Cult Movie Night #1 Night of the Living Dead

I have decided to add something different for the blog. I have started what I think may be a recurring post called Cult Movie Night, where I talk about a certain cult movie each time. This series will talk about the movie's origins, legacy, and why it is so popular. This time I will talk about the classic horror film Night of the Living Dead.

Released: October 1, 1968
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 96%
IMDB Score: 8.0
Budget: $114,000
Gross: $30 Million Worldwide ($12 Million USA)

Beginnings:
 After shooting mainly commercials and short films, George A Romero decided to make the transition to feature-length films in the late sixties. He and some friends formed Image Ten Productions, and began work on a B-movie. The movie originally had the titles Night of the Flesh-Eaters and Night of Anubis before they settled on Night of the Living Dead. Zombie movies were around at that time, but they were presented as slaves to a human master.

Story:
The dead in a town in Pennsylvania come back to life as zombies, and eat the flesh of the living. A group of people hide from them in a house as the outside world is taken over by the undead.

Rise to Cultdom:
The low budget B-movie was a huge success, making $30 million off it's budget of little over $100,000. It was officially considered a cult classic by the early seventies, and in 1999, was inducted into the National Film Registry of the United States' Library of Congress. It also launched three sequels Dawn of the Dead, Day of the Dead, and Land of the Dead, as well as a remake in 1990.

Legacy:
 This film was revolutionary for the horror movie in many ways. One of these ways would be what was then considered an excess of gore, which disturbed audiences, and created a more violent form of horror movie. It would mark the first time zombies only served themselves, instead of some other master as described above.
It would also be the first time an African American would be cast in a lead role in a horror movie. This was released in a time where civil rights were just beginning to take off. The ending to the movie is also very reminiscent of  race relations at the time. Romero may have denied that this was intentional, but it resonated with audiences nonetheless.

Conclusion:
This movie went from low-budget  B-horror movie crap to one of the most influential and celebrated horror movies of all time. And it deserved this, because it was a great movie that gave birth to the modern day horror movie and the modern image of the zombie.

Sources:
 http://www.houseofhorrors.com/night68.htm
https://litdreamer.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/night-of-the-living-dead-horror-movie-as-social-commentary/
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001681/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm