Book Review: BFI FILM CLASSICS: NIGHT of the LIVING DEAD by Ben Harvey

There have been a ton of books and articles and papers that have deciphered the George A. Romero classic Night of the Living Dead (1968) but the BFI Film Classics series has set its sights on breaking down the films that they focus on for the film scholar and enthusiasts that want to delve deeper into the meaning of some of cinema's most widely regarded films. Ben Harvey's book in the series focuses exclusively on the original NOTLD. This book doesn't simply rehash the plot of the film (which in my opinion if you don't already know then you shouldn't be reading this book in the first place) but it breaks down the film in all its relevant beats.

At a meager 128 pages Harvey does his best to break down the entire film and analyze all the motivations of the characters and how they relate to one another as well as the film industry at the time and herein lies some of Harvey's best outlooks on the film. He does a great job with analyzing the film's impact not only on the film industry but its result on audiences post-Martin Luther King, Jr. assassination. The world was in an ever changing landscape and Harvey delves into how this film fits within the cannon.

Harvey does not waste time with filler material. There are no interviews and not set visits. He presents just the facts as displayed in the film and how he interprets them in the context of the film and under a larger context Another great thing about the book is that it presents a wealth of photos from the film both many that have been previously released and many that have never been released. It is great to see so many photos from the film presented in one volume.

Harvey also touches upon how the film defined the entire zombie genre which is something that should interest all fans of the film. For readers just coming upon the importance of this film this book will have a lot of incite and for those who think they know everything already about the film than this might seem redundant but the book is a fast read and a good addition to anyone's book collection.