00:00:00 Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the beginning of all things undead. In 1968, a 20-something year old director by the name of George A. Romero made his first feature length film. This film would spawn the creative influence for dozens upon dozens of horror films. Welcome to the Night of the Living Dead.
00:00:27 We open on a windy dirt road. A lone car drives along heading north. An organist needlessly pounds on his keys, inspiring Hans Zimmer for the score of Interstellar.
00:01:37 The car takes a steady turn into a cemetery and drives past rows on rows of tombstones. It finally comes to a stop.
00:02:20 Within the car is a man and a woman. The woman is blonde and the man wears glasses. Their personalities are probably as such.
00:02:25 The woman complains about day-light savings time. See! Even in 1968 people were confused as fuck about the clocks turning back!
00:03:09 The two are siblings and they’ve come three hours to place a single wreath on their father’s grave. “I don’t even remember the man,” four-eyes complains.
“Well it pleases mother,” the blonde answers. Hopefully this ‘mother’ figure isn’t taxidermied. Was that a popular theme in black-and-white horror films or was that just a one time thing?
00:03:20 Just as four-eyes is about to exit the vehicle, his car radio jolts to life. He questions it but turns the car off anyway.
00:03:50 So nobody has called each other by their names yet. I had to look characters up because I don’t really feel like calling them ‘blonde’ and ‘four-eyes.’ Not today, at least. So the dude is Johnny and the dudette is Barbra.
00:04:05 The siblings struggle to find the grave. How much would that suck? You reluctantly drive three hours to place a wreath on some dude’s grave and you can’t find the tombstone. Do you just, like, punt the wreath? Or is it like a lottery system? “Here! This tombstone looks worthy!”
I’m sorry, that’s insensitive. Let’s do whoever rises from the dead fastest wins the wreath!
00:04:15 Oh we found it! Or we are just saying we found it. “You’re our new father!”
00:04:30 Johnny sets the wreath down. “I wonder what happened to the one from last year.” Ummm it’s a wreath, Johnny; it’s not going to last a whole year. Your brand-new-undead-father probably reached up and brought it six feet under right after you left. Awww!
00:05:11 Barbra kneels to say a prayer. After ten seconds, Johnny goads her that she’s taking too long. Immediately after the words fall out of his mouth, thunder claps. You shall be smited for your ignorance, four-eyes!!!
00:05:22 Johnny turns to see that they have a visitor. About 50 feet away, an old man stumbles along aimlessly. Johnny thinks nothing of it.
00:05:43 Johnny puts on some kick ass leather driving gloves as he brags about not going to church. This guy doesn’t give a fuck about God’s potential smiting ability!
00:06:11 Johnny reminds Barbra about a time when he scared her by jumping out from behind a tombstone. No matter if this was, like, 25 years ago, Barbra still gets pissed and scolds Johnny. I guess graveyard pranking doesn’t have a statute of limitations. Someone note that somewhere.
00:06:12 “They’re coming to get you, Barbra,” Johnny mocks. Ladies and gentlemen, you have just witnessed the most infamous horror line next to, “Here’s Johnny.” Well, probably third overall because, “I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass… and I’m all out of bubblegum,” trumps everything. There will be no further debates! This decision is final!
00:06:22 Barbra is annoyed but Johnny keeps repeating the line. He turns to the old, stumbling man. “Look! Here he comes now!” Haha, very funny to pick on the old man, Johnny. Johnny runs past. Barbra tries to be respectful and walk gently by the old man.
00:06:38 WHO THEN GRABS HER BY THE THROAT AND TRIES TO GNAW HER FACE CLEAN OFF!
00:06:56 Johnny rushes over and throws Barbra out of the way. They struggle until the old man (is that Peter Capaldi!?) slams Johnny’s head against a tombstone.
00:07:22 With Johnny unconscious, Peter Capaldi sets his sights on Barbra. She runs to the car and locks the doors. Capaldi tries to break in but his methods are merely to open-fist the glass until something positive happens.
00:07:45 So kids, what did we learn? Don’t act respectful to strangers in graveyards. They may potentially murder you.
00:08:14 Oh my God! They’re learning! Capaldi grabs a rock and breaks the passenger window. Barbra (who doesn’t have the keys) shifts the car’s parking brake into neutral. She glides a quarter mile until she crashes into a tree.
00:09:11 With Capaldi en route, Barbra exits the vehicle and begins to run. She ventures through the woods to find a lone house in the middle of nowhere. Seems legit!
