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4:35 "Well, this is a very well determined zombie, you know, but I guess he doesn't really have anything to do." 5:30 "Well, I would say they're actually quite handsome for zombies." It's these kinds of observations that make Dasha so precious.
This movie started off the sub-genre of horror movies known as the Zombie flick. It was also one of the first movies to depict graphic and grousome acts of gore and violence, such as zombies ripping people apart and eating flesh and intestines. A horror masterpiece.
5:32 "She got very lucky finding this place, and especially if no one is in this house......OOOHHH! I see why there is no one." Another top-notch reaction, Dasha. Fun fact: Bill Cardille, the reporter interviewing the police chief, was the host of Saturday late night horror movies on a local Pittsburgh TV station: "Chiller Theater" with Chilly Billy!
Barbara being slowly, inexorably being dragged out the door plaintively sobbing "Help me! Please help me!" always breaks my heart. Somehow, it feels much worse than it would have if she were screaming at the top of her lungs. It's especially disturbing since I read part of the novelization of "Night of the Living Dead" which described the popping sound (familiar to anyone who's done contact sports) of ligaments rupturing as the mob of zombies tore Barbara's body part.
Fun facts: -George Romero played the man interviewing the scientist and general in Washington DC -Duane Jones, the man who played Ben, was the only “real” actor -When Ben hit Barbara, that was one of the first times that a black man had struck a white woman on film, without repercussions -George Romero wanted a different ending, but Duane Jones said that he wouldn’t be in the movie, because he felt that the ending with his character dying was more impactful -Most of the cast had to do other jobs behind the camera, because the budget was so low -George Romero got his start by working behind the scenes on ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’
I got an uncle who saw this flick in a theater when it was still fairly new and he said that blacks in the audience were shouting "YEAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! Hit the wh!te b!tch!!!!!!".
Everyone thought Cooper was a dickhead, but I had some sympathy for him, he was terrified and wanted to protect his family. He wasn't as brave and strong as Ben
1:31 "I'm afraid it's going to be something like 'Berdersh!'" That and Dasha saying "The killer was like 'Katuush!'" in her "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" make me love her descriptive sounds.
I remember the first time watching this movie. I was 8 or 9 years old. We lived across the street from a cemetery. After watching this movie, I started looking out the window to make sure there were no zombies coming out of their graves.
That one got a too little cheesy for my liking. But it is still ok. I watched them film Dawn of the Dead at our local mall in Monroeville PA. I spent many hours hanging out there ice skating and playin pinball back in the 70s.
What you thought was the ending was not the ending. The real, haunting ending---brilliantly done as grainy stills echoing the racist atrocities of the era---may be the best thing in the movie I was 14 when this came out, and it is probably impossible for jaded audiences today to appreciate how shocking and innovative this low-budget movie was. Casting a Black man as the heroic lead was practically unheard of outside of Sidney Poitier. The level of gore was unprecedented at the time. And the frustrating, anti-heroic death of the lead stunned people and still stuns most new viewers. As a friend once said, this movie is so effective because it has no love interest, no clunky plot, no happy ending, and no serious attempt to rationalize events-it’s just the claustrophobic house and the horror of the dead.
I also like that the dead are really no match for an organized group of armed men. Most subsequent movies embrace the trope that civilization just collapses.
When I was younger working on Dairy Farms, most of them had gas pumps for the tractors and other equipment. I only saw them with above ground tanks though. I still see them from time to time when I go out into the country.
Fun Fact: The director George A. Romero was at one time a crew member on "Mister Rogers Neighborhood" and Fred Mcfeely Rogers watched this movie and the follow up "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) and actually enjoyed them saying "They're a lot of fun George!".
Hello Dasha!😊 Sorry to hear you have not been feeling well.☹ It might be the change of seasons. The body sometimes has difficulty adjusting. If you are still sick, I recommend "Chicken Soup Broth". Not chicken soup, but the broth, which is much healthier than most soups.😉 This was the first zombie movie. But, I believe zombie is never said in the film, as it was not a term yet. Yep, a woman's place was mostly in the kitchen around this time in history. You called it that they would shoot the survivor by accident. The sequel to this film is "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) by George A. Romero again. It is definitely scarier than this one. Great reactions to the original zombie film that started it all, Dasha!!!! 🎬👏👏👏👏
The original will always be iconic. However, the 1990 remake is worth watching. Special effects master Tom Savini, who did the makeup and effects on the Night of the Living Dead sequels (Dawn of the Dead is awesome) and on "Friday the 13th", directed the remake. I like the ending of the remake better and it had more gore in it that wasn't allowed in the 1968 version but it wasn't over the top.
