HALLOWEENTOWN, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Every day this month, resident horror movie enthusiast and 828newsNOW staff reporter Pruett Norris is recommending a Halloween film for your macabre amusement.
Whether they be monster movies or fearsome family films, demonic possessions or slasher sensations, this exercise hopes to encourage spooky seasonal “scream”ings at home or in cinemas.
As the old saying goes, “trick or treat, trick or treat, give me something good to…watch.”
Day 23: NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968, 96 min., directed by George A. Romero)
For day two of our classic zombie film series inside of the larger Halloween series, we have the great granddaddy of the modern zombie. George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” invented many of the zombie tropes that have now become crucial components of horror media: the slow moving ghouls, the graveyard resurrections, even the trapped-inside-a-house trope popularized further by zombie media like “The Walking Dead.”
However, while other horror origin stories are often exactly what they say on the label – Herschell Gordon Lewis’ “Blood Feast,” for instance, which shallowly invented the gory splatter film subgenre in 1963 – “Night of the Living Dead” serves as more than just a template. The film is a parable about race relationships in the United States, arriving at the peak of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and starring Duane Jones, a Black man, as its hero.
The film is bleak, but its black-and-white aesthetics and colorful characters made it a lasting masterpiece. If you haven’t seen “Night of the Living Dead,” and you’ve surely heard of it, there is no better time than now.
“Night of the Living Dead” is available on Max, Prime Video, Tubi and several other streaming services. It can also be viewed for free on YouTube.
Looking for more October movie recommendations? Read the rest of the 828boosNOW archive:
DAY 1: BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
DAY 3: A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 3: DREAM WARRIORS
DAY 5: SCOOBY-DOO! AND THE WITCH’S GHOST
DAY 7: THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
DAY 8: THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
DAY 14: KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE