Night of the Living Dead (1968) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Night of the Living Dead is, justifiably, one of the most famous independent cult horror films ever produced. Reviewers initially criticized the films graphic contents, but three decades later the Library of Congress placed Night of the Living Dead on the United States National Film Registry with other films deemed "historically, culturally or aesthetically important" and in 2001, the American Film Institute added the film to a list of one hundred important horror and thriller films. The story centers around the dead coming back to life after a NASA satellite returning from Venus explodes in the atmosphere. These zombies feed on flesh of the living and the only defense against them is to destroy their brains. Anyone who dies at their hands will return as a flesh-eating zombie, including anyone who has been bitten by a zombie. Several people barricade themselves inside a rural house in an attempt to survive the night. Outside are hordes of relentless, shambling, hungry zombies while inside panic and personal tensions only add to the terror as they try to survive. Directed by: George A Romero |
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Did You Know?Night of the Living Dead ushered in the slasher and splatter film sub-genres. As one film historian points out, horror prior to Romero's film had mostly involved rubber masks and costumes, cardboard sets, or mysterious figures lurking in the shadows. They were set in locations far removed from rural and suburban America.[68] Romero revealed the power behind exploitation and setting horror in ordinary, unexceptional locations and offered a template for making an "effective and lucrative" film on a "miniscule budget." Slasher films of the 1980s such as John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th (1980), and Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), for example, "owe much to the original Night of the Living Dead." Related FilmsThe Little Shop of Horrors |
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