I saw this at the theater by myself one night in 1968, at age 11, when it was brand new and nobody knew what to expect. It was absolutely terrifying. What I thought was just going to be a "monster movie" turned out to be a grueling, nightmarish ordeal shared by the entire audience. There was nothing like it at the time and viewers today have little idea of how effective it was.
I saw this movie a long time ago, and when I saw names of towns like Latrobe, I knew this was around Pittsburgh, where I used to live. That one news guy was Bill Cardille, also known as 'Chilly Billy Cardilly', who had his own late night 'Monster Theater'. Chiller Theater, that was it!
Haha. It is kind of adorable that you said the zombie was determined to get her because he doesn’t have anything to do. I like the idea that the blood lust of zombies is primarily driven by boredom.
Great Classic Zombie movie!🧌🧟♀️ Dasha I'm glad you are watching the Classic horror movies like Texas chainsaw massacre and night of the living dead! These are the start of some of the most scary movies! I hope you continue with the horror classics. You'll have a better appreciation of the modern horror movies that followed. Thanks for sharing Dasha ❤💛
Это отличный фильм I initially thought the movie was a metaphor concerning race relations in the United States and I really thought it was a masterpiece. Then I read that George Romero had no such intention at all and that it just seemed to be that way. After seeing the sequels it was apparent that Romero wasn't lying and that the artful latency I perceived was purely a coincidence. Still, a very enjoyable flick. And while it may not have been the very first zombie movie, it is the one that pioneered the zombie craze in cinema. "Well this is not one happy family." You always make me laugh! ...Incidentally, your English is a million times better than my Russian so I'm not judging -- but hearing you say "apocalypse" really made my day. 😂 I love you, Dasha! ❤ Best to you. Great show!
Over the decades of knowing this film, I’ve come to view it as the “comfort food of horror movies”, it’s gripping and scary but compared to more recent fare is fairly subtle. In 1968 it caused a huge controversy, and saw great success, because it was considered horrifically graphic (and it is), and was influential in ushering in the modern age of graphic horror films. These days, it can still be loved and appreciated as this, but as familiar as it is (countless fans have seen it a hundred times or more - it’s that well known), it can be enjoyed like a light breakfast or snack, a frightening, nightmarish bowl of soup.
@davidkessinger1581 The RUclips channel "RavensFilm Productions" does fan audio commentaries for various films which are only the audio expecting the viewer to sync it up with their own copy of the film, which they even did with this film, and I questioned that in the comment section since this movie unlike all the others they did was in the public domain and the channels host replied to me claiming that the Criterion Collection now has the rights to it.
Good reaction. This movie is more complex than you would think. I live in the town where it was filmed. Have family members buried in the cemetery. Still looks much the same as in the movie. Thanks for sharing. 😊🎉❤
This is such a historically important film, many, many horror tropes appear for the first time and it caused a big shift in what was acceptable onscreen.
I met the husband (jerk) that was in the basement. He was an old man and his first words to me were "You aren't mad at me, are you?" He said that part made him a hated man by many people. He laughed about it though.
@davidkessinger1581 It was Karl Hardman (1927-2007) who played the character "Harry" and in real life he was good friends with Duane Jones (1937-1988) who played "Ben".
So, this movie movie actually has several sequels, and they're all classics! I think you should watch them all! They are: Dawn of the Dead (1978) Day of the Dead (1985) Land of the Dead (2005)
Oooh suprised to see you reacting to this 1. There's a colourised version of it too but I think it's just as good or better in the original black and white. 'Dawn of the Dead' is sort of a sequel to this and is probably the best of that group of films. Maybe you will do that 1 some time too.
Good reaction Dasha... You should definitely watch the sequel 'Dawn Of The Dead' (1978) which is even better than this first film in my opinion and then 'Day Of The Dead (1985) which is the last film & good wrap up in George A. Romero original 'Dead' trilogy. Now Romero did make other 'Dead' films, 'Land Of The Dead' (2005), 'Diary Of The Dead' (2007) & 'Survival Of The Dead' (2009) but those films weren't as good as the original first three and have gotten a lot of mixed reviews/recommendations from fans of the 'Living Dead'/'Zombie' genre. Those would be up to you if you want to watch them or not. Peace ✌️.
Wow,good pick! Such a controversial film for it's time for several reasons. Featuring a black man as the hero/lead role was unheard of during a time when segregation was still established in many parts of America,and featuring nudity (albeit non-frontal) and actual gore and consumption of "human" flesh,all completely unheard of at the time. And also the hero dying at the end in such the way he did. For years I would watch this movie as a kid on Halloween night,before going trick or treating (in those days,kids actually trick or treated at night). Plus the fact that it's in black and white makes it more unsettling. Color was available, but the fact that George Romero opted for b/w filming shows what a visionary he was.
