Night of the Living Dead

Directed, shot, and edited by George A. Romero and written by Romero and John A. Russo, Night of the Living Dead is the story of seven people trapped inside a house in rural Pennsylvania as they’re being stalked by the living dead. The film is considered the very first film that can be called the zombie movie where humans try to deal with the dead who have come alive to eat their brains. Starring Judith O’Dea, Duane Jones, Marilyn Eastman, Karl Hardman, Judith Ridley, and Keith Wayne. Night of the Living Dead is a chilling and gripping film from George A. Romero.

Set in western Pennsylvania near a small town with farms, the film is a simple story in which the living dead have been awaken due to some strange radiation as they haunt the living where a young woman has an encounter and goes to a farm where she is aided by an African-American man fighting them off as well as five other people. It’s a film about survival as well as what people try to do to survive as there are those who are just full of fear while some try to fight out against the living dead. The film’s screenplay doesn’t have much of a plot though it starts off as this strange comedy where a man taunts his sister that the dead is coming to get her where a living dead guy comes in and attacks the man as it goes into full-on terror. The young woman Barbara (Judith O’Dea) becomes traumatized as the only person who can help her is Ben (Duane Jones) as he is trying to lift moral as a way to survive.

While they would later discover others in the house that they hide in, Ben is the character who is the most sensible and determined as he has to deal with a coward who has been hiding his wife and ailing child in the cellar while only get help from another person and his girlfriend who had been hiding in the cellar. Their only means of outside communication is through the radio and television where they learn what is going on as it plays into this dark reality of what these characters had to go through. Especially in what they need to do to kill the living dead as well as what happens when one comes in contact with the living dead.

George A. Romero’s direction definitely play into its low-budget aesthetics as it is shot on grainy 35mm black-and-white film stock where some of the footage shown on television plays like a documentary. Shot on location near Evans City, Pennsylvania, the film definitely play into something that doesn’t start off as some horror movie where it acts like a comedy until the living dead come in as they would terrorize Barbara until she finds this farm. Much of the direction has Romero use medium shots and close-ups to play into the intimacy as well as the suspense where it adds to the sense of tension as well as what is at stake. There are some wide shots in the film to establish some of the locations as well as the scenes of the living dead waiting around the house.

Serving as the film’s cinematographer and editor, Romero would maintain that grainy look as if it was shot like a newsreel but also play up that air of suspense. In the editing, it is stylized with some jump-cuts while being very straightforward as it help play into the terror and some of the news footage in the film. Yet, there are also these elements that are quite dark as the film also play into not just the severity of what these characters are facing but also the outside world. Overall, Romero creates a riveting yet engaging film about people trying to survive against a horde of zombies.

The special effects work of Tony Pantanella and Regis Survinski is terrific as it play into the look of the zombies as well as the look of blood where chocolate was used for the look of blood. The sound work of Marshall Booth and Gary Streiner is superb for the way it captures some of the natural elements as well as the gunshots and explosions that occur in the film. The film’s music soundtrack consists of many orchestral and incidental stock music that had been used in other films as it includes compositions from Spencer Moore, Geordie Hormel, William Loose, and Ib Glindelman.

The film’s marvelous cast include some notable small roles and appearances from Bill Cardille as a TV news reporter, Bill Hinzman as the first zombie that is shown in the film, George Kosana as a local sheriff who has begun a war with the zombies through the news reports, and producer Russell Streiner as Barbara’s brother Johnnie who becomes the first victim of the living dead. Kyra Schon is wonderful as the ailing young girl Karen who is down at the cellar feeling sick while Judith Ridley is terrific as Judy as Tom’s girlfriend who tries to help Ben and Tom get gas for an escape. Keith Wayne is superb as Tom as a young man that helps Ben as he would try to create a plan of escape for everyone.

Marilyn Eastman is excellent as Karen’s mother Helen who is trying to take care of her sick daughter as well as comprehend the chaos that is happening. Karl Hardman is brilliant as Karen’s father who is keen on staying in the cellar for safety as he is also a coward that irks Ben. Judith O’Dea is amazing as Barbara as a young woman who would be one of the first to encounter the living dead as she becomes nearly catatonic over what she saw. Finally, there’s Duane Jones in an incredible performance as Ben as the one person who takes action and does whatever he can to survive as he is almost the heroic figure in the film that audiences can root for where he tries to do whatever for himself and other to survive.

