1 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:05,720 Speaker 1: What kind of a show you guys. 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:06,360 Speaker 2: Putting on here today? 3 00:00:06,480 --> 00:00:07,880 Speaker 3: You're not interested in armed now? 4 00:00:08,080 --> 00:00:09,719 Speaker 1: No, look, we're going to do this thing. We're going 5 00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: to have a conversation. Adam. I don't know if you've 6 00:00:14,320 --> 00:00:18,160 Speaker 1: taken the time to do your top ten horror films 7 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:22,040 Speaker 1: of all time ranked list on Letterboxed. Be curious to 8 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:24,200 Speaker 1: see that if you get to it. But right now, 9 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: still on my list, right there, holding strong at number 10 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:33,160 Speaker 1: nine is George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead, 11 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,280 Speaker 1: a movie I love. It's spooky season, so a movie 12 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:41,680 Speaker 1: that perhaps some folks are revisiting or maybe watching for 13 00:00:41,720 --> 00:00:44,120 Speaker 1: the first time. It's also a movie that we talked 14 00:00:44,120 --> 00:00:47,240 Speaker 1: about in depth. We gave it a Sacred Cow review 15 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:51,519 Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen, and we're sharing it now. It's this 16 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,280 Speaker 1: week's from the archive selection, Night of the Living Dead. 17 00:00:55,680 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 4: Yeah, did you say number nine? Number nine in your list? Okay? 18 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,960 Speaker 2: I would definitely be in my top ten, and quite frankly, 19 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 2: it might be in my top five. It'd be in 20 00:01:05,840 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 2: the running with the Exorcist, which is also in our 21 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 2: archive episode four sixty five. It'd be in the running 22 00:01:12,360 --> 00:01:14,480 Speaker 2: with The Shining I think I like it more than 23 00:01:14,520 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 2: the Shining that was episode four nineteen. It'd be in 24 00:01:18,280 --> 00:01:21,680 Speaker 2: the Conversation with Psycho that was episode nine oh seven. 25 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 2: I'm rounding out a pretty great top five list here. 26 00:01:25,280 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 2: I just can't go with the Silence of the Lambs 27 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:32,800 Speaker 2: as a horror movie. I don't know why we can debate. 28 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 2: We're not going to debate. I'm not going to debate you, Jerry. Okay, 29 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 2: we're not going to debate that here. But we talked 30 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:45,399 Speaker 2: about that movie on episode eight fourteen. Great movie, but 31 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 2: it just doesn't fit with the way I view horror. 32 00:01:48,880 --> 00:01:51,520 Speaker 2: I guess because I am such a horror expert. Of course, 33 00:01:51,920 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 2: a movie that I know is in your top ten? 34 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 2: In fact, is it your number one? A Nightmare on 35 00:01:56,400 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 2: Elm Street? 36 00:01:57,720 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: Number one? Yep? 37 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 2: Wow, it's like number fifty one for me Episode six 38 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,080 Speaker 2: h nine, A Nightmare on Elm Street. So we have 39 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,960 Speaker 2: a lot of classic horror in our archive, and we 40 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 2: are digging out for you now, the zombie classic Night 41 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:15,639 Speaker 2: of the Living Dead. 42 00:02:16,280 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: The Film Spotting Archive has reviews, top fives and more 43 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:21,000 Speaker 1: going back to two thousand and five, and you can 44 00:02:21,040 --> 00:02:24,880 Speaker 1: get access to it by becoming a member of the 45 00:02:24,880 --> 00:02:27,600 Speaker 1: Film Spotting Family. It's just one of the benefits you 46 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: get by being a member. You can learn more about 47 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:35,359 Speaker 1: that at film spottingfamily dot com. From October twenty seventeen, 48 00:02:35,480 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: here is that Sacred Cow review of Night of the 49 00:02:38,360 --> 00:02:39,239 Speaker 1: Living Dead. 50 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:49,960 Speaker 3: Night of the Living Dead. The dead live on, living flesh. 51 00:02:49,440 --> 00:02:49,880 Speaker 2: Not dead. 52 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:55,360 Speaker 3: Who's haunted? Souls hunt the living? The living whose bodies 53 00:02:55,400 --> 00:03:00,120 Speaker 3: are the only food, bodies godly creature. 54 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: Often for these Sacred Cow reviews, Adam, we try to 55 00:03:06,880 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: imagine what it might have been like to see the 56 00:03:09,080 --> 00:03:12,360 Speaker 1: movie at hand upon its initial release, to experience it 57 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,120 Speaker 1: as first audiences did for nineteen sixty eight Night of 58 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:19,680 Speaker 1: the Living Dead, George Romero's low budget indie debut feature 59 00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:22,400 Speaker 1: about a group of squabbling victims holed up in a 60 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: Pennsylvania farmhouse trying to ward off a crowd of zombies. 61 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: I want to tweak that thought experiment a bit. What 62 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:30,040 Speaker 1: would it have been like to watch Night of the 63 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,000 Speaker 1: Living Dead, not only before its reputation as a horror 64 00:03:33,080 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: landmark was set, but without any sense of what a 65 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: zombie was particularly at the movies. Keep in mind, during 66 00:03:39,520 --> 00:03:42,360 Speaker 1: the film's opening scene, the brother and sister, who are 67 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 1: visiting their father's grave are attacked by a single man, 68 00:03:46,240 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: a lunatic it seems, who then pursues the sister played 69 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: by Judith O'Day to the farmhouse. It struck me watching 70 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:55,560 Speaker 1: Night of the Living Dead this time that initial audiences 71 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: might have just thought of him as a lone maniac. Sure, 72 00:03:58,000 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 1: a stiff, slow moving one, but still a single threat. 73 00:04:02,320 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 1: As I tried to forget what I knew about zombies 74 00:04:04,640 --> 00:04:07,600 Speaker 1: while the story continued, it slowly dawned on me what 75 00:04:07,720 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: an insidiously shocking, deeply horrifying experienced Night of the Living 76 00:04:12,600 --> 00:04:16,359 Speaker 1: Dead must have been, and maybe still is. Does the 77 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: movie still hold a certain power for you, Adam? Or 78 00:04:19,040 --> 00:04:22,039 Speaker 1: is this simply considered a classic because it's set the 79 00:04:22,120 --> 00:04:25,520 Speaker 1: zombie template? And regarding my thought experiment, what do you 80 00:04:25,520 --> 00:04:27,680 Speaker 1: think it would have been like to first encounter a 81 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:29,640 Speaker 1: zombie through Night of the Living Dead? 82 00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:33,360 Speaker 2: It definitely still holds a lot of power, And I 83 00:04:33,440 --> 00:04:37,120 Speaker 2: love that thought experiment. I happened to actually just randomly 84 00:04:37,880 --> 00:04:41,800 Speaker 2: see that challenge that you pose for yourself on letterboxed 85 00:04:41,800 --> 00:04:44,239 Speaker 2: a couple hours before I sat down to watch the movie, 86 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 2: so I gave myself that challenge too. I tried to 87 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,080 Speaker 2: watch it with that in mind, and I basically discovered 88 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:55,480 Speaker 2: that it's impossible to watch this film without the knowledge, 89 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,839 Speaker 2: without the perspective of having seen twenty to thirty years 90 00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 2: in our case of zombie movies, right, it's really difficult. 