THE EXPLOSIVE REVIEW

Story:
In 2023, an interstellar war has erupted between two races (The Maians, who are basically the ‘greys’ from alien folklore, and the Skedar, reptilian aliens who can be disguised as humans as well). Meanwhile, there is a rivalry on Earth between The Carrington Institute (owned by Daniel Carrington, it’s an R&D centre but is covertly working with the Maians) and dataDyne (a sinister defense contractor with links to the Skedar.

You, the player, are Joanna Dark (codename ‘Perfect Dark’, thanks to your impressive training and background), agent hired by the Carrington Institute to investigate suspicious reports surrounding a dataDyne insider. She then stumbles across a conspiracy between the Skedar and dataDyne whereas the Skedar are plotting to steal an alien weapon from a crashed spaceship in the ocean and use it to their advantage over the rivaling Maians.

Graphics:
Superbly defining for the platform that it is. It’s a smooth run from beginning to end with some of the best textures ever seen on the Nintendo 64. The draw distance is also quite impressive. It is clearly one of the most advanced Nintendo 64 games, complete with high-resolution graphics and even Dolby Surround Sound.

Controls:
Absolutely spectacular and highly responsive. It throws in the “GoldenEye” formula and adds on to it some of its own features to make it far easier and improved. A good example - Whereas you had to switch through your weapon inventory, all you have to do now is hold the A button and move up to the weapon you wish to use.

Gameplay:
Single player mode consists of seventeen missions. There are also multiplayer options such as co-operative and counter-operative modes as well as traditional death-match. The maps of the levels and the multiplayer mode shows a lot of effort was put into this as they are very well designed. There’s also a huge inventory of weapons to choose from here, numbering around forty (yep, that’s right!), each containing a secondary function.

The main story, or single player, never gets boring as there are stealthy missions, all-out assault missions, and defensive missions as well. The levels become increasingly more challenging as the game goes on. On the other hand, the multiplayer mode is endless loads of fun guaranteed. The game’s AI is very advanced, although it may not be perfect.

Overall:
Meet “Perfect Dark”, the game that was also known as the ’spiritual successor’ to “GoldenEye 007″. Rareware striked gold once again after “GoldenEye 007″ with “Perfect Dark”. It is almost impossible to match the type of gameplay in this, no matter how hard developers may try. You will endure plenty of playtime with this game, it’s simply huge and epic in scope.

Like “GoldenEye 007″, “Perfect Dark” introduces extraordinary FPS gameplay and multiplayer options that were a revolutionary creation of its time. “Perfect Dark” is detailed, polished, and easily one of the most memorably fun games ever conceived.

Rating: *****

Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Francois Truffaut, Melinda Dillion, Cary Guffey, Teri Garr, and Bob Balaban.

Directed By: Steven Spielberg.

Story:
In the opening of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”, strange things are already happening before our eyes - First, in the Sonoran Desert, a lost squadron of fully operational World War II aircraft are discovered but its crew is still missing; secondly, two airline flights almost collide mid-air with a UFO in Indianapolis, Indiana; then, a three year old boy is drawn out of his home when his toys starting acting on their own behalf in Muncie, Indiana; and if all that wasn’t enough, the state of Indiana undergoes a large-scale power outage, during which an electrical lineman (Dreyfuss) soon finds himself caught up in a motorized pursuit of a group of UFOs.

The electrical lineman, Roy Neary, soon becomes obsessed with UFOs, for better and for worse - the latter especially for his wife, Veronica “Ronnie” Neary (Garr). Before you know it, Roy is making scale models of strange geologic formations he’s never seen before but has become fascinated with - the image in question here is that of a weird looking mountain. It’s not long before Gillian (Dillion), the three year old’s mother, bares witness to a UFO landing herself (to which her son is abducted) and begins doing the same thing as Roy. Roy’s eccentric behavior only gets worse, causing his wife to abandon him, taking the kids with her. Roy and Gillian, at the same time, soon spot something similar to the models they’ve been envisioning on a TV news show: The Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming. The both of them, along with a group of others with similar visions, make their way toward the site; meanwhile, UFO activity all over the globe increases, making themselves more noticeable.

