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Night Of The Living Dead

Rated '18' by the BBFC for strong, bloody violence and horror.

Directed by George Romero.

Version Reviewed- VHS

In order to review 'Night Of The Living Dead' effectively, the fact must be taken into account that when the film was first made there were no other titles like this.  Today zombie movies are in abundance, latest releases being the superb '28 Days Later' and the absurdly poor 'Resident Evil'.  As a result, if you compare 'Night Of the Living Dead' with anything around today, then George Romero's classic zombie-fest presents nothing but laughs.  Whereas '28 Days later' had startling effects, digital film and insanely gory action sequences, 'Night Of The Living Dead' boasts people painted green, stumbling around eating bits of raw meat which were most probably purchased down at the local butcher. 

In terror value, 'Night Of The Living Dead's' horror has worn off considerably over the years also.  Back in 1968, when this first came out, audiences were probably screaming their throats out, but cinema changes over the decades and what horrified viewers thirty-five years ago, induces nothing but chuckles today.  Hardcore horror fans will find this laughable.

The version I watched was the new 'colourized' version, and the picture quality borders on unwatchable.  I never like watching a black and white film, but compared to this atrocity I would have viewed it in B/W every time.  Add to this the fact that 'Night Of The Living Dead' is extremely low-budget, and you can see why the transfer to colour wasn't such a good idea after all.  And, inevitably, the sound quality is abysmal too.  The dialogue is muffled, the music is...bizarre...and you find yourself turning the volume way above normal.  In all honesty, in today's world, something filmed this badly is barely watchable.

The plot follows a brother and sister visiting a cemetery in order to spend some time with their family's graves.  Within minutes a strange old man begins stumbling through the grave-yard, towards the two.  After the brother makes fun of him, Barbara (the sister) goes to apologise and the old man attacks her.  Trying to save her, her brother fights the man whilst Barbara runs off in terror towards a nearby house, where several other people are gathered.  Soon hundreds of the mindless killers, like the old man in the cemetery, are pounding the doors and smashing the windows, trying to get at the people inside.  With their numbers increasing, it seems as though the people trapped in the old farmhouse have little chance of getting out alive.

If you're a collector of horror films, and see it necessary to own a milestone in movie-making history, then chances are 'Night Of The Living Dead' is an essential buy, just to see how far we've come since the first real zombie-horror movie.  However, casual viewers may find this too dated to take seriously and are quite frankly better off with something like '28 Days Later' for mass zombie mayhem.

1968's rating/5- *****+
Today's rating/5- *