My middle aged father and I (17) saw this at the drive in when it first came out. About halfway thru, this WWII vet, locked all the doors. No one, and I mean no one, had ever seen anything like this before.
This was the original living dead movie, which gave rise to the entire genre. George Romero, the director, never called them zombies. That term was only applied to them later. "Zombie" originally meant the mindless servant of a voodoo priest. Sometimes they were described as corpses reanimated by voodoo to serve the priest; sometimes they were described as people who were in a state of magic- or drug-induced hypnosis so that they lost all personal will and would serve the voodoo practitioner mindlessly. Because the original zombies were in some movies described as reanimated servants the term was latterly applied to Romero's living dead.
omg what up with reaction channels ....almost all reacting to lame 80s horrors... omg Its like almost all react at the same time to lame marvel movies too Are same nerds being Patrions to all reaction channels... wow you guys must be lonely and have really sad lives, to ask the same movies from different channels over and over again. And pay for it.
That subject is covered in the movie "The Serpent and The Rainbow" and those are the only plausible type of "zombies" there are: People who have been drugged and brainwashed into submission. It has nothing to do with a person actually being un-dead. These type of people are only "reanimated" in that they were PERCEIVED to no longer be living at one time. Personally, I find the whole fandom of this type of genre really silly. It's a ridiculous scenario on it's face but people will buy into any stupid idea.
This movie, made on a really tiny budget, shows what you get when film makers are allowed to be creative without corporate interference. Loved your reaction to this ground-breaking movie.
I met George A Romero, the creator of this film, at a convention about 10 years ago! The funny thing was, for a master of horror, he was one of the happiest, most cheerful people I ever met... Roger Ebert wrote about attending a matinee screening of this film when it first came out, and noted the reaction of the audience (many of whom were children who thought they were just going to see a cheesy B movie): "The kids in the audience were stunned. There was almost complete silence. The movie had stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying. There was a little girl across the aisle from me, maybe nine years old, who was sitting very still in her seat and crying. I don’t think the younger kids really knew what hit them. They were used to going to movies, sure, and they’d seen some horror movies before, sure, but this was something else. This was ghouls eating people up - and you could actually see what they were eating. This was little girls killing their mothers. This was being set on fire. Worst of all, even the hero got killed... I felt real terror in that neighborhood theater last Saturday afternoon. I saw kids who had no resources they could draw upon to protect themselves from the dread and fear they felt."
The reason Barbara pauses in shock when the dead are coming through the window is because it's Johnny come to eat her (he just doesn't have his glasses on because zombies don't need classes no more).
Zombies DO need glasses. The mockery one gets from all the other zombies the first time they catch you gnawing on a mannequin is _humiliating_. ...And, of course, contacts are a no-go. Zombies have dry eyes. Obvs.
One of the best horror films ever made, everyone gave a great performance especially Duane Jones and Marilyn Eastman. Johnny coming back as a zombie and dragging Barbara outside is such a brilliant scene
It wasn't until 2014, when I was 41 years old, that my mother finally told me she was asked if she wanted a role in this movie. It turns out that Nancy, one of my mom's best friends when she was in art school, would go on to become Nancy Romero, George's first wife. I couldn't believe it took her that long to tell her own son that she had been friends with George and Nancy Romero. Especially considering that I was in the goth/industrial scene, had been going to science fiction conventions since I was a teen and basically all of my friends are goths, punks, metal heads, and assorted other weirdos. Oh, and I was a design and menu consultant for a friend of mine who opened a horror themed coffee shop in New York.
@@THOMMGB my mom just didn't have any interest in acting, plus that would have been around the time her art career was really taking off. She did a very specialized form of art called, iirc triametrics. Basically in the days before CAD my mom hand drew absolutely precise to scale 3D blueprints that were used to build things like nuclear reactors, space shuttle engines (the design she worked on unfortunately did not win the contract), and nuclear submarines. The US nuclear submarine fleet is what she would have been working on at that time, which meant she was working directly with Admiral Rickover and his team, and that man's demands of the people who worked under him were borderline insane. Like if she had to draw a screw for one of the designs she couldn't just draw a screw and label it with a part number. She had to draw that precise screw with the exactly correct number of threads and pitch to the threads while accounting for scaling. What sucks for me is that I have almost nothing she worked on because a lot of it is still classified.
I saw NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD at age 11 when it came out and it scared me worse than any movie ever has. Everyone else in the theater, kid and adult alike, was in shock as well. We'd never seen anything like it. It certainly wasn't the "monster movie" I was expecting. After that I'd hear the radio ad on our local station, which was the exact audio from the trailer, and relive it all over again. I was afraid of zombies in broad daylight for at least two years afterward. The audience response in the theater was intense. It was the most terrifying and genuinely upsetting movie experience I'd ever had, and most of the people around me seemed to feel the same way. The tension was so thick that when Ben found that rifle in a closet early on, the audience cheered. I went into the lobby at one point to distance myself from it for awhile. As I watched the movie from the doorway, there was a grown-up standing there doing the same thing. When the feast at the burnt-out pickup began, we just looked at each other with stunned expressions and shook our heads. We simply had never seen a movie that graphic, visceral, and unrelentingly grim before.
Yeah, it was like any run-of-the-mill b-grade living dead monster movie that preceded it, until that closeup of that partially devoured head upstairs. And later, when you saw them in the act of eating victims, you knew you'd been thrust into some cinematic inferno beyond your wildest nightmares.
This is where the whole "shoot zombies in the head" originated. They're slow, lumbering and only a threat in great numbers. Unlike the more modern zombie movies that have them running about and chasing people down. Loved the surprise ending.
Awesome!! Got to visit the cemetery, gravesite, and the historical plaques in town. Was a fantastic visit, especially since it was raining day of my visit. Wanted to go to the mall in Monroe City but was running out of daylight.