Characters:
*Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss): An electrical lineman who becomes obsessed with the UFOs.
*Claude Lacombe (Francois Truffant): French Government Scientist who’s investigating UFO activity in the US.
*Gillian Guiler (Melinda Dillon): The single mother of Barry. She also becomes obsessed with the UFOs much like Roy does.
*Barry Guiler (Cary Guffey): Gillian’s young son who gets abducted halfway through the film.
*Veronica ‘Ronnie’ Neary (Teri Garr): Roy’s wife who’s being driven insane by his obsession and wants nothing but for him to forget about it.
*David Laughlin (Bob Balaban): Mr. Lacombe’s assistant and translator.

Overall:
“Close Encounters of the Third Kind” was a much long-cherished film project for Steven Spielberg which had been in the works since 1973. The story and elements may sound and seem a bit on The X-Files side, but this is before X-Files and the material in question is handled a whole lot better here by Mr. Spielberg. Rather than putting the main focus on the aliens, he puts it on how life changes for Roy and Gillian because of the aliens and their presence. The script pulls enough strings to draw us into the minds of these two people, particularly Roy, and their life-altering obsession with the visions brought on by the aliens.

The third act is a special effects extravaganza. Yes, we do see the aliens; yes, they look somewhat similar to the ‘grays’ that we are all familiar with and have become accustomed to seeing in media, however, their appearance and execution is handled with much care and uniqueness, once again, a huge thanks to Mr. Spielberg. There is no war, explosions, or fighting to be found here, this is not “Independence Day”, this is the ultimate UFO obsession motion picture.

Rating: ****

Story:
The story pretty much follows the plot of the movie. Someone has stolen the N.O.C. files which contains the names of every agent in your organization. It is up to you, Ethan Hunt, to find it before whoever has it sells it to a criminal organization who can get you and your teammates killed.

Graphics:
Although not exactly clear, these are some pretty cool Nintendo 64 graphics, it has nothing on “GoldenEye 007″ but it’s almost at that point. They may be a bit blocky at times, the characters may not resemble their film counterparts here and there, and you may come across a couple of glitches and bugs in some parts of the game.

Controls:
Sub-par but responsive, to say the least. You’ll be using the C button a bit too much and it may prove to be a pain in the butt when having to put on a face-mask if you’re in the middle of engaging in a gun fight with bad guys. The controls left much room for improvement here, but they’re not terribly bad.

Gameplay:
The game focuses on completing tasks undetected or disguised while assuming the identity of Ethan Hunt. There’s a wide variety of weapons and gadgets. You get to use pistols, automatics, explosive gum, C4, smoke generators, infra-red contacts, gas injectors, fingerprint scanners, computer disks, and even the Face-maker.

Aside from being a shooter, you must exercise great caution and care while completing mission objectives. Some missions look down upon the use of violence that is done outrightly. You can easily fail a mission when shooting someone whom you’re not supposed to shoot. There’s a lot of stealth in this game as well, requiring you to infiltrate and sneak around areas from the movie. The levels are quite fun to explore and play through although they could have added on a few extra missions.

Overall:
“Mission: Impossible” can get addictive, although not as much as say “GoldenEye 007″, but more than some would assume. The game is a challenge with difficult puzzles and a reliance on stealth and caution. Some levels are just simply fun to replay again as you get to use the face-maker and do all sorts of crazy things. I could probably live with the graphics, but if only they had improved the game’s controls, man, this would have done a hell of a lot better than it initially did. Overall, this is a neat spy/espionage third-person shooter, one of the more realistic ones out there.

Rating: ****

Starring: Michael York, Richard Jordan, Jenny Agutter, Peter Ustinov, and Farrah Fawcett.

Directed By: Michael Anderson.

Story:
In the 23rd Century, the world has fallen due to overpopulation, pollution, and war. The last survivors continue life inside a giant domed city, putting the world outside behind them. Within their contained ecologically balanced world, the human race lives for the sake of pleasure, the only problem is: Once you turn thirty, you must die or become born again in a fiery ritual known as the Carousel.

