George A. Romero's Night Of the Living Dead

     George A. Romero shocked the world in 1968 with his ground-breaking and apocalyptic masterpiece of horror,  "Night Of the Living Dead".   Filmed on a shoestring budget in Pennsylvania, "Night of the Living Dead" shows just what you can do with no money but lots of imagination.  The cheap film stock and black and white photography gives it a straight, documentary-like look and feel to it, which only adds to the horror.  "Psycho" opened the door in 1960- eight years later, "Night Of the Living Dead" came crashing through, changing the face of horror forever.

     A group of strangers find themselves trapped in an abandoned farmhouse as slowly and inexplicably they  become surrounded by a horde of flesh-hungry corpses.  Tensions arise as they board themselves inside to stay alive.  Before long, hundreds of zombies have surrounded the lonely farmhouse, constantly trying to claw their way in.  This is pure, nightmarish horror, and it grabs your attention in the opening scene and holds it until that devastatingly bleak ending. The shockingly gory effects (for1968) were groundbreaking, and the extremely low-budget film would become tremendously influential.  

     The first, (and in my opinion the best) in a string of zombie movies, "Night Of the Living Dead" came along at the perfect time in America.  In 1968, the country was in an uproar over Vietnam and mass race riots were happening all over the place.  As they say, art imitates life.  "Night Of the Living Dead" is a harrowing and harsh statement of racial attitudes in America at the time- which makes this far more intelligent than just your average gorefest.  This is easily one of the Top Ten greatest and most influential horror movies of all time.  In 1999, the Library of Congress  placed "Night of the Living Dead" on the National Film Registry as a film deemed "historically, culturally, or aesthetically important."  George A. Romero has said that Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" partially inspired "NOTLD", and it's easy to see that.  Stay away from the dreadful colorized version- the black and white is far more effective. Classic horror!
      "They're coming to get you, Barbara..."

Dawn of the Dead

     "Dawn of the Dead" is George A. Romero's 1979 follow-up to his classic "Night of the Living Dead".  Basically the same scenario as the previous, the action has moved from the Pennsylvania countryside as the undead have taken over the land and spread to immense numbers.   Bleak and unapologetic, "Dawn" instantly became a worldwide sensation and horror classic.  Romero's scathing attacks on mass consumer capitalism have been discussed ad nauseum, but satire aside, "Dawn of the Dead" is essentially a kick-ass monster movie.

      The movie opens with an apocalyptic tone, and fifteen minutes into the movie you already know that this probably won't be having a happy ending.  While a worldwide zombie apocalypse approaches, the films opens in Philadelphia as the city is besieged by the walking dead.  The National Guard has been called in, but there really doesn't seem to be much hope.  Soon our four desperate survivors- two military men, a helicopter pilot and a TV reporter, barricade themselves inside a shopping mall, slowly and inevitably attracting hordes of zombies, and gives Romero plenty of satire to work with.  You see, the zombies submerge on the mall, because one it was an important place to them... Get it?

      Once again filmed almost "documentary style", "Dawn Of the Dead" also manages to come across as almost cartoonish at times.  Tom Savini's shocking effects are devastatingly brutal, and this still may be the goriest mainstream film to ever be released in the United States. So much gore, in fact, that it almost becomes monotonous at times.  And oddly, most of the violence in this movie is directed at the zombies, not caused by them. Far more intelligent than it's given credit for, this movie is sometimes unfairly known as just a mindless gore-fest, but it's actually far more than that.  Romero is one smart dude- this is much more than just a bunch of  blood and guts. Sometimes horrific, sometimes absurd- "Dawn Of the Dead" is a truly shocking and influential horror film.  A slew of zombie knockoffs followed- some pretty good, most terrible.  Go with the Anchor Bay Special Edition DVD of "Dawn of the Dead"- the transfer makes the movie look as if it were filmed yesterday.  You gotta love Anchor Bay!