Night of the Living Dead was one of the first horror films i saw as a kid that i actually liked but more than that.. It's one of the first films that got me into the idea of a few amateur people in the middle of nowhere with almost no money being able to make something like this with impact and that lasts for generations.
Loved your reaction, Dasha. This is indeed a classic. It was also the start of what we consider the modern zombie. hTere was also a remake that is also worth a watch. It was made in 1990. It follows the same basic story, but there are some changes that make it very good.
I saw this movie the first time when I was around the age of 8 or 9. It scared the shit out of me. It's a movie that is in public domain copywrite wise. So I saw it on a late night with my brother. It still to this day is a huge mark in my horror movie loving life, this one being the start.
Judith O’Dea’s performance as Barbra, I think, is brilliant and largely unacknowledged, maybe because she seems so real that viewers feel they should blame the character for being slow or inattentive. She’s completely shattered by the unfolding horror. And this being the first Romero zombie film, she represents what the average person’s probable reaction to such a situation would be like.
Now you MUST watch the sequels of this anthology: DAWN OF THE DEAD(1978), DAY OF THE DEAD(1985) and LAND OF THE DEAD(2005). All made by the late GREAT George Romero!!!!
George A. Romero used b&w filmstock so the film would look like a "a CBS News report". The budget was a tight $12,000. The music is stock music from the Capitol Records library. Romero filmed B-roll footage for PBS.
'Night of the Living dead' was re-made in 1990 for a color version but it apparently did not endear itself to fans... George Romero, who made the original 1968 movie made a sequel 'Dawn of the Dead' in 1978... and 'Day of the Dead' in 1985.
George A. Romero made 6 movies. The first 4 are connected: Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, and Land of the Dead. He then made 2 more in a reboot kind of way: Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead.
There are sequels, all of them directed by George A. Romero, though the only two that matters the most are Dawn of the Dead (the original 70's version, the one from early 2000's is an unnecessary remake) & Day of the Dead (the original 80's version, there's also a remake of that one). Even Night of the Living Dead has a lot of remakes too & the reason for it is because this original Romero version is public domain (meaning anybody can use this certain property & won't get sued because nobody owns the rights for it) Zombies can sense a living person so pretending doesn't help. And yes I know they did that in Shaun of the Dead, but that one is a comedy, basically a spoof.
Night Of The Living Dead is an example of a scary movie to get a friend to watch if you want your friend to get hooked on scary movies and they think they don't like scary movies.
Oh, and although the farm house was torn down years ago, you can still visit the basement, which wasn't the house's basement at all, but the basement of the Pittsburgh commercial building housing the production company's offices.
Though this is the best known template for the “modern” zombie genre, I like the 1990 remake of this movie better. Tom Savini, renown horror film makeup artist directed it.
In addition to viewing other installments in George A. Romero's "Living Dead" series, especially "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) and "Day of the Dead" (1985), you might also consider viewing some of the other European and Canadian zombie films that came out between 1968 and 1978, including Amando de Ossorio's "Tombs of the Blind Dead" (1971), which spawned it's own series; Bob Clark's "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" (1972), from the same director who later made the slasher film "Black Christmas" (1974) and the non-horror "A Christmas Story" (1983); and Jorge Grau's "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" (1974), which is probably my favorite out of those. Then you might also consider watching films like Lucio Fulci's "Zombie" (1979) and Dan O'Bannon's "The Return of the Living Dead" (1985). All of these give a pretty good sense of the early development of the horror subgenre of "zombie films."
Curiously the movie Dracula inspired Author Richard Matheson to thinking the is is a city with a1 vampire and a civilisation of humans, what g it was 1 human and a world of undead vampires, he’d write the book I am Legend, it would loosely help to inspire this movie.
This has been my all time favorite horror film. When I watched it by myself as a kid I'd always have a butcher knife at my side as I kept my eye on the forest just in case.
Great job Dasha! I'm glad you enjoyed this great classic movie. Like others have said the other Romero zombie films are good too. Keep up the great work.
Dasha.. so the ending here has a second meaning... this came out in 1968.. Racial tensions were high in the US... maybe the highest.. there were protests, there were riots, there was Robert Kennedy's assination, who was the democratic candidate... and then there was Martin Luther King's assination. When Romero finished editing this movie, put the final film reel in the trunk of his car to tale it to the distributor... and on the way the news of MLK being shot came on over the radio. Suddenly this movie had even more subtext. Also, those photos at the end evoke photos taken of black lynchings in the south.. which was still being done in the 1960s... but was especially common in the 1950s and before.
