Zombie Culture: Night of the Living Dead

Time: 1 Hour and 30 Minutes
Box Office: $12M

Film Analysis

Step 1: Pre-Viewing

Step 2: Viewing

Important moments: Johnny and Barbara are at cemetery to visit their father's grave when they notice a mysterious man across the way. Johnny jokes around and says that the dead are roaming around until the man actually ends up attacking Barbara. Johnny attempts to save her but is knocked unconscious and the man still chases Barbara up to a deserted farmhouse nearby. Barbara meets Ben who helps her kill zombies and boarder up the farmhouse. An emergency broadcast tells stories of the dead committing violence and attacking the living. Ben hears cries for help from Harry and Helen whose daughter was ill. When Ben discovers them, he is upset that they didn't go upstairs to help him barricade the house and suddenly the group is confronted with heaps of conflict and disagreement. Due to their inability to work together, most of the group ends up being eaten and although Ben survives the longest, he is accidentally killed in the very end being mistaken as a zombie.

Atmosphere of the Film: The film uses Gothic music to add to the horror and suspense. The film being black and white made it appear simple yet unique and allowed it to emphasize the mess of blood. The editing of the film made it appear frantic in order to startle the audience. Along with this type of editing, a lot of extreme close ups were used to show the characters' terror. Whenever a new character was introduced, canted angles were used to set their trustworthiness.
What is the mood or tone of the film? The mood of the film is frightening and suspenseful.
Explain the look of the film: The look of the film is dark and eerie.

Explain the use of sound/music and/or sound effects in the film: The film uses eerie and Gothic music throughout to add to its horror. Loud and disturbing sounds are also used to help scare the audience during unexpected times when a zombie appears and attacks.

Physical qualities presented in the film: The physical qualities presented in this film were dramatizations, music, background noise, and black and white film.

Step 3: Post-Viewing

What is the central message of this motion picture? The central message of the film was that even during the most tragic of times, people should work together and help each other out so that they can accomplish much more than what was originally intended alone.

Consider the effectiveness of this film communicating its message. As a tool of communication, what are its strengths and weaknesses? The film has great strength in sending this message by showing the consequences that the characters face in the end when they are not getting along and are busy doing their own thing.

How do you think the filmmakers wanted the audience to respond? I think the filmmakers wanted to be frustrated with the entire group for not getting along. I also think they wanted the audience to be scared since there were a lot of scenes in which zombies popped up out of the shadows.

Does this film appeal more to the viewer’s emotion? How does it make you feel? The film did appeal to the viewer's emotion. It made me feel sorry for Barbara for losing her brother during this time. It also made me feel very irritated in the end when the group wouldn't work together which led to them all dying. I felt very frustrated when Ben especially didn't make it because he worked so hard in surviving only to be shot in the end because they thought he was a zombie.

Write a question to the filmmaker that is left unanswered by the motion picture: What exactly caused the dead to rise?

How would you grade this movie? (E-NC) I would give this film an AE because even though it was made in the late 60s, it still contained a strong and unique central message. It also had a great story and was filmed very well.

Zombie Culture