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I try really hard not to give many movies a perfect rating but with "Night" I cannot rate it any higher. Yes it's a classic, yes it is the foundation of all later zombie movies, yes it is a masterpiece of horror. But aside from all of that, aside from the social commentary, and aside from the fact that the damn movie is 40 years old, the one thing that always impresses me when I watch it is the sheer level of claustriphobic tension that permeates every minute of the film.
While I still prefer "Dawn", it's the close-quarters of "Night" that truly gives it its power. A fortified mall or a underground military missle silo are larger refuges with huge amounts of supplies, food and medical, but the small farmhouse stands little hope defending against the onslaught of the walking dead.
A true classic and required viewing for any horror fan.
Posted By: thedescent08 at 8:58pm, October 3, 2008
One of the classic horror films of all time, recently i picked up 20th century fox's colorized version of the original,, and it also included the black and white version, it's a fun thing to see it in color after years and years of being used to it in black and white.
"This landmark 1968 horror-shocker is a great example of what can be done with a limited budget, a simple idea, and some dedicated and talented participants. Very nicely shot, mostly well acted, NOTLD grabs your attention from the very beginning to the very end - and what a classic end it is.
The story begins with Barbara (Judith O'Dea) and her brother visiting the grave of a friend of their mother, and takes off almost immediately, as they are attacked by a horde of cannibalistic zombies. Narrowly escaping, but losing her emotional balance in the process, Barbara escapes to a house a bit farther down the road where she meets Ben (Duane Jones), the hero of the film. They discover a family with a sick little girl and a young couple in the basement of the house and they all get to work barricading themselves in and preparing weapons and other defenses. The rest of the story concerns the group dynamics between these survivors as the dead close in on their refuge, the story of what is going on in the rest of the USA - revealed through TV reportage and radio broadcasts, and sheer survival. The human side of this film is an interesting and accurate character study concerning what happens to people whose very lives are threatened.
The horror of this film is, unlike a lot of its recent descendants, less a matter of blood and gore than a matter of the real active horror of realistically depicted scenes of murder, death and cannibalism. Though the black and white footage involving blood and gore is certainly effective, there may not be quite enough of it for today's average horror fan. The photographic techniques of this film are innovative and powerful - showing just enough of the sheer hideousness of the film's basic concepts to disturb viewers, but not enough to allow them to detach from the film's protagonists.
I strongly recommend this film to anybody interested in the art of film making, and to those who enjoy the horror genre, though it is hard to imagine any serious horror fan who hasn't already seen this." --mstomaso, imdb.com
Even for its time, minus the fact it brought zombies to mass media, I really see nothing special about this movie or anything that sets it apart from all the other typical 60’s horror movies.
If you take away the zombies and put birds in their place, this movie could have been The Birds. If you took out the zombies and birds and replaced it with a psycho, it could have easily been Psycho. Same And so on . . .
That is my main complaint. Yes, this movie brought zombies to the mainstream, and I am insanely thankful for it in that right. I think for that alone it deserves to be remembered for centuries past its time. Besides that, however, nothing about this movie stands on its own two legs. Everything from the sets to the characters to the situation to the camera style was barrowed. Nothing, and I mean NOTHING, about this movie can be called even remotely original, even for its time.
From a modern view, this movie is pathetic. None of the intensity of zombie video games like Dead Rising or the scares of Resident Evil. None of the coolness of more modern zombie movies like 28 Weeks Later or other newer Romero films.
In its time, I’m sure I would have given it at least a 9/10 because it would be the first time I’d have seen zombies on screen. Now, decades later, I have a hard time figuring out why I even watched it.
