Amazon.com essential video: We can hardly imagine how shocking this film was when it first broke into the film scene in 1968. There's never been anything quite like it again, though there have been numerous pale imitations. Part of the terror lies in the fact that it is shot in such a raw and unadorned fashion that it feels like a home movie, and is all the more authentic because of 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 hardly could 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 who are trying to fend off the inevitable onslaught of the dead. The tension between the members of this unstable, makeshift community drives the film. Night of the Living Dead establishes savagery as a necessary condition of life. Marked by fatality and a grim humor, the film gnaws through to the bone, then proceeds on to the marrow. --Jim Gay
Amazon.com essential video: George Romero's classic 1968 zombie-fest (shot in black and white) offers some disturbing images, even decades later. In a Pittsburgh suburb people are being stalked by zombies ravenous for human flesh. In a house whose occupant has already been slain, two separate groups of people unite and board themselves in, hoping to fend off the advancing ghouls. Through radio and TV reports they learn that radiation from outer space is thought to be responsible for the wave of zombie attacks all over the eastern United States. Once the humans are trapped, Romero shifts the focus to the internal feuding between them as they decide how to handle their dreadful situation. What unfolds is an examination of human nature, and of the fear and selfishness that keep many citizens from getting involved in the world's problems. Appropriately, both the zombies and the authorities who later hunt them are equally soulless. This film could also be read as a criticism of white males--it is not merely a coincidence that the film's two most rational, constructive characters are a woman and a black man. It is also no coincidence that the sequel takes place in a mall infested by the undead--a perfect analogy for consumer culture. --Bryan Reeseman
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - NOTLD 68-40-08
This review is for the Genius 40th edition. Cover, film quality, and extras all excellent. NOTLD is a 1 zombie film, and need to be treated with respect. I own this movie on vhs, and dvd. So far the Genius ... Read More
Rating: - NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD
This is an excellent edition of Night of the living dead because of the extras. It contains interviews with the living cast members except for Judith Ridley who played Judy.It was nice to see Barbra and Johnny ... Read More
Rating: - Excellent Old Classic Horror
I bought this movie recently and is superb. The sound is crispy and the visual rich.
For the Extras, i was happy to watch and see for the first time most of the actors talking in the present and an ... Read More
Rating: - The One Time the Living Dead were truly Terrifying
In 1968 George A. Romero took the world by storm with an incredibly violent, low-budget, horror film that introduced what would grow to be the modern day interpretation of the living dead (referred to as zombies ... Read More
Rating: - The Best of the Colored Versions
This is by far the best of the colorized versions of this film.
They did a pretty good job with it overall, although there are some spots were it seems weird (the car is bright orange and looks like ... Read More
- NOTLD 68-40-08