Night of the Living Dead:
The plot follows a woman named Barbara, who visits her father's grave with her brother. When her brother teases her about some creepy corpses haunting them, her brother is killed by a slow-walking and stumbling, mindless man. Barbara narrowly escapes, and takes refuge at a farm house with a white family and Ben, an African-American man whot akes charge of the house. But, when the living dead, or "zombies", start to overrun the place, the survivors begin to expect the apocalypse is coming, and begin to lose hope, as thedead just keep on coming, and with limited resources, will the people survive the night? This film was constorversial due to it's graphic content and raw violence, and this (and Bonnie and Clyde) were responsible for the official introduction of the R-rating, as children ran from the theater screaming, expecting another cheap B-picture, getting a raw and disturbing zombie film. This was shown in a double feature with a Dr. Who film called Doctor Who and the Daleks, and I think most people didn't make it to the sci-fi film. Duane Jones plays Ben, a strong black character who represented the black rights movement, as he slaps around a white woman, and takes over the farmer's house, saying "I'm in charge!" Judith O'Dea plays Barbara, the typical horror movie woman: can't take care of herself, always needing rescue, etc. She represents the uptight, dependent society, and represents it's crash during the apocalypse. The atmosphere is great, and the lighting amazing in the black and white format. The violence is pretty tame now, but in the 1960's, this was hardcore stuff. Night of the Living Dead is an influential and well-acted horror film, and still holds up today, even if the political statement is a bit 60's. 5/5 stars.
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