For a long time they never showed this on TV, figuring it was too horrific. I only saw it on a late-night TV film course at about 2:00 AM. Now it's everywhere. There are lots of fun facts about this film. It was made by a small company that mostly made industrial films, but thought there was money to be made in the drive-in market. Some of the actors, like Johnny and Harry, were also the film's producers, with many friends and relatives joining in. Although it originated many tropes of the modern day "zombie" films, the living dead are never called "zombies" in the film. In fact "zombies are a completely different kind of animated corpse from Haitian traditions, and they do not act on their own or eat flesh. In the film, I think, they more correctly refer to them as "ghouls" (which do eat flesh). It would be interesting to research which film started incorrectly calling them "zombies". Many of the cast and crew are still with us (including Johnny!), and I once asked John Russo, who wrote the screenplay, what he thought of those films with fast, running, zombies. Which did he prefer? His reply: "Slow zombies. Fast food".
@4:34ish... "This is a pretty determined Zombie...." with nothing to do! =X-D I love it!!! Bored Zombies!!! hmmm... what should I do know? think I'll chase this chic. And then eat her!
1. This is a classic and I'm glad you like it. 2. I first saw this as a child, and it did what it was supposed to do. 3. The ending was a bit of a shock. I'll give them that.
I don’t normally do this but I just wanted to say I love the channel and your reactions and even if you didn’t react to it here if you ever get a chance I highly recommend the movie return of the living dead it’s not related to this movie other than they mention the movie was made up to cover up the real story it’s pretty good honestly
Honestly, the 1990s remake version is worth a watch. That one is one of my all time favorite horror classics. It captures the simple trapped in a farmhouse secluded in the middle of nowhere vibe perfect.
I hope you're not having nightmares after this movie, Texas Chainsaw, and Midsommar. Those are some of the most disturbing films ever made, but well-made films.
Whoever taught her the proper use of "that's what she said" deserves a medal
When Dasha said "Let's jump to the movie," RUclips played an ad that started with "The IRS deadline is here." Now that's some REAL horror right there.
😱😱😱😱😱
You can avoid every single RUclips ad by downloading the Brave browser and going to the RUclips website. You will never see another ad again. I've been using it for years. Never ever ever use the RUclips app.
Night of the living debt 💸
"They're coming to audit you, Barbara!"
@@footofjuniper8212 That is brilliant.
4:35 "Well, this is a very well determined zombie, you know, but I guess he doesn't really have anything to do."
5:30 "Well, I would say they're actually quite handsome for zombies."
It's these kinds of observations that make Dasha so precious.
26:03 "Zombie a-po-CAL-lyps-ses." I love Dasha's pronunciations.
14:06 "I like that for a naked zombie they chose a hot chick." 👍🏼
needs to see Return of the Living Dead for Linnea Quigs
@@Sam-ht8xzAbsolutely a must watch for her!
Let's eat her!
Clever girl
Another winning comment.
This movie started off the sub-genre of horror movies known as the Zombie flick. It was also one of the first movies to depict graphic and grousome acts of gore and violence, such as zombies ripping people apart and eating flesh and intestines. A horror masterpiece.
15:26 "poor little bird, she's afraid of everything now."
awwww ☺️
2:33 "i remember the windows that you need to roll."
not many 20somethings have rolled up a window.
side note: excellent demonstration skills.
My parents' Dodge Neon had rolled windows, and I'm only 25.
5:32 "She got very lucky finding this place, and especially if no one is in this house......OOOHHH! I see why there is no one." Another top-notch reaction, Dasha. Fun fact: Bill Cardille, the reporter interviewing the police chief, was the host of Saturday late night horror movies on a local Pittsburgh TV station: "Chiller Theater" with Chilly Billy!
Barbara being slowly, inexorably being dragged out the door plaintively sobbing "Help me! Please help me!" always breaks my heart. Somehow, it feels much worse than it would have if she were screaming at the top of her lungs. It's especially disturbing since I read part of the novelization of "Night of the Living Dead" which described the popping sound (familiar to anyone who's done contact sports) of ligaments rupturing as the mob of zombies tore Barbara's body part.
George A Romero will always be Godfather of the Dead
Dasha you’re watching the one that started it all for the zombie horror genre. One of my favs.
Fun facts:
-George Romero played the man interviewing the scientist and general in Washington DC
-Duane Jones, the man who played Ben, was the only “real” actor
-When Ben hit Barbara, that was one of the first times that a black man had struck a white woman on film, without repercussions
-George Romero wanted a different ending, but Duane Jones said that he wouldn’t be in the movie, because he felt that the ending with his character dying was more impactful
-Most of the cast had to do other jobs behind the camera, because the budget was so low
-George Romero got his start by working behind the scenes on ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood’
I got an uncle who saw this flick in a theater when it was still fairly new and he said that blacks in the audience were shouting "YEAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! Hit the wh!te b!tch!!!!!!".
