Night of the Living Dead (1968) Movie Review: We Need to Talk About Ben

Official Movie URL: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063350/

Rating: 10 (on a review scale: 1 being worst, 10 being best)

Cast & Crew

Directed by: George A. Romero

Duane Jones as Ben, Judith O'Dea as Barbara, Karl Hardman as Harry Cooper — Romero directs with gritty confidence, pioneering a genre-defining vision that would outlive its budget and humble origins.

Ben Was Right... Until He Wasn't

Let’s get this out of the way: Night of the Living Dead doesn’t need another glowing review. It’s iconic. It’s required viewing. It’s horror canon. So, yeah—10/10. But this isn’t just a pat on the back. This is about Ben.

We, as horror fans, have held up Duane Jones’ performance for good reason—and we should. His casting was a seismic shift. But that seismic shift came with a character who, when you actually pay attention, makes a series of terrible, stubborn, emotion-fueled decisions that arguably gets every farmhouse character killed.

Ben as originally written, was a rough, uneducated truck driver to be played by Romero collaborator Rudy Ricci. Romero cast Jones simply because he was the best actor who auditioned. He didn't rewrite the script to suit a more refined persona, but he did allow Jones to adjust the dialogue—effectively transforming Ben into a more articulate and composed presence.

And yet... even with the upgraded dialogue, Ben's behavior remains chaotic at best, selfish at worst. He argues against Harry Cooper's cellar plan—a plan that, in the end, saves Ben's life. He insists on boarding up the house using loud tools and flimsy interior barricades, drawing more zombies than they started with. Then there's the moment he brings a flaming baluster on a mission to fill the truck's gas tank—yes, fire keeps the zombies at bay, but tossing it near the pump is about as boneheaded as it gets. And while that same baluster ends up later in a zombie’s hands during the final breach, it’s Ben’s consistent chain of short-sighted choices that leads to disaster. He picks fights at every opportunity, culminating in some fatal decisions under pressure.

The Case for Harry Cooper

Harry Cooper is framed as a jerk from the jump—and yeah, he’s not exactly charming. He’s controlling, panicked, and verbally cold to his wife. But here’s the thing: he’s also right.

Harry’s plan is to keep everyone in the basement, stay quiet, and wait it out. From a survival standpoint, it’s solid. The zombies don’t get into the cellar. The cellar ends up being the safest place in the house—confirmed when Ben, beaten down and alone, locks himself in there to survive the night. Yet Ben spends most of the movie actively undermining Harry, punching him, and eventually shooting him in anger after their safety is compromised.

Worse yet, Ben’s string of choices escalates further during the infamous gas pump scene. When they realize they don’t have the right keys, Ben decides the best course of action is to shoot the chain off the lock. That’s already a dangerously dumb move, and it’s something the 1990 remake actually leans into—Tom Savini directs that version, and in it, the act of shooting the lock causes an immediate explosion, as it probably should have here. But in the '68 version, Ben somehow survives it. Then, in a wild second act of tempting fate, Ben tosses a flaming baluster directly beneath the truck’s gas tank inlet. And if that weren’t enough, Tom (clearly in panic mode) begins spraying gasoline long before he actually reaches the truck. The combination of an open flame, premature gas spray, and raw terror seals the deal. Tom and Judy drive off in a panic and explode moments later. It’s a mess of decisions (and now body parts), none of which point to Ben being the tactical genius we've built him up to be over the decades.

After returning to the farmhouse, Ben demands Harry help seal the door, only to beat him senseless afterward. As the zombies breach the barricades using tools—including the same baluster Ben had discarded—Ben throws a plank of wood at Harry during the chaos, knocks the rifle from his hands, grabs it, and shoots him. Harry falls into the cellar alive, only to be killed by his now-zombified daughter. Everyone else dies shortly after in horrific, preventable ways.

The only wildcard in this entire debate is Karen. Had the group agreed to ride out the night in the cellar as Harry proposed, there’s no telling how things might’ve unfolded once Karen inevitably turned. In the 1968 version, we see her kill both her mother and father before Ben finally takes shelter in the cellar and kills the zombified Karen and Helen to survive the night. It’s a brutal twist, but it also leaves that unanswered question—how would a group of survivors have responded to a child turning undead in such close quarters? The Walking Dead explored a similar dilemma in Season 4, where the Governor keeps his zombified daughter hidden and fed. Tom Savini’s 1990 remake leans in even further: Helen is murdered by their now-renamed daughter Sarah, who then emerges from the cellar. Ben—played by the late, great Tony Todd—dispatches her with a single, mournful shot to the head. When Harry, played masterfully by Chicago’s Tom Towles, reacts in horror and shoots Ben, the resulting gunfight actually makes more sense than the abrupt conflict of the original. In that version, Ben’s stoicism proves his undoing—not his rage. And while it changes the tone, it’s arguably a more logical chain of events.

