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greetings and welcome back to the talk

with History Podcast I'm your host Scott

here with my wife and historian Jen

hello on this podcast we talk about

history's continuing impact on us today

in our personal journey through YouTube

as we continue to explore record and

share our history walks with you

you know before we start

um this is the section where we will

have the five-star question of the week

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leave us a review that helps the show

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you may not know this movie we're going

to talk about today

but you've probably seen many pictures

of it

this was a groundbreaking film that

defined and gave birth to a film genre

that lived stronger today than ever

but did you know that it was produced on

a shoestream budget at a no-name

cemetery outside of Pittsburgh by two

filmmakers who had never made a motion

picture so Jen what film are we talking

about today

in keeping in accordance to Halloween

coming up in a couple weeks we're doing

Night of the Living Dead Night of the

Living Dead so

if nobody's ever seen Night of Living

Dead tell us a little bit about that and

then we'll kind of talk about you mean

someone like you Scott yeah I had no

clue

so you know Scott and I have been

married for 15 years and one of the

first things we did on our first dates

was a haunted house I don't think Scott

was excited about it but since we're

newly dating and I said let's go to a

haunted house he was he was all game for

it

little did I know he had really never

seen a horror movie let alone go to

haunted houses and as we're standing in

line for this haunted house they're

playing scenes from horror movies

so Nightmare on Elm Street Friday the

13th

and I'm I'm naming off these newbies as

they just show in little scenes I'm

naming them off and I'm like don't you

know this and he didn't know any of them

I didn't know a single one it was just

we didn't watch those kind of movies

yeah and I did

and um we need us to say going through

that haunted house was one of an

experience I'll never forget

um because I was pushed through at Mock

speed because Scott was right behind me

and as much as I enjoy a good haunted

house and the thought that goes into

making a room and making someone scared

I didn't get a chance to really even see

anything because I got just pushed

through

and I'm so glad that Jen brought this up

because I'll probably edit out this

entire bed when I think it's

I think it's never seen it and

I was raised on it so I was raised on it

not only because my parents

are big movie Buffs and enjoy all types

of movies but it was because it was

filmed close to where my dad grew up

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh and so he always

talked about it and he didn't talk about

it in the regards of this is a great

horror movie he talked about in regards

that this was just an amazing movie made

by college kids on a shoestring budget

that just changed horror movies in

general was a huge influencer and so he

was I think always proud of that and

this now no not a living dead just for

anybody who has never seen it before is

not familiar with it it was made in the

60s so it was filmed in 67 it was filmed

from June to December of 67 released in

68. okay and and there was nothing else

that had been done like that before you

know so they're very much influenced by

I Am Legend that book I Am Legend that

comes out in the 50s and that book

influences their writing oh yeah yeah

that's the book that eventually Will

Smith made the movie Will Smith make the

movie so nothing had really been made

like this but things have been written

kind of like this okay and

if you've never seen Night of the Living

Dead we're gonna give some spoilers away

so just be ready and it's a like a 60

year old movie so you know it's it's

been out for a while it's been out for a

while and it's it's been done over and

over and over again now but it's it's

basic and that's what's so great about

it black and white it's black and white

it's it leaves more to your imagination

than actually shows you it's just these

the whole premise is they don't really

go into it but something has happened in

this area where people have been

infected by this virus and this virus

has basically reanimated recently dead

and they went with recently dead because

they said they figured they couldn't

have the makeup budget to reanimate

long-term dead so most everybody is I

mean their makeup process is just dark

underline makeup and white faces and

boom you're a you're a ghoul yeah it was

is not uh

you know with The Walking Dead you know

level of production now this like it's

not even like Thriller with like arms

falling off or anything nothing like

that it's literally just like hunch over

a little bit walk slow sort of that

walking's super slow wasn't even really

a thing yet they kind of defined yeah

with this movie one thing that I learned

with you and we'll get into the history

aspect of of why of what we did filming

the the video but they they really kind

of for film they defined the genre they

did because even if you've seen the

movie the very first ghoul because they

use ghoul and they even adamantly say

they never use the word zombie in the

whole movie even though it's the father

of the zombie film and the zombie

movement they don't use that word I

don't think I realized that and so

Google is the word they use but the very

first ghoul they'll encounter just looks

like a normal person yeah right he's

like wearing a business so they just see

him in the back of the cemetery going

who's that guy walking around back there

so it's not like they even see someone

looking and there's some there's some

relatively famous lines that come out of

this like they're coming to get you

Barbara like you'll probably see that on

T-shirts if you're and I am not a horror

movie fan or history fan so this was a

very interesting one for me to make

once I started once I saw the the clips

right making the video I saw these and I

was like some of these actually sound

familiar to me and I am not a horror

movie you know film guy at all no and it

was um

it was a lot of the script was ad-libbed

a lot of it was written as they were

