Logan Nicholas
July-16-2019

Night Of The Living Dead
Analysis

This horrific black and white film told to be the original zombie ice breaker into the movie industry was directed by George Romero, and can be described as one of a kind. Solely written by Romero this movie is a pure representation of his way of portraying a zombie horror film. Even with a low budget Romero was able to exemplify his film to an accepting audience fairly well. With sex, political views, violence, and racial equality incorperated with its blood and gore it seemed to not shock its audence as a reasonable person would think. Audencese took Romeros take on a zombie horror film as a reality that could happen. While first impressions of the film being in black and white might have labeled it as poor quality, some might say it was because of the low budget, others seem to think of it as having a deeper meaning.

With racial tensions high at this time, you can notice some racial tension during the film. Nevertheless the making of this cinema caused a huge fascination in zombie horror and films alike. It may have been the feeling it radiates when you think of a world dominating force with only your demise as its goal, and that coming together to stop the carnage is all that we have left. At this time coming together as a whole may not have been the country’s main objective in the 1960’s. It could even be seen as a metaphorical picture to unite white people together and eliminate a threat to their livelihood, which in this day was seen to be African Americans.

”choppy black/ and white scenes” was just one discription about the actual picture and visual of this cinema, although having “special effects ahead of its time” during the Vietnam era this film experienced a number of rewrites and character changes throughout the filming. With emotions and opinions high about war, sexual opinions, racial equality and politics, having these themes bridge together by a global threat was a smart tactic to use to keep viewers entertained. Over all this film was a small spark that helped edge many movements to the light. Not only in society but in the film industry as well. For younger folks at the time it was something no one had seen before which made it so special.

Fast forward to current horror genre zombie films such as 28 days later, resident evil, World War Z, and even some comedies like Shawn Of The Dead zombie movies have been steadily increasing in popularity since then. Night Of The Living Dead was original, had shock value, incorporated social and political views, and was advertised well enough to make a big hit in the world of cinema, Although the film may be more appreciated in recent years it’s ripped its way into the televisions of generations not only as a benchmark for zombie films, but as a teaching subject for cinema enthusiasts.

The genre of Night of The Living Dead is horror. There is plenty of evidence of this throughout the film. The plot of the film is a bunch of adults hiding from ghouls in a house, which is a horror film concept. None of the characters are villains or anything that would suggest they’re evil but after they get attacked by the ghouls they turn into ghouls and start attacking the other characters. 

In terms of the dramatic structure, the exposition takes place when Barbara and Johnny are at the cemetery when Barabara get attacked and then she retreats to the house. During this scene we get some background knowledge on where the setting of the film will be and who is one of the main characters is. The rising action occurs when Barbara meets Ben and the other characters in the house and they are all planning on what they should do to escape the ghouls. The climax occurs when Tom and Judy hop in the truck outside and Ben follows them, then the truck catches on fire while Ben fights off the ghouls. The falling action is after everyone has either turned into a ghoul or died besides Ben the next morning and there is a search team that finds Ben. The denouement occurs when one of the members of the search team mistakes Ben for a ghoul and kills him. 

The narrative is mainly structure around Ben. Ben is the one who seems to take charge and make all the decisions. He takes on a leadership role and boards up the windows and doors, lighting the couch on fire to fend off the ghouls, and using the rifle to shoot the ghouls. I think if the narrative were different and they would have structured it around Barbara for example, then the movie would have been much different because Barbara was very quiet throughout the whole film. This supports the genre because in all movies, and especially in horror movies, one character has to be brave and take on a leadership role to overcome the adversity that they are facing in order to prevail and Ben takes on that role in Night of The Living Dead. 

The performances were suited to the genre by each actor filling their role appropriately. Ben suited the role of being the leader because he was the most vocal out of everyone and took charge of every situation and was extremely confident. All the other characters played minor roles which fits in well with the horror genre because in horror movies usually the other characters take a back seat to the leader of the group. The performances aren’t realistic, the camera turned away whenever one of the characters was about to get stabbed or eaten during the film. This isn’t a bad thing because this film was made over 50 years ago, so at the time it probably seemed realistic, but it doesn’t really take away from the plot. 

The main actor, Duane Jones, as Ben is an unknown actor. Judith O’Dea was a stage and commercial actress at the time and she played the role of Barbara. This was the first major film that Judith O’Dea acted in at the time so the audience would not have had any prior background knowledge on her work. I don’t know why the director chose to make Duane Jones take the lead role and not Judith O’Dea. It seems like it would have made sense casting the actor with more experience as the lead actor but the director possibly just wanted to have a strong males presence be the lead actor would be my guess.

There are three major segments in Night of the Living Dead. The first segment is at the cemetery when Barbara and her brother Johnny are visiting their dead father and Barbara’s Johnny jokes about there being zombies in the graveyard. Subsequently, a zombie does appear in the graveyard and attacks Barbara and then her brother while Barabara retreats to a nearby house to hide. 

The second segment is the house. At first it is just Barbara in the house and she is still in shock from what took place at the cemetery but she is soon joined by Ben. Ben kills a few zombies outside trying to get in and then begins to board up the doors and windows in the house. Shortly after, Harry and Tom join Barbara and Ben and begin to bicker about whether or not they should stay upstairs or go down to the cellar. Tom and Judy go down to the cellar while everyone else stays upstairs. While upstairs, they turn on the TV and see a message informing them that the government is aware of what’s happening. The TV anchorman states that people being stalked by zombies are supposed to report to the nearest shelter to stay safe. After seeing this message, they go outside and Ben fights off a group of zombies while Tom and Judy attempt to escape in the truck. Tom and Judy are unable to escape because the truck catches  on fire while Ben is fighting the zombies and they die. Ben and Harry go inside and begin to fight and Ben shoots Harry. Harry retreats downstairs and is transformed into a zombie and eventually Karen, Helen, and Barbara are also attacked and turn into zombies.  

The third segment is the next morning when there is a rescue attempt. Ben wakes up when he hears gunshots outside and then is shot by someone for being mistaken as a ghoul. This is where the movie ends. 

The purpose of segmenting the movie in this way is to create a gradual build up of intensity for the viewer, keeping them engaged throughout the film. The impact on the viewer is to craft a sense of intrigue, causing the viewer to wonder what’s going to happen next. is more In the end, Ben is shot and it seems like an appropriate ending to a horror film since then goal of the movie was to entertain the audience but also scare them.