What Worked Well

This movie still rules. Full stop.

Duane Jones doesn’t just play Ben—he elevates him. He takes a character written with vague, underbaked working-class grit and injects him with authority, tension, and humanity. His very presence disrupted the norms of who could be the hero in a time of civil unrest and racial violence in America. His calm resolve, even when the script sets him up to fail, adds a weight and dignity that makes the film impossible to imagine without him.

Romero’s choice to film in black and white, mostly for budget reasons, ends up being one of its most defining strengths. The harsh shadows and grainy texture deliver a masterclass in chiaroscuro. This contrast between light and dark doesn’t just set the mood—it builds the genre. It’s why people still look to this movie as the blueprint for zombie horror.

And the ending? Devastating. Brilliant. Inevitable. That final shot stays with you, especially once you realize Ben did everything "right"—and still died. That’s Romero’s gut punch. That’s America in 1968.

The Bitterest Pill

It’s hard to critique a movie this groundbreaking without sounding like you’re nitpicking, but that’s not the point here. Ben’s impact as a character is untouchable. But the decisions he makes within the film are catastrophically bad. What’s fascinating is that this duality doesn’t weaken the movie—it strengthens it. It gives you something to argue about 50 years later.

Ben is a flawed hero. Not flawed like, “Oh, he lied to protect someone.” Flawed like, “He shoots a guy mid-zombie invasion and sets a flaming torch next to a gas tank.” He’s the chaos engine inside a horror machine. And it’s precisely because of that chaos that the ending hits so hard.

So yes, this is a perfect horror movie. And yes, the guy we all celebrate might have accidentally killed everyone.

Keep your coffin cozy and your horror collection cursed—until next time, fiends! ⚰📼

Paul Francis Jones - April 9th 2025

Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person Movie Review: Bloody Beautiful, Bittersweet, and Brilliant (10/10)

Official Movie URL: https://www.h264distribution.com/en/films/distribution/humanist-vampire-seeking-consenting-suicidal-person/

Rating: 10 (on a review scale: 1 being worst, 10 being best)

Cast & Crew

Directed by: Ariane Louis-Seize

Sara Montpetit of Falcon Lake, Félix-Antoine Bénard in a standout debut, directed by Ariane Louis-Seize in her full-length feature debut.

A Blood Bag Full of Heart: A New Classic in Coming-of-Age Vampire Cinema

Foreign female vampire films have quietly delivered some of the most emotionally resonant horror of the 21st century. Think *Let the Right One In* or *A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night*. Now enter *Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person*—a film that doesn't just stand among those greats, but arguably surpasses them in tenderness, wit, and warmth. Despite the fanged premise, this isn’t about bloodlust—it’s about loneliness, agency, and the unexpected sweetness of connection.

Sasha and Paul: Vinyl, Blood, and Emotional Bandages

It’s hard not to initially compare Sasha (Sara Montpetit) to Eli or The Girl—solitary, introspective vampires drawn to emotionally wounded boys. But Sasha is different. Her empathetic heart—triggered when humans are in pain—makes feeding nearly impossible. Her family tries to help, but like many well-meaning parents, they're divided: one side enabling, the other pushing for brutal independence. When Sasha is sent to live with her cousin Denise to learn how to hunt, things shift. That’s where she meets Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard), a suicidal teen whose awkwardness and quiet kindness mirror Sasha’s internal ache. Their relationship, built on mutual darkness, becomes something luminously humane.

What Worked Well

– Sara Montpetit’s performance as Sasha: understated, magnetic
– The humor: Napoleon Dynamite with a splash of blood
– The needle drop, Brenda Lee’s “Emotions” is perfection
– Ariane Louis-Seize’s direction
– The family dynamics are a surprisingly realistic portrait of parental disagreement and teen anxiety
– Félix-Antoine Bénard is funny and likable as Paul, and yet you constantly worry about him. His performance makes you want to, like Sasha, protect him. It’s an affecting, subtle turn that anchors the entire film.

Death, Connection, and the Fear of Being Alone

The film’s emotional core lands hardest in a gut-punch moment: Paul writes a suicide note, believing he's finally found peace through his pact with Sasha. But when his mom unexpectedly returns home and sees him heading out with a friend, she smiles—believing her son is finally starting to thrive. It's a moment that devastates because we know the truth... or do we? Sasha and Paul’s final arc suggests that maybe death isn’t what Paul needed. Maybe it was for someone to see him. As Paul says, “I think people are just afraid of suffering. Or of being alone.”