What I think makes the ending brilliant in my opinion is that it works on a superficial level. The people doing zombie cleanup aren't willing to risk lives checking each person to see if they are a zombie. They just kill them on sight. But it also works as social commentary. The white posse shoots and kills the black man who they see as less than human. This movie is from the US in the late '60s. This ending was born from the civil rights era. People can and will deny the ending was about that, but I think it fits.
When I was a kid, my grandmother dropped me off at the movies to see a godzilla flick. It happened to be a double feature and this was the other movie. This was the craziest thing I'd ever seen up to this point in my life and it blew my ever lovin' mind! 🤯 And I haven't been the same since.
I was a kid 11 or 12 and my mom took us to the drive in to see this. It was so scary and at this time in the USA we were having racial unrest and a leading black man was controversial
George Romero should be given a lot of credit. Not just for taking a genre and making it insanely popular but for his casting choices. Duane Jones is cast as a competent male lead whose race is insignificant. It's never brought up or harped on because it doesn't matter. It's about a diverse group of people who have to work together to survive. Yes, he unfortunately dies in the end, but that's a statement on life. Sometimes, you can do everything right and still get the short end of the stick.
George Romero should be given a lot of credit? Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman, who played Mr. and Mrs Cooper deserve most of the credit, as the real life Pittsburgh based husband and wife who ran an independent film company in Pitt were the ones who actually got the filmed made
Let's be real though, his death was also a statement on race in America. Ben was competent, level headed, and smart, and he survived the living dead only to get gunned down by a sheriff's posse. Romero has confirmed they were having conversations about this stuff during filming. It was the 60s, it was unavoidable.
@@WhatIsMisophonia Last Man on Earth - Vincent Price, The Omega Man - Charlston Heston, I am Legend - WIl Smith......three movies based on the same book. Actually they are interesting to watch just to see how film making has changed over the years
I hope Will Smith's nuts itch for the rest of his life. That's my low-level curse upon him for that abomination. If he had called it anything else and said "Inspired by I am Legend" I would've thought it an OK movie, but he totally removed the bit that inspired that name. Why call it that and then take out the part that makes the title make sense? And I've heard the arguments that he was just acting in the movie but, no, he was one of the producers. It's definitely something he could've fixed.
Fun fact for that reason also because it's a classic references , clips of Night of the Living Dead have appeared in more movies than any other movie in history ! 🧟🧟♂
True. Gawr Gura did the entire movie watchalong with the movie included. Also Hong Kong action films such as Hard-Boiled and The Killer. Since the movie companies fled Hong Kong when China took over. Nobody owns them. They are in full on RUclips. Recommended. Directed by John Woo and starring Chow Yun Phat. Both had respectable careers in Hollywood after. Both movies are incredibly violent. But really it's just Kung Fu with guns. Quinton Terrantino is a huge fan. Quinton Terrantino is more like Hong Kong John Woo than John Woo was in America.
Dawn, since you enjoyed Night of the Living Dead you should check out The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price. That movie predates Night of the Living Dead, it's "vampires" but they act just like these zombies. I think you'd like it. Excellent review of one of my favorite horror movies btw
I once had the chance to meet John Russo, who wrote the screenplay for this. When I asked him if he thought zombies should be fast or slow, he replied "Slow zombies, fast food". He also didn't know who started calling the ghouls "Zombies", since zombies don't eat human flesh and ghouls do. Even though it was public domain, I don't remember this ever being shown on TV. It was just too much. I first saw it on TV decades ago at about 2:00 AM, when a home education film school included it with their other classics by Rene Claire and Jacques Tati. The farmhouse has since been torn down, but the cellar still exists in Pittsburgh. It was the basement of the production companie's offices. And BTW, who has a giant bolt inside their basement door? Were they expecting a zombie apocalypse?
"they're coming for you Barbara they're coming for you" this movie is a pure classic haven't seen this in a long time definitely need to watch this for Halloween season
One of my favorite horror films! My favotite zombie cuz it really captures the claustrophobia of being stuck in one place. So many zombie movies dont do that anymore which is a shame. The last 30 minutes especially is terrifying
I was laughing my head off at the ending because I was waiting to see how you would react to it, and you're reaction was spot on. Yeah, everybody does that. The one man survives the night, and then is mistakenly shot as he looks at the window thinking he survived it all. "Another one for the fire." The first zombie movie was "White Zombie" from 1932. I have it on DVD and it's great. But this "Night of the Living Dead" sparked a new round of zombie movies. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" from 1956 is close to a zombie movie, but it's really more in the science fiction. I haven't watched the remake, because the original is so good. Also, since you watched the remake of "The Fly," you should watch the original from 1958. Again, it is so good, so I haven't watched the remake, even though it has Jeff Goldblum in it.
The actor who plays the Cemetery Zombie was actually hired as the cameraman. George Romero needed a zombie and he had an old suit. The newscaster, Bill Cardille, was the host of a popular late night show that played old horror movies called Chilly Billy.
The late-night show was called "Chiller Theater." It was broadcast on station WIIC, now WPXI, in Pittsburgh. I watched it every Saturday night. RIP Bill.
chilly billy Bill Cardille RIP, I always what happed to Jeanett with her Fudge and Terminal Stare in her spandex and the wildest eyes ever....Killer days in the Rocks....
That zombie here at 6:49 who enters the house and attacks Barbara was played by John A. Russo, one of the screenwriters of the film... and still alive today (at age 85) in suburban Pittsburgh, PA.
32:02 "They (zombies) just want to eat brains." False. Zombies, in their early 60's horror incarnations, have eaten human flesh. It is only during the 80's (thanks to the not-direct sequel film, _The Return of the Living Dead_ ) that the idea that zombies only ate brains became popularized.
@@adamwells9352 George Romero didn't write the part for a black man, Ben always got shot at the end. His being shot would have made more sense if he stumbled out of the house exhausted and bloody and was mistaken for a zombie. A militiaman seeing obscured movement in a house and shooting through a window at a distance without a second thought aways felt contrived.
