Critic J. Hoberman reflects on the cinematic and societal impact of George Romero's seminal indie horror classic "Night of the Living Dead", which was released in that tumultuous year of 1968. (Yes, folks there actually was a more tumultuous year than the crazed election era of 2020.). The Vietnam War was raging, protests were ongoing, cities were burning and two of the most important men of the era- Martin Luther King, Jr. and Bobby Kennedy- were assassinated within a span of two months. Fittingly, Romero's groundbreaking horror flick tossed aside all conventions. There was no happy ending, a black man was the hero and we were all made aware of how fragile the solidity of civilized society actually was. We survived all that and we may well survive the calamity of our era of Coronvirus, crazed political leaders and the rise of fringe hate groups. But now, more than ever, Romero's cheapo horror masterpiece seems to speak to our era in way we haven't experienced since the year it was released. Click here to read. - Lee Pfeiffer
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