00:10:03 She scrambles looking for a hiding spot but apparently can’t find one. She peers around the house and Capaldi is stumbling at a brisk walk through the woods towards her. Stop staring! He’s obviously not the young chap he once was!
00:10:19 Barbra finally enters the house and boards the door. She investigates the premises but all that she finds are mounted deer heads. Are they zombies too?! Are we allowed to use the zed word? I’m going to refer to Nick Frost; will have an answer in a few.
00:11:58 Capaldi wanders outside the house. Let the old man in! He obviously needs his afternoon tea and crumpets!
00:12:16 Barbra peers out a window and witnesses more zombies (or zeds) approaching! Capaldi has friends!
00:12:25 Barbra tries the telephone but the receiver is unhooked. What kind of home is this?? This isn’t welcoming at all! Why has Capaldi and his friends not yet been offered tea and fucking crumpets!!
00:13:07 Barbra runs upstairs and finds a partially-eaten body. I’m hoping to God that wasn’t the maid. Capaldi promised his friends at least a biscuit.
00:13:22 By the way, this has escalated quickly! And you thought Drew Barrymore had it bad!
00:13:42 Panicking, Barbra rushes out the back door but runs directly into non-zombie guy. He looks over his shoulder at the rising count of zed and friends, shrugs and pushes Barbra back into the house.
00:13:59 The African-American man locks the door and casually turns to Barbra. “It’s alright,” he says. Yup, no big deal. Just a bunch of hungry undead Brits coming to rip your soul clean out of it’s flesh. “I can handle him, don’t worry about him,” this super hero of a mystery man continues, “it’s the lot more that’ll come that I’m worried about.”
Well, Super Hero, sir, if you portray as calm of an attitude towards the others as you are of Zed Peter Capaldi, I’ll feel perfectly safe. This man is a goddamn zombie whisperer!
00:14:03 Just got confirmation from Nick Frost: zombies are ridiculous; we are going with zed until further notice. Nobody is allowed to say the zed word unless our Super Hero utters it first!
00:14:20 Super Hero discusses potential escape routes to himself because Barbra is practically catatonic. Our Super Hero simply sighs and tries to phone; no dial tone.
00:14:45 Barbra is so shocked that she has yet to speak. BARBRA! This man is basically Superman and he is here to saveeeee you! Calm down!
00:15:01 Superman starts rattling off ideas for an escape. Food! Rationing! Weapons! Escape routes! This man is a genius under pressure!
00:16:30 The Zeds start destroying the escape vehicle as the Barbra and Superman watch from inside the house. The Zeds are becoming aware!!!
00:16:55 Superman swaggers outside and beats the undead shit out of two of the zeds. This man is immune to your undeadness!
00:17:41 Meanwhile, one zed sneaks into the house. It goes for Barbra but, sensing a disturbance in the force, Superman rushes inside and destroys it’s mush for brains with a crow bar.
00:18:37 He finds another zed trying to enter the house and beats up that one as well. He finally barricades the door as many more come stumbling out of the woods.
00:19:13 Barbra begins to stare into one of the undead’s dead eyes. “Don’t look at it!” Superman yells. Are they weeping angels as well!? That’d be fucking terrifying!
00:19:41 Superman drags the dead undead body outside. He glances up and witnesses other Zed approaching ever closer. Like a bad ass, he casually gets on one knee and burns the dead undead body in front of it’s peers. This guy is awesome!!
00:20:51 Superman scavenges for weapons of mass destruction such as hammers, knives, crowbars. He then uncovers nails. “We have to board this place up.” I feel like our hero stumbled out of Die Hard and mistakenly found his way into a horror movie.
No sir, you must sit in a corner and wait for the bad guys to come to youuuuu. Stop barricading the house! You’re making it too difficult for our villain!
00:21:21 Barbra is still not helping in the slightest. Maybe our dude can negotiate a trade with the Zed team. Peter Capaldi for Barbra? Who says no??
00:21:23 Superman halts all of the productive things he is doing to try and reason with Barbra. “Please help me,” is what he basically says. He finally receives a subtle nod. She goes into the next room to stare at the mounted animal heads and a music box. Very productive, Barbra.
00:22:49 Alright, so since Barbra has been too rude to ask this fine gentleman’s name, I will look it up. People are so informal in this movie. Superman’s secret identity is Ben. So Ben goes about ripping off all of the interior closet doors to use as wood for boarding down windows. Ben is a goddamn genius.