doing it and like I said it was just

it was the basics which sometimes the

basics can be more scary right so when

you think of things like jaws and you

don't see the shark but you can imagine

the shark it's scarier for the viewer

and they they kind of banked on that

same thing you don't see everything you

don't see what they're doing to people

you're being told they're flesh eaters

but you don't see it yeah so they're so

really their film Ted the technique they

brought with that that's a technique yes

was was not as common then yeah that

keeping the big parts off screen for the

viewer to imagine it right and your

imagination is sometimes worse than what

you could be shown on screen and the

film kind of had like an extra kind of

punch at the end yes and they fought for

that so the punch at the end is um

they their their main character makes it

through the night yeah he survives he

survives the night he survives he he

does away with all the zombies the

ghouls or whatever and basically you

learn like no one else survives who he

was with yeah but he survives and at the

end there there are people who are

coming out helping because I guess I'm

the town sheriff yeah because it was it

was localized right didn't go far it was

in a worldwide yeah and so they're

rounding them up and burning them the

ghouls and they see movement in the

house and they think it's a ghoul and

he's coming around yes it thinks it's a

goal and he's coming out going I've

survived and as he comes out they shoot

him yeah and they fought for that ending

because a lot of people said oh they

needs to be a happy ending and they're

like no this is not a happy movie this

needs to have this ending so and that in

that when you were telling me about that

this was there weren't a lot of films

that had done that now it was I was kind

of like the really the kick in the

stomach that everybody walked out of the

theater was like

what just happened yeah like and even

you can you can look it up on YouTube

you can if if anybody's curious you can

Google neither Living Dead ending scene

and you'll find it and I look and I

watched it I was like

yeah that's not a movie you would walk

away like feeling happy about but again

that's kind of the genre

and it influences movies because now

it's more common to watch a movie that

is realistic in the way that it's not

always happy in the end and you get to a

real dose of you know what could be a

real moment and

some tragedy and so that is more real

nowadays in movies and so they're kind

of when the first people to do that and

they influence so there's a couple

things their main character is also

African-American that's right and so

they did not set out

for their main character to be

African-American but the actor who

auditioned was so good that they just

said yeah make it him and what was also

interesting is their main character was

supposed to be a truck driver and kind

of

I wouldn't say uneducated but basic

basic dialogue and this this man who

plays Ben Ben is that lead character

is educated and so he doesn't he he

doesn't want his lines to be dumbed down

so he he plays him as if he was him

so he gives and people have to remember

the time yeah right the 6768 like Martin

Luther King had not been assassinated he

had not been assassinated but that like

Civil Rights Movement was in full swing

right so like the the marches and the

bus protests and all that stuff was

going on so this is a big deal to have

your main actor and and the movie just

exploded it was made for what a hundred

thousand hundred and fourteen thousand

so they got six people together and they

each put in like a thousand and then

that was like six thousand dollars and

and then they got like 10 more people

that put in a couple thousand more and

then they just kept like asking people

for money and that's why it took so long

for it to film and one of the reasons

why they use the Evan City Cemetery

which where we filmed the YouTube video

at and where it's really what like half

an hour outside of Pittsburgh yeah and

it's it's a little Cemetery but they

chose it because it's off the road and

you can't really see it so they could

film there without being bothered by

people and and they really didn't have

to ask permission to use it

now you'll see a lot of YouTube videos

going to that cemetery and tons of

people want to recreate the iconic

scenes of they're coming to get you

Barbara and Barbara runs away and she

leans on a tombstone and at one point

her brother

um fights the ghoul and he gets hit

um his head gets hit and he dies and he

dies yeah he dies and he becomes a ghoul

which is probably one of the scariest

things so it's interesting he puts on

gloves at one point when he's talking to

her and then when he becomes a ghoul and

he breaks into The Farmhouse that

they're in he puts his gloved hand up on

the wall just to make sure you know it's

him and so um

people love to recreate those scenes but

I wanted to do a video where I actually

talked about who was buried in those

Graves that they used for the movie yeah

so you so you researched the actual like

when she's leaning against The Headstone

like headstones there and and who is

Kramer that's the heads other headstone

she's leaning on so who are those people

so that's that's what I want to do

because no one had done that and here

are these Graves like I tell people

these are iconic Graves but who are the

actual people that are in these Graves

so um that's what they that's what I

really wanted the YouTube video to focus

on as I talked about this history of the

movie so if you're interested in that

the video really goes into the history

of those people and

um

but yeah the movie

is just so influential and I nobody

realized it was going to be

that influential so it it breaks I think

it makes

from what I read it's

12 million domestically in an 18 million

internationally so again this is the

late 60s it's late 60s so that's what 30

million dollars it makes total on a

hundred and fourteen thousand dollar

budget it premieres October 1st 1968 in

Pittsburgh

and that's 53 years ago so and it was

filmed like I said the year before

and yeah they they just really they

wanted

it went through some rewrites so you

have like Romero is who wrote and

directed it and he had gone to Carnegie

Mellon he had worked in Pittsburgh he'd

