordinary life; as in Alfred Hitchcock's
The Birds (1963), Romero's victims are not attacked because they did
anything wrong, and the randomness makes the attacks all the more
horrifying. Nothing holds the key to salvation, either, whether it's
family, love, or law. Topping off the existential dread is Romero's
then-extreme use of gore, as zombies nibble on limbs and viscera.
Initially distributed by a Manhattan theater chain owner, Night, made
for about 100,000 dollars, was dismissed as exploitation, but after a
1969 re-release, it began to attract favorable attention for scarily
tapping into Vietnam-era uncertainty and nihilistic anxiety. By 1979, it
had grossed over 12 million, inspired a cycle of apocalyptic splatter
films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), and set the standard for
finding horror in the mundane. However cheesy the film may look, few
horror movies reach a conclusion as desolately unsettling. ~ Lucia
Bozzola, Rovi
(http://www.rottentomatoes.com/)
(http://www.rottentomatoes.com/)
R,
1 hr. 30 min.
Horror, Classics, Cult Movies
George A. Romero
John Russo,
George A. RomeroFree movie thanks to Tobatto2287
