VHS Tracking Presents:
Night Of The Living Dead (1968) presented by Erin Coates
Wednesday 11 December 2024 6:30pm
Goolugatup Heathcote
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
Though there had been movies featuring “zombies” before, Night Of The Living Dead (1968) is undoubtedly the template for how we cinematically understand zombies, birthing a sub-genre in horror.
Night Of The Living Dead was an independent production that was directed, shot, edited and co-written by George A. Romero whose background was television commercials and industrial movies. Filmed in rural Pittsburgh, a farmhouse was rented for the film’s central location, and the grisly special effects were limited by the budget and resolved through creative solutions, such as using chocolate syrup for blood. Shooting in black-and-white film for budget reasons, documentaries influenced the film’s style to the schlock material, while Romero’s script with co-writer John Russo was inspired by EC Comics and authors like Richard Matheson.
Upon its initial release, Night Of The Living Dead earned more than 250 times its low budget, becoming one of the most profitable independent productions of all time, although legal issues with the rights meant that film unfortunately fell into the public domain, and Romero never fully saw the profits. With its depiction of on-screen flesh-eating and breaking social taboos in the spreading “infection,” the film continues to have a disturbingly grim power, paving the way for further “splatter” evolutions in the horror genre. Romero would continue to expand and explore the world of the zombies with Dawn Of The Dead (1978) and Day Of The Dead (1985) to name a few.
About the programmer and presenter, Erin Coates
Erin Coates is a visual artist and creative producer practicing on Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar. Working across drawing, sculpture and film Coates practice focuses on the limits of our bodies and physical interaction with and within given moments. Coates has a Master of Fine Arts from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
Coates had exhibited in galleries and film festivals across Australia and abroad including the Biennale of Sydney, Art Gallery of Western Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Contemporary Art Biennial, Hiroshima Museum of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Erin Coates is represented by Moore Contemporary.
VHS Tracking 