Destroy the brain and you destroy the ghoul.

The Movie: Night of the Living Dead, directed by George Romero
Recommendation: Me
Reason: The original. The source. The genesis of the zombie film as we know it.

I love zombie movies. The gore, the social commentary, the growing tension, the knowledge that no one gets out alive...there's nothing like a good zombie movie to heighten the pulse and make you squirm in your seat. Romero is the god of the modern zombie film as we know it. Pretty literally, nearly every well-known/well-recieved zombie film since Night of the Living Dead has owed heavily to the original Dead trilogy. Either they were created as unofficial sequels (The Zombi series, the Return of the Living Dead series), official sequels (Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, Land of the Dead) or they were remakes of the original three (Night was remade in 1990, Dawn in 2004, Day is apparently being remade in 2007, and Land hasn't had time to age in order to be remade just yet). Those zombie films that aren't directly related to the Dead quadrilogy generally give Romero his due in homage or rip offs of his scenes. Sometimes, they even come to him seeking approval.

I knew vaguely what the core plot of the movie was about and having nearly lost my lunch watching the original Dawn, I sort of knew what to expect effects-wise. What Romero created on the budget Night had was definitely more than the sum of its parts. He drew an excellent performance from Duane Jones and built great atmosphere with the supporting cast of zombies and survivors alike. Once more, I came close to being sick during the cannibalistic feast scene, but I appreciate that sort of thing. There were jump-shocks that I didn't predict, and I was upset at the end of the film.

Shot in black and white, with suitably dark lighting to set the mood and special effects that were sickening in their simplicity, Night was an excellent film. One that would never win any awards that would mean anything, but an excellent film nonetheless. Romero deserves every gorehound's acknowledgement and respect for accomplishing so much with so little.

(P.S. Everyone, read this article. It's awesome.)

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