Fans of zombies and rotting flesh, be there! Night of the Living Dead, directed in 1968 by George A. by Romero, is released in theaters in a restored 4K version.

The story tells about Barbara and John. Every year they put flowers on their father’s grave. The road is long, the surroundings of the cemetery are deserted. Prayer-prone John remembers a time when he was a child and when he was amused and frightened by a deep voice: – They are coming to get you, Barbara.“

Night is coming. Suddenly a strange man appears. He approaches Barbara, then attacks Johnny, who falls and is left for dead. Frightened Barbara runs away and hides in the country house. He finds Ben there with the other escapees. After that, the radio tells them a terrible story: the dead are attacking the living.

The first master stroke

Night of the Living Dead is George A. The first cinematic work of Romero, who was then 28 years old. The father of zombie movies and his college friends always wanted to make a feature film. Unfortunately, the steps taken with financiers turned out to be disastrous.

Romero and his associates decided to start their own production company: Image Ten, financed with their own funds. Each shareholder agreed to return $600 to the company. Then the capital obtained is doubled by selling it to third parties at a high price. Thanks to this, the director and his team manage to collect 114,000 dollars to start the film The Night of the Living Dead.

If George A. Romero is now a master of horror movies, he wasn’t particularly a fan of the genre when he started filming Night of the Living Dead. Indeed, if a filmmaker and his accomplices decide to turn to horror for their first film, it is primarily in the hope that the invested capital will turn out to be profitable.

Zombies and Dollars

At that time, television reduced movie theater attendance. First of all, we had to make sure that the film was going to make money and remain a quality production.

“Without a doubt, we would have preferred to make a great dramatic film. But once we decided on a horror film, we tried to make it as realistic as possible with the budget we had.”Producer Russell Streiner analyzes.

The film’s success launched the career of Romero, who managed to make Night of the Living Dead one of the highest-grossing works in independent cinema. The film grossed $5 million in the U.S., enough to make the $114,000 investment worthwhile.

Note that George A. Romero was inspired I am a legend, Richard Matheson’s famous novel, to write the screenplay for Night of the Living Dead. The book tells the story of the only survivor on Earth from a terrible pandemic that turns people into vampires.

Moreover, the film is set in the late 1960s, a troubled period during the Vietnam War, both on the ground and in the media. Night of the Living Dead is imbued with this political context and is therefore more easily defined as a social work than a full-fledged horror film.

“We were just children of the sixties, disgusted that peace and love could not change the world. New wars and racial clashes changed what our parents knew. Our anger comes naturally in the film.– explained the director at the microphone Telerama in 2008.

Racism at the heart of work

In addition, Romero’s work also evokes racism in the United States, which was a hot topic in the 1960s, especially during the African-American struggle for civil rights. For French film critic Serge Denis, “The real theme of the film is clearly not the living dead, but racism”he says in 1970 in Les Cahiers du cinema.

Indeed, one of the main characters of the film, Ben, is played by the black comedian Duane Jones. Without giving away anything about the result of Night of the Living Dead, for those who haven’t seen it yet, we can say that it is extremely amazing, even shocking, especially when we put it in the context of 1960s USA.

“I just chose Dwayne Jones because he was better than everyone else.”, always hammer Romero. As for the actor, he never said to himself that he was hired because he was black. “On the other hand, I found that being black gave the film a different historical element.”she said.

he asked Indiewire In 2016, shortly before his death, Romero admitted that he did not intend to discuss racial discrimination at all through the character of Ben.

“When we made the film, I wanted to talk about the lack of communication, about people who, even in incredible situations, continue to fight over small things, rather than facing the real problem. C This is what you can still find today. That’s what really interests me.he clarified.

“At the time, I didn’t know the impact this choice would have. After we finished the movie in Pittsburgh, we loaded the wheels on a truck and drove to New York for the premiere. We heard on the radio there tonight that Martin Luther King had just been assassinated.”– said the film director.

Romero of the dead

Reading various historical and political events, Romero realized that he could bring back his dead when he spoke about the changes in American society.

“It’s a great opportunity to have fun with genre codes while avoiding political opinions. I’ve always stayed true to that approach.”he assured her.

Thus, the director continued his favorite genre all his life. After Night of the Living Dead, he notably directed Zombie, Day of the Living Dead, Land of the Dead and Diary of the Dead. His last film, Survival of the Dead, was released in 2009. Romero died in 2017 at the age of 77.