@@behindthescenesphotos5133 He doesn't have to have written the part for a black man to have decided somewhere along the way that it added "oomph" to the twist.
To be fair, those guys had no business shooting people from a distance, especially not if they were in a boarded up house. Without getting close and trying to communicate with the potential ghoul, how can they know if they're alive or dead? The ending was shocking, but it really made no sense.
These were industrial filmmakers, meaning they worked on training films or commercials. I remember reading about this movie and how it was made. The Director of Photography played the first zombie in the cemetery. He just had “the look”. Johnny was a producer and the car he was driving was his mother’s. Initial footage was shot with a normal-looking car, but when they went to get the car for more scenes in the cemetery, it had been in an accident on the driver’s side, so they used it. The damage to the fender and door doesn’t match what the tree supposedly did. The car damage doesn’t even touch the tree. I think they had some problems getting the film processed because of the graphic content. The music was already recorded so they purchased spooky/creepy music from a music library to use. For 1968 this was pretty shocking stuff. This movie was remade several years later. It’s well done and worth your time.
I have visited that cemetery in Evans City, Pennsylvania. The chapel is still there but there is a tree growing instead of the tombstone they were visiting. The house was demolished after they filmed the movie. The first time I watched this movie was alone in the basement at midnight. It terrified me. Very appropriate reaction to the ending.
There's two zombie movies I would recommend after seeing this one: The plague of Zombies which came a few years earlier and Dawn of the Dead which is the follow up to this one. The Plague of Zombies is a Hammer Horror movie, it was shot in colour and is a nice look at a zombie movie from before Romero established the typical kind we know today. It's more a mystery movie, trying to figure out what is happening and why. Gothic horror, Hammer's speciality. Dawn of the Dead is the follow up to this movie, Romero had a bigger budget there and it too focuses a lot on a small group of survivors who each really has an interesting personality. An interesting detail is that Gaylen Ross, the female lead, refused to scream. She refused to be the hysterical woman stereotype in horror. She shows fear and plenty of emotions, but does not scream.
This was originally called Night of the Flesh Eaters. They had that as the title card along with the 1968 copyright. When they changed the title card to Night of the Living Dead they forgot to add the copyright and thus became part of public domain.
We did see this movie not knowing. This was the first movie of it's kind. I saw it at the drive-in back then. I assumed it would be some sort of voodoo movie. Happy that I was wrong. A lifetime later, zombie movies are still my favorite.
I heard somewhere that the wife and mother was cast last minute due to an issue with the original actress's schedule. The lady in the movie is the wife of a producer. She was amazing.
Here are (if you are interested) a few facts about this film: 1: Bill Hinzman (the first Zombie in the cemetary) based his Zombie on the role of John Ellman, a character played by Boris Karloff in the 1936 film called; "The Walking Dead." 2: The "blood" used in this film was actually Bosco Chocolate Syrup. 3: I believe that this film was the first film to actually use body squibs for the gunshot effects. 4: This film is now in the Public Domain.
"White Zombie" from the 1930s is pretty good. "Return of the Living Dead" is amazing, it's the movie that invents zombies eating brains. If you don't like running zombies never watch the remake of this.
There were two rules in action movies back then. One, if a woman is being chased, she can't run more than ten steps without falling down. And two, if you need to break into a secure facility of some sort, you simply drive through the gate while the guard shouts, "HEY!, You can't....!"
I'd love to see a horror movie apply that first rule by having the woman run for nine steps, stop for a beat, then carry on running. Bonus points for having to explain the rule, mid-run.
I loved your reaction to the ending of the film. Yep, it certainly is a kicker isn't it ! Actually, only very recently, I watched another film reviewer on YT watching this, and their reaction was exactly like yours. Duane Jones, the actor who portrayed "Ben" in this, sadly passed away in 1988 at the young age of 51 of a cardiac issue. A very talented actor. God bless him.
George remade his same movie in 1990 with Patricia Tallman that's quite good, and, of course, there's several movies afterwards as the world gets worse.
As always, a great reaction! I grew up in the Pittsburgh area and watching this as a kid was all too real! Especially seeing the names of real places on the television.
Thanks for the fun creepy review. Your content is great. This movie was incredibly shocking for its time. Some theaters refused to show it. I also love your new hair color. 💓
Now your talkin' Dawn Marie ! This is one of the most seminal films ever made. It kickstarted the whole of modern-day Zombie lore. Films, TV series, comics. graphic novels, computer games, the lot. As harryrabbit2870 stated below, it was made on a really low budget. However, both George A. Romero and John Russo (who created this) never made a cent from it. During negotiations, they accidentally forgot to sign the copyright agreement, which meant that neither of them would get any royalty / profit payments.
So great. But I do think people going in need to know that it's a different conception of the zombie than what we think of now--which was created by Night of the Living Dead!
Another one used a rock to break a window and another grabbed some kind of blunt object to beat his way into the house at one point I notice. I think they were ALL getting smarter and catching on as things progressed.
Romero lover the Butler County area, north of Pittsburgh. Night of the Living Dead, and The Crazies were both filmed in Evans City. I've been to the Evans City Cemetary where the movie starts.
This was probably the first horror movie that showed real gore, and was a shocker at the time. The horror movies that came out before this showed killing in kind of a "classic stylized" format. Yeah, I hated to see that last guy get killed. I grew up in the Pittsburgh area, and recognized the names of the towns. That reporter toward the end was Bill Cardille, known in the Pittsburgh area as "Chilly Billy Cardilley", host of a late night monster movie show.
If you are ever in Evers City PA you can visit the city cemetery where this was filmed and pay your respects to Blair, Nicholas Kramer, and Father Myers and the other graves you see in this film. Oh btw: THANK YOU !!!! for going with a classic original film rather than a modern remake!!!