"They're coming for your Dasha!"
5:15 "none of the phones ever work in horror movies."
true in 1968, still true today.
The phone worked in "The Strangers," but the idiot lady decided to call her husband instead of the police.
Everyone thought Cooper was a dickhead, but I had some sympathy for him, he was terrified and wanted to protect his family. He wasn't as brave and strong as Ben
Also, BEN didn't have a KID to be concerned with.
I agree I also had sympathy for him
fun fact! this movie is public domain so you can post the whole reaction if you really want to
Good point. The music was even free stock when they made the film. You occasionally hear some of it on other low budget films.
1:31 "I'm afraid it's going to be something like 'Berdersh!'" That and Dasha saying "The killer was like 'Katuush!'" in her "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" make me love her descriptive sounds.
i thought exactly the same...
I love her accent ❤
1:33 "something like [ba-dursh] with the music, you know?"
sound effects 👍🏼
10:46 "...like, oooh, nice car and stuff like that." 😆
I remember the first time watching this movie. I was 8 or 9 years old. We lived across the street from a cemetery. After watching this movie, I started looking out the window to make sure there were no zombies coming out of their graves.
Dasha had enough time for a " that's what she said" joke! 😆
“This is a very determined zombie. I guess he doesn’t have anything else to do”
May be THE most unintentional funny line I have ever heard from you 😂
Return of the Living Dead (1985)
Even better than Night and Dawn Of The Dead and they're great.
That one got a too little cheesy for my liking. But it is still ok. I watched them film Dawn of the Dead at our local mall in Monroeville PA. I spent many hours hanging out there ice skating and playin pinball back in the 70s.
What you thought was the ending was not the ending. The real, haunting ending---brilliantly done as grainy stills echoing the racist atrocities of the era---may be the best thing in the movie
I was 14 when this came out, and it is probably impossible for jaded audiences today to appreciate how shocking and innovative this low-budget movie was. Casting a Black man as the heroic lead was practically unheard of outside of Sidney Poitier. The level of gore was unprecedented at the time. And the frustrating, anti-heroic death of the lead stunned people and still stuns most new viewers. As a friend once said, this movie is so effective because it has no love interest, no clunky plot, no happy ending, and no serious attempt to rationalize events-it’s just the claustrophobic house and the horror of the dead.
I also like that the dead are really no match for an organized group of armed men. Most subsequent movies embrace the trope that civilization just collapses.
When I was younger working on Dairy Farms, most of them had gas pumps for the tractors and other equipment. I only saw them with above ground tanks though. I still see them from time to time when I go out into the country.
Fun Fact: The director George A. Romero was at one time a crew member on "Mister Rogers Neighborhood" and Fred Mcfeely Rogers watched this movie and the follow up "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) and actually enjoyed them saying "They're a lot of fun George!".
Hello Dasha!😊 Sorry to hear you have not been feeling well.☹ It might be the change of seasons. The body sometimes has difficulty adjusting. If you are still sick, I recommend "Chicken Soup Broth". Not chicken soup, but the broth, which is much healthier than most soups.😉 This was the first zombie movie. But, I believe zombie is never said in the film, as it was not a term yet. Yep, a woman's place was mostly in the kitchen around this time in history. You called it that they would shoot the survivor by accident. The sequel to this film is "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) by George A. Romero again. It is definitely scarier than this one. Great reactions to the original zombie film that started it all, Dasha!!!! 🎬👏👏👏👏
The original will always be iconic. However, the 1990 remake is worth watching. Special effects master Tom Savini, who did the makeup and effects on the Night of the Living Dead sequels (Dawn of the Dead is awesome) and on "Friday the 13th", directed the remake. I like the ending of the remake better and it had more gore in it that wasn't allowed in the 1968 version but it wasn't over the top.
I love the remake. LOVE it. Vastly underrated and underseen.
Bull, that remake ain't particularly gory. It certainly wasn't GROUND-BREAKINGLY gory like he original was in its day.
Actress Marilyn Eastman, who plays Mrs. Cooper, also played the zombie that eats the cricket off of the tree.
I saw this at the theater by myself one night in 1968, at age 11, when it was brand new and nobody knew what to expect. It was absolutely terrifying. What I thought was just going to be a "monster movie" turned out to be a grueling, nightmarish ordeal shared by the entire audience. There was nothing like it at the time and viewers today have little idea of how effective it was.
