Episode 567: Night of the Living Dead (Patreon)

We love anniversaries here on Retronauts and we love movies, so I (Diamond Feit) couldn't resist podcasting about both this Halloween as a formative film celebrates 55 years of frights: Night of the Living Dead. Writer/director George A. Romero gave us one for the ages with his debut feature film, delivering plenty of scares and defining the "zombie" as we know it, permanently altering the landscape of horror.

Helping me break down this landmark motion picture and its impact on movies, video games, and the American psyche are returning experts James Eldred of Cinema Oblivia and artist Bill Mudron. Both James and Bill also share a personal connection with the city of Pittsburgh, Romero's base of operations, and frankly I needed guests on this episode who know how to use words like "yinz."

Reminder: if you've never seen Night of the Living Dead, you should rectify that right away! Its public domain status means it's freely available on YouTube, the Internet Archive, or any site willing to host it. The Wikipedia article about the movie includes the entire movie, how often does that happen??

Art by Nick Wanserski edits by Greg Leahy. Spooky music heard in this episode:

• 08:50 - Spencer Moore: "Eerie Heavy Echo" (NotLD Main Titles)
• 17:24 - Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: End Titles
• 31:19 - Henry Mancini: "Experiment in Terror" (Chiller Theatre Theme)
• 47:04 - The Last Man on Earth: Apocalypse Jazz | William Loose: "Night Suspense"
• 1:02:06 - Night of the Living Dead (1968): Attempted Escape
• 1:12:14 - Night of the Living Dead (1968): Helen's Death
• 1:22:36 - Spencer Moore: "Eerie Heavy Echo" (NotLD End Titles)
• 1:37:38 - Man Parrish: "Hip Hop, Be Bop (Don't Stop)"
• 1:48:46 - Resident Evil 2 (1998): The Marshaling Yard (Latter Half)
• Closing - The Misfits: "Night of the Living Dead"