Night of the Living Dead (1968)

It’s unlikely that any one movie, book, or play can lay legitimate claim to having single handedly invented any given genre. Storytelling has a long history that creators draw from consciously and unconsciously, but in the case of George Romero’s 1968 Night of the Living Dead, the argument for genre progenitor is probably as strong as it gets. The modern zombie movie, indeed, the figure of the modern zombie itself-as a decaying corpse returned to life with an insatiable hunger for human flesh-simply would not exist if not for this movie. Due to the film’s graphic violence (and then-rare African-American leading role), Night of the Living Dead released to controversy and generally mixed reviews, but since then it has enjoyed an immensely favorable revisiting, with praise heaped on the movie’s complex character dynamics, tense setting, and incisive social criticism. Filmed on a tiny budget with a miniscule cast and crew to match, the story of the making of Night is almost as entertaining and interesting as the film itself, so today the Magellans at the Movies thought they would take the plunge into this seminal work of flesh-eating fiction and undeniable piece of movie history. Stick your arms out, assume a vacant expression, and let’s shamble and groan our way into the episode!