91 00:05:02,839 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 2: You touched on it the moment Barbara and Johnny get attacked, 92 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:09,120 Speaker 2: and really kind of the second scene of the film, 93 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 2: I'm thinking, instinctively, don't get bitten. Why aren't you protecting 94 00:05:14,040 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 2: yourself better? Don't you know what's gonna happen to you. 95 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 2: It's not just that they might be there to kill them. 96 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:22,000 Speaker 2: I'm thinking about how they should be protecting themselves very 97 00:05:22,040 --> 00:05:24,720 Speaker 2: specifically and later in the film, and I'm sure we 98 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:26,400 Speaker 2: can get to a lot of these examples. The one 99 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:29,720 Speaker 2: that really hit home for me was a scene involving 100 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:34,000 Speaker 2: the daughter Karen, who we discover early in the film 101 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,680 Speaker 2: when our main character Ben discovers this group of people, 102 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:40,200 Speaker 2: this family and this other couple that are hold up 103 00:05:40,480 --> 00:05:44,800 Speaker 2: in the basement. This daughter Karen has been injured. That's 104 00:05:44,839 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 2: all we really know at first. We come to discover later, no, 105 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:50,839 Speaker 2: she's actually been bitten. I had to think about the 106 00:05:50,839 --> 00:05:54,599 Speaker 2: fact that these people, certainly, these characters, wouldn't be aware 107 00:05:54,800 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 2: but we in nineteen sixty eight wouldn't be aware ahead 108 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,039 Speaker 2: of the fact that she's definitely going to turn in 109 00:06:00,080 --> 00:06:01,920 Speaker 2: to a flesh eating zombie as well. 110 00:06:01,960 --> 00:06:04,039 Speaker 1: We'd have sympathy for her, yes, right. 111 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 2: Right, So that was fascinating for me. We definitely wouldn't know, 112 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:10,200 Speaker 2: at least until the news brings it up. I think 113 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:13,520 Speaker 2: there's a point when the newscast the TV reporters and 114 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:15,080 Speaker 2: they have an expert on and they bring up the 115 00:06:15,120 --> 00:06:18,880 Speaker 2: idea that if you've been infected, that might go badly. 116 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:21,560 Speaker 2: But until then, we just assume that she's injured, and 117 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:24,720 Speaker 2: so we have a completely different reaction when we see 118 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,240 Speaker 2: her finally transform and we have to forget all that 119 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 2: accumulated knowledge. Now, as you pointed out earlier, this is 120 00:06:31,160 --> 00:06:35,360 Speaker 2: a case where we have seen other zombies in movies 121 00:06:35,440 --> 00:06:40,279 Speaker 2: before this time. And I'm not an expert on Hollywood 122 00:06:40,279 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 2: sci fi movies, and there are elements of that at 123 00:06:42,480 --> 00:06:46,000 Speaker 2: work here, or horror movies B grade or otherwise. But 124 00:06:46,480 --> 00:06:48,039 Speaker 2: you don't have to be an expert to see the 125 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:51,000 Speaker 2: influence of a lot of different films at play here. 126 00:06:51,040 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 2: There's one decidedly non Hollywood film that I'll probably get 127 00:06:54,320 --> 00:06:56,360 Speaker 2: to at some point as well. But one of the 128 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:01,160 Speaker 2: main pleasures of watching this film is definitely seeing a genre, 129 00:07:01,480 --> 00:07:05,000 Speaker 2: or I suppose, if you will, a subgenre being born 130 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 2: right in front of our eyes. There is something mesmerizing 131 00:07:08,720 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 2: about that. And my question for you, Josh, was going 132 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 2: to be, really, why this movie still resonates with audiences? 133 00:07:15,880 --> 00:07:18,080 Speaker 2: Why did a movie that at the time was made 134 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 2: for according to the numbers, I saw one hundred and 135 00:07:19,880 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 2: fourteen thousand dollars and then made something like twelve million domestically, 136 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:26,679 Speaker 2: And here we are, fifty years later, still talking about 137 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 2: this movie. Why did it resonate then so strongly with people? 138 00:07:30,080 --> 00:07:32,080 Speaker 2: And I know we'll get to that, but first I 139 00:07:32,080 --> 00:07:34,000 Speaker 2: want to hear your answer to your own challenge. 140 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:34,880 Speaker 4: How did it go for you? 141 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:39,440 Speaker 1: Yeah? Well, they're related, actually, because I think that I 142 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: thought about asking that too. You know, why does this 143 00:07:42,080 --> 00:07:44,160 Speaker 1: thing last? Because it has a lot to overcome. It 144 00:07:44,200 --> 00:07:46,960 Speaker 1: has some really bad performances. I think we'll get to 145 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: one that I think is really strong. It has that 146 00:07:49,640 --> 00:07:54,320 Speaker 1: threadbare budget, which you definitely sense in certain scenes as 147 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:57,840 Speaker 1: much as it's also effective in other scenes. So there 148 00:07:57,840 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: were some hurdles to jump for this thing to land. 149 00:07:59,800 --> 00:08:03,920 Speaker 1: So firmly in the movie going consciousness. I think it 150 00:08:03,960 --> 00:08:07,640 Speaker 1: has to do a lot with the shattering nature of 151 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:11,880 Speaker 1: those first time shocks and the reverberations that they had 152 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:16,200 Speaker 1: in the culture that cemented the legend, and that way, 153 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: even when we go back to see it, you're experiencing 154 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: what you just discribed this birth, and that's what becomes exciting. 155 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: So appropriately. It has a couple different lives that this 156 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,480 Speaker 1: movie has lived, and they all work in their own way. Yeah, 157 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: for me, trying to put on this lens, I'll talk 158 00:08:34,520 --> 00:08:37,000 Speaker 1: about what I guess I would call first time shocks, 159 00:08:37,440 --> 00:08:40,960 Speaker 1: things that are different than the scares that I think 160 00:08:41,160 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: have lasted across the years. A first time shock for 161 00:08:44,240 --> 00:08:48,239 Speaker 1: me was when we suddenly see more than the first attacker, 162 00:08:48,720 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 1: because again I was thinking, this is like a monster 163 00:08:52,120 --> 00:08:54,200 Speaker 1: movie and there's one guy we got to worry about, 164 00:08:54,480 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: and Romero plays it so subtly. Yeah, it's just a 165 00:08:58,800 --> 00:09:01,200 Speaker 1: shot of the yard and there there's maybe four people. 166 00:09:01,240 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 4: There's a few are kind. 167 00:09:02,160 --> 00:09:04,960 Speaker 1: Of notably walking in the same way, and right there 168 00:09:05,000 --> 00:09:09,439 Speaker 1: you're like, holy crap, what the care? Like, what there's 169 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:09,960 Speaker 1: more of them? 170 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:10,320 Speaker 5: Now? 171 00:09:10,480 --> 00:09:11,199 Speaker 4: To go to this? 172 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 1: What's the scope? Right? And I do like how the 173 00:09:13,800 --> 00:09:19,679 Speaker 1: movie delicately balances over explaining with being overly naive. You know, 174 00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: there's a question there. I think Oday asks what is 175 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,679 Speaker 1: going on? And Dwayne Jones, who plays Ben becomes pretty 176 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:28,680 Speaker 1: much the main character, doesn't really offer any sort of explanation. 177 00:09:28,720 --> 00:09:31,760 Speaker 1: He doesn't he doesn't know either, so we're confused along 178 00:09:31,800 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: with them. So there's that moment, and then it's the 179 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,600 Speaker 1: use of the radio, as you discussed, and later there's 180 00:09:37,640 --> 00:09:40,360 Speaker 1: a television I think it's very clever how the film 181 00:09:40,440 --> 00:09:43,200 Speaker 1: does that. You could say, maybe this is a lazy device, 182 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:45,559 Speaker 1: but man, did it amp up the horror for me? 183 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:48,680 Speaker 1: Because we're so desperate for information, We're going to latch 184 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: onto anything we get. And what do we get? Something 185 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 1: we couldn't have even imagined. There's one word that's used 186 00:09:56,080 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: on that radio broadcast, devolent. 187 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 5: Consistent reports from whatinesses to the effect that people who 188 00:10:01,800 --> 00:10:04,120 Speaker 5: acted as though they were kind of tranced were killing 189 00:10:04,400 --> 00:10:07,960 Speaker 5: and eating they're victims prompted authorities to examine the bodies 190 00:10:08,000 --> 00:10:10,920 Speaker 5: of some of the victims. Medical authorities in Cumberland have 191 00:10:11,080 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 5: concluded that in all cases, the killers are eating the 192 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:19,280 Speaker 5: flesh of the people they murdered, repeating this latest bulletin 193 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 5: just received moments ago from Cumberland. Maryland. Civil defense authorities 194 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:26,439 Speaker 5: have told newsmen that murder victims show evidence of having 195 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:30,800 Speaker 5: been partially devoured by their murderers. Medical examination of victims' 196 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 5: bodies shows conclusively that the killers are eating the flesh 197 00:10:34,520 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 5: of the people they kill. 198 00:10:36,040 --> 00:10:40,120 Speaker 1: And when you here devoured, it's scarier than anything Romer 199 00:10:40,200 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 1: could have shown, even though he goes on to show 200 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:44,120 Speaker 1: a lot more. I think this is related to that 201 00:10:44,480 --> 00:10:48,360 Speaker 1: story than tells about his first encounter with zombies at 202 00:10:48,360 --> 00:10:52,000 Speaker 1: the diner. His description is more terrifying than anything we 203 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,960 Speaker 1: could have seen. So there's a storytelling device in this 204 00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:59,280 Speaker 1: film that's very effective where it lets our imaginations do 205 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: a lot of the world for us. And I think 206 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: there's another phrase that comes later, unburied dead. You know this, 207 00:11:04,360 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: This is again the first time our minds are even 208 00:11:07,559 --> 00:11:09,280 Speaker 1: opening up to this possibility. 209 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:12,760 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm with you completely on the device I suppose 210 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:15,000 Speaker 2: of the radio and the TV. There's something about it 211 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 2: here that does not feel lazy at all. It's always adding, 212 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,600 Speaker 2: it's always creating more dread in our minds and giving 213 00:11:20,679 --> 00:11:22,480 Speaker 2: us new information. So it doesn't just feel like a 214 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:26,000 Speaker 2: lazy sort of exposition device at all. It's really crucial 215 00:11:26,120 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 2: to everything that's happening here. I think it also, and 216 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:29,640 Speaker 2: I did not think this through, so I'm not going 217 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:31,040 Speaker 2: to go into a lot of detail about it. But 218 00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:33,880 Speaker 2: there's something fundamental we will talk about that this movie 219 00:11:33,920 --> 00:11:37,479 Speaker 2: is dealing with in terms of the sense of institutions 220 00:11:37,520 --> 00:11:40,960 Speaker 2: and things that you just hold sacred and fundamental crumbling. 221 00:11:41,240 --> 00:11:44,200 Speaker 2: And so I suppose, almost as a juxtaposition to that, 222 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 2: there's something comforting about this institution of the media. Yeah, 223 00:11:48,559 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 2: actually actually being there in this communication tool, whether it's 224 00:11:51,960 --> 00:11:54,040 Speaker 2: the radio or TV, we're going to be on. We're 225 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 2: going to stay on through this whole thing, or we're 226 00:11:55,800 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 2: going to help. 227 00:11:56,280 --> 00:11:58,600 Speaker 1: Into it like it's water right, like it's life giving. 228 00:11:58,760 --> 00:12:03,840 Speaker 2: But watching it through that lens of someone who would 229 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:06,160 Speaker 2: be watching this for the first time in nineteen sixty eight, 230 00:12:06,160 --> 00:12:08,120 Speaker 2: you think about the year and the timing of this 231 00:12:08,240 --> 00:12:10,600 Speaker 2: movie one of the most vollable years in US history, 232 00:12:10,640 --> 00:12:12,680 Speaker 2: and this is something this year in particular, Josh, is 233 00:12:12,679 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 2: something I think about a lot whenever I talk to 234 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:18,280 Speaker 2: people now about our current political state and how fractured 235 00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:20,839 Speaker 2: and divided we are in America today. We all talk 236 00:12:20,880 --> 00:12:24,200 Speaker 2: about how this is all uncharted territory, and it probably is. 237 00:12:24,200 --> 00:12:26,640 Speaker 2: They're probably justifiably a lot of reasons. 238 00:12:26,320 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 1: Why we all say distinctions. 239 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 2: There are distinctions, good word. But at the same time, 240 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,520 Speaker 2: I do genuinely wonder as I think back to nineteen 241 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 2: sixty eight and I think about some of these events 242 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:39,120 Speaker 2: that occurred, how much different would it really feel? How 243 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:41,760 Speaker 2: much different does it feel to people who were our 244 00:12:41,800 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 2: age roughly or teenagers? And going through the late nineteen 245 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:48,240 Speaker 2: sixties in America, you have obvious events that come to 246 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:50,319 Speaker 2: mind right away around this time, the Ted Defensive in 247 00:12:50,400 --> 00:12:54,560 Speaker 2: sixty eight, Martin Luther King assassinated, RFK assassinated. There are 248 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:57,719 Speaker 2: civil rights and anti war protests breaking out all over 249 00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:00,760 Speaker 2: the country, including the Democratic National Convention here in Chicago 250 00:13:00,840 --> 00:13:02,959 Speaker 2: in that year. But you also have, and this is 251 00:13:02,960 --> 00:13:05,520 Speaker 2: where the sci fi element is tapped into, you also 252 00:13:05,600 --> 00:13:09,720 Speaker 2: have Apollo eight, the first manned spacecraft to orbit the Moon, 253 00:13:09,760 --> 00:13:12,160 Speaker 2: the first time people traveled to the quote unquote dark 254 00:13:12,200 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 2: side of the Moon, the first images of that side 255 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 2: of the moon sent back to people on Earth. And 256 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:19,920 Speaker 2: then Man you talk about the relevancy and how this 257 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:23,240 Speaker 2: movie still resonates. The more things change, the more they 258 00:13:23,280 --> 00:13:25,920 Speaker 2: stay the same. In January, I didn't have to do 259 00:13:26,040 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 2: much Google searching at all on this Josh. In January 260 00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:31,880 Speaker 2: of nineteen sixty eight, North Korea captured a US surveillance 261 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:34,920 Speaker 2: vessel and took the crew members hostage, eighty two of them. 262 00:13:34,960 --> 00:13:39,840 Speaker 2: So there was this standoff, this diplomatic standoff with North Korea, 263 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:42,600 Speaker 2: and then John Carlos and Tommy Smith at the Mexico 264 00:13:42,640 --> 00:13:47,239 Speaker 2: City Olympics raising their fists in the Black Power Salute, 265 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:50,480 Speaker 2: protesting segregation and racism in the United States and also 266 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 2: in South Africa. So, as I touched on, there's this 267 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:55,800 Speaker 2: sense in nineteen sixty eight that I think had to 268 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 2: be quite powerful and quite vivid for anyone going into 269 00:13:59,920 --> 00:14:02,680 Speaker 2: the theater to watch this film that the fabric of 270 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:05,960 Speaker 2: American life had been turned completely upside down. The world 271 00:14:06,080 --> 00:14:09,160 Speaker 2: as they thought they knew it no longer made any sense. 272 00:14:09,240 --> 00:14:13,080 Speaker 2: And along comes Romero and his co writer here, John Russo. 273 00:14:13,800 --> 00:14:16,680 Speaker 2: Not with traditional movie monsters at all, not monsters that 274 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:20,040 Speaker 2: you can write off is pure fantasy. They're just people. 275 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:23,920 Speaker 2: They are people like us. We could be them. And 276 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:26,200 Speaker 2: even that opening that we played at the beginning of 277 00:14:26,240 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 2: the show that they're coming to get you. It's a 278 00:14:28,120 --> 00:14:30,800 Speaker 2: nod to those old monster movies, being scared of that 279 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:35,160 Speaker 2: kind of fantastic monster, that ghoul chasing you. And he's saying, 280 00:14:35,320 --> 00:14:37,360 Speaker 2: I think, in a kind of clever wink to us, 281 00:14:37,440 --> 00:14:39,800 Speaker 2: I'm going to break that down and subvert that completely. 