Characters:
*Logan (Michael York): A sandman turned fugitive.
*Francis (Richard Jordan): Logan’s best friend, also a sandman, who pursues him.
*Jessica (Jenny Agutter): A woman who holds the secret to finding sanctuary, also on the run with Logan.
*Box (Roscoe Lee Browne): A large cyborg gone insane.
*Old Man (Peter Ustinov): An elderly man living outside of the domed city whom Logan and Jessica meet and partner up with.

Overall:
Welcome to the world of “Logan’s Run”. Based on the novel by George Clayton Johnson, the story centers around Logan 5 (Michael York) who is a sandman - the police, so to speak, of the domed world, although instead of providing ’sleep’, they provide termination for ‘runners’ (the thirty-year old citizens who refuse to become reborn in the Carousel) - He often wonders what exactly is beyond the domed city and what actually happens to people on the Carousel, but his fellow friend Francis 7 (Richard Jordan) always assumes the obvious and reminds him not to bother with such questions.

We are treated to a carousel sequence early on in the film after the first scene - While the effects and such seem a little dated here (as it does in other places), the whole concept depicted here actually seems pretty scary - It is never mentioned whether the carousel brings survival or reincarnation to its members, but it takes place inside a large circular arena where the participants are decked out in white hoods, face masks and bodysuits painted with flames. The floor rotates while the participants float upwards toward a huge rosette on the ceiling of the arena. While floating up, they are each vaporized one by one while everyone watching cheers and chants “Renew!”

Sometime later, Logan finds himself ‘in the mood’ so he looks for a woman on what’s known as “the circuit”, a teleportation-like device which (by remote control) can summon someone from the circuit - Here he summons a beautiful girl named Jessica 6 (Jenny Agutter). She, unfortunately, is not in the mood but happens to be wearing an interesting collar with an ankh pendant hanging from it. Later, at the Sandman headquarters, Logan returns the personal items he gathered from the runner he and Francis killed at the beginning, which includes another ankh, the computer informs him that it is a symbol for an underground railroad ran by a group assisting runners who are trying to reach a safe haven known as “Sanctuary”. Here, the computer assigns Logan a special mission: Find Sanctuary and destroy it. In order to do this, there’s a catch: The computer advances Logan’s life clock to thirty so that he can qualify as a runner (runners are identified by the red blinking light in the palm of their left hand).

Logan is reluctant to accept but has no choice. He confronts Jessica again and before you know it, they’re both on the run, through the domed city to the sewers and to the mysterious caverns beyond. This is a great cult film which became often overshadowed by “Star Wars” which came out a year later. The special effects may look a bit on the cheap side, but as far as entertainment and fun goes, “Logan’s Run” certainly delivers. Also, Jenny Agutter is such a gorgeous babe to watch here. It should also be noted that a remake has been in development hell since 1994. While I am not a huge fan of remakes (many of them stink), I think this film could use one - especially the carousel sequence, picturing what could be done with that today is even scarier than what’s seen in the original here.

Rating: ****

Story:
If you’ve seen the movie, then you know the plot here. James Bond loses his agent friend, Alec Trevelyan, on a mission at a Russian nerve gas station where everything goes wrong. Ten years later, a new organization called ‘Janus’ arises whom are suspected to have something to do with a stolen Pirate Helicopter and seem to be in command of a fearful EMP disrupting satellite known as the GoldenEye. The leader of this organization turns out to have a personal vendetta against James Bond. 007 joins forces with Natalya Simonova (a spy and programmer who is the token Bond Girl this time around) to battle Janus and bring them down.

Graphics:
The characters resemble their realistic versions from the films, it’s like walking through the Wax Museum in Times Square and looking at all of the celebrities. The levels never fail to satisfy as they are breathtakingly astonishing and resemble many of the sets and scenes from the movie itself. Last but not least, the textures here are way ahead of its time for a Nintendo 64 game.

Controls:
The controls are very suitable, especially the default mode which is basically where the stick aims and moves you forward and backward, meanwhile, the C buttons strafe you left and right. If this is not your cup of tea, then there’s several other configurations to select from. You’re bound to find one of them that works best for you.

Gameplay:
You as James Bond will gun down plenty and plenty of evil terrorists throughout the game in first-person shooter style. This may not be a smart tactical first person shooter like “Rainbow Six”, but it is far more entertaining and fun in a different way. But you also have to use some strategy here as just simply running down the hall with guns blazing will surely get you killed. All of the bad guys react astonishingly realistic, more so than say “Doom 64″, they will know when something’s not right once the guard next to him drops dead from a sniper shot.

