Made for chump change at the height of the golden age of exploitation, Night Of The Living Dead doesnt sound, on paper at least, like the kind of film that would stretch the horror genre overmuch. The nominal plot was an excuse for lots of violence and gore, most memorably (and disturbingly) in a sequence where a young girl, transformed into some kind of ghoul by a virus, stabs her mother to death in a cellar. Then again, not only was NOTLD well-made and full of seat-clutching suspense (how many Drive-in movies can you say that about?), but there was more going on here than met the eye. By no means a mere horror movie, this was an apocalyptic vision of a world gone insane, brought to you in grainy newsreel grey. It was a movie that refused to play by the rules, a film with a hero whose race was not an issue, who proved smart and resourceful to no avail and who in the final scene was shot and killed by his own rescuers. You can see why George Romeros movie caught on with academics, who were quick to point out the qualities that the critics had missed.
Ian Watson is the author of 'Midnight Movie Madness', a 600+ page guide to "bad" movies from 'Reefer Madness' to 'Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead.'