282 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:44,280 Speaker 2: But he does take something that should be inscrutable. You 283 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:46,680 Speaker 2: can't debate this. When we die, we die, whether you 284 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:49,920 Speaker 2: have notions of the afterlife or not. Your body is 285 00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:55,120 Speaker 2: buried and that's it with your body. And then Romero asks, well, 286 00:14:55,160 --> 00:14:57,000 Speaker 2: what if that's no longer true? And not only that 287 00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:02,440 Speaker 2: they're feasting on the living. So humanity, humanity is now 288 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:05,200 Speaker 2: as inhuman as it can possibly be. And I think 289 00:15:05,200 --> 00:15:07,600 Speaker 2: it was just tapping in to everything that was in 290 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 2: the popular culture at the time. 291 00:15:09,560 --> 00:15:13,200 Speaker 5: Since convening this conference of the Presidential Cabinet, the FBI, 292 00:15:13,680 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 5: the Joint Geese of Staff, the CIA has not produced 293 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 5: any public information. Why are space experts being consulted about 294 00:15:21,800 --> 00:15:23,160 Speaker 5: an earth bound emergency? 295 00:15:23,720 --> 00:15:26,040 Speaker 1: Yeah, So that plate of what people are dealing with 296 00:15:26,080 --> 00:15:29,200 Speaker 1: in sixty eight is piled high, and here comes a 297 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: movie that piles more on top of it. Relentlessly and 298 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 1: then also pokes. This is where the film's subversive, like 299 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:39,600 Speaker 1: it's poking all of those fears. I always forget that 300 00:15:39,680 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: there is that sci fi element where there's a news 301 00:15:42,680 --> 00:15:44,960 Speaker 1: about is it a satellite or is it you know, and. 302 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 4: Yeah, radiation from venery robe. 303 00:15:47,440 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 1: Maybe this is why this is happening, and that slips 304 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:52,600 Speaker 1: my mind that that's thrown. I want to talk about 305 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,480 Speaker 1: it another way, that the movie is poking at the 306 00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: anxiety of the era and the racial dynamic. I mean 307 00:16:00,520 --> 00:16:05,880 Speaker 1: talk about provoking right away. He traps this young, defenseless 308 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:09,920 Speaker 1: white woe in a home with a stronger black man, 309 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:13,960 Speaker 1: and I would say he doesn't insinuate in a way 310 00:16:14,120 --> 00:16:18,920 Speaker 1: for me that's you know, racially insensitive, but he lets 311 00:16:18,960 --> 00:16:23,720 Speaker 1: it sit there and stoke again as a rational as 312 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:27,640 Speaker 1: they might be fears that some people had at the time. Yeah, 313 00:16:27,720 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 1: you mentioned the letterbox log that I did for this, 314 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:33,960 Speaker 1: and I got an interesting comment. This has to do 315 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: with the very ending, So there'll be a spoiler here. 316 00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:39,480 Speaker 1: You might want to skip ahead if you really want 317 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:42,080 Speaker 1: to experience this for the first time without knowing anything, 318 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:45,880 Speaker 1: but that ending where Ben played by Dwayne Jones, the 319 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:48,880 Speaker 1: lone survivor of this attack on the house, seems like 320 00:16:48,960 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: he's going to make it. It's mourning. Here comes the 321 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 1: militia that's going through the countryside, taking out all the 322 00:16:55,080 --> 00:16:58,680 Speaker 1: zombies with shots to the head. They shoot and kill 323 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:02,120 Speaker 1: him before they take a chance to see. Really, they 324 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,000 Speaker 1: just see movement in the house and shoot them. So again, 325 00:17:05,160 --> 00:17:11,240 Speaker 1: it's not specifically racially exploitative, sure, where these men make 326 00:17:11,280 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: a conscious decision to shoot him because he's black. So 327 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: I like the restraint, if you could call that, Romero has. 328 00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:20,280 Speaker 1: But it says everything it needs to say. And this 329 00:17:20,320 --> 00:17:23,120 Speaker 1: is what Robbie Newman commented on Letterrocks. Interestingly enough, while 330 00:17:23,119 --> 00:17:26,160 Speaker 1: the whole group is doomed, it takes a supernatural force 331 00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:28,600 Speaker 1: to kill the white characters. It only takes a group 332 00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:30,760 Speaker 1: of white men with guns and permission to use them, 333 00:17:30,760 --> 00:17:34,760 Speaker 1: however they see fit to kill Ben. And again, the 334 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:40,120 Speaker 1: more things change, right, And I'm watching this knowing that happened, 335 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:43,040 Speaker 1: but not remembering exactly how it. 336 00:17:43,040 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 4: I didn't remember it minutes before. 337 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:48,720 Speaker 1: Really, yeah, I remember it ended that way, but oh 338 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:50,040 Speaker 1: is it a punch? 339 00:17:50,040 --> 00:17:51,679 Speaker 4: And it was still a punch. 340 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:55,800 Speaker 1: And then the use of still framed photos for the 341 00:17:55,840 --> 00:17:58,199 Speaker 1: fine credits. I guess it's just before the credits, but 342 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:02,200 Speaker 1: instead of we see his being carried out, I think, 343 00:18:02,359 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: are there like meat hooks that they're using. Yes, and 344 00:18:06,119 --> 00:18:08,720 Speaker 1: it's a series of still photos that kind of I 345 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 1: haven't wrapped my mind exactly around what they do, except 346 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:16,760 Speaker 1: in a way reaffirm a sense of institution. Yeah, going 347 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,400 Speaker 1: back to what you were talking about, try to provide 348 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:23,679 Speaker 1: this clinical distance from it. That just makes it more horrifying, 349 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:27,960 Speaker 1: because here we know this was a live, heroic essentially 350 00:18:28,080 --> 00:18:32,480 Speaker 1: guy who's been ironically murdered, being treated like one of 351 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 1: these on debt and maybe even worse. 352 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:35,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, you talk about why this is a movie we 353 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:38,560 Speaker 2: still need to discuss and reckon with. I'm going a 354 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 2: second everything you said. At one point in the movie, 355 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:43,960 Speaker 2: we get a field report from that TV newscast and 356 00:18:44,040 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 2: the reporter asks the sheriff, if I were surrounded by 357 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:48,639 Speaker 2: eight or ten of these things, would I stand a 358 00:18:48,760 --> 00:18:51,520 Speaker 2: chance with them? And the sheriff says, well, there's no problem. 359 00:18:51,560 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 2: If you have a gun, shoot him in the head. 360 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:55,160 Speaker 2: That's a sure way to kill them. If you don't 361 00:18:55,200 --> 00:18:57,360 Speaker 2: get yourself a club or a torch, beat them or burnham, 362 00:18:57,480 --> 00:18:59,680 Speaker 2: they go up pretty easy, And there's something about that 363 00:19:00,240 --> 00:19:03,560 Speaker 2: struck me where Romero doesn't go incredibly out of his 364 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:06,760 Speaker 2: way to make that sheriff seem like a huge redneck 365 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:07,160 Speaker 2: or anything. 366 00:19:07,200 --> 00:19:08,600 Speaker 4: He's just being very matter of fact. 367 00:19:08,600 --> 00:19:10,719 Speaker 2: And as it turns out, there's a part of us 368 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:12,840 Speaker 2: as viewers that have to be thankful that there's someone 369 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:16,159 Speaker 2: like the sheriff going around killing these zombies. But on 370 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,199 Speaker 2: another level, there is that almost glee. 371 00:19:18,480 --> 00:19:22,080 Speaker 1: That's what it is, right, It's like, what a great 372 00:19:22,119 --> 00:19:25,240 Speaker 1: excuse this is to get out here and have nothing 373 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:28,120 Speaker 1: restraining us, and we can shoot whatever we want. 374 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:32,080 Speaker 2: And you said, Romero doesn't necessarily explicitly tell us that 375 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,119 Speaker 2: it does have something to do with his skin color 376 00:19:35,359 --> 00:19:38,000 Speaker 2: that causes that moment at the end, but it's enough 377 00:19:38,040 --> 00:19:41,000 Speaker 2: to suggest that if they see something that doesn't look 378 00:19:41,080 --> 00:19:44,480 Speaker 2: like us, whatever the other is, then they have the 379 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,400 Speaker 2: right to kill it. And those ends still photos are 380 00:19:47,440 --> 00:19:49,960 Speaker 2: the most harrowing moments in the movie for me, even 381 00:19:50,040 --> 00:19:54,640 Speaker 2: more than a young girl eating the flesh of her parents. 