Birth of the Living Dead Page #6

until this is

irrefutably proved.

Everything is being

done that can be done.

I think there's one other big

departure from convention,

specifically from horror

convention, which is that

if that movie had been

made 10 years earlier

or even 5 years earlier,

there would've been,

like, a voodoo potion...

Combining voodoo witchery

with the most advanced

of medical sciences.

Or a curse, or an evil

professor, or an incantation.

Genius or madman?

Romero sort of tosses

that all aside.

You don't ever get an official

confirmed explanation

of what's happening.

God changed the rules.

That's the only explanation

that I, that I need.

No more room in hell.

You can see what it is,

you can't see why it is.

It's so indeterminate that

you can't protect yourself.

And you're not given

anything of why it is

that would make you more

comfortable watching it.

And it doesn't matter to me.

It's happening.

And probably, at least

in my mythology,

it's some sort

of permanent condition.

I don't know. Unless we

redeem ourselves somehow.

Stay tuned to the broadcasting

station in your local area

for this list

of rescue stations.

Maybe we can get to the safe

shelter, get gas in the car.

Look for the name of the rescue

station nearest you

and make your way to that

location as soon as possible.

So we have that truck.

If we can get some gas

we can get out of here.

This is great

story logic, you know,

great plot unfolding

and great story logic.

There's a key on here

that's labeled

for the gas pump out back.

So they said, "We have

the key," right?

After we get the gas

and get back into the house,

then we'll worry about getting

everybody into the truck.

So then they create

this diversion

with the Molotov cocktails.

And you see, I remember

this, right?

Duane and the guy run out,

get in the car.

The girl now, she panics,

she doesn't want

to be without the boyfriend.

She runs and jumps

in the car, right?

They get to the gas tank.

Come on!

This key won't work.

Duane, pow!

Shoots the look off.

Watch the torch!

So they've had the problem with

the gasoline's soaking the car.

I hate it when that happens.

Um, but they're aware,

they need to get out of that

frickin' truck.

So they're getting out

and then she says,

"Oh, my sweater's stuck!"

Come on, come on!

My jacket's caught.

And you're like,

"Your sweater's stuck?

What, that's it!"

Boom.

It's understanding how

to portray the little,

the little things that can go

wrong that really can screw you

in this sort of scary

environment,

giving it an incredibly

timeless and special quality.

And they start

devouring the meat.

But then you see that

they're growing in force!

So, earlier Duane says

only 8 or 10 zombies

becomes 16 zombies,

then 20 zombies.

It grows and grows.

Once you saw the violence,

once you saw the extent

they were gonna go

to show the gore,

the audience at the time said,

"Well, if they're gonna show"

a kid chomping on her father,

and they're gonna show it

in this detail, you know,

"what else are they

gonna show me?"

And that's terrifying.

This film and the structure,

the morality,

who lives and who dies is

not based on whether you're

a good person, whether you

work hard or fight hard.

I mean a child killing

her mother, that is the violence

that we're experiencing

in that scene,

moreso than someone being

attacked by a trowel.

That scene is just devastating

because the mother

is very adoring.

That remains one of the most

shocking things I've ever seen.

And I'll tell you what, it's

not because you see the gore.

What's beautiful is the sound.

The knife never

touches the flesh.

And when they break

through in that last scene,

the girl's trying to stop 'em.

And they break in.

And the brother with the glove?

No, get out!

No!

No, no!

When Barbara gets it

from her own brother,

this irony is so profoundly,

it's disturbing,

and once again,

it's not deserved.

When you play with

the expectations

of the classic structure,

and then you defy them

and the wrong person

gets killed.

This is what's upsetting,

that's what haunts,

that's what creates

a feeling of dread.

I mean, we've lost

various of our heroes

along the way,

but Ben is still at it,

and there's that scene when

he has to go into the basement.

I mean, he's fought

this whole time about

not going down there,

or that it's a last resort.

And when you realize that's

what he's going to do.

It's just an incredibly

horrific shot of all the zombies

just busting in, they've

broken through the membrane.

In the time that "Night

of the Living Dead" came out,

you don't feel safe

in your home anymore.

You know, it's--

There are things

that are overtaking us

over which we have no control

and there's that fear

and I think that the zombie

apocalypse takes inspiration

from that fear and it's why

audiences connect with it

in a way that is not quite

obvious on the surface

but is really in the subtext.

It's an unsettling

element of the movie

that the people who seem

most likely to be able

to thwart this incursion

of the living dead

look like a lynch mob.

The resonance for people

who would have spent

the last 10 years

watching white southerners

vow to prevent

the desegregation of schools,

for instance, um,

it would've been

really pretty clear.

And dogs in "Night

of the Living Dead,"

there's a very specific

cultural resonance.

You know, black men

being chased by dogs

is one of the ugliest images

of the civil rights movement,

and was very much part of

the national visual vocabulary

of any moviegoer,

other than a very little kid,

who would have gone

to see this movie.

And again, it connects

to this, this idea that

it's not as simple as

the good guys vs. the undead.

There are the good guys,

the not good guys,

and the living dead.

They seem to be getting

a certain amount of pleasure

out of putting down these

monsters and being able

to go out and hunt people

and lynch people.

They seem really real to me.

They felt real, those guys.

I wasn't sure they were actors.

It's a really interesting,

squirmy political aspect

of the movie that's

intentionally unsettling.

I think Romero wants you to feel

uncomfortable with the fact

that the so called victors

at the end of the movie

are exactly the kind of people

you're inclined not to root for.

You! Drag that on out of here

and throw it on the fire.

Nothing down here.

Alright, go ahead

and give him a hand.

Let's go check out the house.

There's something there.

I heard a noise.

Alright Vince,

hit him in the head.

Right between the eyes.

Good shot.

That was the ironic ending.

He refuses to go downstairs,

finally he survives

by going downstairs,

then when he comes back up

he gets gunned down.

'Cause he's mistaken

for one of the living dead.

Okay, he's dead.

Let's go get him.

That's another one

for the fire.

So, yeah, that ending was there

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