You can shoot enemies in different body parts which will cause different reactions and movements. Your arsenal consists of about twenty-eight varying weapons - Explosives, laser guns, rocket and grenade launchers, knives, pistols, rifles, fists, uzis, remote and proximity mines, and even a tank. They have the Golden Gun here as well, also Bond’s favorite PP7 which comes in black, silver, and gold.

Aside from dispatching bad guys, there are objectives on every level which you must accomplish and they don’t always include killing everyone. The objectives are pretty much straight out of the movie (i.e. copying the key to the GoldenEye satellite, disarm bombs, etc.). There are eighteen main levels and two which need to be unlocked - Most of them are from the movie while a few have been added on. There’s plenty of variety in the levels (jungles, trains, boats, missile silos, train depot, and runway just to name some). Each area is as fleshed out as can be with absolutely excellent level design.

Overall:
This game has one of the highest replay values in both single player and multiplayer modes. Single player because the game has three levels of difficulty to choose from, each adding more objectives to the levels and smarter enemies to tackle, there’s a whole book of cheats and multiplayer maps to unlock by completing certain levels on a specific time frame. You can unlock levels and characters from previous Bond movies as well.

Multiplayer mode is a blast with options that are named after previous Bond films, some of which speak for themselves: You Only Live Twice, The Man With The Golden Gun, License To Kill, and The Living Daylights. Bond fan or not, this game is loads of fun; released nearly ten years ago in 1997, the game stills holds up its replay value to this day. “GoldenEye 007″ is a game to add right next to “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”.

Rating: *****

Starring: Tim Matheson, Peter Riegert, John Belushi, James Widdoes, Bruce McGill, Douglas Kenney, Thomas Hulce, Stephen Furst, James Daughton, Mark Metcalf, Kevin Bacon, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Karen Allen, Donald Sutherland, Sarah Holcomb, DeWayne Jessie, Mary Louise Weller, Martha Smith, and Cesare Danova.

Directed by: John Landis.

Story:
The setting is within the fictional Faber College in 1962. Freshmen Larry Kroger (Hulce) and Kent Dorfman (Furst) want to get accepted in a fraternity with a good reputation. First, they try out for the most prestigious one on campus, the Omega Theta Pi House consisting of militia-minded elite students like Gregg Marmalard (Daughton) and Doug Neirdermeyer (Metcalf), which they are kicked out from because they’re way out of their league. That leaves them with the option next store - The Delta Tau Chi House - a group of campus misfits where people like John “Bluto” Blutarsky (Belushi) and D-Day (McGill) dwell at. Fortunately, they are sworn in and given their fraternity names “Pinto” (for Larry) and “Flounder” (for Kent).

The Omega house is not Delta’s only problem - Dean Vernon Wormer (John Vernon) is in the process of removing Delta from the entire campus. Partnering with the Omegas, they put their minds to work to find a way to rid of the Deltas once and for all. What results is an all-out war of hilarious pranks between both sides that will knock your socks off.

Characters:
*Eric ‘Otter’ Stratton (Tim Matheson): Smooth playboy type, the delta’s unofficial leader.
*Donald ‘Boon’ Schoenstein (Peter Riegert): Otter’s best buddy, always caught up in between his girlfriend Katy and his Delta friends.
*John ‘Bluto’ Blutarsky (John Belushi): A crazy, insane, and drunken degenerate in his 7th college year and practically a zero GPA.
*Robert Hoover (James Widdoes): The fraternity’s clean cut President, always struggling to maintain normalcy amongst them to avoid trouble from the Dean.
*Daniel Simpson Day ‘D-Day’ (Bruce McGill): Tough biker type, also with no GPA.
*’Stork’ (Douglas Kenney): A delta member with suspected brain damage.
*Lawrence ‘Pinto’ Kroger (Thomas Hulce): Shy but normal type. He’s a newbie to the frat along with Flounder.
*Kent ‘Flounder’ Dorfman (Stephen Furst): Overweight and clumsy type who joins the Delta along with his friend Pinto.
*Gregory Marmalard (James Daughton): President of the Omega House, one of the main villains here.
*Douglas Niedermeyer (Mark Metcalf): ROTC Cadet officer and military-family bred Omega pledge who is a Nazi type.
*Dean Vernon Wormer (John Vernon): The Dean of the college who is trying to kick out the deltas.
*Marion Wormer (Verna Bloom): Vernon’s wife who has no problem sleeping with younger men, even if they are one of the deltas.
*Katy (Karen Allen): Boon’s frustrated girlfriend who spends a lot of ‘time’ with her professor.
*Professor Dave Jennings (Donald Sutherland): An English professor who seems practically bored out of his skull.