actually filmed some stuff for Mr Rogers

Neighborhood oh okay and then it's

co-written by Russo who went to

University of um West Virginia or West

Virginia University but he had friends

of Carnegie Mellon so he went he would

visit Carnegie Mellon and we always talk

about pittsburghers call it Carnegie

Mellon it's not Carnegie melon it's yeah

I remember the first time he ever

started talking about Carnegie Mellon

and you kept saying Carnegie I was like

what are you talking about I don't like

why do you keep saying it that way it's

Carnegie mail and I've heard it that way

my entire life pittsburghers say

Carnegie we put in the extra syllable

um and so Russo

who was his friend had actually been in

the Army for two years and so he had

this idea of black and white

documentary style that's right because

make it cheaper make it feel realistic

make it feel like they're actually

filming a documentary about something

that's happening in this small town to

these people and you would feel like you

are breaking that fourth wall with them

right so that was his vision

yeah and it's so funny when I I start

learning about this because of the video

you know you think about the Blair Witch

Project that wasn't the first movie of

its kind to film this like realistic

documentary style right Night of the

Living Dead you think of uh all the pop

you know The Walking Dead TV shows like

these were shows that were kind of

raised and inspired by this movie and

the spin-offs of this movie yeah so it

was once I started learning that I was

like oh my gosh like this

this movie is just like so seminal in

this entire huge genre I mean scary

movies have just grown and grown and

grown and grow I mean they're much more

common and popular nowadays than they

were when even when I was growing up

sure and they they wanted to capitalize

on the Contemporary commercial interest

of that genre as well so you have like

psycho coming out around that time and

psycho's also shot in black and white so

they're capitalizing on like I wouldn't

say it's a new genre because horror

movies were kind of you know think of

Dracula and Frankenstein but something

that was more contemporary like you're

not telling us a story like this could

happen

in your hometown right and that's kind

of what horror is kind of reversing when

you think of psycho when you think of

United Living Dead these stories are

using real people and real scenarios

that are undergoing something that's

scary and um

at first they kind of like had they

wrote kind of like horror comedy

like the these ghouls hang out with

teenagers and stuff oh really yeah like

and they so but then they had changed it

to this and again it all really came

down to what they could afford to film

and they couldn't afford ghoul's makeup

they had to make it very basic yeah and

you talked about it being off the beaten

path I mean we went there and there's

not a lot that's changed in the past 53

years no the graves look the same

there's no tree beside the first grave

anymore there's no tree beside I think

like the the entry sign to the cemetery

is ever so slightly different but we

were able to match up shots the

gravestones are obviously all still

there the headstones like

there is very little that has changed at

this off the beaten path Cemetery that

was you know basically the home base for

an incredibly famous movie yeah and so

the Farmhouse is no longer there that's

been torn down and I think at one point

they're over a covered bridge The

Covered Bridge is no longer there but

the bridge is still there and then the

when they filmed the basement of The

Farmhouse they actually filmed that in

there like

office basement so like where they're

working yeah oh wow where they're

working from they're like we're just

gonna film it downstairs in the basement

so you can actually still go there and I

think that's in Evan city as well and um

one of the things they had said if you

remember that scene it's the daughter

had gotten bitten

by one of the ghouls and her parents are

sitting with her very concerned and

worried and then

the father gets attacked by the daughter

and then the daughter attacks the mother

and the I said I don't know if it was

Russo or Romero who was like that's

every girl's dream to attack her mother

I don't remember that I thought that was

so funny I was like oh my gosh she

thinks that that's why he wanted to keep

that in there and so that's another

realistic moment they really show

because neither the mother of the father

fight back yeah right because that's

their child and so this is something

again basic to film but very strong on

the psyche because you're realizing that

the ghoul has taken over the mind

because the child is killing the person

they love and the person they love can't

fight back because they love that person

so it's one of those things that's so

hard to work around

um but has such a lasting impact that it

did and it's I mean people still watch

90 Living Dead it burns all these movies

all these sequels and even today I mean

Walking Dead and things like that but

neither Living Dead has been remade a

couple times and I even love the

basicness of the title yep it's just

Night of the Living Dead so it's night

time dead

who are alive which is completely polar

opposite and even the the typography is

very iconic right so so if you're

listening to this Google really quick

Night of the Living Dead look at the

typography and that's been used and

reused so many times in horror movies or

at least used as as inspiration for you

know that kind of stuff and again this

was 1967-68 when they came out so again

it was a super fun one to make because

it was just outside of Pittsburgh easy

to get to if you ever want to visit it

you can just look up Evan City Cemetery

zombie apocalypse zombie movies all that

stuff came from Night of Living Dead so

scary movies and zombie story lines

abound in today's Cinema Escape all

thanks to two film school graduates who

dreamed big

asked big and made something even bigger

Night of the Living Dead is the father

of zombie the zombie film genre and we

were lucky enough to be able to visit

the location where American Cinema was

changed forever

so again thank you for listening to talk

with History Podcast and please reach

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