Night of the Living Dead(1968)

Night of the Living Dead helped to loosen the reigns of the "gothic era of horror" (which was sending it into a downward spiral) by modernizing the setting for fear to that of today's world. This familiarity help to produce fear that felt more real, even if outrageous. "Night" examined the human will to survive, with or without the help of his fellow men. I've decided (but may change my mind) to try and stay away from discussing the social commentary of this film (I could do a whole page on it), because George Romero has stated that nothing was done on purpose (i.e. casting a Black man in the lead, etc.), but will admit the film does reflect his feelings of the time.