Purely Joyful Movie!

I'll tell you why so serious

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

A film that popularized "zombie movies" never actually uses the word "zombies." The living dead are only referred to as "ghouls." To an audience that presumably didn't understand the concept of a zombie (since they were not very widely known at the time), it's explained quite well and in a cleverly deliberate manner. None of the characters immediately understand what is happening because why would they? Only through a series of newscasts does the situation become clear. The characters learn that the recently deceased have come back to life (thanks to some radiation effects) to kill and devour the living. This is their first encounter with what we will later call "zombies."'Night of the Living Dead' is, like many horror classics, a movie that is eventually scary. By that I mean it's not scary right away like modern horror movies. The first half is a bit slow and totally dated. It doesn't really hold up in a cinematic way, and it certainly isn't frightening. It comes across as unintentional comedy, or perhaps even intentional comedy. Either way, the material is inherently silly and benign. Around the midpoint, something genuinely horrific happens. Then the tension escalates, and the possibilities suddenly seem endless. Everyone felt somewhat safe up until that point. Sure, one character had died and it is implied that plenty of other unseen people had died off screen too, but the deaths and violence are tame. This moment opens up the floodgates. From there, a series of atrocities take place that would still be considered shocking today and were most certainly beyond shocking when audiences first saw them in 1968. These moments aren't so funny. Even though the film is 50 years old, I still won't mention spoilers, because that's the level of respect I give to these moments. They deserve to unleashed on viewers without prior notice.In addition to making a visceral fright fest, Director George Romero also tackled racial dynamics, though he admitted this was unintentional. Nevertheless, this commentary resonated with audiences in an impactful way. In the 1960s, Black characters were hardly ever presented as heroes or even as equals to their white counterparts on screen. But the lead in this film is a competent, composed Black man who takes charge when everyone else behaves hysterically in response to the "ghouls." A white man feels threatened and compelled to assume control. Though none of this is directly addressed in dialogue, one cannot help but notice the implications. It gives the film layers and makes it more than just a well-crafted zombie flick.It's an additional element like this that makes 'Living Dead' an all-time horror classic.

No need to echo consensus points. What a tribute to a bunch of non-Hollywood folks getting together to make a movie, (Romero's first). Seems like everyone in the cast already knew someone else there. The production was certainly a long way from the usual Hollywood spore, and one of the first really successful indies. Things just seem to come magically together, from casting, to great camera work, to spooky effects. My knuckles are still white from the latest viewing. I keep thinking there is some provocative subtext to the story, especially with Afro-American Jones in the lead role and playing a real hero. But I still can't find one. Instead, I think it's exactly what it appears to be: one heckuva fright film. The first and last parts are the best, concentrating on shudders the way they do. The middle part is more like human interest, random characters thrown together having to sort things out. Anyway, Romero did for Zombie films what Lugosi did for vampires. No, it's not as gory as most fright films of today. But the technique is perfect for the material, so catch how a bunch of near-amateurs manage to trump the professional Hollywood crowd.

Director/co-writer George Romero and co-writer John Russo bring a fierce and subversive undiluted nihilism to the basic formula horror premise of the dead coming back to life as hideous flesh-eating ghouls that's lost none of its sting throughout the decades: Whether it's a couple of loved ones returning as lethal zombies so they can kill their own mother or sister or the noble Ben (a fine and commanding performance by Duane Jones) being shot dead with a bullet to the head after he's mistaken for a zombie by a posse of trigger-happy rednecks, this film pulls zero punches. Romero and Russo tackle head on major issues that remain timely and topical even today: The unreliability of the clueless media, the danger posed by average citizens having easy access to firearms, people failing to put their differences aside in order to work together so they can survive a perilous situation, and society starting to come apart at the seams when faced with a baffling problem that it's patently unprepared for and hence unable to properly deal with. In a movie rich with dark and delicious ironies, one of the richest and mot biting ironies of all is that the idea proposed by the selfish and cowardly Harry Cooper (well played to the slimy and sniveling hilt by Karl Hardman) to hole up in the basement is much better than Ben's insistence on remaining upstairs. Wholly deserving of its classic status.

Everything about this movie is beyond creepy, but that's what makes it great! The story, the music and great acting by a bunch of non famous actors. I saw this on MTV Halloween night back in the early 80's, I was a young teen then. I personally think this is the greatest zombie movie of all time. I have this now on DVD, it's great because it has the black & white and colored version to choose from. This is a movie that I watch about once a year.