Reviewers: Andrew C. Mendenhall and Rev. Shaun K. Whitney, PhD.
Seen by some to be the seminal masterwork of the zombie genre, Night of the Living Dead is chock-full of helpful hints for those seeking advice on how to best ready themselves for the necropalypse. Its narrative depicts a young man and woman out on a trip to the graveyard, when they find themselves in the middle of the zombie holocaust.
The exact moment of ZH0H is somewhat obscured in the film, although careful listeners will pick up on the first inklings of strange phenomena via a radio broadcast in the car as they travel. The heroes arrive at the graveyard evidently only seconds after ZH0H occurs and are caught utterly unaware. They’re approached by a lone shamblor, which they fail to recognize as anything other than a breather with a slight movement impediment. It fails to respond to them until its snack radius includes the boy, who is promptly defeated in a Royce Gracie-style grapple-match. Barbara, our heroine, makes her first good decision of the film here: When faced with an undefeatable opponent, flee. Her second decision, however, to drive like a fucking idiot, was less successful. As long as one is outpacing a shamblor, one will survive (at least until one is faced with a mass of shamblors coming from the other direction in numbers so large that driving through them is impossible – then one is a guaranteed meatsnack).
She immediately proceeds to an abandoned farmhouse, and she should be applauded for finding a fairly secluded, rural location. She should have immediately made her way to the second floor and set about blockading the stairs and improvising some deadfalls, but she can be forgiven – she did not have the good fortune of this website to assist her. Instead, she is soon met by several other survivors, including the famously successful “Ben”, a skilled rifleman and survivalist.
The film then goes through a series of attempts by the group to defend themselves against the swarming hordes that soon envelop the fields surrounding the farmhouse. Plans involving fire must be questioned, particularly in regard to their surroundings. If one has the good fortune of having a wooden wall between oneself and a zombie, one should not go squandering that good fortune by taking the opportunity to light a few torches, couches, etc. While zd.o appreciates Ben’s take-charge attitude, as well as his decisions on makeshift improvised weaponry, the staff also thinks such attempts may not have survived the required cost-benefit analysis that is required in any post-ZH0H decision. It is also noteworthy here that Ben’s work on quickly securing the perimeter of the house was excellent. Before the horde grew to an unmanageable size, he was able to board up windows and doors. Although, the staff at zd.o feels it appropriate to note that one should never stand with his back against the door when one knows that there are shamblors actively perusing him.
One of the more “teachable moments” of the film was the little girl who had suffered an injury and was being kept in the basement. This series of scenes underscores how absolutely critical it is to fully disclose any injuries. These injuries should be assessed by an impartial third party with no emotional attachment to the injured group member. They should be at the very least quarantined, and typically should be “permanently quarantined” in either a bank safe or at the bottom of a well.
Finally, it comes to the point where enough time has passed since ZH0H that militias have formed and are scouring the countryside. Here, our heroes fail utterly to make it clear that the people in the house are alive. Once a building has been carefully secured, one should make it clear (particularly in those precious days after ZH0H when the militias have formed, but the roving gangs of bandits have not) that the house is inhabited by the living.
It is clear that many of the lessons taught via Night of the Living Dead form the most basic and fundamental knowledge base upon which to build a strong understanding of survival. The staff at zd.o highly recommends this classic as a training tool, although it is important that one view the film with a critical eye. There are a few scientific errors (the “source” of the zombies being interplanetary radiation, zombies using tools, etc.) that have been disproved in much of the research available on this site. Obscure technical errors aside, however, the film is very useful as a training aid.
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