#909: ROMERO, George A.: Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
ROMERO, George A. (United States)
Night Of The Living Dead [1968]
Spine #909
Blu-ray
The Booklet
Disc 1
Disc 2
Learning From Scratch
Walking Like the Dead
Night Of The Living Dead [1968]
Spine #909
Blu-ray
Shot outside Pittsburgh on a shoestring budget, by a band of filmmakers determined to make their mark, Night of the Living Dead, directed by horror master George A. Romero, is a great story of independent cinema: a midnight hit turned box-office smash that became one of the most influential films of all time. A deceptively simple tale of a group of strangers trapped in a farmhouse who find themselves fending off a horde of recently dead, flesh-eating ghouls, Romero's claustrophobic vision of a late-1960s America literally tearing itself apart rewrote the rules of the horror genre, combined gruesome gore with acute social commentary, and quietly broke ground by casting a black actor (Duane Jones) in its lead role. Stark, haunting, and more relevant than ever, Night of the Living Dead is back.
96 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
1:37:1 aspect ratio
Monaural
1:37:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2018
Director/Writers
Screenplay by John A. Russo and George A. Romero.
Romero was 28 when he directed Night of the Living Dead.
The Film
The Film
$114,000.
That was the budget for a film that ended up grossing $18 million internationally. That’s a pretty decent haul.
Romero, Russo and Russell Streiner were making commercials and industrial films in Pittsburgh for a company they called The Latent Image. Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman joined them to form a production company, Image Ten.
Duane Jones (Ben) is the best thing in the film. Romero claims that he wasn’t trying to make any particular point with this casting — that Jones was simply the best actor who auditioned for the part.
Regardless, Jones carries the film over the oceans of horror-film clichés, with his stern, intelligent presence.
Only the tragic non-uplifting ending with his demise at the hands of a redneck-type character implies any kind of social message — whether it was intended or not …
Over half-a-century later, the film still shows depth and innovation for such a low-budget affair.
**
I was born and raised in Pittsburgh. So I remember “Chilly Billy” (Bill Cardille, playing himself here) late night Saturdays, Here’s a clip …
But even better than the original, is Pittsburgher Joe Flaherty’s impression of Billy, as Count Floyd, on SCTV — this clip features great Pittsburgh references:
**
Some contemporary reviews:
Variety: “unrelieved orgy of sadism”
Vincent Canby (New York Times): “junk movie … spare, uncluttered, but really silly”
Pauline Kael: “one of the most gruesomely terrifying movies ever made — and when you leave the theatre you may wish you could forget the whole horrible experience … the film’s grainy, banal seriousness works for it — gives it a crude realism.”
Rex Reed: “it is unthinkable for anyone seriously interested in horror movies not to see it.”
Film Rating (0-60):
55
The ExtrasThe Booklet
Eight-panel foldout with an essay by Stuart Klawans.
“As of this writing, a keyword search for zombie online returns 2,955 titles.”
“Today we have a very capacious bucket into which to drop all movies that involve zombies. In l968-70, though, audiences had no category for Night of the Living Dead and felt helpless before it.
On the reverse of the foldout is a poster of Kyra Schon (Karen Cooper).
Disc 1
Two commentaries
- Romero, Hardman, Eastman and Russo
- The director, writer and producers — all took acting roles to keep the budget down. Hardman was Harry Cooper; Eastman was Helen Cooper; Russo was a Ghoul, and Romero was reporter Don Quinn. Their comments reveal a lot of technical info about how they managed to shoot the film on a shoestring … but mostly they have fun reminiscing and misremembering details.
- Streiner (Producer/Johnny), Vincent D. Survinski, (Production Designer/Posse Gunman), Judith O’Dea (Barbra), S. William Hinzman (Cemetery Ghoul), Schon (Karen Cooper) and Keith Wayne (Tom) …
- Most of them went on to do a few other films in the horror genre, with the exception of Wayne (who was a singer turned chiropractor), and whose only IMDb credit is this film.
- Pretty much a run-of-the-mill cast reunion …
Night of Anubis
Never-before-presented work print edit of the film.
After the working title of “Night of the Flesh-Eaters” precipitated a cease-and-desist order from another film company who was using that title, Romero decided no one had probably used the name of the Egyptian god Anubis.
Hardcore fans only. See every splice. OTOH, it shows the viewer what an actual “work print” looks like. This is the first step for a fledgling film production to find money and distribution.
Disc 2
Light in the Darkness
Featuring filmmakers Frank Darabont, Guillermo del Toro and Robert Rodriguez.
“That was the book of Genesis, as far as zombies went …” (Rodriguez)
“This is the greatest example of color-blind casting ever” (Darabont)
“The big lesson for me with Romero was his discipline as an editor” (del Toro)
Francisco Goya: Saturn Devouring His Son, 1823
Dailies
Never-before-seen 16 mm dailies reels.
Romero trying to get the lighting right. Gobo lighting.
Learning From Scratch
Featuring Russo on the commercial and industrial-film production company where key Night of the Living Dead filmmakers got their start.
Great look at the commercial and industrial films that taught them all the basics. You can tell that Romero & Co. had the gifts right from the start.
TV Newsreel
TV Newsreel
The only surviving “making-of” footage, 2:48 shot by Cardille’s crew.
Walking Like the Dead
About the direction of ghouls, featuring members of the cast and crew.
How to walk like a ghoul. How the makeup got better as the shoot progressed.
Extras Rating (0-40):
Tones of Terror
With Gary Streiner and Russell Streiner.
Great extra on the score — all library music! Romero had an uncanny knack for using these old, corny cues for just the right purpose.
Limitations Into Virtues
Best extra in the set. As someone who has done frame-by-frame analysis (mostly for Kurosawa), this is an excellent look at the art of editing with cut-by-cut frame counting. Superb!
Tomorrow
Tom Synder (1979); an intelligent interview with Romero and Don Coscarelli, promoting Dawn of the Dead and Phantasm.
Higher Learning
A 45-minute interview and Q&A with Romero.
Duane Jones
Jones is rightfully annoyed at being identified and pigeon-holed as “Ben” — he was a fine actor and teacher and this interview allows him to vent a little … he died seven months later.
Judith Ripley
Did one more film; married Streiner, had two kids, then made wax ice cream for awhile …
Venus Probe
A few seconds of JPL footage from 1967.
Trailer, radio spots, and TV spots
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