And that’s what this film gets so painfully right. Underneath the vampire mythos there's a story about two people who don't want to live… until they find each other.

Keep your coffin cozy and your horror collection cursed—until next time, fiends! ⚰️📼

Paul Francis Jones - April 4 2025

Bloody Axe Wound Movie Review: Misleading Cameos and Mixtape Carnage (6/10)

Official Movie URL: https://www.ifccenter.com/films/bloody-axe-wound/

Rating: 6 (on a review scale: 1 being worst, 10 being best)

Cast & Crew

Directed by: Matthew John Lawrence

Sari Arambulo of AP Bio, Jeffrey Dean Morgan of The Walking Dead and Invincible, Molly Brown of Dexter: Original Sin, Eddie Leavy of AP Bio, and Billy Burke of Twilight and Batman: The Long Halloween.

When I first came across Bloody Axe Wound, it looked like the kind of weird indie horror I’d be into. The concept—a family business built around snuff films and a local video store—sounded deranged in the right way. The cast? Even better. Jeffrey Dean Morgan was front and center in the trailers, and Sari Arambulo (of AP Bio fame) felt like perfect casting for the role of Abbie Bladecut, a teen poised to take over her father’s twisted legacy. With that setup, I was expecting something wild, maybe even unforgettable. What I got was… mostly fine. But the biggest surprise wasn’t the kills or the concept—it was how little the movie trusted its best asset.

The Drew Barrymore Fake-Out, Without the Purpose

When Scream hit theaters in 1996, killing off A-list star Drew Barrymore in the opening minutes was a brilliant move. It told audiences no one was safe. With Bloody Axe Wound, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is used in much the same way—front and center in marketing, trailers, even top billing on physical media. But unlike Scream, Morgan’s character Butch Slater contributes almost nothing to the film. He appears briefly at the beginning, then vanishes entirely. The scene looks cool on the surface, and there’s a faint justification that he's training Abbie Bladecut (Sari Arambulo), but none of that is followed through.

Morgan’s presence feels like a bait-and-switch, which is frustrating because fans of horror and comic book properties genuinely love this guy. The Walking Dead, Supernatural, The Boys, Watchmen, Invincible—he’s built a reputation on charming villainy. So when you find out he’s barely in the film, it’s not just disappointing—it’s misleading. Ironically, just as Abbie’s father claims she can’t carry on the family business because she’s a girl, the film’s marketing suggests Sari Arambulo can’t carry the movie either. But she does. And that makes the decision to lean so heavily on Morgan even more frustrating.

No Signal: Horror Before the Internet Saved Us

The film never says what year it takes place, but it’s easy to peg it as the early ‘90s. There are no mobile phones—not even the brick Nokias. No internet, no texting. Just landlines, payphones, mixtapes, and a run-down VHS rental store doubling as a snuff film dispensary. Some horror fans might argue that the presence of physical media doesn’t necessarily date a film—especially in a world where nostalgia shops like Graveface and The Toy Pit are thriving—but here, it’s more than just aesthetic. It’s the isolation that matters.

Characters can’t Google their way out of danger. No one’s livestreaming attacks. There’s a claustrophobic quality to the Bladecut family’s world, and the pre-digital setting reinforces it. Abbie isn’t just taking on her family’s legacy—she’s doing it in a world where help doesn’t come with a push notification. That’s a big part of what makes the whole “snuff store in town” thing barely plausible, yet oddly fascinating.

What Worked Well

• Sari Arambulo delivers a committed and layered performance as Abbie Bladecut. Equal parts creepy and commanding, she owns every scene.
• The worldbuilding and analog details (VHS, payphones, mixtapes) feel lived-in and well-executed.
• The twisted concept—a family of serial killers renting out their own snuff films—is both original and appropriately grimy.
• Writer/director Matthew John Lawrence keeps his punk-horror aesthetic alive post-Uncle Peckerhead.

Too Much Setup, Not Enough Payoff

Here’s the real kicker: Abbie’s father spots her in a grainy low-budget snuff film playing on an old CRT television because of her green jacket. Yet Sam Crane, Abbie’s love interest—and the same person who nearly kills Abbie during a home invasion earlier in the film—never connects the dots. Abbie wears that jacket throughout the movie. Sam also sees the scar she gave Abbie. Still, nothing clicks. Not until the climax. The film expects us to believe a trauma that intense just… disappears?

