What I believe to be one of the best horror movie of all time, has a lot of intriguing facts you might not have known.
It was filmed in the Pittsburgh area.
Evans City Cemetery, Evans City, Pennsylvania
Head northwest on on Franklin Rd for half a mile. Continue onto Pioneer Rd. for 1/5 mile. Turn left on PA-68/W. Main St for almost 3 miles. Turn left on Magill Rd. for 3/4 of a mile to cemetery.
I went there a couple years ago and it is literally unchanged!
Originally, Barbara survived the night.
The main character was originally written as a big burly truck driver.
"Night of the Anubis" was the original title.
The bodies in the truck were actually ham and chocolate syrup the zombies ate.
The house was slated for demolition, so the owners allowed use of it for $300 a month.
The entrails were supplied by a local butcher.
Some of the limbs that were "eaten" were mannequin limbs with silly putty on them.
The man who played the father actually worked in a lot of roles in production of the movie.
On top 10 most profitable films of all times, here's how the movie did on that list: #9: Budget: $114,000. Box Office Revenue: $30,000,000
George Romero originally asked Karl Hardman to direct it, but instead Hardman chose to produce and make the awesome electronic soundtrack. Karl's daughter in real life played the daughter in the movie.
The film took only 30 days to shoot, all 20-hour days. Some of them even slept inside the house when they could.
For the scene where Ben kills Harry, Hardman said, "..as the character I saw what was coming. The force of the bullet was to slam me into the corner. I was to bounce off the corner, hit the piano on the other side of the doorway leading to the basement, then clutching myself, fall down the steps into the basement of the house. Well, there was a coat tree next to the door which had been in every shot and there were coats on it. Eleven times I got shot, slammed myself into the corner, bounced off onto the piano and got wrapped up in that coat tree, and the coat tree would follow me into the basement. By the time we got a good take I was so exhausted from laughing I hardly had enough energy left to do it."
The film took only 30 days to shoot, all 20-hour days. Some of them even slept inside the house when they could.
For the scene where Ben kills Harry, Hardman said, "..as the character I saw what was coming. The force of the bullet was to slam me into the corner. I was to bounce off the corner, hit the piano on the other side of the doorway leading to the basement, then clutching myself, fall down the steps into the basement of the house. Well, there was a coat tree next to the door which had been in every shot and there were coats on it. Eleven times I got shot, slammed myself into the corner, bounced off onto the piano and got wrapped up in that coat tree, and the coat tree would follow me into the basement. By the time we got a good take I was so exhausted from laughing I hardly had enough energy left to do it."
Did you think that the boarding-up of the house scene went on for too long?
ReplyDeleteI think it was adequate, but they were trying to get a few things done. They had to establish Barbara's fugue state, his determination as a leader, and the tension of getting it boarded up in time. It was a good suspenseful tool.
DeleteAnd wasn't it ironic that he was a leader that got them all killed when the cellar ultimately saved him!
ReplyDeleteThere is a movie called Last man on Earth with Vincent Price that is very much like Night of the Living Dead, what do you think of that movie?
ReplyDelete