00:23:47 Barbra finally limps over and helps Ben hold up a door being nailed in. Barbra is now equaling about 0.1 wins above replacement (for all you baseball junkies. Someone write this down: project wins above replacement [W.A.R.] for horror movie characters. I have an ill feeling many of the candidates will project well below zero.)
00:24:36 Meanwhile, Ben has secured the entire house. I don’t know what the undead have been doing this whole time but I pray to God it’s a dance party.
00:25:24 As Ben dismantles the dining room table, he attempts small talk with Barbra who is still gravely silent. I don’t know, Ben. Unless she starts articulating actual words soon, I think we may have to consider her one of the zed. She’s a spy!!!
00:25:41 Ben informs Barbra about how he got to this house. He encountered his first zed by Beekman’s Diner. They were chasing a gas truck. The gas truck tipped and flew into the diner. Ben escaped by taking a random vehicle and getting the hell out of there. Ben = unkillable.
00:27:37 Ben tells the viewer (because who the fuck knows if Barbra is even listening) about how he plowed through about 60 of those guys trying to escape.
00:28:00 “We were riding through the cemetery,” Barbra speaks! “Johnny and me.”
00:28:21 “We came to put a wreath on my father’s grave,” Barbra continues breathlessly, “Johnny and me. And he said, ‘can I have some candy, Barbra?’ And we didn’t have any.”
00:28:45 Barbra begins to emotionally break down again. Don’t plan on hearing from her for another 30 minutes.
00:28:52 “And then he said, ‘ohh, it’s late,’” Barbra’s battling through! This is considered character development, right? “‘Why did we start so late?’ and I said, ‘Johnny, if you’d gotten up early, we wouldn’t be so late.”
00:29:09 “Johnny asked if I was afraid. And I said, ‘I’m not afraid, Johnny.’” I’m pretty sure your words were more along the lines of, “fuck off, Johnny. Grow up, stop being such a child.” Those were some kind last words.
00:29:12 “And then this man started coming up the road,” Barbra gulps back tears, “Johnny kept saying, ‘he’s coming to get you, Barbra.’” Johnny is starting to sound like a dick.
00:29:35 “And then Johnny ran away. I went up to this man and was going to apologize…” Ben has continued boarding up the windows with the dismantled dining room table. I don’t know if he actually gives a fuck about Barbra’s story of her dick-head brother.
00:29:40 Ben finally interrupts her, “why don’t you just keep calm?” I think he liked her more when she was a mute. Barbra’s WAR is trending downwards.
00:29:48 “… and then he grabbed me!” Barbra piles on, “and he ripped at me and my clothes!”
00:29:58 Ben raises his voice. “I think you should just calm down.” That’s Ben politely saying, “I’m sick of your shit, Barbra. I’ve already beat up 64 of these fuckers and lit one on fire. I’m basically their king. So unless you plan on ripping apart these dining room chairs, please shut the fuck up.”
00:30:02 “… and then I screamed,” *sigh* “… Johnny! Johnny, help me!”
00:30:39 Barbra continued but I zoned out.
00:30:41 “We have to go back.” What?? “We have to go back for Johnny.”
00:30:54 Barbra continues to beg Ben but Ben is a bit preoccupied with locking this house the fuck down.
00:31:01 She now rises and screams, “Johnny,” at Ben. She pulls Ben away from the 2×4 he was nailing in. Christ, Barbra, if you gave a shit about Johnny you shouldn’t have been a mute for the last few hours.
00:31:10 Ben tells Barbra that her brother is most likely dead to which she reacts by ripping down all of Ben’s hard work to get outside. WAR’s quickly declining! I think it’s near time to kick her off the team, Ben!
00:31:17 Barbra then slaps Ben. Ben slaps Barbra. Well, this is awkward.
00:31:24 Then she fucking faints?! Barbra is being so unproductive!
00:32:07 Finally with a few minutes of silence, Ben tunes into the radio. It appears that this chaos is wide spread. “There is an epidemic of mass murder,” says the broadcast. I’ll say! “… by a virtual army of unidentified assassins. It appears to be a sudden general explosion of mass homicide.” By the way, that’s the most professional statement you’re going to hear about a zombie outbreak.
00:32:41 I meant Zed! Shit!
00:33:08 Ben glances out the window. The undead seem to be congregating around his vehicle. Maybe they want to take it for a test drive. Are they aware enough to negotiate a deal?
00:34:11 Ben makes a fire in the fireplace and creates a torch using the leg of the dining room table. He ignites it and lights a couch aflame. He then kicks it outside towards the unidentified zed and they get scared. Boo!
