A pioneering work of horror cinema, Night of the Living Dead was released in cinemas on October 25! And you really shouldn’t miss it!
Fans of zombies and rotting flesh, be there in your cinemas! Night of the Living Dead, directed in 1968 by George A. Romero, is released in theaters in a restored 4K version.
The story follows Barbara and Johnny. Every year, they go to decorate their father’s grave with flowers. The road is long, the surroundings of the cemetery deserted. Not inclined to pray, Johnny remembers the time when he was a child and when he had fun scaring his sister by repeating in a deep voice: “They’re coming to get you, Barbara.“
Night is falling. Suddenly a strange man appears. He approaches Barbara then attacks Johnny, who falls and is left for dead. Terrified, Barbara flees and takes refuge in a country house. She finds Ben there, as well as other fugitives. The radio then tells them the terrible news: the dead are attacking the living.
A FIRST MASTERSHOT
Night of the Living Dead is the first cinematographic work of George A. Romero, then 28 years old. The pope of zombie films and his university friends always had the desire to make a feature film. Unfortunately, the steps taken with the financiers proved disastrous.
Romero and his acolytes then decided to found their own production company: Image Ten, financing it with their own means. Each shareholder agreed to bring $600 to the company.
The capital obtained will then be quintupled by being sold at a high price to third parties. Thanks to this, the director and his team managed to raise $114,000 to launch the production of Night of the Living Dead.
Although George A. Romero is now a master of horror cinema, he was not particularly fond of the genre when he began filming Night of the Living Dead. Indeed, if the filmmaker and his accomplices decided to turn to horror for their first film, it is above all to hope to make a return on the capital invested.
ZOMBIES AND DOLLARS
At the time, television had caused movie theater attendance rates to drop. Above all, we had to ensure that the film would make money while remaining a quality work.
“No doubt, we would have preferred to make a big dramatic film. But once we decided on a horror film, we tried hard to make it as realistic as possible with the budget we had.”analyzes producer Russell Streiner.
The film’s success launched the career of Romero, who managed to make Night of the Living Dead one of the most profitable works of independent cinema at the time. The film brought in $5 million in revenue when it was released in the United States, more than enough to make the investment of $114,000 profitable.
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Note that George A. Romero was inspired by I’m a legend, the famous novel by Richard Matheson, to write the screenplay for Night of the Living Dead. The book tells the story of the sole survivor on Earth of a terrible pandemic transforming humans into vampires.
Furthermore, the film was shot at the end of the 1960s, a troubled period with the Vietnam War gaining momentum on the ground but also in the media. Night of the Living Dead is imbued with this political context and is thus more easily defined as a social work than a horror film in its own right.
“We were just a bunch of kids from the sixties, disgusted that the peace and love movement had not been able to change the world. New wars and racial clashes were replacing those our parents had known. Our anger naturally grew out of found in the film”explained the filmmaker at the microphone of Telerama in 2008.
RACISM AT THE HEART OF THE WORK
In addition, Romero’s work also evokes racism in the United States, a hot topic in the 1960s, notably the fight of African-Americans for civil rights. For French film critic Serge Daney, “the real subject of the film is obviously not the living dead, but racism”he assures in Les Cahiers du cinéma in 1970.
Indeed, one of the main characters in the film, Ben, is played by a black actor, Duane Jones. Without revealing anything about the outcome of Night of the Living Dead, for those who have not yet seen it, we can say that it is extremely striking, even shocking, especially when we place it in the context of the USA in the 1960s.
“I just chose Duane Jones because he was better than the others”, Romero always insisted. As for the actor, he never said that he was hired because he was black. “On the other hand, I realized that, because I was black, it gave a different historical element to the film”he indicated.
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Duane Jones and Judith O’Dea
Asked by Indiewire In 2016, sometime before his death, Romero admitted that he had no intention of addressing racial discrimination through the character of Ben.
“When we made the film, I wanted to talk about the lack of communication, about these people who, even when faced with improbable situations, continue to argue over trivial things rather than facing the real problem. C “It’s something that we still find today. That’s what really interests me.”he clarified.
“I didn’t realize at the time what impact this choice would have. Once the film was finished in Pittsburgh, we loaded the reels into the truck and drove to New York for the premiere. Tonight -there, on the radio, we learned that Martin Luther King had just been assassinated”confided the filmmaker.
ROMERO OF THE DEAD
Reading the various historical-political events, Romero understood that he could bring back his living dead whenever he had something to say about the changes in American society.
“A perfect opportunity to have fun with the codes of the genre, while slipping in political considerations. I have always remained faithful to this approach”he assured.
Thus, the director continued in his favorite genre throughout his life. After Night of the Living Dead, he notably directed Zombie, Day of the Living Dead, Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead. His last feature film, Survival of the Dead, was released in 2009. Romero died in 2017 at the age of 77.