Night of the Living Dead

Oh hey look, a black guy actually made it all the way through a horror mov- oh.

It's hard to look at this film now and fully grasp Romero's genius in elevating monster movie thrills by infusing them with social weight. For example, during the Vietnam War, Americans would gather each day to watch the latest reports on the evening news. Here, Romero uses that feeling of being held captive by outside horror & makes it tangible. While his indie filmmaking often gets kudos, his forward thinking in casting African American and women actors also deserves commendation. A classic!

The creatures in this movie are so unique and cool, actually taken from voodoo legends but freed from anyone's control, that it boggles my mind that no one ever made another movie featuring these "walking dead."

It's really campy for sure, which is bad for me as campy isn't my thing. It is impressive for the tiny budget it was made with. Duane Jones is a surprisingly good actor but no one else was. I found that two plot devices that make me furious essentially started here. 1) People in horror movies fighting with one another instead of the real threat. 2) People paralyzed with fear to the point where they're useless. I know everyone else seems to love this film but to me it's just alright.

This seems to be getting better with age, or perhaps it just gets more under my skin. It's rough, sure, but there's loads to like. That ending...