Overall:
Things go bad from worse in the laugh-out-loud campus comedy “Animal House”, which tells the tale of a misfit pack of fraternity boys who take on their college administration, no guts, no glory. Based on the real-life fraternity experiences of screenwriters Chris Miller at Dartmouth College and Harold Ramis at Washington University in St. Louis.

“Animal House” is the film that launched what’s known as the “gross-out genre”. The film consists of spectacular performances by an all-star cast ranging from Kevin Bacon, John Belushi, Karen Allen, John Vernon, Tim Matheson, Peter Riegert, Donald Sutherland, and many more. The story contains sheer levels of manic energy and anarchic action-packed humor. Director John Landis handles the comic pitch very carefully and with great skill. The script is filled with hilarious highs of tummy-buckling laughter that culminates in one of the most epic, action-packed, laugh-out-loud finales ever depicted on film since 1972’s “What’s Up, Doc?”. “Animal House” may be gross, it may be tasteless, but the one thing for sure is that it’s unbearably funny, and that’s why it’s so lovable.

Rating: *****

Story:
After a virus wipes out most of the female population on Earth in 2001, countries engage in battle over their own quarantine zones, leading to full scale nuclear war. The last females are held captive by gangs. You play as Griffin Spade whose fiance, Madison, has been abducted by the U.S. Government.

Separated from his wife, Spade claims a tank and travels across war-ridden America to find and rescue her, fighting off any gangs he comes across.

Graphics:
Well-detailed explosions. The tanks are well designed and each contain their own abilities and weaknesses. The developers really went to town with the levels with plenty of things to destroy within huge, wide open areas that are unbelievably long (hey, longer the levels, the better they are).

Controls:
Controlling the tanks is very easy and realistic. The controls feel very responsive with no difficult movements, making it very fun to play. There’s no need to feel around for a button while you’re focusing on the screen.

Gameplay:
You can select from three tanks - a Moto Tank, M1A1 Abrams MBT, or the Goliath. You will control your tank through seventeen levels in the single player campaign and battle enemy tanks all throughout. All of the levels are set across the United States including New York City, Las Vegas, San Francisco, and Chicago. Each environment is fully destructible and interactive. The game has multiplayer as well where you can team up with 2-4 players. There’s four multiplayer games to choose from: Battlelord (a variation of capture the flag), Deathmatch, Family Mode, and Annihilation.

Overall:
Blow up as much things as you would like in this game - Tanks, walls, streets, buildings, heck why not nuke the entire city!? Totally doable here. This game contains strategy, adventure, action, and free-roaming fun. Every level is complete with enemies, shortcuts, and fully destructible environments. “BattleTanx” contains high replay value, especially with its multiplayer options which has all sorts of weapons and goodies to mess around with.
Armor up, lock and load, and pop “BattleTanx” into your Nintendo 64. It’s going to be quite a while before you get bored with this game.

Rating: ****

Story:
Hulk’s arch nemesis, the Leader, is up to causing mayhem once again and the Hulk makes it his goal to stop and destroy him.

Graphics:
Everything looks like it was right out of a comic book or cartoon, excellently done. The developers took great care to add little detail like the flexing of Hulk’s muscles when he’s running or climbing, even the wind blowing his hair.

Controls:
The game hits its downside right here. Sometimes you will experience response delay when pressing a button and expecting The Hulk to act, jumping is yet another problem altogether. When you tackle the Abomination, you’ll really start to realize how sucky these controls are because the boss is about the same size as you and is able to act far quicker.

