Now this is firmly embraced by the (art) community in the form of LoC's and MoMA's seal of approval, it has been beautifully digitally restored in a 4K DCP version. As the mother of all zombie movies it deserves this treatment.
Made in 1968 on a low budget most of the crew had multiple roles in the movie, thus we see the producer back as a zombie for example. Romero placed the movie in real, ordinary locations and that was one big innovation for the genre. And it is after all these years still scary as hell in the horror scenes, but the long preparation scenes in between and radio and TV broadcasts coming through are now somewhat old-fashioned and actually boring. The ending is still as intriguing as the movie itself.
There has been a lot of second-guessing about the double meaning of this movie. While the sequel was clearly about consumerism, this has over the years had many interpretations: criticizing American society, the wrongs of cold war politics, racism, misogyny, government and media disinformation and mistrust, the Vietnam war and the military at large. A certain theme is the overall apathy by the general public, the so-called silent majority. Gary Streiner, sound engineer of the movie, dismissed most interpretations recently during the Berlinale Classics screening as unintended but in interviews Romero has said the movie reflected the tensions of the time: "It was 1968, man. Everybody had a 'message'".
Made in 1968 on a low budget most of the crew had multiple roles in the movie, thus we see the producer back as a zombie for example. Romero placed the movie in real, ordinary locations and that was one big innovation for the genre. And it is after all these years still scary as hell in the horror scenes, but the long preparation scenes in between and radio and TV broadcasts coming through are now somewhat old-fashioned and actually boring. The ending is still as intriguing as the movie itself.
There has been a lot of second-guessing about the double meaning of this movie. While the sequel was clearly about consumerism, this has over the years had many interpretations: criticizing American society, the wrongs of cold war politics, racism, misogyny, government and media disinformation and mistrust, the Vietnam war and the military at large. A certain theme is the overall apathy by the general public, the so-called silent majority. Gary Streiner, sound engineer of the movie, dismissed most interpretations recently during the Berlinale Classics screening as unintended but in interviews Romero has said the movie reflected the tensions of the time: "It was 1968, man. Everybody had a 'message'".