So, Halloween — for me that means zombie movies. And not just any zombie movies, but zombie movies of the George A. Romero stripe. I’ve never been a big fan of horror films in general but zombies — well, zombies are another thing entirely. Zombie films embody all the things I want in entertainment; post-apocalyptic scenarios that blend the ingenuity of survival stories with the bleak despondency of the end of the world. I mean, what kid hasn’t fantasized about boarding up the house and taking pot shots at his zombified neighbors?
The whole, massive sub-genre can trace it’s humble origins to a low-budget, black-and-white movie from 1968 — Night of the Living Dead. Subversive in more ways than one at the time, this little movie eventually fond it’s way into the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress.
And you can watch the whole thing right here, from youtube:
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It’s a shame we live so far apart – Oh, the Halloween film nights we could have!
If you listen to this week’s “Wait Wait, Don’t Tell Me!” on NPR, they have none other than George A. Romero as a special guest! He still seems like a great guy. AND he’s still making zombie movies!
My submissions for perennial favorite Halloween films are Nosferatu and Haxan. I still have to check out the Lovecraft film you hipped me to a while back. Those early silent movies were so much more adept at creating a mood of bleakness and foreboding than anything happening today…current horror films seem either to be interested in torture-porn or other situational terror, but they lack any real sense of atmosphere or leavening sense of humor, elements held in perfect suspension in, say, The Evil Dead.
I actually watched Night of the Living Dead for the first time this Halloween. I’d seen Romero’s other zombie films (and I think I actually prefer Dawn or Day), but I was pleasantly surprised by how effective the original remains. Not the scariest movie I’ve ever seen, but perfect Halloween viewing.
Absolutely, Fred; it holds up well. Interesting how it violates zombie lore in more than one way — just have to remember this was before there were rules about zombies! Dawn remains my favorite though — just perfect.
And Ben, I owe you a big thanks for my predilection for zombies, you were the guy that exposed me to Romero’s dead trilogy.
I still have yet to see Nosferatu (though I really liked Shadow of the Vampire). Putting it on my netflix queue.