George Romero’s low-budget,
non-Hollywood horror classic “Night of the Living Dead” is as shocking and
brilliant and subversive as near any film ever made. It’s no midnight fright
flick test-marketed to hit Farmville, USA, and score big bucks and TV play.
This is why American Cinema rules, and why the best of the lot are almost
always outside the kingdom’s gates. These creators who have no master also have
no notes to follow, or stocks to please.
Yes, Romero has made the modern Bible version
of the zombie film, the capstone by which all others build upon, emulate, and
fall short. The plot is basic –- even for its time -- following a small group of
people trapped in a farm house as zombies (referred to as “ghouls”) attack from
outside, first a handful, then a dozen, then a horde. Among the heroes are a
woman (Judith O’Dea) who just watched her brother fall to an attack and will soon
see him again, and a man named Ben (Duane Jones) who happens to be passing
through town.
Ben is African American, and a professor. Think about that. In
1968. Such an idea must have smoked Hollywood’s mind then, and owners of
cinemas, too. No way “Dead” played south of the Mason-Dixie line. Not during
American then. Hell, not now in some parts. Not when Ben is giving orders and
slugging anyone who dare crosses him.
So, take “Night” as allegory of a sick
nation being turned upright, shocked out of its “Keep America White” brain dead
coast of hate. Or take it as a freakishly brilliant “man’s got to
do what a man’s got to do …” heroics of any horror story, brilliantly told. I
fell the first way. You chose your path.
Too, Romero lays out his graphic
violence in stark back-and-white imagery that still sends a shudder. So many
film rules die here, because Romero could kill them. Dig that little girl. Dig
the first attack in a cemetery as a lone figure drifts in and out of the frame,
barely in focus, like a dream.
This is a ticking time bomb of survival, and
when the sun rises and light blows out every shadow, Romero drops the hammer. See, I had not seen this movie until just now. (Go on, mock. I deserve it.) I
watched stunned, convinced halfway through I found a new Top 10 Favorite, and
dead certain at the very end. Genius. A+
No comments:
Post a Comment