This is THE zombie movie. The whole genre is based on this. It also is one of the best. Shaun of the Dead is my second favorite but obviously there are LOTS of others. But this set the standard. Come the zombie apocalypse I want you on my team. As to making a flame thrower, done that. My brother and I as teens took a large squirt gun (submachine gun shaped), designed a basket out of metal at the front of the muzzle, put a cotton ball soalked in paint thinner in the basket,, loaded the squirt gun with paint thinner, lit the cotton ball on fure then fired away. It was spectacular. But the paint thinner ate away at the insides of the squirt gun and it only worked for a fairly short time.
There used to be an old fast food chain called Sandy's that actually had a girl in a scottish outfit, kilt and all, as their mascot. The one in my town in western pennsylvania closed down and become a Hardees in the 70s.
It amuses me to see reactions from younger generations, how they tell the characters to do this and that, not realizing that they have decades of zombie pop culture backing up their suggested strategies. They forget that in 1968, all of this zombie apocalypse stuff was completely uncharted territory. It is nearly impossible to go back 56 years and read the minds of these characters, much less fairly criticize all their actions. They, along with their contemporary audiences, had no preconception of how to deal with it all.
I feel like so many people overlook George Romero's excellent films when they react to horrors. I think it's a must that they at least watch his first three zombie films, as well as the 1990 remake of his _Night of the Living Dead_ by Tom Savini. I love 'em.
Glad you gave that a 'best movie ever' as this is a real classic!!! You should watch the original 70s "Dawn of the Dead" its.... AMAZING!!! - One of my all time fav movies ever!
the best horror films end leaving you uncomfortable...if a scary movie ends on a happy note, it's fantasy, it's just like every other comedy or family film that ends on a high note. Great horror films end in tragedy or shock or that uncomfortable feeling you get deep in your gut...they should unnerve you, scare you, and disrupt your expectations.
My middle aged father and I (17) saw this at the drive in when it first came out. About halfway thru, this WWII vet, locked all the doors. No one, and I mean no one, had ever seen anything like this before.
This is the end of the Hays Code era and film makers were starting to go to more extremes.
I can believe that.
This was the original living dead movie, which gave rise to the entire genre. George Romero, the director, never called them zombies. That term was only applied to them later.
"Zombie" originally meant the mindless servant of a voodoo priest. Sometimes they were described as corpses reanimated by voodoo to serve the priest; sometimes they were described as people who were in a state of magic- or drug-induced hypnosis so that they lost all personal will and would serve the voodoo practitioner mindlessly. Because the original zombies were in some movies described as reanimated servants the term was latterly applied to Romero's living dead.
omg what up with reaction channels ....almost all reacting to lame 80s horrors... omg
Its like almost all react at the same time to lame marvel movies too
Are same nerds being Patrions to all reaction channels... wow you guys must be lonely and have really sad lives, to ask the same movies from different channels over and over again.
And pay for it.
@@tanelviil9149 And?
Well, they were only referred to as "flesh--eating ghouls" in the movie here (mostly by the tv news man).
That subject is covered in the movie "The Serpent and The Rainbow" and those are the only plausible type of "zombies" there are: People who have been drugged and brainwashed into submission. It has nothing to do with a person actually being un-dead. These type of people are only "reanimated" in that they were PERCEIVED to no longer be living at one time. Personally, I find the whole fandom of this type of genre really silly. It's a ridiculous scenario on it's face but people will buy into any stupid idea.
In 'Dawn of the Dead' they are called zombies. One character says "There's going to be a thousand zombies in here."
"You're stuck down there with no food, no radio and probably people's poops"
No one assesses a situation better than our lovely Dawn 😎
I love it when I read a quote at the exact moment it's happening in the video!
"They're coming to get you Barbara" was directly referenced in Shaun of the Dead when Ed yells over the phone "We're coming to get you Barbara!"
Sheriff: We found four of then trying to get into a shed.
We beat them off.
And George A. Romero apparently didn't notice the reference when he watched it.
This movie, made on a really tiny budget, shows what you get when film makers are allowed to be creative without corporate interference. Loved your reaction to this ground-breaking movie.
Clerks was another example of that. Even Reservoir Dogs.
The first Mad Max also
I met George A Romero, the creator of this film, at a convention about 10 years ago! The funny thing was, for a master of horror, he was one of the happiest, most cheerful people I ever met...
Roger Ebert wrote about attending a matinee screening of this film when it first came out, and noted the reaction of the audience (many of whom were children who thought they were just going to see a cheesy B movie):
"The kids in the audience were stunned. There was almost complete silence. The movie had stopped being delightfully scary about halfway through, and had become unexpectedly terrifying. There was a little girl across the aisle from me, maybe nine years old, who was sitting very still in her seat and crying. I don’t think the younger kids really knew what hit them. They were used to going to movies, sure, and they’d seen some horror movies before, sure, but this was something else. This was ghouls eating people up - and you could actually see what they were eating. This was little girls killing their mothers. This was being set on fire. Worst of all, even the hero got killed... I felt real terror in that neighborhood theater last Saturday afternoon. I saw kids who had no resources they could draw upon to protect themselves from the dread and fear they felt."
I think you would love The Return of the Living Dead (1985)
@@zaphod43 Yeah that's a really funny zombie movie. The zombies are more intelligent and can talk.
Yes!!!
@@stevebinning977 BRAINS!!
I hope she does! Great movie
@@zaphod43
The only thing that stops the pain!
The reason Barbara pauses in shock when the dead are coming through the window is because it's Johnny come to eat her (he just doesn't have his glasses on because zombies don't need classes no more).
Zombies DO need glasses. The mockery one gets from all the other zombies the first time they catch you gnawing on a mannequin is _humiliating_. ...And, of course, contacts are a no-go. Zombies have dry eyes. Obvs.
Zombies have no class
Ironically, in the original script, Johnny worked for an optometrist.
You recognize him by his glove.
What was his name again?