I saw this movie a long time ago, and when I saw names of towns like Latrobe, I knew this was around Pittsburgh, where I used to live. That one news guy was Bill Cardille, also known as 'Chilly Billy Cardilly', who had his own late night 'Monster Theater'. Chiller Theater, that was it!
Haha. It is kind of adorable that you said the zombie was determined to get her because he doesn’t have anything to do. I like the idea that the blood lust of zombies is primarily driven by boredom.
Return of the Living Dead (1985) please and thank you.
scary and funny.
22:45 hey at least he fed his daughter. That’s the job of a parent. Lol
Enjoyed your reaction, buddy. Your channel is fun to watch. Keep up the good work.
Great Classic Zombie movie!🧌🧟♀️ Dasha I'm glad you are watching the Classic horror movies like Texas chainsaw massacre and night of the living dead! These are the start of some of the most scary movies! I hope you continue with the horror classics. You'll have a better appreciation of the modern horror movies that followed. Thanks for sharing Dasha ❤💛
Это отличный фильм
I initially thought the movie was a metaphor concerning race relations in the United States and I really thought it was a masterpiece.
Then I read that George Romero had no such intention at all and that it just seemed to be that way.
After seeing the sequels it was apparent that Romero wasn't lying and that the artful latency I perceived was purely a coincidence.
Still, a very enjoyable flick. And while it may not have been the very first zombie movie, it is the one that pioneered the zombie craze in cinema.
"Well this is not one happy family." You always make me laugh!
...Incidentally, your English is a million times better than my Russian so I'm not judging -- but hearing you say "apocalypse" really made my day. 😂 I love you, Dasha! ❤
Best to you. Great show!
"Is that like dirt or are those gunshots?"
They're bullet holes. Quite popular in rural America to shoot road signs.
22:57 "Well this is not one happy family". LOL
Over the decades of knowing this film, I’ve come to view it as the “comfort food of horror movies”, it’s gripping and scary but compared to more recent fare is fairly subtle. In 1968 it caused a huge controversy, and saw great success, because it was considered horrifically graphic (and it is), and was influential in ushering in the modern age of graphic horror films. These days, it can still be loved and appreciated as this, but as familiar as it is (countless fans have seen it a hundred times or more - it’s that well known), it can be enjoyed like a light breakfast or snack, a frightening, nightmarish bowl of soup.
Yes! Dasha! Zombie movies are my number one favorite! I hope you get well and have yourself a bit of paracetamol. Helps me with zombie bites.
This movie is in the public domain. Only a few reactors have put the full movie reaction on yt, but it perfectly fine to do so.
@davidkessinger1581 The RUclips channel "RavensFilm Productions" does fan audio commentaries for various films which are only the audio expecting the viewer to sync it up with their own copy of the film, which they even did with this film, and I questioned that in the comment section since this movie unlike all the others they did was in the public domain and the channels host replied to me claiming that the Criterion Collection now has the rights to it.
10:24 "she ohhh holy shit."
Good reaction. This movie is more complex than you would think. I live in the town where it was filmed. Have family members buried in the cemetery. Still looks much the same as in the movie. Thanks for sharing. 😊🎉❤
This is such a historically important film, many, many horror tropes appear for the first time and it caused a big shift in what was acceptable onscreen.
I met the husband (jerk) that was in the basement. He was an old man and his first words to me were "You aren't mad at me, are you?" He said that part made him a hated man by many people. He laughed about it though.
@davidkessinger1581 It was Karl Hardman (1927-2007) who played the character "Harry" and in real life he was good friends with Duane Jones (1937-1988) who played "Ben".
The gas pumps on property was useful especially on farms, to refill equipment such as tractors and combines.
Fun fact: The zombie extras were eating roasted ham with chocolate sauce for blood.
Bosco chocolate syrup, to be exact.
It's so charming the way you say "RUclips" 🙂
So, this movie movie actually has several sequels, and they're all classics! I think you should watch them all! They are:
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
Day of the Dead (1985)
Land of the Dead (2005)
Oooh suprised to see you reacting to this 1. There's a colourised version of it too but I think it's just as good or better in the original black and white.
'Dawn of the Dead' is sort of a sequel to this and is probably the best of that group of films. Maybe you will do that 1 some time too.
The colourised version is awful as is the version with new footage jammed in.
4:42 First thing she needs to do is find shoes...lol.
Good reaction Dasha...
You should definitely watch the sequel 'Dawn Of The Dead' (1978) which is even better than this first film in my opinion and then 'Day Of The Dead (1985) which is the last film & good wrap up in George A. Romero original 'Dead' trilogy.