382 00:19:55,040 --> 00:19:56,880 Speaker 4: If Romero did. 383 00:19:56,760 --> 00:19:58,800 Speaker 2: Mean it is just some kind of ironic comment that 384 00:19:58,840 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 2: the lone survivor gets mistaken for a zombie and a 385 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:04,679 Speaker 2: shot when he's actually being rescued, then why would he 386 00:20:04,800 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 2: deliberate on those end shots and seeing those meat hooks 387 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:11,680 Speaker 2: go into his side. We don't actually see him enter, 388 00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:14,480 Speaker 2: but we see that they're there. This posse is treating 389 00:20:14,560 --> 00:20:18,400 Speaker 2: him like he's a piece of meat, literally, and they 390 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:21,240 Speaker 2: all strike a chord. We've seen photos like that from 391 00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:24,320 Speaker 2: so many civil rights crimes in our country's past, and 392 00:20:24,400 --> 00:20:27,840 Speaker 2: I think that Romero is definitely calling on our collective 393 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:31,520 Speaker 2: consciousness there, But it is so subtle up until that ending. 394 00:20:31,600 --> 00:20:34,199 Speaker 2: And you touched on this as well. That racial angle 395 00:20:34,400 --> 00:20:37,120 Speaker 2: really only comes directly to the four at the end. 396 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:39,080 Speaker 2: But you can ask the question, how much are we 397 00:20:39,119 --> 00:20:43,640 Speaker 2: as viewers supposed to be recognizing fear in Barbara at 398 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 2: being saved by a black man. Because I was thinking 399 00:20:46,560 --> 00:20:49,199 Speaker 2: of a movie Detroit, and there are other references we 400 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:51,680 Speaker 2: could make here, but this is a movie from Catherine 401 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:55,040 Speaker 2: Bigelow we discussed earlier in the year. Remember the scene 402 00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 2: in that movie where I think it's Anthony Mackie is 403 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:01,439 Speaker 2: the military guy who in a room and one of 404 00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:03,800 Speaker 2: the young women, maybe it's both of them, are in 405 00:21:03,880 --> 00:21:06,359 Speaker 2: his room when the cops show up, these kind of 406 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:10,560 Speaker 2: college age, late teen girls and here we've got that blonde, 407 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:14,560 Speaker 2: blue eyed, typical quote unquote American girl and she's in 408 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:16,720 Speaker 2: the house with this black man. As I said, I 409 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,560 Speaker 2: don't know that it's suggested or not, because she's clearly 410 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:23,119 Speaker 2: descending into madness the way it is, but maybe it 411 00:21:23,200 --> 00:21:25,960 Speaker 2: is even heightened more by her immediate reaction to seeing 412 00:21:26,040 --> 00:21:29,640 Speaker 2: him as her rescuer and then that posse outside. How 413 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:31,920 Speaker 2: are they going to react to that? What if they 414 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:34,520 Speaker 2: came upon that house like in the movie Detroit and 415 00:21:34,560 --> 00:21:37,240 Speaker 2: saw both of them in that house alive. It doesn't 416 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:40,360 Speaker 2: really matter who he is as a character, whether he's educated, 417 00:21:40,440 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 2: how accomplished he is, he could be seen as potentially 418 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:46,960 Speaker 2: a threat to her by these people, by many people 419 00:21:47,000 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 2: in our country at that time and even now. And 420 00:21:49,960 --> 00:21:52,479 Speaker 2: you have to ask as well, is that why the 421 00:21:52,480 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 2: Henry character, the father, who is constantly resisting him and 422 00:21:55,520 --> 00:21:58,399 Speaker 2: at one point openly wants him dead. Is that why 423 00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:00,560 Speaker 2: he opposes him so constantly? 424 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:01,119 Speaker 4: Oh, we don't know. 425 00:22:01,240 --> 00:22:04,960 Speaker 2: Romero doesn't force us to put that moment to moment, 426 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:06,520 Speaker 2: but by the end of the film you have to 427 00:22:06,520 --> 00:22:07,440 Speaker 2: think about all these things. 428 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:09,600 Speaker 1: And what I like about that dynamic with Henry the 429 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:14,399 Speaker 1: Father is there's actual physical segregation going on where he's 430 00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:17,840 Speaker 1: claimed the basement, right and Ben is on the main floor. 431 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 1: And also there's the joke of once it sinks in 432 00:22:23,080 --> 00:22:28,560 Speaker 1: that Ben's the most competent and most powerful and smartest 433 00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:32,440 Speaker 1: guy for the situation, right, then the segregation starts to crumble, right, 434 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:35,159 Speaker 1: because okay, we're going to put our lives ahead of 435 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,679 Speaker 1: our prejudices to a degree. And going back to the 436 00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:42,000 Speaker 1: Ben and Barbara dynamic, how about that crazy moment I 437 00:22:42,119 --> 00:22:45,400 Speaker 1: don't know what to make of where she's hysterical and 438 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:49,040 Speaker 1: slaps him and he punches her right unconscious. I mean, 439 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:53,239 Speaker 1: that's kind of just left there for us to take in. 440 00:22:53,320 --> 00:22:57,480 Speaker 1: There isn't much commentary on that as the movie goes on. 441 00:22:57,880 --> 00:23:00,160 Speaker 1: Before we get too far away from Ben, I want 442 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:03,280 Speaker 1: to return to that moment I talked about where Dwayne 443 00:23:03,320 --> 00:23:06,199 Speaker 1: Jones is describing how he got to the house and 444 00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:09,040 Speaker 1: how he fled from this diner where there was a 445 00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:13,919 Speaker 1: gasoline truck explosion and he had to actually kill a 446 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: number of the zombies. Why I think this is a 447 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 1: really strong performance is mostly that moment, because not only 448 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 1: again does it sell us as a spooky story, gets 449 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:27,359 Speaker 1: us creeped out. But what you sense there is this 450 00:23:27,840 --> 00:23:33,399 Speaker 1: regret that he felt about killing people who he doesn't 451 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:35,600 Speaker 1: know what's going on. They were going to kill him, 452 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: so he killed them. And this is like you talk 453 00:23:38,560 --> 00:23:40,600 Speaker 1: about the birth of a genre. This is one of 454 00:23:40,600 --> 00:23:43,720 Speaker 1: the crucial seeds, is that it gets exploited even further. 455 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:45,679 Speaker 1: There's a bit here with the daughter. But when our 456 00:23:45,680 --> 00:23:48,439 Speaker 1: family turns on us, when loved one's turn and we 457 00:23:48,480 --> 00:23:50,920 Speaker 1: have to make that decision, where's that early seed, right? 458 00:23:50,960 --> 00:23:54,560 Speaker 1: Because Ben is expressing that sorrow over what he's had 459 00:23:54,600 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 1: to do, and you feel it from that point on 460 00:23:56,840 --> 00:24:00,240 Speaker 1: in every brutal blow of the tire iron that he 461 00:24:00,320 --> 00:24:03,480 Speaker 1: gives to these zombies, which is its rough stuff. I 462 00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:07,040 Speaker 1: mean Romero Again, I don't think it verges into exploitation, 463 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:09,760 Speaker 1: but he definitely shows us what it takes for this 464 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: guy to take care of one of these zombies. 465 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:13,520 Speaker 4: Well, it's nasty. 