Some years ago I read Annie Dillard’s An American Childhood. Dillard is an excellent writer, and the book was wonderful, but one item I remember is that her father was an extra in “Night of the Living Dead.” That stuck with me.
I taught a course in political films at San Jose State, and I took an expansive view of what constituted a “political film”; the course included “invasion of the Body Snatchers.” While I didn’t use it, “Night of the Living Dead” was definitely a political film.
If you recall, a calm take-charge black guy (Duane Jones) saves a farmhouse full of stupid white people. In the end, the local citizenry (Western Pennsylvania rural gun owner types) destroy him. Is that a metaphor for current politics or what?
Romero went on to direct other horror films, including “Dawn of the Dead,” set in a mall. HIs films were always interesting, always scary, although perhaps not as scary as life under President Trump.
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