This is one of those movies I lumped in with Village of the Damned and Children of the Corn before I had seen any of them. I’m not sure why, but they were interchangeable to me. Just seemed like a lot of wandering around outside with strange people. And now after seeing all three of them, I now know, they can stand on their own as separate nightmares in my mind.

If, like me, you’ve never decided to look up the plot to this film, I’ll explain it briefly: a bunch of strangers hole up in a farmhouse, trying to escape a sudden and dangerous roving band of zombies. They are never referred to as “zombies,” even though George A. Romero sets up the tropes for decades of zombies to ooze into our pop culture, including the 173 year debt we somehow all owe to the Walking Dead franchise.

The characters themselves have become stereotypes in themselves. There is the older, bickering married couple with the young daughter who wants to cower in the basement. A young, dumb couple who might as well be wearing shirts that say, “I’m gonna die.” There’s the strong central figure, Ben, who goes all Bob Villa on the farmhouse and tries to reinforce the doors and windows against the Grabby Gus Ghouls outside. He also tries to come up with ideas about how to escape safely, all while trying to focus Barbara. Ugh…Barb. My worst fear is that my survivor group will include a Barbara. Half catatonic, always complaining about the temperature, no actual help besides zombie bait.

The telecommunication protocols set in place during this entire film is extremely impressive. The radio and TV somehow STILL work and are able to get out information of safety shelters, or organize information for the National Guard AND local police departments. This is an absolutely amazing feat in 1968. And the most unbelievable part of the movie. As any person who’s listened to a murder podcast set before 2010 knows, agencies do NOT like working with each other. However, the wonderful power of being able to shoot anyone indiscriminately really bonds together ALL Americans. Good on us!

To Ben’s credit, he does try to keep everyone alive throughout the ordeal. He’s lighting furniture on fire like it’s his last night at a frat house. He attempts to come up with a plan to get everyone to the next town over. He has figured out quickly the zombies likes (tree bugs, rotting corpses, BBQ’d idiots) and dislikes (fire, quiet, shots to the brain).

Everyone in the movie is ill-fated, there’s no surprise there. However, I wasn’t expecting the credit scenes. It’s a commentary on contemporary society when the film was made, but sadly one that is still relevant today. The still images at the end haunted me more than any other part of the movie. I didn’t do much research about how this was received when it was first released, besides the gore shock. However, I did read a bit about George A. Romero, and his ability to fold in social commentary:

“I always thought of the zombies as being about revolution, one generation consuming the next.” – George A. Romero, NY Times, 2-10-2008

Did you know we were coming for you, Boomers? Is that why you lit the world on fire?