00:36:15 Ben continues his house lock-down. This house is now a goddamn fortress!
00:37:08 He rummages through a closet and uncovers a rifle and a number of rounds. Score!!!
00:37:41 Barbra’s finally awake. Ben updates her on their situation. Barbra refuses to speak. Again. It’s like a five step process with her.
00:39:06 Ben goes upstairs to get a better vantage point with the rifle. The radio drones on: “murder victims show evidence of having been… partially… devoured by their murderers.” Yeahhhh that’s not good.
00:39:15 Ben walks past the half-eaten woman from earlier. I feel like there should be a greater concern as to how she got in that state. He decides to drag her into another room and lock the door.
00:40:03 Broadcast: “… the killers are eating the flesh of their victims.” The radio announcer sounds aghast yet slightly fascinated reporting this news. I wonder, in the back of his mind, if he’s all like, “I’m killing it tonight! Figuratively, that is. I am so in line for that next promotion!”
00:40:45 A hidden door within the living room creaks open and two men pop out, surprising catatonic Barbra. Ben rushes downstairs to investigate.
00:41:10 Ben merely shrugs when he finds the intruders to be living humans. “I could have used help up here, you know.”
“Well that’s the cellar. It’s the safest place,” the man replies.
LOL Ben! Your hard work was for naught!
00:42:02 They argue about social responsibility and who should be helping who. I always find it curious that, when faced with an undead conflict, there is always a larger conflict among the living. Same team, guys!!
00:42:23 Now this one balding dude is arguing that the cellar is the safest place while Ben is convinced that he has the first floor boarded up well enough. How about everyone returns to where they were five minutes ago, huh? Except the undead get to take Barbra.
00:44:16 We’re still arguing. Team Cellar vs Team First Floor. Balding dude is strongly Team Cellar and Ben is pro-Team First Floor. There’s some other dude with a Caesar hair-cut who is split in between and then there’s Barbra, who is just sitting on the couch staring into her lap.
00:44:33 Oh shit. Caesar’s got some balls; he starts yelling at balding dude that the cellar can be the alternative plan in case the first floor is broken into. Let’s all share!
00:44:35 So Balding dude is Mr. Cooper. Caesar-cut will remain Caesar because of reasons.
00:44:58 One of the Zed attempts to break in a window. They grab at Ben’s clothing but Caesar grabs a hammer and starts hacking away. Ben finally aims his rifle and fires a round through Zed’s chest. It recoils but returns to the window.
Ben discharges another round but Zed remains unfazed. Finally, Ben busts a cap in Zed’s head and it falls.
00:46:21 More Zed have been attracted by the gunfire.
00:46:49 I just realized Mr. Cooper looks exactly like Rob Corddry from Hot Tub Time Machine. Is that how he originally got here?!
00:47:35 Anddd we’re back to arguing about Team Cellar and Team First Floor. Impending undead be damned! Ben calls Mr. Cooper ‘dumb’ twice within the same sentence. This guy’s a boss.
00:48:18 Mr. Cooper finally chooses the cellar. Before he locks it, Caesar calls his girlfriend, Judy, up to join Team First Floor.
00:48:52 Barbra remains motionless on the couch. Did the script forget that she existed and production fail to give her dialogue?
“So, ummmm, Barbra hasn’t had a line of dialogue in about 20 minutes so let’s have her sit catatonic on the couch during all of this.”
00:49:17 Mr. Cooper returns to his wife, Helen, and their sick child, Karen. Karen lies unconscious on a table. Mr. Cooper begins smoking. Sure, that’s healthy for your sick child. He then sits down next to her. Go ahead, keep puffing away, maybe she’ll recover faster with all of your second hand smoke.
00:50:43 Helen is pissed at Cooper when he admits that there’s a radio upstairs yet he boarded them down in the cellar. Helen is quietly a Team First Floor-er.
00:51:50 Helen calls up the stairs to Caesar. They (for some reason) negotiate a trade of Cooper and herself for Judy. Guys, just combine already! There’s no need for trading teams!
00:52:30 So Judy is supposed to watch the sick child. I guess Team First Floor doesn’t allow potential undead. I’m still confused why they let Barbra up there then…
00:54:00 With the guys working on the house, Helen sits down across from Barbra and begins to smoke. Barbra’s head shoots up when she hears a match strike. “Don’t worry, dear,” Helen comforts, “I’m Helen. Cooper’s wife.” Like that’s supposed to mean something.