It’s a frustrating inconsistency that feels less like suspense and more like oversight. Especially when you’ve got a character like Abbie whose evolution could be emotionally devastating. There’s missed opportunity for tension, conflict, and resolution that would have grounded the otherwise bonkers premise.

Final Cut: A Strong Lead Held Back by Weak Framing

Bloody Axe Wound has a killer concept, a strong lead, and a refreshing setting—but it drops the ball by overhyping its least important character and leaving too many threads dangling. Sari Arambulo proves she can carry a horror film. The irony is that the movie’s own marketing doesn’t trust her to. While the supporting cast fits well and the analog aesthetic is enjoyable, the inconsistent storytelling and baited expectations hold it back. Worth a watch if you’re into bloody weirdness and post-AP Bio psychosis—but manage your expectations.

Keep your coffin cozy and your horror collection cursed—until next time, fiends! ⚰️📼

Paul Francis Jones - March 30th 2025

Longlegs Movie Review: A Satanic Silence of the Lambs? (7.5/10)

Official Movie URL: https://www.longlegs.film/

Rating: 7.5 (on a review scale: 1 being worst, 10 being best)

Cast & Crew

Directed by: Oz Perkins

Starring: Maika Monroe of It Follows, Nicolas Cage of Vampire’s Kiss

Does Longlegs Live Up to Its Own Hype?

When a movie markets itself as “the best serial killer horror film since The Silence of the Lambs,” it sets a high bar. That’s exactly what happened with Longlegs, a film that leans into chilling visuals, a creeping sense of dread, and Nicolas Cage in one of his eeriest roles yet. But does it truly belong in the same conversation as Silence of the Lambs?

Many films have tackled the serial killer genre since 1991, from Se7en and American Psycho to Monster and Frailty. While Longlegs successfully carves out its own identity with a supernatural twist, its execution doesn’t always reach the level of psychological depth that made Silence an enduring classic.

Parallels Between Longlegs and Silence of the Lambs

There’s an undeniable structural similarity between the two films:

• Lee Harker = Clarice Starling
• Longlegs = Buffalo Bill
• William Carter = Jack Crawford
• Satan = Hannibal Lecter

Like Clarice, Lee Harker is methodical, intelligent, and deeply connected to the case she’s working on. Longlegs, like Buffalo Bill, is an elusive yet unsettling figure who taunts law enforcement while committing horrific acts. Meanwhile, the presence of Satan in the film serves a similar function to Hannibal Lecter—an ominous, manipulative force lurking in the background.

However, where Silence of the Lambs excelled was in its layered villain. Buffalo Bill’s backstory unfolds like a puzzle, piece by piece. In contrast, Longlegs leaves much of its titular character shrouded in mystery—perhaps too much so.

The Missed Opportunity With Nicolas Cage

For a film named after its antagonist, Longlegs himself feels underdeveloped. And with Nicolas Cage in the role, that feels like a missed opportunity.

One of the most fascinating things about The Silence of the Lambs is how we slowly come to understand Buffalo Bill—his motives, his past, his disturbing worldview. Every scene with him gives us another breadcrumb. Longlegs, on the other hand, gives us almost nothing. He has an unsettling presence, yes. But beyond his surgically altered face and erratic singing, we get no real insight into who he is.

It wasn’t until I read interviews with director Oz Perkins that I even learned Longlegs was supposed to have been a glam rock star who underwent extreme plastic surgery before embracing Satanism. That’s a fascinating backstory—but none of it is actually in the movie.

And this is where I feel Longlegs misses the mark. Nicolas Cage is an actor with incredible range. His performance in Pig is a testament to how powerful he can be when working in restraint. He doesn’t need to go full Cage to be memorable. But he does need material that allows him to create a fully realized character. Longlegs doesn’t give him that.

What Worked Well

• Atmosphere & Cinematography – The film is visually stunning, dripping with eerie, dreamlike dread.
• Maika Monroe’s Performance – She carries the film with a quiet intensity that feels authentic.
• Slow-Burning Terror – The movie never relies on cheap jump scares, instead letting its horror build naturally.

Is Longlegs Worth Watching?

Absolutely. Longlegs is an unsettling, visually arresting film that lingers in your mind long after the credits roll. Oz Perkins has crafted something unique, a horror film that isn’t afraid to take risks. But while it excels in mood and atmosphere, it falls short in fully fleshing out its villain—especially considering it had Nicolas Cage in the role.

Would I recommend it? Yes. Would I put it in the same league as The Silence of the Lambs? Not quite.

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⚰️📼 Keep your coffin cozy and your horror collection cursed—until next time, fiends!

Paul Francis Jones - 3/18/2025