Night of the Living Dead is a sensational film from George A. Romero. Featuring a great cast and an inventive premise that would serve as a template for many other horror films to come. It’s a film that is quite compelling as it play into not just the idea of zombies trying to kill many but also what some will do to survive. In the end, Night of the Living Dead is a phenomenal film from George A. Romero.

George A. Romero Films: (There’s Always Vanilla) - (Season of the Witch) - (The Crazies) - (Martin) - (Dawn of the Dead) - (Knightriders) - (Creepshow) - (Day of the Dead) - (Monkey Shines) - (Two Evil Eyes) - (The Dark Half) - (Bruiser) - (Land of the Dead) - (Diary of the Dead) - (Survival of the Dead)

© thevoid99 2016

Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream

Based on the book by Stuart Samuels, Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream is a documentary film that is about the culture of the midnight movies in the 1970s as it played to an audience needing an escape from the turmoil that had emerged in the late 1960s. Directed by Stuart Samuels and written by Samuels and Victor Kushmaniak, the film explore the six films that would define the midnight movie culture in that decade as well as what it did for the film industry before the emergence of home video and the blockbuster period in films. The result is a fascinating and exciting film from Stuart Samuels.

In the 1970s following a tumultuous period that saw political unrest, culture wars, assassinations, and other things that defined the late 1960s. Audiences wanting an escape from that turmoil as well as mainstream culture where screenings of low-budget films that were outside of the mainstream suddenly became cultural phenomenon. Among them were Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo, George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead, John Waters’ Pink Flamingos, Perry Henzell’s The Harder They Come, Jim Sharman’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and David Lynch’s Eraserhead. These films that didn’t play by the rules nor were they created or funded by studios, with the exception of Rocky Horror, were films that became successful through midnight screenings in theaters around America based on word of mouth.

With interviews from filmmakers in Alejandro Jodorwsky, John Waters, George A. Romero, David Lynch, and Perry Henzell as well as Rocky Horror creator Richard O’Brien and that film’s producer Lou Adler plus film critics Roger Ebert, J. Hoberman, and Jonathan Rosenbaum. They all talk about the impact of the midnight movie culture where many believe the man responsible for making it happen is Ben Barenholtz who opened the Elgin Cinema in 1968 in New York City and was the one who showed El Topo in 1970 as a midnight movie knowing that it wasn’t some conventional film. For six months at the Elgin Cinema, the film played to sell-out audiences as it started this culture of the midnight movies. The films that were played at Elgin as well as other theatres around the U.S. would play these different kind of films that definitely appealed to an audience that didn’t want to the mainstream films of the times.

Other films such as Tod Browning’s Freaks and Louis J. Gasnier’s Reefer Madness were also part of the midnight movie circuits as they were films from the 1930s that were never well-received as they found new life. Largely because they were films that played to an audience that wanted to see films that weren’t about ordinary people or those that are larger than life. Stuart Samuels’ direction is straightforward as he shoots many of the interviews with the filmmakers and critics talking at the camera with either a film clip or a poster in the background with the aid of cinematographer Richard Fox. With the aid of editors Michael Bembenek, Robert J. Coleman, John Dowding, Lorenzo Massa, and Kevin Rollins as well as the sound work of Euan Hunter, Samuels’ usage of film clips plus newspaper clippings and reports showcase the phenomenon that these films had as well as what it did to the film industry.

Its decline and end definitely doesn’t just attribute to the rise of the home video market but also the blockbuster films such as Jaws and Star Wars where it appealed to a wide audience and were financially profitable. Filmmakers and film critics believe that decline definitely saw audiences interact less and not bother discovering films that don’t play by the rules. Samuels’ direction would play into that decline but also that sense of interest towards those films but also the idea of the midnight movie screening. The film’s music by Eric Cadesky and Nick Dyer is wonderful as it’s mainly low-key in its electronic setting to play into the different type of films that is featured in the documentary.

Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream is a marvelous film from Stuart Samuels. It’s not only a compelling documentary that explores the brief but immense popularity of the midnight films but also a look into the filmmakers and films that definitely gave audiences a fitting alternative from the mainstream as well as something that would become phenomenon in their own way. In the end, Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream is a remarkable film from Stuart Samuels.

Related: Freaks - Night of the Living Dead - El Topo - Pink Flamingos - The Harder They Come - (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) - Eraserhead

© thevoid99 2016