00:55:27 Cooper bitches about Barbra’s ineptitude. Ben yells at him to shut up. I mean, he’s not wrong.
00:55:55 Caesar gets the television running. They watch a newscast update on their current predicament.
“The report reads: those who have died have been coming back to life and committing acts of murder,” the newscaster reads from a sheet of paper, “we have reached the conclusion that the unburied dead are coming back to life and seeking human victims.” Well, time to take a couple sick days on account of all hell breaking loose.
00:57:50 The newscaster speculates possible causes. He says the White House believes that a recently returned NASA satellite which had orbited Venus could be producing high amounts of radiation to which is causing this undead outbreak. Well, that’s a new theory. And by new I mean the original theory of zed-based outbreaks. How come we crossed Venus radiation off our list of causes so early, huh Hollywood???
01:00:24 Caesar shares the story about how Judy and himself arrived at the house. He mentions finding the half-eaten lady upstairs but that’s all he says about that matter. Okay, guys, so these undead fellas are eating their victims, correct? And you found a half eaten victim upstairs, right??? But you haven’t searched the whole house or explored how and why??? We’re setting up for disaster, aren’t we?
01:01:09 Ben questions Helen on how bad and in what way her child has been hurt. He recommends she go down to the cellar to relieve Judy of zed-child duty.
01:02:10 Meanwhile, the newscaster is interviewing a scientist about the rising dead. If it was under less hostile circumstances, this would be the most entertaining news hour ever.
01:02:23 “Soak the bodies in gasoline and burn them,” the scientist recommends. And what about removing the brain from the body? What about removing the brain from the body???
01:03:33 Ben and Caesar discuss a rescue mission. They will go outside, refuel Ben’s truck and then come back to load up the others.
01:05:14 Judy expresses concern for Caesar’s plan; she wonders if they should just wait in the house instead of trying to escape. I’m kinda siding with her here. I am unabashed Team Stay!!
01:07:00 The plan is in motion! They just need to get Barbra into the cellar. Ben, professional catatonia whisperer, tells Barbra that she must go downstairs in order for them to leave.
“Oh I’d like to leave, yes,” Barbra speaks!!
Judy helps her down the steps.
01:07:22 Ben approaches Caesar at the front door, their point of exit. He hands him a hammer. “Good luck,” Ben offers. Caesar replies, “yeah.” They begin ripping down 2×4’s from the door.
01:08:01 Cooper ascends to the second floor and prepares molotov cocktails for a distraction. Fuck yeah!!
01:08:32 “You ready upstairs?” bellows Ben. “Yessir!” INITIATE UNDEAD CARNAGE!!!
01:08:35 Cooper tosses cocktails down into the crowd of undead. Many of them light up and stumble off. Ben and Caesar rush out the front door to the truck. Caesar jumps in and tries the ignition while Ben stands by with his torch.
01:09:16 Judy panics and runs outside towards the truck. Cooper locks her out. Judy jumps in the vehicle as Ben takes aim with his rifle. He fires a couple rounds then climbs in the truck’s bed with the torch. As the car drives away, Ben lights up zeds like a boss.
01:10:39 The truck finally reaches the gas pump. Caesar screws up the fuel phase though and somehow pours gasoline all over the torch. Fire catches on the truck. Panicking, Caesar hops back into the drivers seat and propels the truck away from the gas pump as fast as possible, leaving Ben.
01:11:52 The flames engulf the truck and explodes with Caesar and Judy still inside.
01:12:21 Ben is abandoned about a quarter mile from the house with just a rifle, a torch and about 50 undead in between. Whatever! Ben goes on a rampage and makes it back to the house within 30 seconds.
01:12:58 Cooper declines to open the front door though. Ben, being the bad ass he is, breaks in and reapplies the boards. He then turns to Cooper and punches him in the face. Don’t fuck with Ben!
01:14:41 The undead surround the destroyed truck and feast on Caesar and Judy’s remains. The circle of life!
01:16:39 The gang regroups in the living room. Ben asks Cooper about the car he claims was overturned by zed. “Forget it. It’s about a mile back,” Cooper replies.
“Johnny has the keys,” Barbra says. Fuck Johnny!!
01:16:52 Ben asks how Cooper’s child was injured. “One of those things bit her on the arm.”
Ben rolls his eyes.
“What’s wrong?” Helen asks.
“Who knows what kind of disease those things carry,” Ben says.