Now Romero did make other 'Dead' films, 'Land Of The Dead' (2005), 'Diary Of The Dead' (2007) & 'Survival Of The Dead' (2009) but those films weren't as good as the original first three and have gotten a lot of mixed reviews/recommendations from fans of the 'Living Dead'/'Zombie' genre. Those would be up to you if you want to watch them or not. Peace ✌️.
Wow,good pick! Such a controversial film for it's time for several reasons. Featuring a black man as the hero/lead role was unheard of during a time when segregation was still established in many parts of America,and featuring nudity (albeit non-frontal) and actual gore and consumption of "human" flesh,all completely unheard of at the time. And also the hero dying at the end in such the way he did. For years I would watch this movie as a kid on Halloween night,before going trick or treating (in those days,kids actually trick or treated at night). Plus the fact that it's in black and white makes it more unsettling. Color was available, but the fact that George Romero opted for b/w filming shows what a visionary he was.
I hope you feel better soon. Thanks for the reminder on a classic. I enjoyed watching your reactions, as i always do
Ben's trying to save everyone, but they're wanting to make stupid moves
It's ironic, he told her his story. But when she told hom hers he told her calm down.
Night of the Living Dead was one of the first horror films i saw as a kid that i actually liked but more than that.. It's one of the first films that got me into the idea of a few amateur people in the middle of nowhere with almost no money being able to make something like this with impact and that lasts for generations.
Loved your reaction, Dasha. This is indeed a classic. It was also the start of what we consider the modern zombie. hTere was also a remake that is also worth a watch. It was made in 1990. It follows the same basic story, but there are some changes that make it very good.
I saw this movie the first time when I was around the age of 8 or 9. It scared the shit out of me. It's a movie that is in public domain copywrite wise. So I saw it on a late night with my brother. It still to this day is a huge mark in my horror movie loving life, this one being the start.
Yes Barbara is in a state of shock. Some people don't realize this.
Judith O’Dea’s performance as Barbra, I think, is brilliant and largely unacknowledged, maybe because she seems so real that viewers feel they should blame the character for being slow or inattentive. She’s completely shattered by the unfolding horror. And this being the first Romero zombie film, she represents what the average person’s probable reaction to such a situation would be like.
26:00 I like the way Dasha says, "Zombie Apocalypse"
Now you MUST watch the sequels of this anthology: DAWN OF THE DEAD(1978), DAY OF THE DEAD(1985) and LAND OF THE DEAD(2005). All made by the late GREAT George Romero!!!!
George A. Romero used b&w filmstock so the film would look like a "a CBS News report". The budget was a tight $12,000. The music is stock music from the Capitol Records library. Romero filmed B-roll footage for PBS.
'Night of the Living dead' was re-made in 1990 for a color version but it apparently did not endear itself to fans... George Romero, who made the original 1968 movie made a sequel 'Dawn of the Dead' in 1978... and 'Day of the Dead' in 1985.
"We're COMING to get you Dasha..." (!)
George A. Romero made 6 movies. The first 4 are connected: Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, and Land of the Dead. He then made 2 more in a reboot kind of way: Diary of the Dead and Survival of the Dead.
They aren't connected though, I know, seems weird but the only actual sequel is Survival of the Dead. He made more than 6 movies too.
Yes Dasha, that is a beautiful 1967 Pontiac LeMans. 😉
There are sequels, all of them directed by George A. Romero, though the only two that matters the most are Dawn of the Dead (the original 70's version, the one from early 2000's is an unnecessary remake) & Day of the Dead (the original 80's version, there's also a remake of that one).
Even Night of the Living Dead has a lot of remakes too & the reason for it is because this original Romero version is public domain (meaning anybody can use this certain property & won't get sued because nobody owns the rights for it)
Zombies can sense a living person so pretending doesn't help. And yes I know they did that in Shaun of the Dead, but that one is a comedy, basically a spoof.
You absolutely have to see the rest
Movie Producers-"lets not make zombies look too too scary...go with the homeless look." ha.
Night Of The Living Dead is an example of a scary movie to get a friend to watch if you want your friend to get hooked on scary movies and they think they don't like scary movies.
Kyra Schon, who played the Coopers' daughter, Karen, also played the mangled corpse on the upstairs floor that Ben drags away.
Oh, and although the farm house was torn down years ago, you can still visit the basement, which wasn't the house's basement at all, but the basement of the Pittsburgh commercial building housing the production company's offices.
Harry is an ass but he was not wrong, staying in the basement would have saved them all.
Though this is the best known template for the “modern” zombie genre, I like the 1990 remake of this movie better. Tom Savini, renown horror film makeup artist directed it.
Same, remake is way better.