The original Dawn of the Dead had an open call for anyone to come down and be a zombie extra. I think over a thousand people came out, bet it was fun
Extras who appeared in the film were reportedly given $1 in cash, a donut, and a Dawn of the Dead T-shirt.
Sold! I’m in
Love the OG Dawn of the Dead, Romero’s work was important to me growing up
Two girls from my neighborhood were in it, although they were only used in the ariel shots of the parking lots.
The main guy is going to live forever. Ha Ha Ha Ha! It just DAWNED on me how funny that was.
One of the best horror films ever made, everyone gave a great performance especially Duane Jones and Marilyn Eastman. Johnny coming back as a zombie and dragging Barbara outside is such a brilliant scene
I was 11 when I saw this and it scared the living shit out of me. I couldn't sleep for weeks.
They're coming to get you, Barbara...
I like how "Shaun of the dead" made a play on that.
"We're coming to get you Barbara!". Because Shaun's mum's name. LOL
It wasn't until 2014, when I was 41 years old, that my mother finally told me she was asked if she wanted a role in this movie. It turns out that Nancy, one of my mom's best friends when she was in art school, would go on to become Nancy Romero, George's first wife. I couldn't believe it took her that long to tell her own son that she had been friends with George and Nancy Romero. Especially considering that I was in the goth/industrial scene, had been going to science fiction conventions since I was a teen and basically all of my friends are goths, punks, metal heads, and assorted other weirdos. Oh, and I was a design and menu consultant for a friend of mine who opened a horror themed coffee shop in New York.
I’m guessing that your mom didn’t take the part. Any reason why? Sounds like there’s more to the story. Was your mom’s friend, Nancy in the movie?
@@THOMMGB my mom just didn't have any interest in acting, plus that would have been around the time her art career was really taking off. She did a very specialized form of art called, iirc triametrics. Basically in the days before CAD my mom hand drew absolutely precise to scale 3D blueprints that were used to build things like nuclear reactors, space shuttle engines (the design she worked on unfortunately did not win the contract), and nuclear submarines. The US nuclear submarine fleet is what she would have been working on at that time, which meant she was working directly with Admiral Rickover and his team, and that man's demands of the people who worked under him were borderline insane. Like if she had to draw a screw for one of the designs she couldn't just draw a screw and label it with a part number. She had to draw that precise screw with the exactly correct number of threads and pitch to the threads while accounting for scaling. What sucks for me is that I have almost nothing she worked on because a lot of it is still classified.
It’s amazing,the things that parents will keep from their children.
@@Entiox I would ask her to draw something for me, perhaps a favorite object or your car. Then frame it to proudly show off her talent.
I saw NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD at age 11 when it came out and it scared me worse than any movie ever has. Everyone else in the theater, kid and adult alike, was in shock as well. We'd never seen anything like it. It certainly wasn't the "monster movie" I was expecting. After that I'd hear the radio ad on our local station, which was the exact audio from the trailer, and relive it all over again. I was afraid of zombies in broad daylight for at least two years afterward.
The audience response in the theater was intense. It was the most terrifying and genuinely upsetting movie experience I'd ever had, and most of the people around me seemed to feel the same way. The tension was so thick that when Ben found that rifle in a closet early on, the audience cheered.
I went into the lobby at one point to distance myself from it for awhile. As I watched the movie from the doorway, there was a grown-up standing there doing the same thing. When the feast at the burnt-out pickup began, we just looked at each other with stunned expressions and shook our heads. We simply had never seen a movie that graphic, visceral, and unrelentingly grim before.
Yeah, it was like any run-of-the-mill b-grade living dead monster movie that preceded it, until that closeup of that partially devoured head upstairs. And later, when you saw them in the act of eating victims, you knew you'd been thrust into some cinematic inferno beyond your wildest nightmares.
This is where the whole "shoot zombies in the head" originated. They're slow, lumbering and only a threat in great numbers. Unlike the more modern zombie movies that have them running about and chasing people down. Loved the surprise ending.
Dawn coming through with the real life questions. "What if you need to poo?"
I grew up in Evans City where The night of the living dead was filmed. I know all those places.
Awesome!! Got to visit the cemetery, gravesite, and the historical plaques in town. Was a fantastic visit, especially since it was raining day of my visit. Wanted to go to the mall in Monroe City but was running out of daylight.
I've been on location tours during the LDW convention and have met alot of the cast.
@jamesbednar8625 you would love the Living Dead weekend events at the Monroeville Mall
What I think makes the ending brilliant in my opinion is that it works on a superficial level. The people doing zombie cleanup aren't willing to risk lives checking each person to see if they are a zombie. They just kill them on sight. But it also works as social commentary. The white posse shoots and kills the black man who they see as less than human. This movie is from the US in the late '60s. This ending was born from the civil rights era. People can and will deny the ending was about that, but I think it fits.
When I was a kid, my grandmother dropped me off at the movies to see a godzilla flick. It happened to be a double feature and this was the other movie. This was the craziest thing I'd ever seen up to this point in my life and it blew my ever lovin' mind! 🤯 And I haven't been the same since.
I was a kid 11 or 12 and my mom took us to the drive in to see this. It was so scary and at this time in the USA we were having racial unrest and a leading black man was controversial
And he's an innocent man shot by the "law." It was a helluva statement in it's day.
George Romero should be given a lot of credit. Not just for taking a genre and making it insanely popular but for his casting choices. Duane Jones is cast as a competent male lead whose race is insignificant. It's never brought up or harped on because it doesn't matter. It's about a diverse group of people who have to work together to survive. Yes, he unfortunately dies in the end, but that's a statement on life. Sometimes, you can do everything right and still get the short end of the stick.
George Romero should be given a lot of credit? Karl Hardman and Marilyn Eastman, who played Mr. and Mrs Cooper deserve most of the credit, as the real life Pittsburgh based husband and wife who ran an independent film company in Pitt were the ones who actually got the filmed made
Let's be real though, his death was also a statement on race in America. Ben was competent, level headed, and smart, and he survived the living dead only to get gunned down by a sheriff's posse. Romero has confirmed they were having conversations about this stuff during filming. It was the 60s, it was unavoidable.