466 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:16,280 Speaker 2: I hadn't thought of it until you said it, but 467 00:24:16,640 --> 00:24:20,600 Speaker 2: that seems to me another potential Vietnam analogy for this 468 00:24:20,720 --> 00:24:23,560 Speaker 2: movie as well. Think about how many of our soldiers, yeah, 469 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:26,560 Speaker 2: went over to Vietnam and had to kill people that, 470 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:30,240 Speaker 2: as the saying goes, didn't do anything to them, didn't 471 00:24:30,240 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 2: do anything to harm them or their family, and yet 472 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:34,879 Speaker 2: they did have to kill them, and they did so, 473 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:37,440 Speaker 2: many of them with regret. I think we get other 474 00:24:37,480 --> 00:24:41,240 Speaker 2: references there that are unmistakable. The shot of the posse 475 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:43,600 Speaker 2: at the end where we have the helicopter, there's a 476 00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,239 Speaker 2: news helicopter something flying over and we see fields of 477 00:24:46,240 --> 00:24:49,520 Speaker 2: what looked like soldiers walking with guns. And when they 478 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:51,880 Speaker 2: watched the TV and they're constantly listening to the radio 479 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:55,160 Speaker 2: for reports of casualties and all the latest developments, and 480 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:58,000 Speaker 2: the zombies. I think you can make the case as well, 481 00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:01,600 Speaker 2: among other things that they might be or represent, they are, 482 00:25:01,600 --> 00:25:05,119 Speaker 2: in a way the Viet Kong. They're this massive, mysterious, 483 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:10,400 Speaker 2: omnipresent threat to our soldiers, which is then mirrored here 484 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:12,840 Speaker 2: in the film. Another surprise for me with this film, 485 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:15,960 Speaker 2: I said, I didn't remember that it ended the way 486 00:25:15,960 --> 00:25:17,600 Speaker 2: it did. I didn't remember that it had the sci 487 00:25:17,600 --> 00:25:19,560 Speaker 2: fi element. I do want to talk about that a 488 00:25:19,560 --> 00:25:24,200 Speaker 2: little bit more, but I forgot just how overly devoid 489 00:25:24,240 --> 00:25:28,400 Speaker 2: of hope and cynical, oh it was. These characters never 490 00:25:28,440 --> 00:25:30,680 Speaker 2: really develop a plan. I kept waiting for that to 491 00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:33,080 Speaker 2: happen because we've seen it so many times for them 492 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:35,440 Speaker 2: to find a way to survive, at least a few 493 00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:37,159 Speaker 2: of them. This is a case where the movie it 494 00:25:37,280 --> 00:25:40,840 Speaker 2: just starts bad for all the survivors, all the victims, 495 00:25:41,200 --> 00:25:42,880 Speaker 2: and then it just gets worse. 496 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:48,640 Speaker 1: And worst attempt they make is laughably Yeah. 497 00:25:47,560 --> 00:25:48,080 Speaker 4: It's horrible. 498 00:25:48,480 --> 00:25:52,720 Speaker 2: And you mentioned the segregation, and we do have to 499 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:55,359 Speaker 2: note that Henry is willing to have been the black 500 00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:57,439 Speaker 2: man come with him to the basement. In fact, he 501 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:01,240 Speaker 2: wants him to. But how interesting is it? Gosh, in 502 00:26:01,320 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 2: terms of Romero pulling out the rug from under us, 503 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:06,680 Speaker 2: we think we have sort of footing. We understand what's 504 00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 2: going on with this movie and who the good guys 505 00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:10,400 Speaker 2: and the bad guys are. And you've said it. Ben 506 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:14,240 Speaker 2: is the most competent character in this movie. He's our hero. 507 00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 2: He's the one we side with. I don't know about you, 508 00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:18,000 Speaker 2: but in that moment where they're debating whether they should 509 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 2: be downstairs or be upstairs, there's a case on both sides. 510 00:26:21,160 --> 00:26:23,440 Speaker 2: But I'm gonna do whatever Ben thinks. I'm gonna stick 511 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,000 Speaker 2: with Ben right well, But at the end of the film, 512 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:31,040 Speaker 2: what's born out Mister Cooper, the annoying, crazy guy. 513 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:32,919 Speaker 4: His plan really was vindicated. 514 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:37,119 Speaker 2: This isolationism, this notion that he just wants to be 515 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:41,440 Speaker 2: hidden away down to the basement, doors boarded up, that's 516 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:43,680 Speaker 2: what's gonna keep us safe. Let's get out of this 517 00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:46,920 Speaker 2: main room where we have all these entry points. We 518 00:26:46,960 --> 00:26:49,280 Speaker 2: think he's the unhinged one, and we're gonna follow Ben. Well, 519 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,840 Speaker 2: guess what, that's how Ben survives, Right, So mister Cooper 520 00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:54,640 Speaker 2: actually is the same one. By the end of the movie, 521 00:26:54,720 --> 00:26:56,280 Speaker 2: Romero has that little twist as well. 522 00:26:56,720 --> 00:26:59,879 Speaker 1: So we've been talking a lot about the thematic underc 523 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: saying the resonance and the echoes. Let me talk about 524 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:07,400 Speaker 1: just what's terrifying on a level that I think also 525 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:10,280 Speaker 1: helps this movie to last over the years. And I 526 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:12,840 Speaker 1: think it's just the relentlessness. That's the word that always 527 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:14,879 Speaker 1: comes to mind when I think of Night of the 528 00:27:14,920 --> 00:27:18,240 Speaker 1: Living Dead, and it starts with that first guy who 529 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,879 Speaker 1: just won't stop. The moment where it clicked with me 530 00:27:22,040 --> 00:27:24,240 Speaker 1: is when he picks up the it's not really a boulder, 531 00:27:24,240 --> 00:27:26,800 Speaker 1: but it's pretty good sized rock and throws it at 532 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:29,280 Speaker 1: the car window that Barbara has hidden in. You know, 533 00:27:29,359 --> 00:27:32,040 Speaker 1: you would think this is the moment where he's going 534 00:27:32,040 --> 00:27:34,200 Speaker 1: to give up or she's going to get away, and 535 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 1: he just continually pursues her, and of course that gets 536 00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:40,719 Speaker 1: amplified as more people come, the hands through the windows. 537 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:44,200 Speaker 1: It just never stops. And I think that's part of 538 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:47,159 Speaker 1: the fatalism that you're talking about as well, which is 539 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:53,320 Speaker 1: absolutely key two zombie movies going forward, most of them anyways. 540 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,880 Speaker 1: The commitment to gore. And again, I don't know how 541 00:27:58,000 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 1: unique this would have been in sixty eight. Maybe there 542 00:28:00,960 --> 00:28:04,200 Speaker 1: are other little budget horror films that we're doing something similar. 543 00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:08,000 Speaker 1: But once that young couple in that thwarted escape plan 544 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:14,280 Speaker 1: becomes dinner becomes a long dinner in close up where 545 00:28:14,359 --> 00:28:18,239 Speaker 1: everyone takes their item of choice and shows it to 546 00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:21,119 Speaker 1: the camera right before eating it, for some reason it 547 00:28:21,160 --> 00:28:24,639 Speaker 1: does not devolve into camp for me and those moments, 548 00:28:24,640 --> 00:28:27,000 Speaker 1: and I don't know why, because it should, right you have. 549 00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:30,760 Speaker 1: It gets so ridiculous at that point that, just in 550 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:34,240 Speaker 1: terms of Insandy, where this movie has gone deranged, that 551 00:28:34,400 --> 00:28:37,560 Speaker 1: you would almost think you'd laugh in defense, but instead 552 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:39,640 Speaker 1: it's horrible. And I think a lot of it is 553 00:28:39,680 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 1: the detail to the gore, like the choice of actually 554 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:48,760 Speaker 1: showing you bones and gristle and it's awful. It's just awful. 555 00:28:48,960 --> 00:28:52,880 Speaker 1: And then when the daughter does turn and is eating 556 00:28:53,240 --> 00:28:57,400 Speaker 1: her father, and then the scene of her stabbing her mother, 557 00:28:57,520 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: which is I've mentioned how some of the filmmaking is 558 00:29:00,000 --> 00:29:02,720 Speaker 1: maybe a little creaky as a low budget debut. 559 00:29:02,440 --> 00:29:06,440 Speaker 4: And this moment is, well, it's still harrowing, but I. 560 00:29:06,600 --> 00:29:10,800 Speaker 1: See for me it became almost abstract where he decides 561 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:14,760 Speaker 1: to use a shadow, a triangular shadow instead of the knife, 562 00:29:15,080 --> 00:29:18,280 Speaker 1: and there's an echoing effect going on with the screams. 563 00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:23,000 Speaker 1: And as garish as some of those earlier attack moments were, 564 00:29:23,080 --> 00:29:25,720 Speaker 1: they were still somewhat based in reality. I guess you 565 00:29:25,720 --> 00:29:30,200 Speaker 1: could say, yeah, this scene again gets like absurdist in 566 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:32,920 Speaker 1: a way. That's that's just especially creepy. 567 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:34,760 Speaker 2: No, that's a great point in terms of the filmmaking. 