Barbra and her brother Johnny travel by car from Pittsburgh to the countryside to visit the gravestone of their father in the cemetery. Out of the blue, they are attacked by a strange man and Johnny is murdered. Barbra runs and releases the brake of Johnny's car since the keys are in his pocket, and flees to an isolated farmhouse, where she locks herself inside. Barbra is in shock and soon she finds a man, Ben, who is also escaping from the inhuman creatures and he reinforces the doors, windows and openings in the house. He also finds a shotgun and a radio and they learn that the radiation from a satellite that was returning from Venus has somehow reactivated the brain of the dead. Then they find five humans hidden in the basement: Harry Cooper, his wife Helen and their daughter Karen that is sick; and Tom and his girlfriend Judy. Harry has an argument with Ben, since he believes that the basement is the safest place for them and Harry does not agree. Along the night, the tension ... Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
It's hard to imagine how shocking this George A. Romero film was when it first broke on the film scene in 1968. There's never been anything quite like it, though it's inspired numerous pale imitations. Part of the terror lies in the fact that this one's shot in such a raw, unadorned fashion it feels like a home movie, and all the more authentic for that. Another is that it draws us into its world gradually, content to establish a merely spooky atmosphere before leading us through a horrifically logical progression that we could hardly have anticipated. The story is simple. Radiation from a fallen satellite has caused the dead to walk and hunger for human flesh. Once bitten, you become one of them. And the only way to kill one is by a shot or blow to the head. We follow a group holed up in a small farmhouse to fend off the inevitable onslaught of the dead. And it's the tensions between the members of this unstable, makeshift community that drive the film. Night of the Living Dead establishes its savagery as a necessary condition of life. Marked by fatality and a grim humour, it gnaws through to the bone, then proceeds on to the marrow.
Dont be fooled by its age or the fact that its in mouldy old black and white, Night of the Living Dead hasn't lost any of its punch since its controversial release in 1968. Be prepared for chilling scenes of suspence and brutal imagery of gory violence (cannibalism etc. etc.) coupled with superb acting from a cast of relative unknowns. Its grounbreaking violence and slick, stylised and now contempory direction/camera work, make the film a timeless masterpiece that changed the face of horror for ever. Never before had this level of violence been released upon the audience and has subsiquently stayed as the centre of much modern horror. Much imitated and at the mercy of two mediocre sequels, this is the zombie thriller to watch. The one. The only. The origonal horror, shock tale from a revolutionary master of the horror genre. Thank you George A. Romero.
']]}
Post a Comment