"The Last Man on Earth" 1964
"The Omega Man" 1971
"I Am Legend" 2007
"Omega Man" is a banger
I knew about the first and the third, but I did not know about the omega man; I'll have to watch that one.
"Tit and Bum Magazine" 1969.
@@WhatIsMisophonia Last Man on Earth - Vincent Price, The Omega Man - Charlston Heston, I am Legend - WIl Smith......three movies based on the same book.
Actually they are interesting to watch just to see how film making has changed over the years
I hope Will Smith's nuts itch for the rest of his life. That's my low-level curse upon him for that abomination. If he had called it anything else and said "Inspired by I am Legend" I would've thought it an OK movie, but he totally removed the bit that inspired that name. Why call it that and then take out the part that makes the title make sense? And I've heard the arguments that he was just acting in the movie but, no, he was one of the producers. It's definitely something he could've fixed.
This movie is in the public domain so you could have uploaded the whole thing without any trouble.
Fun fact for that reason also because it's a classic references , clips of Night of the Living Dead have appeared in more movies than any other movie in history ! 🧟🧟♂
In America, but does it apply in Europe?
Not really. People have tried that and the system automatically strikes them pretty much every time
True. Gawr Gura did the entire movie watchalong with the movie included.
Also Hong Kong action films such as Hard-Boiled and The Killer. Since the movie companies fled Hong Kong when China took over. Nobody owns them. They are in full on RUclips. Recommended. Directed by John Woo and starring Chow Yun Phat. Both had respectable careers in Hollywood after. Both movies are incredibly violent. But really it's just Kung Fu with guns. Quinton Terrantino is a huge fan. Quinton Terrantino is more like Hong Kong John Woo than John Woo was in America.
All because someone forgot to copyright it 😞
That was awesome. I've never seen this. Heaps of fun
Dawn, since you enjoyed Night of the Living Dead you should check out The Last Man on Earth with Vincent Price. That movie predates Night of the Living Dead, it's "vampires" but they act just like these zombies. I think you'd like it. Excellent review of one of my favorite horror movies btw
Return of the Living Dead is a must follow up.
@TheBlarggle literally could care less. Also, debatable.
I saw this movie in 1969. It scared the shit out of me!
I once had the chance to meet John Russo, who wrote the screenplay for this. When I asked him if he thought zombies should be fast or slow, he replied "Slow zombies, fast food". He also didn't know who started calling the ghouls "Zombies", since zombies don't eat human flesh and ghouls do. Even though it was public domain, I don't remember this ever being shown on TV. It was just too much. I first saw it on TV decades ago at about 2:00 AM, when a home education film school included it with their other classics by Rene Claire and Jacques Tati. The farmhouse has since been torn down, but the cellar still exists in Pittsburgh. It was the basement of the production companie's offices. And BTW, who has a giant bolt inside their basement door? Were they expecting a zombie apocalypse?
"they're coming for you Barbara they're coming for you" this movie is a pure classic haven't seen this in a long time definitely need to watch this for Halloween season
One of my favorite horror films! My favotite zombie cuz it really captures the claustrophobia of being stuck in one place. So many zombie movies dont do that anymore which is a shame. The last 30 minutes especially is terrifying
I was laughing my head off at the ending because I was waiting to see how you would react to it, and you're reaction was spot on. Yeah, everybody does that. The one man survives the night, and then is mistakenly shot as he looks at the window thinking he survived it all. "Another one for the fire." The first zombie movie was "White Zombie" from 1932. I have it on DVD and it's great. But this "Night of the Living Dead" sparked a new round of zombie movies. "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" from 1956 is close to a zombie movie, but it's really more in the science fiction. I haven't watched the remake, because the original is so good. Also, since you watched the remake of "The Fly," you should watch the original from 1958. Again, it is so good, so I haven't watched the remake, even though it has Jeff Goldblum in it.
If I am ever trapped in a house surrounded by zombies I would be very lucky to have you help me Dawn.
The 1990 Tom Savini remake of Night of the Living Dead is also excellent; the story is strengthened by a few small changes they made.
The actor who plays the Cemetery Zombie was actually hired as the cameraman. George Romero needed a zombie and he had an old suit.
The newscaster, Bill Cardille, was the host of a popular late night show that played old horror movies called Chilly Billy.
The late-night show was called "Chiller Theater." It was broadcast on station WIIC, now WPXI, in Pittsburgh. I watched it every Saturday night. RIP Bill.
chilly billy Bill Cardille RIP, I always what happed to Jeanett with her Fudge and Terminal Stare in her spandex and the wildest eyes ever....Killer days in the Rocks....
Bill Cardille, a Pittsburgh PA TV announcer. Later was announcer for WWF in the early 1970’s.
And was local horror host "Chilly Billy".
And his daughter was the lead in Day of the Dead
@@creech54 We used to watch him when we lived in Pittsburgh
I saw it in 1968 as a 13 year old, hadn't been more scared of a film until 5 years later with The Exorcist.
That zombie here at 6:49 who enters the house and attacks Barbara was played by John A. Russo, one of the screenwriters of the film... and still alive today (at age 85) in suburban Pittsburgh, PA.
This is it, the movie that started the zombie apocalypse genre. Most people who made zombie movies after this followed George Romero's zombie archtype
5 years before night of the livong dead , Last man on earth ( 1964 ) looks and feels just like it except technically the living dead are vampires
Night of the Living Dead takes its inspiration from The Last man on Earth and the book it was adapted from, I am Legend.
32:02 "They (zombies) just want to eat brains."
False. Zombies, in their early 60's horror incarnations, have eaten human flesh. It is only during the 80's (thanks to the not-direct sequel film, _The Return of the Living Dead_ ) that the idea that zombies only ate brains became popularized.
Great Movie. Duane Jones is the man!
