This independent low-budget masterpiece of the beginning director George Romero became a real horror classic and the birth of a new genre trend.

This independent low-budget masterpiece of the beginning director George Romero became a real horror classic and the birth of a new genre trend.

"Night" begins with a desert landscape, against which a car with two heroes - brother and sister Johnny and Barbara - is sent to the cemetery, accompanied by a frightening soundtrack. It's just an ideal introduction for this type of film, instantly addictive, giving the viewer to understand that there is something awful ahead of our heroes. Then follows the scene in the cemetery, on which there is no news from where the living dead man appears and attacks our heroes. Without any explanation, the prehistory, the film immediately gives the viewer a "kick", not allowing him to really understand what's what for at all. And then it's just impossible to tear yourself away from the viewing, enjoying a gradually increasing suspense, atmospheric video and a magnificent storyline. But the film was filmed for $ 114,000 with actors from local theaters. This once again proves that an excellent film can be shot and with a small budget. As the saying goes, "the game is fictitious," and this quite accurately characterizes the way this film was created.

The main innovation of the picture was that zombies (although the film never pronounced this word once) appeared not because of voodoo rituals, as it was in the previous films on this topic, but as a result of radiation. The concept of how zombies began to come to life and gain their own will, rather than obey the will of the shaman, spawned a whole subgenre in horror films -zombie-movie.

Another innovation was that the main character was black, which was not acceptable for American cinema of that time. But it happened by accident.

When Romero wrote the script with John Russo, they thought of the main character as white. The performer of the role of the black Ben - Duane Jones was the best actor that Romero knew then, so he was approved for the main role.

On the part of the plot, Romero borrowed much from the post-apocalyptic novel "I-legend" by Richard Matheson, and visually "Night" is in many respects similar to the first adaptation of the novel by Matheson - "The Last Man on Earth". In addition, the film has some visual references borrowed from the classic atmospheric film about ghosts - "Carnival of Souls" (1962). It was these 2 films, along with the fantastic horror of the 1950s, that became the main inspiration for Romero while creating his zombie classics.

As for the soundtrack, in "Nights", unfortunately, does not sound original music. All the music was borrowed from the fantastic horror movies of the 1950s and 1960s, such as The Disgusting Sun Demon, The Incredible Petrified World, The Teenagers from Space, and The Devil's Messenger (featuring Lon Chaney). But, in any case, although the music in the film is not original, it perfectly balances in combination with the events of the film.

The film has an amazing dark atmosphere. The feeling of detachment and isolation that was worn by the protagonists was transmitted perfectly. It is noteworthy that the film was shot on a black and white film, while the color in horror films was already available. But the creators could not afford a color film, in view of the small budget. However, the black and white film made the film even more gloomy and atmospheric.

In addition to becoming a typical zombie story, the film also has a social implication. It reflects the era in which there was: the struggle for equality, riots, protest, the war in Vietnam. All this completely enveloped America during the 1960s. Further zombie films by Romero were also a reflection of their era.

The film contains many cruel scenes. This was the first film in which it is clearly shown how zombies eat human remains. The most memorable scene was the one in which an 11-year-old girl, who has become a zombie, kills her own mother, striking her with a shovel. This scene impressed in particular the "king of horrors" of Stephen King in his young years. As he said, this scene for a long time has sat down in its memory.

The film had a cruel and sad ending. Because of this they were not interested in large studios, or asked to change the ending, but Romero remained on his own.

As a result, the film was released independently and received at the box office 12 million dollars.

"Night of the Living Dead" to this day bewitching its oppressive, gloomy atmosphere, magnificent storyline and competent direction. Of all not my favorite subgenre of zombie movies, this will forever remain my favorite.

10 of 10