568 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:38,920 Speaker 2: I think I can't really extricate it from everything about 569 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 2: that character Helen, her demise at the end, in the 570 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:44,960 Speaker 2: staging of that and the blocking about sort of schlocky. 571 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:48,560 Speaker 2: We get that element. Certainly try to escape too hard. 572 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:49,960 Speaker 1: No, I'll say that. 573 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:52,960 Speaker 2: Doesn't just not try to escape to her. She basically 574 00:29:53,080 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 2: is like, don't get these here while I throw myself 575 00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,720 Speaker 2: at you. It's can I move my shoulder cliffs or 576 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,400 Speaker 2: to you. And then even when her daughter attacks her, 577 00:30:02,600 --> 00:30:05,200 Speaker 2: she's completely helpless. And I know it's supposed to be 578 00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:08,080 Speaker 2: a really jarring moment for that to be happening to her. 579 00:30:08,080 --> 00:30:11,600 Speaker 2: But in general, I think we can say, you already 580 00:30:11,600 --> 00:30:14,320 Speaker 2: touched on it that women are not treated great in 581 00:30:14,400 --> 00:30:16,040 Speaker 2: this movie. They're not the best characters. 582 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:16,240 Speaker 1: Right. 583 00:30:16,240 --> 00:30:19,080 Speaker 2: You have Barbara, who is in a stupor throughout the 584 00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:22,400 Speaker 2: entire film. My favorite part might actually be when finally 585 00:30:22,400 --> 00:30:24,880 Speaker 2: Ben gets through to her by saying something about we're 586 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:25,920 Speaker 2: gonna get out of here, and she. 587 00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:29,040 Speaker 4: Goes, we're gonna get out of here. She's like, oho, 588 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:29,840 Speaker 4: I want to leave. 589 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:32,440 Speaker 2: She actually says that, like you, I want to leave, 590 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:36,240 Speaker 2: but she's otherwise, she's completely ineffectual. Then you have Helen, 591 00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:38,719 Speaker 2: as I said, throwing herself at the zombies. And then 592 00:30:38,760 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 2: there's like Judy before that point, no I did too 593 00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:44,360 Speaker 2: compared to her husband. Yeah, like she pushes back on 594 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:44,960 Speaker 2: her husband. 595 00:30:45,240 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 4: Yes, I'm with you there, that's true. 596 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 2: And then you've got Judy the other couple, the girlfriend 597 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:51,600 Speaker 2: there who just smiles a lot as we hear, and 598 00:30:51,680 --> 00:30:54,440 Speaker 2: worries a lot, yeah, and doesn't really add anything to 599 00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:57,880 Speaker 2: the mix either, so maybe that is reflective more of 600 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,120 Speaker 2: the mindset of nineteen sixty eight. Unfortunately that does come through. 601 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,120 Speaker 2: But going back to the sci fi part of this film, 602 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:06,440 Speaker 2: that was another surprise for me. As I said, I 603 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:10,320 Speaker 2: did not remember that they actually explain the reanimation, or 604 00:31:10,320 --> 00:31:13,680 Speaker 2: at least provide a possible explanation, and at first I thought, well, 605 00:31:13,720 --> 00:31:15,480 Speaker 2: I'm kind of disappointed ya that they do. That was 606 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 2: my initial response because I was thinking that it's just 607 00:31:19,440 --> 00:31:22,480 Speaker 2: this isolated regional experience or sort of cut off from 608 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:24,080 Speaker 2: the rest of the world, and that makes it potentially 609 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:27,040 Speaker 2: even more terrifying, even though it makes it more contained 610 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 2: at the same time. But I thought, why do we 611 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:31,120 Speaker 2: need the explanation, and wouldn't it actually add to the 612 00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:34,360 Speaker 2: subversiveness that we've talked about if it was just another 613 00:31:34,400 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 2: element of chaos of the unknown. We're living this horrific 614 00:31:37,440 --> 00:31:40,640 Speaker 2: nightmare and we have no idea why. But I did 615 00:31:40,680 --> 00:31:43,360 Speaker 2: come to realize that it's actually better. Someone could argue 616 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:46,400 Speaker 2: that just because we hear some officials, we see and 617 00:31:46,400 --> 00:31:49,680 Speaker 2: hear some officials on TV talking about this probe and 618 00:31:49,800 --> 00:31:52,920 Speaker 2: suggesting that might be the cause this radiation, that doesn't 619 00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 2: necessarily mean it's true, but I think Romero has it 620 00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:57,920 Speaker 2: there for a reason. He wants us to consider that 621 00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:01,680 Speaker 2: there is probably a somewhat scientific explanation for what's going 622 00:32:01,680 --> 00:32:05,000 Speaker 2: on here. But I think that it's there to certainly 623 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:07,600 Speaker 2: reflect kind of the psyche of the times. I talked 624 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:10,200 Speaker 2: about the Apollo mission. The moon landing is coming a 625 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:13,320 Speaker 2: year after the Cold War. Space race with the Soviet 626 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:17,120 Speaker 2: Union is certainly going on here. And the more important 627 00:32:17,120 --> 00:32:19,680 Speaker 2: part of it, Josh, is that it then means that 628 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:23,480 Speaker 2: this is all in a way self inflicted. It's actually 629 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:28,960 Speaker 2: more subversive, not less that potentially our own global ambitions 630 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:32,480 Speaker 2: and our own secrets led to this whole nightmare. And 631 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:35,640 Speaker 2: I think that Romero, in just suggesting that, as I said, 632 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:39,120 Speaker 2: adds to the overall subversiveness of the film and certainly 633 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:42,320 Speaker 2: adds to the sense of paranoia and distrust of the 634 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:44,240 Speaker 2: government that the viewers at the time would have happened. 635 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:46,280 Speaker 1: That's what I was thinking too. It also adds that 636 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:49,920 Speaker 1: element of conspiracy, right, which is in the air as 637 00:32:49,960 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 1: well at this time. Yeah, And you know, it also 638 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:55,360 Speaker 1: nicely puts it in the horror tradition, because that is 639 00:32:55,960 --> 00:32:59,880 Speaker 1: the fatal flaw is this human hubris or these so 640 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:04,760 Speaker 1: scientific overstepping of our bounds that does lead to horror catastrophe. 641 00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:06,120 Speaker 4: So just a couple more quick thoughts. 642 00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:10,000 Speaker 2: You mentioned the threadbare budget here and how that sometimes 643 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:13,280 Speaker 2: does come through. We also see the resourcefulness with the 644 00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 2: budget at times. I think, and I could be reaching 645 00:33:16,120 --> 00:33:18,160 Speaker 2: here a little bit, but how about the opening dialogue 646 00:33:18,160 --> 00:33:20,920 Speaker 2: of the movie being about daylight savings time. You just 647 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:22,960 Speaker 2: wonder if it's like, well, we really want to open 648 00:33:22,960 --> 00:33:25,680 Speaker 2: on daytime and we need it to be daylight. Maybe 649 00:33:25,680 --> 00:33:28,000 Speaker 2: we don't have any lights at this point, and notice 650 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:31,600 Speaker 2: that we want to transition into darkness. And then the 651 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:35,320 Speaker 2: fact that the movie focuses on, notice that it's not 652 00:33:35,560 --> 00:33:38,880 Speaker 2: just the dead, it's not the dead rising, because the 653 00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:42,280 Speaker 2: dead rising would just be bones. They couldn't reanimate in 654 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,840 Speaker 2: any way. It's the recently decently we hear in the newscast. Well, 655 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:48,600 Speaker 2: of course it is, because how else are they going 656 00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:50,680 Speaker 2: to handle all the makeup in the production design to 657 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:54,320 Speaker 2: reanimate the long dead? They need people who look like people, Josh, 658 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:57,360 Speaker 2: And you know what, that's clever and it's a great 659 00:33:57,440 --> 00:33:59,320 Speaker 2: use of the resources they did have. 660 00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:03,160 Speaker 1: Also allows for that grisly segment where the martian is 661 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:06,960 Speaker 1: describing all of this and saying, what you need to 662 00:34:07,000 --> 00:34:10,000 Speaker 1: do now in case someone dies in the next few hours. 