The movie that started the whole zombie genre ❤️ I watch either this or the 1990 remake every Halloween!
Ben's big mistake was not yelling for help when he first came out of the basement.
Let's face it: Ben's big mistake was being black in sixties America.
@@adamwells9352 George Romero didn't write the part for a black man, Ben always got shot at the end.
His being shot would have made more sense if he stumbled out of the house exhausted and bloody and was mistaken for a zombie. A militiaman seeing obscured movement in a house and shooting through a window at a distance without a second thought aways felt contrived.
@@behindthescenesphotos5133 He doesn't have to have written the part for a black man to have decided somewhere along the way that it added "oomph" to the twist.
To be fair, those guys had no business shooting people from a distance, especially not if they were in a boarded up house. Without getting close and trying to communicate with the potential ghoul, how can they know if they're alive or dead? The ending was shocking, but it really made no sense.
@@behindthescenesphotos5133 I think this group of untrained local yokels had already proved that they are the shoot first ask questions later types.
These were industrial filmmakers, meaning they worked on training films or commercials. I remember reading about this movie and how it was made. The Director of Photography played the first zombie in the cemetery. He just had “the look”. Johnny was a producer and the car he was driving was his mother’s. Initial footage was shot with a normal-looking car, but when they went to get the car for more scenes in the cemetery, it had been in an accident on the driver’s side, so they used it. The damage to the fender and door doesn’t match what the tree supposedly did. The car damage doesn’t even touch the tree. I think they had some problems getting the film processed because of the graphic content. The music was already recorded so they purchased spooky/creepy music from a music library to use. For 1968 this was pretty shocking stuff. This movie was remade several years later. It’s well done and worth your time.
I have visited that cemetery in Evans City, Pennsylvania. The chapel is still there but there is a tree growing instead of the tombstone they were visiting. The house was demolished after they filmed the movie. The first time I watched this movie was alone in the basement at midnight. It terrified me. Very appropriate reaction to the ending.
There's two zombie movies I would recommend after seeing this one: The plague of Zombies which came a few years earlier and Dawn of the Dead which is the follow up to this one.
The Plague of Zombies is a Hammer Horror movie, it was shot in colour and is a nice look at a zombie movie from before Romero established the typical kind we know today. It's more a mystery movie, trying to figure out what is happening and why. Gothic horror, Hammer's speciality.
Dawn of the Dead is the follow up to this movie, Romero had a bigger budget there and it too focuses a lot on a small group of survivors who each really has an interesting personality. An interesting detail is that Gaylen Ross, the female lead, refused to scream. She refused to be the hysterical woman stereotype in horror. She shows fear and plenty of emotions, but does not scream.
A great little film -- with a courageous ending, too (lol). I've loved it for many, many years...
The ending is true horror
Horror is not winning, horror is losing.
Being a hero slayer is not horror. Being bricked in a wall for eternity is horror.
This was originally called Night of the Flesh Eaters. They had that as the title card along with the 1968 copyright. When they changed the title card to Night of the Living Dead they forgot to add the copyright and thus became part of public domain.
We did see this movie not knowing. This was the first movie of it's kind. I saw it at the drive-in back then. I assumed it would be some sort of voodoo movie. Happy that I was wrong. A lifetime later, zombie movies are still my favorite.
I heard somewhere that the wife and mother was cast last minute due to an issue with the original actress's schedule. The lady in the movie is the wife of a producer. She was amazing.
This film was shocking. I still can't watch the part where Barbara demolishes that gorgeous GTO in the cemetery. 😱
Here are (if you are interested) a few facts about this film: 1: Bill Hinzman (the first Zombie in the cemetary) based his Zombie on the role of John Ellman, a character played by Boris Karloff in the 1936 film called; "The Walking Dead." 2: The "blood" used in this film was actually Bosco Chocolate Syrup. 3: I believe that this film was the first film to actually use body squibs for the gunshot effects. 4: This film is now in the Public Domain.
Image 10 recently got it copyrighted tho.
Made near Pittsburgh, Bill Cardille , the reporter, had a Saturday night horror movie show, as Chillie Bill Cardille.
You must watch Romero's follow-up, Dawn of the Dead (1978). It is the best dead film ever.
"White Zombie" from the 1930s is pretty good. "Return of the Living Dead" is amazing, it's the movie that invents zombies eating brains. If you don't like running zombies never watch the remake of this.
Thanks for the reference
If you were referring to 1990s Night of The Living Dead, there are no running zombies. I think you meant the remake of Dawn of the Dead.
Yeah, the 1990 remake slaps. The 2004 Dawn remake does too, fast zombies and all.
@@Psilocybin77 Yep, you're right.
This movie ranked at #9 in the 100 scariest movie moments on Bravo, cool reaction as always Dawn, I adore your new look, take care 🥰❤️💋
There were two rules in action movies back then. One, if a woman is being chased, she can't run more than ten steps without falling down. And two, if you need to break into a secure facility of some sort, you simply drive through the gate while the guard shouts, "HEY!, You can't....!"
I'd love to see a horror movie apply that first rule by having the woman run for nine steps, stop for a beat, then carry on running. Bonus points for having to explain the rule, mid-run.
I loved your reaction to the ending of the film. Yep, it certainly is a kicker isn't it ! Actually, only very recently, I watched another film reviewer on YT watching this, and their reaction was exactly like yours. Duane Jones, the actor who portrayed "Ben" in this, sadly passed away in 1988 at the young age of 51 of a cardiac issue. A very talented actor. God bless him.
You got to remember that this is considered one of the first zombie movies and the rules for a zombie hasn't been established yet by George Romero
You’re the freaking best! One of my favest flix ever! (and the Groucho shirt! ❤️) Two yrs watching ya and it keeps getting better.
*and the 3rd Halloween
George remade his same movie in 1990 with Patricia Tallman that's quite good, and, of course, there's several movies afterwards as the world gets worse.
