Birth of the Living Dead Page #2

unchecked discrimination,

African Americans

took to the streets.

Some called it rioting.

Others called it revolution.

We stand on the eve

of a black revolution, brothers.

Masses of our people

are in the streets.

They're fighting tit for tat,

two for two,

an eye for an eye

and a life for a life.

The summer of '67 was the summer

of riots in Newark and Detroit.

And the idea of

the "American Ghetto"

really started to take hold

in the public consciousness

as a kind of symptom

of the Civil Rights movement

whereas in the 50s

and early 60s

it would have been

lunch counters

and marches in southern

cities and busses.

Now, it was about anger.

There was a good deal

of sort of anger.

You know, I think mostly

that the 60s didn't work.

You know, we thought

we had changed the world

or were part of some

sort of a reform

that was going to make

things better.

And all of a sudden

it wasn't any better.

It wasn't any different.

Let's get off the street!

Get the lead out of your ass!

So I think there was a bit of

rage, a bit of disappointment.

So I invented these characters.

In my mind

they were just ghouls.

The dead are

coming back to life.

That's the revolution.

That's the big thing

that everybody's missing.

And we just wanted to make

as ballsy a horror film

as we could make.

Romero and nine

other investors --

including several partners

from the Latent Image --

form a new company

called, "Image 10."

They rent an abandoned farmhouse

for the film's primary location.

Initially, ten of us

kicked in 600 bucks,

it was enough

to rent the farmhouse,

buy some film stock,

and we started to shoot.

We started to shoot not knowing

if we were ever

going to finish.

Romero is 27 years old.

We lived on that farmhouse.

And we had to go out

to the little stream

in order to wash off.

So it was real

guerilla stuff, you know.

Talk about dedication.

And everybody went

along with this!

You know, somehow I'd

say, "Okay, guys."

It's going to be rough, but,

you know, we'll make a movie."

And everybody'd say,

"All right."

Did that surprise you?

It did! It did!

Completely.

I'd expect people to say,

"What are you, crazy?"

George Romero's jobs

include cinematographer,

editor, and director.

I didn't know very much then.

What's a director

s'posed to do?

I dunno!

Walk over here!

I think the first time

you try to do anything,

especially when you're trying

to do something new, um,

you're learning on the job.

And essentially everything

that can go wrong will go wrong.

Whether it's issues

with cameras or cast members

who really don't have

a lot of experience.

Crew members who don't quite

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