Gameplay:
The game only has five levels ranging from alien landscapes to city skyscrapers. You’ll do battle with classic Marvel villains for bosses such as The Abomination (who is actually a sub-boss on each level), Rhino, Tyrannus, Absorbing Man, and the Leader. It’s a rather short game with very few secrets. The controls really bring the gameplay effect down, especially since health power ups are not close enough to each other.

Overall:
“The Incredible Hulk” may seem fun the first time around, but you won’t want to play it again, there’s really very little reason to do so. It may look pretty, but the controls certainly aren’t. This is simply an average 2D side-scrolling, beat ‘em-up plat-former. You’re better off renting than buying.

Rating: ***

Starring: David Emge, Ken Foree, Scott H. Reiniger, Gaylen Ross, David Crawford, David Early, Richard France, Howard Smith, James A. Baffico, Rudy Ricci, Tom Savini, Taso N. Stavrakis, Marty Schiff, Nick Tallo, William George, and Larry Valra.

Directed by: George A. Romero.

Story:
Set approximately three weeks after “Night of the Living Dead”, the zombie plague has now escalated to new heights as opposed to the end of ‘Night’ where it seemed like everything was under control - A state of martial law is now in effect in all major cities of the United States, the plague has begun to spread overseas as well, some people are listening to what the scientists and media tell them, but many aren’t, many are reluctant to give up their deceased loved ones to be discarded of completely, adding to the ever-growing ranks of the army of the living dead spreading across the globe.

The story opens in a chaotic news station where all hell has broken loose, the hosts debate back and forth, old and incorrect information fills the TV screens, and people are abandoning their posts left and right. A News chopper pilot, Stephen Andrews (David Emge), meets up with his camera operator girlfriend, Francine Parker (Gaylen Ross), to steal a chopper and escape the ever-growing zombie threat. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia SWAT team is forcing a raid on a ghetto tenement building where its residents refuse to give up their revived loved ones for proper extermination. Part of this raid is SWAT operative Roger DeMarco (Scott H. Reiniger) whom finds himself in a more of a bloody massacre than he bargained for upon working his way into the building with his teammates. He soon runs into Peter Washington, part of another SWAT unit raiding the building, whom he connects with and offers a getaway ticket from the end of the world.

The two SWAT officers, the pilot and his girlfriend all meet up to escape Philadelphia via helicopter. The group flies cross-country Pennsylvania, stopping for fuel and supplies wherever they can and running into the undead everywhere they go. They soon stumble across a massive shopping mall in Monroeville, a suburb just outside of Pittsburgh, which the dead are already starting to invade. The group lands on the roof and set up shelter in one of the mall’s storage rooms on top. But what starts as a short break soon turns into a long-term stay as they decide to take over the shopping mall, blocking all the entrances with trucks, taking care of what’s left inside, and keeping the place all to themselves - And they have everything they will ever need right there.

Characters:
*Stephen ‘Flyboy’ Andrews (David Emge): The clumsy traffic helicopter pilot who needs a lot of practice firing a gun as well as getting his priorities straight.
*Peter Washington (Ken Foree): A big and tough SWAT team member who is pretty much the brains and backbone of the group.
*Roger ‘Trooper’ DeMarco (Scott H. Reiniger): A wildcat SWAT team member who’s close friends with Stephen and partners up with Peter.
*Francine Parker (Gaylen Ross): A news camera woman who is also Stephen’s girlfriend and is pregnant with his baby.
*Blades (Tom Savini): An important member of a biker gang that wants to loot the shopping mall.

Overall:
“Dawn of the Dead” is the best sequel since “The Godfather, Part II”, a classic piece of 1970s cinema that has been heavily praised ever since. The cast of four each hold their own. Romero once again casts an African-American hero and, just like the original, there is no mention of race anywhere to be found. Much like James Cameron did with “Aliens”, George A. Romero tops himself in many ways with this epic-scope horror sequel with its setting, gore, action, and characters.

The ending is not necessarily a happy one, but there is a slight glimmer of hope as not every single one of the cast members die, but their secluded shopping mall haven comes tumbling down in one of the most fashionable, disgusting, and action-packed showdowns ever depicted. The music is a huge plus this time around, much thanks to Dario Argentino and Goblin, while it does have a 70s streak, it is some of the most creative and unconventional tracks ever recorded for a horror film.

