At the core of Night of the Living Dead is a disrespect for those buried six feet under. That much comes clear in Johnny and his hate for the drive to the country to pay their respects to a dead relative. Purely coincidental it may be that the dead begin walking the Earth just moments later, it is nice to believe that a disregard for the dead is what sets horror in motion. George A. Romero’s pioneering success with Night of the Living Dead comes as both a political tapestry and a keen understanding of just how haunted and interesting zombies were before the market was flooded with glory gore and understated scripts.
Primitive in nature, Romero does a strong job of masking the limitations of the time with an incredible score and suggestible camera angles. His weaker characters, namely Barbra (Judith O’Dea) and the zombies, are representations of a complete shock to an unparalleled situation. Those are important roles, but O’Dea could have offered more in the latter stages, progression of character is just as important as the strong commentary found between Duane Jones and Karl Hardman. Their back and forth is founded not just on the tense political climate of the times but also on a human reaction to an inhuman ordeal, with zombies walking the Earth it is surprisingly mature of Romero to muse on whether political allegiance would fall to the wayside.
Yet many instances have stuck to the genre and stayed true decades on. Cabin fever and the warring factions between two self-believing leaders show the sentiment of saving yourself over saving others. Night of the Living Dead uses that back and forth between Jones and Hardman, but relying on their relatively amateurish performances leads to some weak and wooden scenes. Romero relies more on his incredible knack for innovation than anything else, and his consistency in doing that marks him as a pioneer of the genre regardless of how vaguely dull the script can be at times. Back and forth discussing, very, very clearly, the positives and negatives of certain decisions that would become unspoken and obvious in films to follow. How to survive, where to hide, and what to do, are discussed in detail here and it is clear to see why they are never used much further down the line.
Although Night of the Living Dead safely holds onto its classic status, there are improvements in the sequels. Two of them, anyway. Night of the Living Dead is a broad spread of interesting ideas that are worked well and understood by its cast. Race relations, emergency response and the bubbling fear of losing the normality of life are at the core. It is improved upon in the timelessness of Dawn of the Dead and the chilling gore of Day of the Dead, but this first piece is a catalyst not just for Romero but an entire section of the genre. It is hard not to credit Romero with a chunk of how elevated and gory horror became, but by equal measure it is key to remember that even the legend fell fool to the repetition of the genre all those decades later.
