Night of the Living Dead (1968) - A Film That Always Impacts

February 24, 2020

Night of the Living Dead (1968) - A Film That Always Impacts

Constant expression of Cooper's face, except with a bruise from a punch he deserved

So my initial plans (which often eventually change because I’m just like that) were to watch “Frankenstein” (1931) for one final blog dedication, but instead I was driving home from work—commuting is my life, sadly—and “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) sort of started to matriculate. Although I think this film is October readymade, I just had a lure towards this early year viewing. Will this be the last time you see “Night of the Living Dead” (1968) mentioned on the blog with any great depth? I can’t fully commit to that as I have all the other films I’ve covered in 2020. “Night of the Living Dead” is just a historical film of timeless relevance. I have in the past given my own take on the film, its messages (subliminal, nuanced, subtle, vocally in your face, etc.) on the time when it was made, the inabilities to formulate proper protect and escape plans when a serious threat imposes its presence upon you, and the visual punch in the gut of the conclusion where “there’s one more for the fire” shakes at the core. All of this has been documented, debated, analyzed, and conversed among horror fans, contemporaries, critics, and scholars. I’m just a horror fan but each time I watch it, the film overpowers me and it reminds me that when pit in an isolated setting, cut off it seems from a true getaway, with those whose emotions get in the way of a uniform plan where all inside are working to support each other in the plan to survive, without working together the inevitable demise of all involved is more than possible. But the when that truck goes up in a fiery explosion, and the undead (seemingly resurrected by radioactivity from a Venus probe) start to collectively have their feast from the bloody good meat of the young couple inside, everything goes to hell. I thought about that, too, when Ben and Mr. Cooper (of the cellar) dissolved into altercation and exchange of a gun possession that without Keith Wayne’s Tom as a calming middle man to keep the two of them apart when their heated tensions would often nearly boil over there was no hope for anyone in the farmhouse. And if only Judy (Judith Ridley) had done what Tom said and stayed in the house, her coat wouldn’t have gotten caught in the truck door, and he wouldn’t have went back into the vehicle to get her…it just all falls apart. Each decision has a reaction that leads to all of the human mortals trying to keep alive ending up either zombie food or shot in the head (later for the bonfire where all those “things” must burn). Ben having to tolerate the headcase Barbara, Mr. Cooper too volatile and curt to listen to anything besides what he believes is best, Ben immediately finding Cooper distasteful perhaps because he reminds him of others he has encountered in times past, Judy refusing to stay behind when she wants to always be with Tom, the sick little girl in the basement with an infected bite the Coopers failed to consider dangerous, Ben a bit too trusting in his wood boarded windows, Tom carelessly handling the gas pump which resulted in gasoline splashing all over the truck, Ben failing to realize that maybe the basement was now the only option with Barbara being drug away by her zombie brother into a herd to be eaten, and Ben failing to cry out at the hunting party when he emerged from the basement towards the open window. Ben, for good periods of time, was the cooler head, but Cooper just continued to bring out the worst in him…and it was understandable. Cooper going for the gun while Ben is trying to hold off the horde starting to penetrate his protections of the house, and Ben responding by shooting him, only for the zombies to eventually get in regardless; the final chapter of the film is a grim example of how worsening tempers and failures to communicate will lead to nothing but doom for all. All I just wrote has been better articulated by the very best minds down through the years since this masterpiece burst on the scene in all the different theaters and drive-ins, at every point of the day. I have watched this in the morning, early afternoon, as the main feature evening film on Halloween, and as Midnight Movie in the Cult Hour. There’s nothing quite like that sinister dark as the faces of those unfortunates trapped in the farmhouse when the power is knocked out…heads turn, wondering if the creeps in the night are about to break through and penetrate the nailed boards holding the windows and doors at bay. And the spare score as it pulses and prods us, sort of like a peck on the shoulder or a nudge over and over…the house is lensed by Romero and the Latent Image team to really give off a grave feeling. There is no happy ending here. Damn, the film is bleak. They watch news broadcasts, are told about how the dead outside feed on those they grab hold of or hadn’t died very long, and learn of safezones. Problem was leaving the house for a running car that can get them to the safezones. You get the radio broadcasts, too, as Ben nails boards while an unconscious Barbara (punched out by him when she slapped his face) remains dead to the world on a couch. There are comments from interviewed members of authority all hush-hush, and a hunting party whose leader is quite confident and assured they will be able to cull the zombie uprising. Inside the farmhouse, though, they are confined, looking at those outside the area able to move about…that resonated with me. How helpless must that be to see others on the outside, through broadcasts on a television, not as shut in and holed up.