PopHorror Let's Get Scared
6. Graveyard – Night of The Living Dead (1968)
Countless horror movies have cemetery scenes, but one of the greatest ones is undoubtedly the one in George A. Romero’s Night of The Living Dead. In many ways, the opening scene invented the modern zombie. Before we met this the graveyard ghoul, all zombies were under some sort of hypnotic voodoo spell and they did not seem interested in devouring human flesh. Well, this scene changed all that, during daylight hours. And it all began in a cemetery. Not only do we get to see clearly what’s going on, but we get a sense of realism. Horror does not only happen at night; the dark is only when it builds to a crescendo. Romero doesn’t take sole credit for the modern zombie concept, as John Russo played a crucial role in the idea. However, George does deserve props for taking the dead out of the graveyard and into our hearts – literally and figuratively.
