The film that started it all really.

This is the first of George Romero’s original trilogy in which a band of fractious survivors are holed up in a remote farmhouse as the zombie plague begins.

Filmed in black and white due to budgetary constraints, this 1968 film is the creepiest of the trilogy. The overwhelmingly claustrophobic feel of the house scenes set the tone for a tense and unsettling film with less obvious gore and shocks than its sequels. With its melodramatic, orchestral soundtrack and stark lighting it feels even older (other films out the same year include 2001 a Space Odyssey and Planet of the Apes) making those extreme scenes (little girl eating father, killing mother) all the more shocking.  (The soundtrack used was actually from a stock music library and originally used in Teenagers from Outer Space)

Much is made of Romero’s choice to cast a black actor as the lead, though Romero himself claims this was simply because he gave the best audition.  It is difficult not to watch certain scenes (especially when the rednecks show up) and not be reminded of  KKK lynching parties though.

Favourite Scene:

When Barbara and her brother are in the graveyard and there’s an apparantly inconsequential figure lurching around in the background, getting closer and closer…

Favourite Quote:

“They’re coming to get you Barbara!”

Film Rating:

A different style of horror film to what you may be used to (spoilt with?), it is still gripping and unsettling. There is a colourised version available but I think the original is still the one to see. Also available is a disastrous 30th anniversary version with 15 minutes cut, and a whole newly filmed subplot spliced in. Avoid.

Adherence to The Lore:

Very good – the zombies themselves are slow, clumsy and almost laughable – just how they should be.