As the first sequel to “Night of the Living Dead”, “Dawn of the Dead” deserves its rightful place next to the likes of “The Godfather, Part II”, “Aliens”, and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day”.

Rating: *****

Starring: Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman, Marilyn Eastman, Keith Wayne, Judith Ridley, Kyra Schon, and Russell Streiner.

Directed by: George A. Romero

Story:
The story takes place around Daylight Savings time in 1982. Brother and sister, Johnny and Barbara are driving out somewhere in Western Pennsylvania to place new flowers on their father’s grave. Johnny starts teasing his sister who has a certain fear of cemeteries. A pale-faced tall man moves toward them at a snail’s pace as they bicker and tries to attack Barbara.

The man turns out to a reanimated corpse bent on eating their flesh. Johnny wrestles him to the ground and dies, leaving Barbara to fend for herself. She runs off and stumbles across a seemingly abandoned farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. Inside, she finds yet another dead corpse (although not reanimated, this one has been disposed of by someone) and a few more dead guys find their way to the house. In an attempt to flee the shelter, she is saved by Ben who shows up in his pick-up truck and fends off the four or five zombies.

Together, they hold up in the house, which Ben begins to board up with all the wood he can find. They soon discover a few other survivors who are holding up in the basement - A bitter married couple, Harry and Helen Cooper with their unconscious (zombie-bitten) daughter, and a teenage couple Tom and Judy. They find a radio which informs them of a strange mass murder effecting the entire Eastern Seaboard where the unburied and recently dead are returning to life and attacking the living.

Characters:
*Barbra (Judith O’Dea): The lead female protagonist whom loses her brother to the undead.
*Johnny (Russell Streiner): Barbra’s brother who becomes one of the first victims.
*Ben (Duane Jones): The lead male protagonist who saves Barbra’s life just in the nick of time. One of the smartest people in the group.
*Harry Cooper (Karl Hardman): Husband to Helen and father to Karen, he and his family have been hiding in the farmhouse’s cellar the entire time. He turns out to be the most ignorant of the group and the most uncooperative.
*Helen Cooper (Marilyn Eastman): Wife to Harry and mother to Karen, she and her family have been hiding in the farmhouse’s cellar the entire time. She is the complete opposite of her husband.
*Karen Cooper (Kyra Schon): Harry and Helen’s daughter who has been bitten by one of the undead.
*Tom (Keith Wayne): Judy’s boyfriend, the both of them have been hiding in the cellar with the Cooper family.
*Judy (Judith Ridley): Tom’s girlfriend.

Overall:
Director George A. Romero drew some inspiration from Richard Matheson’s novel, “I Am Legend”, where a plague engulfs Los Angeles in the near future, turning everyone into vampire-like creatures, and came up with the skeleton of his first feature film, “Night of the Living Dead”. It is one of the first films in the 60s to use an African-American hero without one drop of racism or the mere mention of race throughout the entire film.

The protagonists battle not only the gathering dead people outside but themselves as well. One half argues that staying in the cellar is the safest course of action while the other half wants to stay above and finish boarding the place up. Little by little, things fall apart and the group gets picked off one by one, partly due to their own arrogance to work together. By the end of the film, the world has already ended for the group inside the farmhouse but as for the virus, we are led to believe that everything is under control as the government and local authorities give the impression that they are on top of the problem. But of course, that’s another story to be continued in the film’s sequel, “Dawn of the Dead”.

Upon release in October of 1968, “Night of the Living Dead” was highly criticized for its explicit content, aside from breaking new ground in filmmaking and the horror/zombie genre, making use of fairly simple special effects (i.e. Bosco Chocolate Syrup for blood, roasted ham for consumed flesh, second hand clothing for costumes, mortician’s wax for zombie make-up). It became known as the catalyst of the contemporary Zombie Apocalypse sub-genre in horror that the world has come to know. Shot on a budget of $114,000, the movie has grossed $12 million domestically and $30 million international after a decade or so of cinematic re-releases. Since its’ release in 1968, the Library of Congress has labelled the film as “historically, culturally or aesthetically important”.

Rating: ****