663 00:34:10,400 --> 00:34:13,480 Speaker 1: The era of funerals is over. People essentially said, so 664 00:34:13,520 --> 00:34:16,600 Speaker 1: that's it. He's like, you just take that body in 665 00:34:16,680 --> 00:34:17,400 Speaker 1: the street. 666 00:34:17,239 --> 00:34:18,560 Speaker 4: And burn it. No, I love it. 667 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:20,840 Speaker 2: It's actually my favorite line in the film. As we 668 00:34:20,880 --> 00:34:24,920 Speaker 2: talk about our institutions breaking down and values what we 669 00:34:25,000 --> 00:34:28,360 Speaker 2: think are normal values being questioned here, that line is 670 00:34:28,400 --> 00:34:29,840 Speaker 2: my favorite line in the movie. And I may be 671 00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:32,400 Speaker 2: getting it slightly wrong, but the Sie just basically says 672 00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:35,239 Speaker 2: something like the bereave will no longer be able to 673 00:34:35,280 --> 00:34:39,239 Speaker 2: rely on the dubious comfort and that a funeral provides. 674 00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:42,920 Speaker 2: The site is just openly mocking the notion of a 675 00:34:42,960 --> 00:34:48,240 Speaker 2: funeral being this stupid procedure, this ritual that grants anyone comfort. 676 00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:49,520 Speaker 4: I love You've. 677 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:50,640 Speaker 1: Got it right. I noticed that too. 678 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:52,960 Speaker 4: Yeah, oh well, it's my favorite line. 679 00:34:53,000 --> 00:34:54,840 Speaker 1: Everyone's going through this and you have to throw that 680 00:34:54,920 --> 00:34:55,320 Speaker 1: in there. 681 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:57,360 Speaker 2: But even if you think about it, you can find 682 00:34:57,400 --> 00:35:00,720 Speaker 2: it in every part of the screenplay, this question of values. 683 00:35:00,760 --> 00:35:05,280 Speaker 2: The opening dialogue, that opening scene where Johnny is bemoaning 684 00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 2: why they even have to go to the cemetery and 685 00:35:07,280 --> 00:35:10,480 Speaker 2: drive so far to recognize their dead father, and their 686 00:35:10,480 --> 00:35:12,560 Speaker 2: mother doesn't even come with him. And he talks about 687 00:35:12,600 --> 00:35:14,000 Speaker 2: and I know that a lot of people talk about 688 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:17,120 Speaker 2: the theme of capitalism as it relates to zombies, certainly 689 00:35:17,120 --> 00:35:19,359 Speaker 2: a huge part of Donna the Dead, That's what that 690 00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:22,880 Speaker 2: film is all about. But he openly questions why we 691 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:25,800 Speaker 2: keep buying the same thing that then is just gone 692 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:27,560 Speaker 2: by the time we get here. We just keep buying 693 00:35:27,600 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 2: the same thing over and over again. So he was 694 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:33,120 Speaker 2: already touching on that theme, whether explicitly consciously or not, 695 00:35:33,239 --> 00:35:35,719 Speaker 2: at the very beginning of this film. I did want 696 00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:39,160 Speaker 2: to also throw out another movie reference here that I 697 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:42,000 Speaker 2: do think is a great pairing with this movie, and 698 00:35:42,040 --> 00:35:43,960 Speaker 2: I didn't know that going into this film, but I 699 00:35:43,960 --> 00:35:47,160 Speaker 2: couldn't help but look at Judith O'Day and see Shades 700 00:35:47,200 --> 00:35:50,600 Speaker 2: of Catherine Denove from Roman Planski's Repulsion looked it up 701 00:35:50,680 --> 00:35:52,759 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty five, so I thought it was before Night 702 00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:55,280 Speaker 2: of the Living Dead. Thought it might have been an influence, 703 00:35:55,320 --> 00:35:59,440 Speaker 2: because that's definitely a film about a woman just like Barbara, 704 00:36:00,040 --> 00:36:03,000 Speaker 2: losing her mind, going madder and madder by the minute, 705 00:36:03,160 --> 00:36:07,239 Speaker 2: stuck in an apartment confined, just like Barbara is here, 706 00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:10,160 Speaker 2: and just like Polanski, Romero makes use of canton angles 707 00:36:10,360 --> 00:36:13,040 Speaker 2: and shadows. And I think of one shot in particular, 708 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:15,279 Speaker 2: when she first comes in the house, and something about 709 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:17,760 Speaker 2: the way it's framed and the depth. There are dead 710 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:21,319 Speaker 2: animals that surprise her, but there's actually just ones she 711 00:36:21,360 --> 00:36:23,279 Speaker 2: doesn't see on the wall behind her that almost feel 712 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:26,359 Speaker 2: like they're on top of her, attacking her, and it 713 00:36:26,440 --> 00:36:28,359 Speaker 2: kind of gives us the sense of her overall state 714 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:33,080 Speaker 2: of mind. And if you google Repulsion images, just google it, 715 00:36:33,120 --> 00:36:34,759 Speaker 2: you'll see images that come up that look like they 716 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:36,520 Speaker 2: were taken straight out in the Night of the Living Dead. 717 00:36:36,560 --> 00:36:38,960 Speaker 2: So I wondered if there was any connection. Search for 718 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:42,480 Speaker 2: Polanski Repulsion, Night of the Living Dead and found an article. 719 00:36:42,520 --> 00:36:45,200 Speaker 2: The first link that came up, Romero said he considers 720 00:36:45,239 --> 00:36:46,880 Speaker 2: Repulsion to be the greatest horror movie. 721 00:36:46,680 --> 00:36:49,480 Speaker 4: Of all time. There you go, so I'm not totally nuts. 722 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:51,920 Speaker 2: A great film to check out if you haven't already, 723 00:36:51,920 --> 00:36:54,080 Speaker 2: and certainly if you haven't seen Night of the Living 724 00:36:54,120 --> 00:36:56,880 Speaker 2: Dead already or haven't seen it in about twenty years, 725 00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:58,719 Speaker 2: which was the case for me over twenty years. What 726 00:36:58,719 --> 00:37:00,000 Speaker 2: about you, Joshen was the last time you sat. 727 00:37:00,200 --> 00:37:02,399 Speaker 1: It'd been more recently than that, and I have seen 728 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:04,359 Speaker 1: this a couple of times, but I bet it's maybe 729 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:05,040 Speaker 1: been ten years. 730 00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:08,800 Speaker 2: Thanks Je, well, you might be due for revisit as well. 731 00:37:09,200 --> 00:37:12,279 Speaker 2: Donn of the Dead touched on there briefly nineteen seventy eight. 732 00:37:12,360 --> 00:37:16,480 Speaker 2: The sequel was the first movie in the Second Marathon 733 00:37:16,520 --> 00:37:19,120 Speaker 2: that was ever done on this show, Sam and me. 734 00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:22,160 Speaker 2: Two thousand and five, we had our awards called the 735 00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:26,080 Speaker 2: hadden Fields after John Carpenter's Halloween, and we discussed don 736 00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:28,160 Speaker 2: of the Dead. Now, I would never wish on anyone 737 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:31,000 Speaker 2: to go back to any of our shows, much less 738 00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:33,400 Speaker 2: once from two thousand and five, But if you are 739 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:35,799 Speaker 2: curious what we said about that movie, then we'll link 740 00:37:35,840 --> 00:37:38,279 Speaker 2: to it in the notes for the show at filmspotting 741 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:38,839 Speaker 2: dot net. 742 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:47,000 Speaker 3: Right, I'm a living dead lording than your Strangest Nightmare. 743 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:53,400 Speaker 2: That was our conversation about George Romero's Night of the 744 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:55,920 Speaker 2: Living Dead from twenty seventeen. If you'd like to hear 745 00:37:56,000 --> 00:37:59,680 Speaker 2: more archive conversations like that, you can get access to 746 00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:02,799 Speaker 2: the art by becoming a Film Spotting Family member. You 747 00:38:02,880 --> 00:38:06,200 Speaker 2: get archive access and more. Like bonus shows, early access 748 00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:09,560 Speaker 2: to events, and a whole lot more. Join at film 749 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:11,440 Speaker 2: spotting Family dot com. 750 00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:43,560 Speaker 6: This conversation can serve no purpose anymore, but fine. 751 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,360 Speaker 2: Film spotting is listeners supported. Join the film Spotting Family 752 00:38:35,440 --> 00:38:37,960 Speaker 2: at film spotting Family dot com and get access to 753 00:38:38,080 --> 00:38:41,640 Speaker 2: ad free episodes, monthly bonus shows, our weekly newsletter, and, 754 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:43,960 Speaker 2: for the first time, all into one place, the entire 755 00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:46,680 Speaker 2: film spotting archive going back to two thousand and five. 756 00:38:47,000 --> 00:38:52,360 Speaker 2: That's a film spotting Family dot com panically