Yay another video .... your awesome.... keep up the great work, I really appreciate you❤👍👍
The first zombie movie was White Zombie from 1932.
As always, a great reaction! I grew up in the Pittsburgh area and watching this as a kid was all too real! Especially seeing the names of real places on the television.
Thanks for the fun creepy review. Your content is great. This movie was incredibly shocking for its time. Some theaters refused to show it. I also love your new hair color. 💓
Another movie you should put on your list is one by Anthony Hopkins from 1978. It's called - MAGIC
6:28 ... You're close. It was Hershey's syrup. That's what they used for "blood"
Great reaction as always. You r fun, funny and informative. Love your hair too btw. Keep rockin
Now your talkin' Dawn Marie ! This is one of the most seminal films ever made. It kickstarted the whole of modern-day Zombie lore. Films, TV series, comics. graphic novels, computer games, the lot. As harryrabbit2870 stated below, it was made on a really low budget. However, both George A. Romero and John Russo (who created this) never made a cent from it. During negotiations, they accidentally forgot to sign the copyright agreement, which meant that neither of them would get any royalty / profit payments.
"I Walked With a Zombie" from the 1943 was a fun one.
So great. But I do think people going in need to know that it's a different conception of the zombie than what we think of now--which was created by Night of the Living Dead!
Lol.
Dawn: At least give me a dog.
That was hilarious. 😂
The daughter is the one who uses a tool, she's a genius!
Another one used a rock to break a window and another grabbed some kind of blunt object to beat his way into the house at one point I notice. I think they were ALL getting smarter and catching on as things progressed.
I live near where this was shot. Evans City in PA , I've walked in the foot steps of Bah Bara.... A classic! and well acted.
Know what’s cool, Dawn? Is after some yrs of this you’re gonna legit be a movie expert and that’s no joke. Cheers.
My comments come from memories, ideas and laundry. Best review/reactions ever. Many thanks 👍 and blessings.
it was satisfying to see you not guess the end for once! your look of surprise made it all worth while.
I reckon its headstone! jolly good film, thanks Dawn
I hope you react to the best one of all:
Return Of The Living Dead.
Great reaction, Dawn!!! ❤️✌️ Love the Groucho shirt!!! ❤️✌️
10:44 That hysterical lady would like The Shining. There's a Johnnie who shows up in that. He's quite eager actually. 😃👍
Or at least a Johnny Carson reference
The ending is completely unforgettable to me
George Romero is the Godfather of the modern zombie.
Nice blanket kinda reminds me of the Clint Eastwood era. Every which way but loose " Left turn Clyde".
Dawn's living dead fandom is incomplete until she dons a Monroeville Zombies hockey jersey.
Romero lover the Butler County area, north of Pittsburgh. Night of the Living Dead, and The Crazies were both filmed in Evans City. I've been to the Evans City Cemetary where the movie starts.
I love that Dawn has zombie preferences 😆
She's Dawn of the dead. 😉
@@vincegarcia6416 She has the perfect name!
This was probably the first horror movie that showed real gore, and was a shocker at the time. The horror movies that came out before this showed killing in kind of a "classic stylized" format. Yeah, I hated to see that last guy get killed.
I grew up in the Pittsburgh area, and recognized the names of the towns. That reporter toward the end was Bill Cardille, known in the Pittsburgh area as "Chilly Billy Cardilley", host of a late night monster movie show.
If you are ever in Evers City PA you can visit the city cemetery where this was filmed and pay your respects to Blair, Nicholas Kramer, and Father Myers and the other graves you see in this film.
Oh btw: THANK YOU !!!! for going with a classic original film rather than a modern remake!!!
This is THE zombie movie. The whole genre is based on this. It also is one of the best. Shaun of the Dead is my second favorite but obviously there are LOTS of others. But this set the standard.
Come the zombie apocalypse I want you on my team.
As to making a flame thrower, done that. My brother and I as teens took a large squirt gun (submachine gun shaped), designed a basket out of metal at the front of the muzzle, put a cotton ball soalked in paint thinner in the basket,, loaded the squirt gun with paint thinner, lit the cotton ball on fure then fired away. It was spectacular. But the paint thinner ate away at the insides of the squirt gun and it only worked for a fairly short time.
I never knew the wendys mascot was scottish.....or that she did movie reviews
There used to be an old fast food chain called Sandy's that actually had a girl in a scottish outfit, kilt and all, as their mascot. The one in my town in western pennsylvania closed down and become a Hardees in the 70s.
Your gonna love the original dawn of the dead if you get round to watching it
The Blue Man group. A reanimated Cheerleader STILL clutching both Pom-Poms...preposterous.
And 'Day of the Dead', that's my favourite!
the first and best. you are the best
I watched this on DVD then re-watched it with the commentary. You get so much more for my movie when you watch it with the commentary on.
I love the music in the beginning of this movie.
It amuses me to see reactions from younger generations, how they tell the characters to do this and that, not realizing that they have decades of zombie pop culture backing up their suggested strategies. They forget that in 1968, all of this zombie apocalypse stuff was completely uncharted territory. It is nearly impossible to go back 56 years and read the minds of these characters, much less fairly criticize all their actions. They, along with their contemporary audiences, had no preconception of how to deal with it all.
I feel like so many people overlook George Romero's excellent films when they react to horrors. I think it's a must that they at least watch his first three zombie films, as well as the 1990 remake of his _Night of the Living Dead_ by Tom Savini. I love 'em.
Glad you gave that a 'best movie ever' as this is a real classic!!!
You should watch the original 70s "Dawn of the Dead" its.... AMAZING!!! - One of my all time fav movies ever!
the best horror films end leaving you uncomfortable...if a scary movie ends on a happy note, it's fantasy, it's just like every other comedy or family film that ends on a high note. Great horror films end in tragedy or shock or that uncomfortable feeling you get deep in your gut...they should unnerve you, scare you, and disrupt your expectations.