Saturday, October 9, 2010

They're Coming for You, Barbara: NOTLD

Night of the Living Dead, directed by George A. Romero. Released in 1968. IMDB's summary:
"A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse."


This will be brief, but I'm doing my best to squeeze it in. Honestly, I really didn't know what to write about this one. I mean, I liked it fine, but there didn't seem to be anything to rant about, which for me, is rare. It's definitely creepy and claustrophobic, and I've probably said it before but this whole zombie business of parents turning on their children and vice-versa (which has been around for a long time, I realize) really bothers me. Do there really have to be parent/child pairs in these films? There, that was a little rant.


So finding myself strangely short on words, I did what any real nerd would do, I GOT OUT MY BOOKS. My school books wouldn't have helped much in this case unless we wanted a 102003003 word paragraph translated from French to English about what the symbolic gaze of the screen signified or a detailed examination of race and sex relations between the two principal characters. (boner kill and boner kill). 


I did find something useful on the shelf, Fangoria's Best Horror Films, a gift from my brother! Or maybe I got it for my brother and then somehow ended up with it myself. In any event, it's a cool book, and had a three page spread on this film. In one interview, Romero states that the film's theme is "lack of communication," and that "these people can't even talk to each other long enough in an organized way to figure out how to escape. They could actually escape very easily, but because of their own problems and inability to communicate, they don't succeed." What a score! The photo I found was a great one, everyone huddled around the shitting TELEVISION!


Funny how things haven't really changed much. Today I imagine a group of people arguing over their Blackberries, I pads, and GPSs, and meanwhile the little kid is in the basement, dying, and the zombies have their hands inside the door. 


The film? Watch it, it's like, historical.
Fangoria's Best Horror Films

3 comments:

Donald said...

I'll admit, I'm a little disappointed by your reaction. Out of all the films on your list, this is by far my absolute favorite. I think it's a masterpiece from start to finish.

Anna said...

i know. i guess that makes ME the boner-kill. sorry.

Justin Garrett Blum said...

I used to watch this one every Halloween. It's one of the few horror films out there that I never really tire of.

Interesting quote you pulled from Romero. I can see that. It's always infuriating in these sorts of films how the biggest problem facing the characters is that they're all assholes of one variety or the other.

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