"You're telling us that we gotta come up here and risk our lives just because somebody might need help, huh?"

Hooptober 5.0 #2 (fulfills anniversary and Romero requirements)

Shit damn.

It's not scary the way you might expect a good contemporary horror movie to be scary. There aren't a ton of jumps or shocks, and the gore level is pretty tame except at a few crucial moments, especially during a late scene in the cellar that is an absolutely timeless nightmare if there ever was one. But its bleakness? Its view of humanity during a disaster? That actually is terrifying. This is definitely a movie of the "zombies are bad, but humans are the real monsters" school. The major human antagonist, a middle-aged husband and father, is a coward and a racist who has managed to survive thus far without learning how deadly stupidity can be. (His racism is never spelled out in the script, but there are so many cues in his body language and line readings that make it pretty evident. Romero knew how quickly white people can become bullshit the moment a black man takes charge of anything that affects us.) Everyone besides him is basically good people trying to help each other out, but they get stupid or unlucky at every turn. Hey, it'll be okay! The government is out there, not far away, doing what it can to restore the established order. Hoo fucking ray.

This was somehow my first Romero. Unsurprisingly, he was incredibly gifted. I'm glad I watched it and I'll watch more soon. But, man, every last one of his themes is such a hard pill to swallow.