Yeah, like ZOMBIE DISEASE!! Fuck it! We’re using the zed word now!!! Zombies confirmed!!
01:17:18 They rekindle their discussion about the overturned car. “You can’t start the car,” Barbra interrupts, “Johnny has the keys.”
Ben stops mid-sentence. “Wait, you have a car?”
No, Johnny has a car. And the keys. Even in the afterlife he’s still a dick.
01:18:08 The news blips back onto air. The newscaster is still droning on about Venus radiation. I wish Hollywood explored this further; it’s a heck of a lot more interesting than monkey’s on steroids being a cause.
01:18:46 “We have reports that a ghoul can be killed by a bullet to the head.” There it is!!!
01:18:58 “Kill the brain and you kill the ghoul.” This newscaster is one-lining it all the way to CNN!
01:20:38 The power suddenly goes out. The house is cloaked in darkness.
01:21:33 The zombies are evolving! One has grabbed Ben’s abandoned torch and started hacking away at the boarded windows. Ben rushes over to reapply the 2×4’s as fast as possible. In the process, he drops his rifle.
01:22:41 Seeing an opportunity, dirtbag Cooper grabs the rifle and threatens Ben. Ummmm, can’t you see he’s a little busy?? There are other conflicts besides you, Rob Corddry!
01:22:54 Because he’s a bad ass, Ben fights Cooper and recovers the gun within a matter of seconds. He takes aim and shoots Cooper in the gut. Cooper tumbles down the cellar stairs. Destiny for Team Cellar!!
01:24:00 Helen, who had been trying to re-barricade a window, is groped by a number of unidentified arms. Barbra watches for a few moments from her spot on the couch. Then she finally runs over and proves to be a worthy distraction for the zombies. Helen is released and she enters the cellar.
01:24:32 She flies down the stairs to find her daughter, Karen, zombified and eating her father. She then falls to the ground and Karen kills Helen with a garden trowel. Awww family bonding!
01:25:43 Upstairs, Ben and Barbra attempt to board up the window. A leather gloved hand reaches through towards Barbra. The shadows reveal a zombified Johnny. Did he bring the keys???
01:25:53 Johnny takes Barbra away.
01:26:10 Every window caves in simultaneously. Ben fights off Zombie Karen and runs down into the cellar. He boards up the cellar door as the zombies pile into the first floor.
01:27:41 Ben descends the stairs to find dead Cooper and Helen. Cooper tries to reanimate but Ben says, “fuck that shit,” and shoots Cooper’s brains out. Helen then tries her reanimation session but Ben interrupts her as well.
01:29:05 The zombies begin milling around the house looking for other things to keep them occupied. This is our house now!!
01:29:52 The sun rises on a new day and we see a helicopter land in a corn field. Armed men patrol the woods and police vehicles occupy the main roads.
01:30:54 A news reporter follows the town sheriff as they head out with search dogs to investigate.
01:31:31 Ben wakes up in the cellar to distant gun shots.
01:32:04 The sheriff says that he’s going to check out the abandoned house in which Ben is held up in. Ben nimbly climbs out of the cellar and begins unboarding the windows.
01:33:03 Ben witnesses the surrounding destruction. He peers out the window at the search and rescue team and a man fires a bullet through Ben’s forehead.
01:33:30 NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
01:34:03 Oh my god, what just happened?! BEN WAS MY HERO!!!!
END CREDITS in which the credits roll over still-images of the rescue team dragging Ben’s body out of the house and burning it with the rest of the undead.
OMG that was the saddest ending I have ever witnessed. Why must you be so cruel, Romero!? He was unstoppable!! He was the King of the Undead! And you offed in within the last 30 seconds!! That’s beyond cruel and unusual punishment.
As I wipe the tears from my eyes, let’s briefly recap Night of the Living Dead. Romero introduced zombies and really brought us balls to the wall with the horror. We discovered that Barbra can produce a -3.2 WAR in a moment of crisis, Ben is a goddamn super hero who must have taken a wrong turn between Die Hard and Dawn of the Dead and Johnny apparently doesn’t need glasses when he’s zombified but the leather driving gloves? Totally need those.
So that’s a wrap on Night of the Living Dead! I hope you have enjoyed this commentary and appreciate Romero’s bold and innovative twist to the horror genre!
Sources
- Night of the Living Dead. Dir. George A. Romero. Perf. Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea. Image Ten, 1968.
- The Zed Word
- Cover Image (Cover art is not mine but it is beautiful. Follow the attached link for more details.)
Horror Holiday 
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