In addition to viewing other installments in George A. Romero's "Living Dead" series, especially "Dawn of the Dead" (1978) and "Day of the Dead" (1985), you might also consider viewing some of the other European and Canadian zombie films that came out between 1968 and 1978, including Amando de Ossorio's "Tombs of the Blind Dead" (1971), which spawned it's own series; Bob Clark's "Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things" (1972), from the same director who later made the slasher film "Black Christmas" (1974) and the non-horror "A Christmas Story" (1983); and Jorge Grau's "Let Sleeping Corpses Lie" (1974), which is probably my favorite out of those. Then you might also consider watching films like Lucio Fulci's "Zombie" (1979) and Dan O'Bannon's "The Return of the Living Dead" (1985). All of these give a pretty good sense of the early development of the horror subgenre of "zombie films."
I recommend to watch in order "Last Man on Earth" (1964), "The Omega Man"(1971) then "I am Legend"(2007). Three takes on the same book.
Awesome. Now you should watch the sequel Dawn of the Dead (1978).
Curiously the movie Dracula inspired Author Richard Matheson to thinking the is is a city with a1 vampire and a civilisation of humans, what g it was 1 human and a world of undead vampires, he’d write the book I am Legend, it would loosely help to inspire this movie.
If you think this is something, wait until you see the 1978 sequel "Dawn of the Dead".
This has been my all time favorite horror film. When I watched it by myself as a kid I'd always have a butcher knife at my side as I kept my eye on the forest just in case.
Ah yes, a low budget film that became a cult favorite ❤
One of the first movies to have a dark ending like this too, there used to be something called the hayes code that movies from doing that.
Great job Dasha! I'm glad you enjoyed this great classic movie. Like others have said the other Romero zombie films are good too. Keep up the great work.
Dasha.. so the ending here has a second meaning... this came out in 1968.. Racial tensions were high in the US... maybe the highest.. there were protests, there were riots, there was Robert Kennedy's assination, who was the democratic candidate... and then there was Martin Luther King's assination. When Romero finished editing this movie, put the final film reel in the trunk of his car to tale it to the distributor... and on the way the news of MLK being shot came on over the radio. Suddenly this movie had even more subtext. Also, those photos at the end evoke photos taken of black lynchings in the south.. which was still being done in the 1960s... but was especially common in the 1950s and before.
For a long time they never showed this on TV, figuring it was too horrific. I only saw it on a late-night TV film course at about 2:00 AM. Now it's everywhere. There are lots of fun facts about this film. It was made by a small company that mostly made industrial films, but thought there was money to be made in the drive-in market. Some of the actors, like Johnny and Harry, were also the film's producers, with many friends and relatives joining in. Although it originated many tropes of the modern day "zombie" films, the living dead are never called "zombies" in the film. In fact "zombies are a completely different kind of animated corpse from Haitian traditions, and they do not act on their own or eat flesh. In the film, I think, they more correctly refer to them as "ghouls" (which do eat flesh). It would be interesting to research which film started incorrectly calling them "zombies". Many of the cast and crew are still with us (including Johnny!), and I once asked John Russo, who wrote the screenplay, what he thought of those films with fast, running, zombies. Which did he prefer? His reply: "Slow zombies. Fast food".
My love needs a dose of some Nex Gen Rage Virus " zombies " now, hey!!! 😝
If you're referring to 28 Days Later she already did it it's on the channel.
@4:34ish... "This is a pretty determined Zombie...." with nothing to do! =X-D I love it!!! Bored Zombies!!! hmmm... what should I do know? think I'll chase this chic. And then eat her!
It's a farmhouse; that's why it has a gasoline pump.
would love to see a reaction to "Critters" (1986)
This movie set the tropes for future zombie films.
24:40 "Oh, Hi doggy!"
1. This is a classic and I'm glad you like it.
2. I first saw this as a child, and it did what it was supposed to do.
3. The ending was a bit of a shock. I'll give them that.
This is the classic movie that started the Zombie movies as we know them.
Romero said that NOTLD wasn't about zombies, it was about humans failing under stress. (Quite similar to The Mist in that regard)
I don’t normally do this but I just wanted to say I love the channel and your reactions and even if you didn’t react to it here if you ever get a chance I highly recommend the movie return of the living dead it’s not related to this movie other than they mention the movie was made up to cover up the real story it’s pretty good honestly
Honestly, the 1990s remake version is worth a watch. That one is one of my all time favorite horror classics. It captures the simple trapped in a farmhouse secluded in the middle of nowhere vibe perfect.
I hope you're not having nightmares after this movie, Texas Chainsaw, and Midsommar. Those are some of the most disturbing films ever made, but well-made films.